Social support as a moderator for alcohol-related partner aggression during the transition to parenthood

Alcohol-related partner aggression is a pervasive social problem throughout various life stages, including the transition to parenthood. Previous research shows that alcohol use is associated with partner aggression perpetration for both men and women; however, not all individuals who consume alcohol act aggressively. In this study, the moderating effects of general social support and partner-specific support on the association between prepregnancy alcohol use and recent partner physical aggression are investigated using a community sample of 98 pregnant couples. For men, high levels of general appraisal social support (i.e., someone to talk to about one's problems) increases the strength of the association between alcohol use and aggression perpetration, whereas partner-specific emotional support serves as a buffer. For women, general social support is not a significant moderator, but high levels of partner-specific instrumental support strengthens the association between alcohol use and aggression. These results can be applied to prevention and treatment programs for alcohol-related partner aggression.     

Entering the Australian Judiciary: Gender and Court Hierarchy

There is considerable attention to increasing judicial diversity along a range of dimensions, in particular, gender. Women remain underrepresented in many courts, especially at the higher levels of the judiciary. A comprehensive socio‐legal study of the Australian judiciary compares experiences and attitudes of women who have become judicial officers at different levels of the court hierarchy. Understanding their personal and professional backgrounds and the features that attracted them to the judiciary has important implications for addressing gender disparity. Effective recruitment and selection must focus on the expectations and experiences of women in relation to particular judicial contexts.     

Age spots: Gender sensitivity and the Hutchins Commission

The language of the Hutchins Commission report, A Free and Responsible Press, written in 1947, is sexist. The language flaws the report, but certainly does not destroy its value. Language must be separated from content, such as in Plato's and Kant's writings. Although the Hutchins Commission uses unfortunate language, its message goes beyond mere toleration to a supererogatory duty: The ideal of the marketplace of ideas shall be made concrete. Just as Plato's vision of women ruling in equal numbers has yet to become reality and just as Kant's ethical vision of every human's liberation from mistreatment has yet to be realized, the Hutchins Commission's call for a chorus of voices remains unfilled. The call has been echoed and in some case intensified, such as in Carol Gilligan's work on the voices of women. But the goals remain undiminished beacons that remind us—educators as well as the media—that we still have much work ahead in order to achieve inclusiveness.     

性别与法律研究中心

中国社会科学院法学研究所性别与法律研究中心 (以下简称中心 ) ,主要研究社会性别与法律之间关系的理论与实践。这是一个极具挑战性的综合性边缘学科。社会性别概念在西方早在 2 0世纪 60年代就已提出 ,至 1 995年第四届北京世界妇女大会后 ,“社会性别主流化”的呼声日渐高涨 ,成为世界人权领域和国际妇女解放运动中的热门话题之一。“社会性别”概念为我们提供了一个崭新的研究视角和分析框架。用这个视角来分析传统的立法、司法、执法、法学研究和法律教育 ,创建有利于男女两性共同发展的法律框架 ,还是一门新兴的学科。在中国尚属空白…     

Approaches to Gender and the Law: Research and Applications

Three paradigms for gender research are reviewed, illustrated by examples from employment discrimination law to highlight issues in research on gender and the law. Next, an agenda for research on gender, social science, and the law is outlined, and the five articles in this special issue are reviewed in terms of that agenda. Finally, research ideas for the future and practical applications of the research presented in the five articles are considered, specifically, the use of the reasonable woman standard and expert testimony in sexual harassment cases, and the influence of sex roles and sex stereotypes in producing gender effects.     

Recharacterizing the Lubanga Case: Regulation 55 and the Consequences for Gender Justice at the ICC

The omission of charges related to sexual violence in the case of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was controversial and disappointing from a gender perspective, given the prevalence of sexual violence in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the expectations on the ICC as a gender progressive institution. In 2009, in an attempt to remedy this omission, victim advocates successfully argued that the Trial Chamber should utilize the process under Regulation 55 of the Court to consider legally recharacterizing the charges against Lubanga to include charges of sexual slavery and cruel and inhuman treatment. The decision was later reversed on appeal and the possibility of legal recharacterization dismissed. This article analyzes the Court’s decisions in relation to recharacterization in the Lubanga case, and the negative implications of the approach adopted for gender justice at the ICC. The article advances an alternative, gender-sensitive approach to recharacterization under Regulation 55 of the Court that would have supported the possibility of legal recharacterization to the crime of sexual slavery in Lubanga and which would facilitate the prosecution of crimes of sexual violence in future cases before the ICC.     

The proposed model surrogate parenthood act: a legislative response to the challenges of reproductive technology

In this Article, Manus proposes a Model Surrogate Parenthood Act. He examines the medical and scientific history of surrogacy and reviews the jurisprudence in the area, specifically the constitutional relationship between procreation rights and surrogacy. The author asserts that surrogate motherhood cannot be, and indeed, should not be, eradicated through legislation criminalizing it. The proposed Model Act, presented here in its entirety, attempts to reduce the problems inherent in the concept of surrogate parenthood by putting the process under strict court supervision and by zealously protecting the rights of the surrogate mother and the child to be conceived.     

Justice by Gender: Understanding the Role of Gender in Disposition Decisions Involving Out of Home Placement for Juvenile Offenders

Although several studies have examined the differences in sentencing decisions by gender for adult offenders, a limited amount of research on the role of gender in the post-adjudication disposition determination exists for juvenile offenders. Specifically related to the role of gender and the rate of incarceration, previous research has developed a commonly accepted consensus that female juvenile offenders are often detained pre-adjudication for less serious offenses than their male counterparts. This article evaluates the results of previous studies regarding the role of gender in disposition decisions, and the process of bootstrapping juvenile offenders into incarceration. This study examines whether the role of gender and the process of bootstrapping results in similar gender bias decisions in post-adjudication dispositional decisions as has been demonstrated by previous literature for pre-adjudication detention decisions. The results of the study indicate that there is no empirical support to indicate that gender plays a role in the post-adjudication decisions resulting in out of home placement or incarceration. In fact, the main effect of the study indicates that females are actually less likely to be removed from their home and placed in residential care as a condition of their post-adjudication disposition than their male counterparts. These findings suggest that the differences in the level of the adjudicated offense accounted for more of the variance in disposition decisions than that of gender. Thus, this study found little support for the increasing argument for the sex stratification of theories of delinquency.     

Gender Differences in Specialization in Intimate Partner Violence: Comparing the Gender Symmetry and Violent Resistance Perspectives

Research on male domestic violence offenders has typically considered them to be highly specialized offenders, and specialized theories and policies have been developed to address this type of offending. Some scholars have suggested that intimate partner violence is not as specialized as has been previously assumed. Especially in terms of gender differences, intimate partner violence research and theory suggest some variability in the level of specialization apparent for offenders. The current study uses the gender symmetry and violent resistance perspectives of women’s use of intimate partner violence to examine gender differences in specialization among a sample of intimate partner violence arrestees. Analyses employed multivariate models estimating the diversity index as a measure of specialization in general and multilevel item response theory to assess specialization in intimate partner violence specifically. Results indicate that female arrestees demonstrate significantly greater levels specialization as compared to male arrestees, providing support for the violent resistance perspective. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.