The Political Mobilisation of Women's Interest Issues: The Failure of Childcare

The Women's Liberation Movement achieved political success with several issues - but not with childcare. This article addresses the reasons for the success and failure of various WII's, examining the nature of pressure politics, methods of organising, public and private debates before focusing on women's attitudes to the childcare issue. The conclusion drawn here is that the more successful feminist issues' do not challenge gender roles to the same extent as childcare does - which could explain the nonmobilisation of childcare as an issue.     

Perceptual Bias and Public Programs: The Case of the United States and Hospital Care

This article examines whether the public holds biased perceptions of public organizations (in this case, hospitals) in the United States and whether organizations get credit for positive results from program evaluations. Using an experimental design that replicates Hvidman and Andersen's 2016 Danish study, the study finds no negative public sector biases in the United States, but organizations are not given any credit for positive program evaluations. These results hold in two experimental replications. The implications of the findings for the measurement of public perceptions of government programs and for effective democratic governance are discussed.     

Human Rights as Reputation Builder: Compliance with the Convention Against Torture

A strong record of human rights protections is an important factor for a state to maintain a positive international reputation. In this article, we suggest that states will use compliance with human rights treaties as a mechanism by which to improve their reputations to help achieve their foreign policy goals. We hypothesize that international human rights compliance is a means to improve a state’s reputation in three specific situations: when the state is facing regional pressures as the result of a desire to join a regional organization; when the state is facing regional pressures not to run afoul of a court within a regional organization; or when a state seeks foreign assistance from an entity with human rights requirements for the receipt of such assistance. We examine our theory by analyzing human rights reports regarding state compliance with specific treaty obligations outlined in the Convention Against Torture (CAT). While the evidence for our hypotheses is mixed, we do find some support for our assertion that state compliance is linked to reputational concerns. In particular, states comply with the CAT when they are part of a regional organization that has a human rights court, and when they are receiving conditional aid from the European Union.     

Domestic violence in a southern city: The effects of a mandatory arrest policy on male-versus-female aggravated assault incidents

Studies attempting to measure the effects of a mandatory arrest policy in domestic violence situations have yielded somewhat contradictory results. This study examines the effects of such a policy in one southeastern city. It utilizes police records from 1993–1997 to generate a proportionate stratified sample of 442 aggravated assaults cases committed by male partners on female victims. Logistic regression was used to model arrest determinants before and after the new policy was adopted. Results show that while there was an increase in the number of domestic violence reports after the proarrest policy went into effect, the total number of reports continued to decrease. A comparison of arrest determinants before and after the new guidelines became effective indicates this policy did not affect arrest decisions.     

Prosecuting and Defending Rape: Perspectives From the Bar

This article discusses the findings of a qualitative study (part of a larger study into rape and criminal justice) which involved in-depth interviews with a sample of ten highly experienced barristers who between them had prosecuted and defended in hundreds of rape trials. It is concerned with the barristers' perceptions of the problems involved in prosecuting rape and the strategies deployed in defending rape cases. The article discusses the ethics of advocacy in the context of rape trials and argues that within the adversarial system there are ethical limits which should be observed.     

Recognition of Skeletal Fractures in Infants: An Autopsy Technique

Abstract:  Complete recognition and documentation of injury pattern is crucial in the diagnosis of child abuse. Skeletal fractures regarded as highly specific to nonaccidental injury in infants include posterior rib, scapular, metaphyseal, and spinous process fractures. These injuries are often occult, especially when acute, to standard radiologic and autopsy procedures. The presented autopsy technique requires incising and reflecting skeletal muscles to expose the bones and costal osseous joints in situ , increasing the opportunity to recognize skeletal injury. Fractured or atypical appearing bones are removed and processed for complete evaluation. The bones are processed by macerating the soft tissue in a water soap bath at an elevated temperature. To aid in reconstruction of the decedent, long bones are replaced with wooden dowels and the chest cavity is packed with the organ bag. The technique is invasive and recommended for cases in which the pathologist has reasonable suspicion of acute or remote trauma.     

Marriage: Cause or mere indicator of future earnings growth?

The hypothesis that marriage increases men's earnings has contributed to legislative support for the Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI). However, previous studies of this phenomenon have not controlled for many relevant characteristics that select men into marriage, nor have they focused on low‐income, unmarried fathers—the population targeted by HMI. We use the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, which measures many previously unobserved confounders, to test for a relationship between marriage and earnings. We use a variety of analytic strategies to control for selection (including differencing and propensity scores) and find no evidence of an effect of transitions to marriage on the earnings of unmarried fathers that differs from zero, either for the full sample or subsamples defined by race‐ethnic category and baseline cohabitation status. © 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

One Love Too Many: The Undoing of Pauline Hanson

This paper focuses on desire and its animating force in the Pauline Hanson One Nation Party. Examining the symbolic logic underpinning the rapport between Pauline Hanson and her constituency, it explores the connection between forms of love and forms of political organisation. Locating the implosion of One Nation within the context of Hanson's failure to sustain the love-bonds of a totalitarian leader with her/his followers, it argues that the lack of democracy within One Nation was not a cause of its failure. The desire animating One Nation was for an autocratic leader and the totalitarian structure of One Nation posed no obstacle to the movement's fortunes until love shifted the libidinal field.