Sexual Assault Resource Availability on Texas Higher Education Campuses: A Web Site Content Analysis

Sexual assault prevention and response remains a high priority for U.S. higher education institutions. Indeed, federal legislation and a recent White House task force have reiterated the importance of protecting college students from victimization during their tenure in postsecondary education. Informed by Eisenberg, Lechner, Frerich, Lust, and Garcia's (2012) content analysis, the current study uses a modified College Resources and Sexual Health (CRaSH) inventory to examine the status of 74 Uniform Crime Reports–reporting higher education institutions in Texas. Doing so assesses prevention, resources, response, and aftercare for victims of sexual assault. Findings demonstrate a primary reliance on target-hardening strategies, health clinics, and law enforcement responses, often to the neglect of advocacy, crisis intervention, and educational programs. Directions for research are discussed, and best practices in programming implementation to augment existing strategies are suggested.     

Are We Getting Value for Money from Behavioral Interventions for Offenders? A Research Note Reviewing the Economic Evaluation Literature

Public expenditure on the criminal justice system represents a significant fiscal burden to government worldwide, making the economic evaluation of interventions aimed at improving justice outcomes critical to informing resource allocation. This study systematically reviews and assesses the scope and quality of economic evaluations of behavioral interventions aimed at reducing reoffending. Only seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria, with wide variation in methodological approaches, including differences in costing perspectives, study design, and the definition of cost and outcome measures. The majority of behavioral interventions for offenders remain unevaluated from an economic perspective, representing a significant evidence gap for informing cost-effective and efficient allocation decision. Based on the studies reviewed, economic benefit can be derived from investing in offender behavioral programs. However, whether this investment represents ‘value for money’ remains unclear. What is clear is that economic evaluations in the justice health sector lag behind research in other areas of public policy.     

Towards European sentencing standards

Chairman, Sentencing Committee, 1989–1992.     

The Commonwealth,Gender and Peacekeeping

Abstract

Reflecting on the strategic commitment outlined in the Plan of Action for Gender Equality (2005–2015) and the priority issues of the Commonwealth Women’s Forum, this article assesses the extent to which the Commonwealth as an institution is supporting troop- and police-contributing member states in addressing the gender imbalance in peacekeeping operations. Drawing on desk-based research, interviews with international policymakers and a statistical analysis of the International Peace Institute Peacekeeping Database, the article first outlines the Commonwealth’s gender and security policy perspective before examining datasets to determine the success of Commonwealth member states in integrating women into uniformed peacekeeping contingents between 2009 and 2015. The article observes that, in spite of a renewed optimism and drive to propel women into leadership positions in politics, the judiciary, public bodies and private companies, security-sector reform and the implementation of pillar one of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 are notably absent from the Commonwealth’s gender agenda. It is argued that this policy gap suggests that national and international security architecture is regarded as an accepted domain of male privilege. A lack of political will among Commonwealth heads of government to mainstream gender equality and facilitate structural transformation of national security organs and a chronically under resourced Commonwealth Secretariat limit the influence of the institution to that of arms-length promoter of international norms on women, peace and security.     

Culture and Consumerism: Citizenship, Public Service Broadcasting and the BBC's Fair Trading Obligations

The authors examine the future of public service broadcasting in the context of current debates about, and commercial pressures on, the BBC. They describe the European Community constraints on public service broadcasting and the need for a clearer definition of such broadcasting, noting that such a definition is not currently provided in UK law. The BBC is also under increasing pressure from fair trading rules derived from competition law, some of which may weaken its ability to deliver its public service mission. Original research undertaken within the BBC suggests that external and internal pressures have undermined the conditions for a distinctive public service output, although there remains the basis for such an output within the culture of programme-making. The authors develop theoretical bases for a redefinition of public service broadcasting centred on the principles of citizenship, universality and quality in relation to services and output, and examine the implications for the structure of channels in the digital era. Finally, the authors discuss the legal and regulatory implications of their analysis in the context of the Government's Communications White Paper, arguing that the social and cultural purposes of public service broadcasting must not be made subordinate to competition-based concerns.     

A RADICAL WORLDVIEW

The World I Live In , by Helen Keller, edited and with an introduction by Roger Shattuck
The Radical Lives of Helen Keller , by Kim E. Nielsen     

The Effect of Gender of Perpetrator and Victim on Perceptions of Psychological and Physical Intimate Partner Aggression

Most studies of third-party perceptions of intimate partner violence focus on heterosexual relationships and report that male-to-female aggression is perceived more negatively than female-to-male. Since gender of aggressor and gender of victim are consistently confounded in these portrayals, it is not clear whether the gender of the aggressor or the gender of the victim accounts for the effect. The present research manipulated gender of perpetrator and victim to unravel this confound. Two hundred and fifty one participants (166 females) read scenarios involving psychological or physical aggression between two males, two females, or a male and a female. Participants reported their perceptions of the encounter and the character and emotional reactions of the individual couple members. Physical aggression was evaluated more negatively than psychological aggression. Participants evaluated the encounter and the perpetrator and victim in a manner consistent with stereotypical gender roles, revealing more concern for female than male victims and greater denigration of male than female perpetrators. These results have implications for programs aimed at the reduction of intimate partner violence and the services and programs developed for perpetrators and victims.