Juror Judgments in Civil Cases: Effects of Plaintiff's Requests and Plaintiff's Identity on Punitive Damage Awards

Two experiments were conducted to study the manner in which civil jurors assess punitive damage awards. Jury-eligible citizens were shown a videotaped summary of an environmental damage lawsuit and told that the defendant had already paid compensatory damages. They were asked to judge liability for punitive damages and, if damages were to be assessed, to assign a dollar award. Three independent variables were manipulated in the case materials: the dollar amounts that were explicitly requested by the plaintiffs in their closing arguments to the jury, the geographical location of the defendant corporation, and the location of the lead plaintiff. Consistent with prior findings of anchor effects on judgments, we found that the plaintiffs requested award values had a dramatic effect on awards: the higher the request, the higher the awards. We also found that local plaintiffs were awarded more than were geographically remote plaintiffs, while the location of the defendant company did not have reliable effects on the awards. The implications of these results for procedures in civil trials and for theories of juror decision making are discussed.     

School violence prevention measures: School officials' attitudes about various strategies

Concern about school violence has been escalating in recent years. A variety of strategies are used in efforts to prevent violence in schools. These remedies can be classified as legal, interactionist, and physical remedies. Legal remedies refer to laws, like the reasonable suspicion to search strategy that allows school officials to search and seize contraband. Interactionist remedies refer to practices that encourage students and other school officials to communicate more openly with school officials about possible cases of violence. Physical remedies refer to strategies that involve altering the school environment in an effort to prevent violence. This study considered the way that 138 school officials from the Commonwealth of Virginia defined the usefulness of these strategies. Attention was also given to whether certain factors contribute to the officials' assessments of the efficacy of each prevention strategy. Results of the study showed that the interactionist, and then legal remedies are believed to be the most useful, while physical remedies are perceived as the least useful strategies. The study uncovered differences of opinion based on racial lines. As an example, more Blacks than Whites were more likely to describe metal detectors as a very useful strategy. Implications of the study are provided.     

Problem solving as reinforcement in adolescent drug use: Implications for theory and policy

The problem of adolescent drug use received a great deal of attention both in criminological theory and public policy. Predominant among theories was Akers' social learning theory which examined the role of learning through a process of imitation, modeling, and reinforcement. Public policy led to the development of programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) that aimed to warn youths of the dangers of drug use. In line with research findings, both theory and policy gave a central role to peers in understanding adolescent drug use. Less attention was given to another important finding in the literature, that those who used drugs often perceived the drugs as solutions to problems. Using social learning theory, the role of perceptions of drug use as an effective problem solver was examined. Results indicated that a more explicit recognition of the use of drugs to deal with problems might inform both theory and policy.     

布莱尔、布朗的鹰谷议程与全球政治的不平等发展

2005年7月在苏格兰鹰谷(Gleneagles)举行的八国首脑会议上,布莱尔和布朗提出了帮助贫困国家发展的议程。通过反思“鹰谷”会议及其后续会议的成果与启示,批评布莱尔、布朗和“变贫困为历史”活动内在包含的概念框架,可以看到,“变贫穷为历史”的目标是无法实现的。在金融、贸易和环境领域等发展策略的三个主要竞技场中,世界各国于一种复杂的结构不平等模式中运作。布莱尔和布朗的鹰谷议程不得不面对不平等发展的全球政治,而且这个议程由于这些政治条件的限制被弄得歪七扭八。