Research notes from the underworld: the entry logs of the Rio de Janeiro Casa de Detenção, 1860-1969

The Rio de Janeiro state archive's collection of entry logs for the city's central detention center, going back to the mid-nineteenth century, provides a rare glimpse into the lives of Rio's—and Brazil's—poor and working classes who otherwise left few written records behind. During the time when the institution maintained the entry logs, police exercised broad power to make arrests. Although relatively few detainees were ever prosecuted or even formally charged, the detention center kept detailed records of detainees' physical appearance, attire, home address, nationality, sex, affiliation, and so on, as well as information about any criminal charges. This article explores the wealth of empirical data that the entry logs provide. It also suggests how scrutinizing this type of document across time shows how record keeping itself changed, in turn affording researchers rare insight into the inner workings of modern Latin American society.     

The long‐term effects on children and adolescents of a policy providing work supports for low‐income parents

New Hope, an employment‐based poverty‐reduction intervention for adults evaluated in a random‐assignment experimental design, had positive impacts on children's achievement and social behavior two and five years after random assignment. The question addressed in this paper was the following: Did the positive effects of New Hope on younger children diminish or even reverse when children reached the challenges of adolescence (eight years after random assignment)? Small positive impacts on school progress, school motivation, positive social behavior, child well‐being, and parent control endured, but impacts on school achievement and problem behavior were no longer evident. The most likely reasons for lasting impacts were that New Hope families were slightly less likely to be poor, and children had spent more time in center‐based child care and structured activities. New Hope represents a model policy that could produce modest improvements in the lives of low‐income adults and children. © 2011 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

More than the sum of its parts? Itemizing impairment in civil cases

Purpose. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether making multiple damage awards influenced civil mock jurors' assessments of those damage awards. Specifically, how does making one decision for pain and suffering damage awards versus two decisions (one for mental pain and suffering and physical pain and suffering) versus four decisions (one for loss of enjoyment of life, mental anguish, disfigurement, and physical disability/impairment) influence overall non‐economic damage awards. Methods. One hundred twenty undergraduates from a psychology participant pool read a case vignette that included information regarding four types of injuries that the plaintiff endured: loss of enjoyment of life, mental anguish, disfigurement, and physical disability/impairment. Participants were randomly assigned to render either one award for pain and suffering, two awards (one for physical pain and suffering and one for mental pain and suffering), or four awards (one for each pain and suffering element). Results. Results indicated that participants who rendered four awards provided significantly higher overall non‐economic damage awards than participants who provided one overall award. The variability of damage awards also increased as the number of damage awards increased. Conclusions. Itemizing non‐economic damage awards into distinct injury categories can lead to an increase in overall non‐economic awards. Members of the legal arena should be cautioned against itemizing damages to prevent variability in non‐economic awards.     

Examining the Role of Interrogative Suggestibility in Miranda Rights Comprehension in Adolescents

This study aimed to further clarify the association between interrogative suggestibility and Miranda rights comprehension in adolescents; in particular, we examined whether intellectual ability (IQ) serves as a mediator of this relationship. Participants completed Grisso’s Miranda Instruments, the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, and the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale. Many youth demonstrated poor comprehension of their rights, particularly younger and less intellectually capable adolescents. Both yield and shift components of interrogative suggestibility were inversely related to rights comprehension; however, IQ fully mediated these relationships. Neither demographic variables (gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status after controlling for IQ, and English as a second language (ESL) status) nor previous police experience were significantly associated with rights comprehension in the present sample. The implications of these findings are discussed.