The prisoner's dilemma: Theory and reality

The prisoner's dilemma has become the classic example of a situation in which the process of cooperation itself produces incentives to not cooperate. An implication of the dilemma is that the prosecutor can obtain leverage in cases involving codefendants not available in other cases, by exchanging a prospect of reduction in sentence by way of plea bargaining in return for information or testimony against other codefendants. The prisoner's dilemma is described, previous analyses of the dilemma are reviewed, and then the implication stated above is tested against available data. For a cohort of defendants in robbery cases, it is found that neither the plea rate, conviction rate, nor incarceration rate is significantly higher in cases involving codefendants than in other cases.     

A STUDY OF DOMESTIC MEDIATION OUTCOMES WITH INDIGENT PARENTS

This research is a study of domestic mediation outcomes of a group of indigent clients served by a grant awarded to Family Development Services at Fort Hays State University by the Kansas Supreme Court Dispute Resolution Council. The period studied was September 1998 through December 1999. There was a total of 29 mediation cases included in the study. The results demonstrated that domestic mediation with indigent clients is equally as effective as domestic mediation with nonindigent clients. Several dependent variables were examined in respect to positive correlations with mediation outcomes.     

New Labour, Gender Mainstreaming and the Women and Equality Unit

New Labour's approach to gender mainstreaming is perhaps best exemplified through the work of the Women and Equality Unit (WEU). In this article we chart the development of the Unit and varied initiatives in which it has been involved and provide a preliminary assessment of the Unit's work. We start with a discussion of Labour's approach to mainstreaming. This provides a context for a profile of the work of the Women's Unit (WU) between 1997 and 2001 and its successor the WEU, between 2001 and 2002. We consider the work of the Units in relation to the government's reforms to the policy-making process, focusing upon location, issue territory and connectivity. Using these three criteria our appraisal of the work of the WEU draws attention to three issues: firstly, the institutional uncertainty surrounding the status of the Unit; secondly, the degree to which the remit of the Unit has been unlike that of other cross-cutting units in addressing a broad gender agenda rather than specific policy areas, but that this is now shifting with the increasing focus on economic issues; and thirdly, the extent to which the Unit is reliant on non-feminist actors within the decision-making elite to help pursue its aims. We will suggest that the Unit may have made a small, but significant, contribution to the development of gender mainstreaming processes. Its contribution has been greatest where gender equality policies coincide with government priorities. Its contribution to the process of mainstreaming gendered perspectives into all policy-making is much harder to discern.     

Transitions in relationship style from adolescence to young adulthood

Literature on friendships of adolescents and young adults suggests important gender and age-related differences. In a study of transitions in relationship style from middle adolescence (high school) to late adolescence (college), 300 students described their relationship with the person who was closest to them, either same or other sex. Four relationship styles were characteristic: integrated (high friendly and high intimate), intimate (high intimate and low friendly), friendly (high friendly and low intimate), and uninvolved (low intimate and low friendly). Women's more intimate styles of relating, as compared to men's more uninvolved styles, suggested that women developed earlier competence at intimate relating than did men. Viewed as particularly important were the college women's close friendships with those of the same gender, an experience uncharacteristic of adolescent men in high school and college. Results were discussed in terms of Erikson's stages of development and Sullivan's concept of the chum.Received Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Colorado. Major interests are relationship style, intimacy development, and transitions to adulthood.     

Myths and the definition of policy problems

In this paper we argue that behind widely accepted problem definitions are myths, stories which draw on tradition and taken for granted knowledge. These myths, which may or may not be true in a factual sense, are important to the definition of problems because they link public issues to widely accepted ways of understanding the world and to shared moral evaluations of conditions, events, and possible solutions to problems. Such myths perform a double-edged function in a policy or planning process. On the one hand, they can provide creative inspiration for policies, a way of translating community values into action proposals, and a powerful means to communicate to a broad public and rally support. They can mediate social and economic change by allowing new policies to carry familiar meaning. On the other hand, a myth can conceal crucial contradictions and realities, legitimize policies that benefit the powerful, and support anachronistic perceptions of policy problems. These ideas are explored in case histories of two areas of urban policy. In one we trace the support for home ownership to a transformation of the Jeffersonian myth of the independent yeoman farmer as the ideal citizen. This use of myth made home ownership the cornerstone of US housing policies and helped suppress alternatives. Though debate over home ownership occurs in the context of housing policy, the tacit purpose is to maintain a myth which is central to our identity as a nation. In the second example, public officials and analysts engaged in an explicit myth-making process to garner support for public-private partnerships as a central tool in urban redevelopment. The myths, which drew on familiar themes, made socially beneficial cooperation seem easy to achieve and legitimized new political and institutional arrangements though it also concealed implementation difficulties. Though myths complicate the effort to use rational, systematic analysis, they are an inevitable part of policy making and planning processes. Planning professionals must openly confront myths and make creative, responsible, use of them rather than allow policies and plans to be subject to their unexamined influence.     

INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN MICROELECTRONICS

Federal, state and local governments have encouraged university-industry cooperation in recent years through a number of different policies and programs. Industry has increasingly been looking to universities for new ideas, closer collaboration and more timely access to research results. Various levels of government have become increasingly involved in joint funding with industry in new university-industry research centers and institutes. State and local governments spend considerable effort to attract high-technology industry, using university-industry collaborative programs as one incentive. Yet despite the theoretical and policy importance of this topic, it has received little systematic research attention.
This contribution reports the results of a National Science Foundation-funded study investigating technology transfer in microelectronics between Arizona State University located in the Phoenix metropolitan area and surrounding microelectronics firms. The results describe state and local initiatives influencing such technology transfer, how the initial technology transfer contact comes about, how research goals, topics and activities are decided upon, and how resources and funding support is secured. In addition satisfaction from, benefits and costs of, as well as attitudes bout technology transfer are reported.     

An 18-Year Model of Family and Peer Effects on Adolescent Drug Use and Delinquency

The interrelationship of family and peer experiences in predicting adolescent problem behaviors was examined in an 18-year longitudinal sample of adolescents (N = 198) from conventional and nonconventional families. Positive associations among early childhood predictors and adolescent problem behaviors were consistent with problem behavior theory. The most powerful predictors of teen drug use and delinquent behaviors were similar behaviors by peers. Peer behaviors, however, were in turn predicted by earlier family-related variables and the quality of peer relationships in childhood. This study provides supporting evidence that strong peer effects in adolescence reflect even earlier processes in childhood and highlight the importance of linkages from early childhood experiences in family and peer contexts to the development of problem behaviors in adolescence. Implications for prevention and intervention programs are discussed.