Marijuana But Not Alcohol Use During Adolescence Mediates the Association Between Transmissible Risk for Substance Use Disorder and Number of Lifetime Violent Offenses

Aim

This study determined the extent to which alcohol and marijuana use during adolescence mediates the relation between transmissible risk for substance use disorder (SUD) and lifetime number of different types of violent offenses.

Methods

The transmissible liability index was administered to 359 10-12 year old youths who were tracked to 22 years of age. Past year frequency of alcohol and marijuana consumption was longitudinally tracked to age 22 at which time lifetime violent offenses was recorded.

Results

Rate of increase in marijuana use mediated the association between transmissible risk and lifetime number of different types of violent offenses. No association was found between past year frequency of alcohol use and violent offenses.

Conclusions

Prevention directed at lowering the psychological characteristics associated with transmissible risk for SUD may also reduce violent offending.     

Correlates of handgun carrying among adolescents in the United States

Weapon-related violence, especially the use of handguns, among adolescents is a serious public health concern. Using public-use data file from the adolescent sample (N = 17,842) in the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), this study examines the behavioral, parental involvement, and prevention correlates of handgun carrying. Overall, 3.1% of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 reported carrying a handgun in the past year. Results from a series of logistic regression models indicated that males, selling and using illicit drugs, were robustly associated with an increased probability of handgun carrying among adolescents. Furthermore, youth who carry handguns were significantly less likely to report a parent being involved in their lives and were significantly more likely to have encountered violence and drug prevention programming compared with youth who did not carry handguns. Implications of these results for prevention and policy are discussed.     

The Riddle of Charisma

The word “charisma” is widely and carelessly employed, without investigation or definition of the phenomenon. Rather than a singular attribute, charisma is complex, manifesting itself in at least three non-exclusive forms: innate charisma, achieved charisma, and the charisma of position. Given the human craving for leadership, understanding the different forms of charisma and their associated strengths and weaknesses helps us steer between, triumph, tragedy and travesty.     

Industrial safety: The political challenge∗

The Philosophical Origins of Modern Contract Doctrine. JAMES GORDLEY. Oxford. 1991. The Clarendon Press. 263 pp. £35 hb; £16.99 pb.

A History of the Anglo‐American Common Law of Contract. KEVIN M. TEEVEN. New York. 1990. Greenwood Press, xii + 382 pp.

Legal Fiction: Law in the Novels of Nineteenth Century Women Novelists. KATHLEEN LONCAR. London. 1995. Minerva Press. 266pp. (inc Index). £7.99 pb. ISBN 1 85863 668 X.

Adversaria: Literature and Law. E.J. HINZ, T. ANDERSON AND A. McGILLIVRAY (eds.) [Special Issue of Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, vol.27 no.4 ‐ December 1994] Winnipeg. 1994. University of Manitoba, ix + 230 pp. $20 pb. ISSN 0027–1276.

The Independence of the Judiciary. The View from the Lord Chancellor's Office. ROBERT STEVENS. Oxford. 1993. Clarendon Press, xii + 221 pp (incl. index). £27.50 hb. ISBN 0 19 825815 1

Marriage, Property and Law in Late Imperial Russia. WILLIAM G. WAGNER. Oxford. 1994. Clarendon Press. xiv+413pp (incl. Index) £45 hb. ISBN 0–19–820447–7.     

Dosage of treatment to sexual offenders: are we overprescribing?

A sample of 337 offenders who received treatment in a variety of sex offender treatment programs in the Ontario region of Correctional Service Canada between 1993 and 1998 were divided based on the highest intensity sex offender programming that they received (low, moderate, and high). The three groups were compared with reference to a variety of actuarial risk assessment measures, criminogenic factors, and the number and type of treatment programs completed. It was hypothesized that the high-intensity group would have more criminogenic risk factors, higher actuarial scores, and participate in more treatment programs than both the moderate- and low-intensity groups. The results indicate that in general, the hypotheses were supported. Nonetheless, the results suggest that the low-intensity group may be receiving too much sex offender-specific treatment.     

Australian Public Policy, Federalism, and Intergovernmental Relations: The Federal Factor

Public policy is the overt activity of governing and what governmentshave as their primary purpose. This is so whether the politicalsystem is unitary or federal. There are many more elements thatcomplicate policymaking in a federal system. In particular,constitutional, financial, and political issues intrude becauseof the necessary interdependence of otherwise independent andautonomous national and subnational components. This articleaddresses this complexity of joint action through use of theideas about federalism, the structure of governing institutions,and the processes of policymaking. The extent to which an outcomedepends on the mixture of independence and interdependence isconceptualized as degrees of the federal factor. Linking thisconcept to particular policy arenas may provide a better understandingof federal systems than explanation from centralization or decentralizationor dependence or independence.