Promoting the Safe and Strategic Use of Technology for Victims of Intimate Partner Violence: Evaluation of the Technology Safety Project

The Technology Safety Project of the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence was designed to increase awareness and knowledge of technology safety issues for domestic violence victims, survivors, and advocacy staff. The project used a “train the trainer” model and provided computer and Internet resources to domestic violence service providers in order to (1) increase safe computer and Internet access for domestic violence survivors in Washington; (2) reduce the risk posed by abusers by educating survivors about technology safety and privacy; and (3) increase the ability of survivors to help themselves and their children through information technology. Evaluation of the project suggests that the program is needed, useful, and effective. Consumer satisfaction was high and there was perceived improvement in computer confidence and knowledge of computer safety. Areas for future program development and further research are discussed.     

Competitive analysis using a flexible demand specification

Econometric methods can be helpful when one is trying to understandthe nature of competition between products in differentiatedproducts industries, an issue that arises in many competitionpolicy contexts. However, misspecification of the consumer demandsystem can result in biased econometric results and misleadingconclusions. We discuss some considerations that go into choosinga demand system specification and suggest that a ‘flexiblefunctional form’ be used. This approach avoids placingrestrictions on the demand elasticities. We identify and discussother issues that arise in the estimation of demand systems.We conclude with an empirical example concerning the calculationof lost profits damages in a patent infringement case. Thisexample demonstrates how using a flexible functional form leadsto a substantially more reliable damages calculation than usingthe particular restrictive functional form that is commonlyused to calculate lost profits damages in patent litigation.     

Life, Health, and Disability Insurance: Understanding the Relationships

Communitarian values are stronger in health insurance than in life or disability insurance. This correlates with increased tolerance for insurers' use of genetic information in disability insurance underwriting, which, in turn, is relevant to the scope and content of proposals to regulate such use.     

Using Patent Data to Assess the Value of Pharmaceutical Innovation

Though many more patents emerge from industry sources, drug-related patents generated in the non-profit setting appear to have greater importance than patents arising from the commercial sector, which helps demonstrate the value non-profit research institutions can have in driving drug development.     

When is defendant status a shield or a liability? Clarification and extension

Previous research has documented that an offender's status may be a protective shield or a harmful liability. One model (Rosoff, 1989) contends that status effects are moderated by offense magnitude, with status providing a shield for minor offenses, but acting as a liability for major offenses. Another model (Skolnick & Shaw, 1994) asserts that the professional relatedness of an offense moderates status effects, with status acting as a shield for professionally unrelated offenses and as a liability for professionally related offenses. A study is presented to determine the moderator of these status effects. Clarifying and extending prior research of the investigators, 120 participants read one of 12 hypothetical civil case summaries and rated defendant liability, monetary damages, and other evaluative judgments. A 3×2×2 factorial design varied offense severity, defendant status, and the professional relatedness of the offense. Results strongly supported professional relatedness as the moderator of status effects, extending previous findings from criminal to civil proceedings and eliminating alternative hypotheses suggested by the earlier work.     

Network news coverage of terrorism: The early years

Abstract

The electronic media influence public opinion by defining which national and international issues become significant, and shape public debates by the television images conveyed to the American audience. Based upon the Vanderbilt Television News Archive, this study examines the image projected in reporting of terrorist activities by the three major national networks, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). The reality presented by the media is explored by comparing variables such as story emphasis and depiction, frequency, length of coverage, and location in the newscasts.     

Assessing the Validity of the Law of Crime Concentration Across Different Temporal Scales

Objectives

The present study examined if Weisburd’s (Criminology 53(2):133–157, 2015) law of crime concentration held across different theoretically relevant temporal scales.

Methods

The cumulative percentages of Philadelphia, PA USA street blocks and intersections experiencing 25 and 50 % of street robberies by hour of the day, days of the week, and seasons of the year were compared to the bandwidth percentages established by Weisburd (2015). Different analyses were used to determine the stability of the micro-places’ street robbery levels within the three temporal scales.

Results

We found that the cumulative percentages of street blocks and intersections experiencing 25 and 50 % of street robberies at each of the three temporal scales closely matched the bandwidth percentages expected from Weisburd (2015) and some micro-places experienced street robberies across all temporal periods while others had more isolated temporal concentrations.

Conclusion

Weisburd’s (2015) law of crime concentration holds across different theoretically relevant temporal scales, and future criminology of place studies should not ignore temporal crime patterns. Further, it may be possible to refine hot spots policing approaches by incorporating spatial–temporal crime concentrations.

     

A Longitudinal Family-Level Model of Arab Muslim Adolescent Behavior Problems

Arab-American Muslim adolescents in immigrant families face a number of challenges that put them at risk for behavior problems. This study of Arab-American Muslim Adolescents and their relatively recent immigrant mothers tested a longitudinal family-level model of adolescent behavior problems. Mother-adolescent dyads (N = 530) completed measures of maternal and adolescent stressors, active and avoidance coping, and social support; maternal distress; quality of mother–child relationship; and adolescent behavior problems at Time 1 and approximately 18 months later. The youth were between the ages of 11 and 15 years at Time 1 and 48.7% were girls. Longitudinal analyses were conducted using latent change modeling with change scores from Time 1 and Time 2 data. Social support facilitated active coping for both mothers and adolescents. Although maternal avoidance coping mediated maternal stressors and its effect on maternal distress, maternal stressors and maternal distress were not related to adolescent behavior problems. The only factor mitigating the effects of adolescent stressors on adolescent behavior problems was the quality of the mother–child relationship. These findings suggest that adolescents are insulated from maternal stress and distress as long as there is a good mother–child relationship.