Dangerously antisocial youths who kill their parents

Adolescent parricide offenders are typically presented in the popular and professional literature as prosocial youths in fear of their lives, often killing to protect themselves or others from death or serious physical injury or to end the chronic abuse they and other family members suffer. There are, however, dangerously antisocial youths who kill their parents for selfish, instrumental reasons. The trial of Lyle and Eric Menendez, two affluent youths accused of the first degree murder of their parents, captured worldwide attention. The question “Were they abused kids or did they kill for the money” is addressed in terms of the author’s typology of parricide offenders. Pertinent case facts are examined in relation to her synthesis of the literature on adolescent parricide offenders. Close study of this case indicates that the brothers did not fit the profile of “the severely abused child”. An alternative explanation that more closely fits the established facts is presented. Pertinent questions that need to be addressed by mental health professionals examining adolescent parricide offenders are addressed.     

A planning-centred approach to project evaluation: Women in mainstream development projects

This article describes the process and outcomes of a “planning-centred” approach to three development projects in the Caribbean. A planning-centred approach to research involves the collaboration of planners and researchers in evaluation research, special attention to the dissemination and use of information and the promotion of contact between planners, sector specialists and recipients of development plans. The planning-centred approach to research is also conducive to understanding the role of gender in distributive processes. The paper describes the methodology of this form of project evaluation, alternative evaluation procedures and selected evaluation guidelines used by the agencies involved in the three Caribbean projects. The outcomes of a planning-centred approach are assessed. In the Caribbean projects the approach resulted in the better use of research information, better communication among planners, officials and project participants, greater sensitivity to women's participation in development and improved consciousness of the significance of gender for redistribute development programmes.     

Searching for Certainty in Purity: Indigenous Fundamentalism

Indigenous resistance to colonial hegemony developed as one based on a politics of difference. This strategic construction of difference relied on the notion of culture to establish a discursive space to articulate the political demands of the subjugated Indigenous minority. This article interrogates the less liberatory impulses of such political constructions of identity and culture. I contend that indigenous responses to colonization that are based on a politics of difference have the potential to, and in particular instances do, invoke the notion of culture and identity as an oppressive site of authority in a way that is, in practice, fundamentalist.     

Legitimacy,self-determination,and conditional cooperators

ABSTRACT

This article critically examines the account of collective self-determination and state legitimacy developed by Stilz in her book. Central to this account is the idea that for a state to be legitimate it must reflect the shared will of the people over which it governs. I argue that the normative taxonomy Stilz employs to develop this criterion of legitimacy ignores the possibility of conditional cooperators: groups who are alienated from society due to the injustices they experience but are willing to affirm their participation in state institutions if these injustices are rectified. I then demonstrate that since there are no grounds for discounting the dissent of conditional cooperators, their presence significantly increases the threshold for state legitimacy that follows from Stilz’s theory. As a result, Stilz is forced to abandon her claim that basically just states generally enjoy a qualified ‘right to do wrong’.     

Managing children's and adolescents' medical complaints amid parent conflict: Strategies and tools for professionals

Children and adolescents who are having difficulty coping with stress often present with complaints of physical discomfort. Effective treatment approaches exist for many of these issues. Among high-conflict parents, however, children's medical issues can become another canvas for conflict, with parents focused more on blaming one another for the child's distress than on options for assisting the child. Professionals can be drawn into the conflict to such a degree that they overlook essential steps for addressing and managing these issues. The authors present a research-informed model for managing medical and psychophysiological issues amid parental conflict.