The MacArthur Treatment Competence Study. II

This article reports the development and psychometric properties of three standardized and objectively scored measures, the MacArthur Treatment Competence Research Instruments. They were designed to assess abilities related conceptually to four legal standards for competence to consent to treatment: understanding, appreciation, rational manipulation (reasoning), and expressing a choice. Scoring reliability, internal consistency, intertest correlations, and test-retest correlations were examined with data from samples of hospitalized patients with schizophrenia, major depression, and ischemic heart disease, as well as matched non-ill community samples. The results indicate very good interscorer reliability and provide guidance for the use of the instruments and interpretation of their results in future research on patients' decisional abilities in treatment contexts.     

Failure to Update: An Institutional Perspective on Noncompliance With the Family and Medical Leave Act

At least one‐quarter of covered workplaces violated the parental leave requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) when surveyed in 1997. What explains this noncompliance? Using a survey of 389 U.S. workplaces and qualitative interviews with managers in 40 organizations, I demonstrate that noncompliance comes in distinct forms. Some forms of noncompliance result from a failure to update institutionalized—and gendered—policies, practices, and norms. This form of noncompliance (indicated by illegally short leaves) is better explained by the institutional perspective, while outright noncompliance (as evidenced by a lack of leaves) is best explained by rational choice and deviant culture theories.     

The Effects of Juror Anonymity on Jury Verdicts

This study examined the effects of anonymity on jurors' verdicts and on jurors' feelings of accountability for their jury's verdicts. Twenty four-person anonymous juries and 20 four-person nonanonymous juries rendered individual and group verdicts for three student defendants charged with selling drugs on a school campus. When unanimous guilty verdicts were reached, juries imposed one of five punishments. Finally, jurors completed postdeliberation opinion and accountability questionnaires. As predicted, anonymous juries showed a higher rate of conviction (70%) than did nonanonymous juries (40%) when the evidence against the defendant was strong, supporting the hypothesis that anonymity would have a greater effect for situations in which there was relatively strong evidence of the defendant's guilt. Anonymous juries imposed the harshest punishment (expulsion) significantly more often than did nonanonymous juries. Contrary to predictions from differential self-awareness theory, anonymous juries did not report feeling less accountable than did nonanonymous juries. However, anonymous juries did see the process as significantly more fair than did identifiable juries.     

IMPLEMENTING COMPARABLE WORTH IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: THEORY AND PRACTICE AT THE STATE AND LOCAL LEVEL

This paper defines comparable worth as part of the pay equity movement, given an overview of the reasons for its development in the 1980s.and identifies objections to its implementation. It also articulates the political and implementation challenges comparable worth presents and specifies the purpose of this special symposium.     

US Appeals Court reminder: threats of litigation made during TTAB settlement discussions may support jurisdiction for declaratory judgment

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that jurisdictionwas proper in a declaratory judgment action brought to establishtrade mark non-infringement, when the plaintiff had a reasonableapprehension of litigation based on threatening statements madeduring the course of discussions to settle disputes pendingbefore the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) that wereotherwise subject to Federal Rule of Evidence 408, which typicallymakes statements made during settlement inadmissible for establishingliability but not for other purposes.     

Stable hydrogen isotope analysis as a method to identify illegally trapped songbirds

We measured stable hydrogen isotope ratios in the primary feathers of two subspecies of goldfinches, confiscated by the Police and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) on suspicion that they had been illegally taken from the wild. We found significant differences in the delta2H values of the two subspecies indicating that they were sourced from different geographical regions. Our results correlated with isotopic precipitation maps and with the known distribution of the two subspecies of goldfinch. We believe that this technique could be used by law enforcement agencies to determine the origin of birds in cases where the species or subspecies involved are geographically distinct.     

Building informal knowledge‐sharing relationships between policy makers and academics: Insights from a PM&C engagement project

This article outlines an innovative project to encourage knowledge sharing and engagement between academics and a policy team within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C). The project was designed to enhance policy advice by drawing on a group of academics outside the policy ranks to act as a sounding board, to question, and provide differing perspectives within the policy process of crafting advice to government. External expertise and particularly academic research has the potential to improve evidence‐based policy but often fails to be specific or timely for those at the “pointy end” of policy decision making. An informal knowledge sharing framework has the potential to improve the exchange of information through confidential and targeted conversations between researchers and public servants as one way of overcoming these barriers.