Hoebel's crucible

The study of subgroup law through recorded and reconstructed cases presents several analytic problems for the relationship between case content and subgroup practices. The greater the relative structural strength of a social system the greater the mythical content of its communications related to “outside” worlds. Constructing structural models of legal systems in contact, and typifying the information content of cases in structural situations, can inform analysis of case content as mythical, politically normative, or representative of subgroup behavior outside of legal forums. Anthropologists and French structural historians can work together to examine structural indicators which signify analytic boundaries for case analysis.     

Erewhon: A manifesto of the rehabilitative ideal

Samuel Butler's novel, Erewhon (1872) is well known as a minor literary classic. This article proposes that it is also important in criminological history, in epitomizing a generation of debate about the nature of criminal responsibility. Butler wished to illustrate a paradox: contemporary social and medical sciences showed the role of determinism in causing crime, yet the courts still acted on the myth of free will, individual choice, and responsibility. Butler satirized this by depicting an imaginary world where sick people were stigmatized and punished for a condition they could not help—just as real criminals were blamed for factors beyond their control. The novel is a call for the replacement of deterrent or retributive punishment by rehabilitation and a medical model. It was especially important in the early twentieth century in helping to popularize the attack on free will and deterrence, and in propagandizing for the new discretionary penology.     

Coparent Support and Conflict in African American Single Mother-Headed Families: Associations With Maternal and Child Psychosocial Functioning

This longitudinal investigation examined main and interactive effects of coparent support and conflict on mother and child adjustment in 248 low-income, African American, single mother-headed families. The findings indicated that coparent conflict was a more robust predictor of mother and child maladjustment both cross-sectionally and longitudinally than was coparent support. Moreover, findings revealed that coparent conflict and support interacted to predict one parenting behavior, monitoring, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Coparent relationships characterized by high levels of support and low levels of conflict were associated with the highest levels of parental monitoring behavior, whereas coparent relationships characterized by low levels of support and high levels of conflict were associated with the lowest levels of monitoring. The findings highlight the importance of examining both positive and negative aspects of coparent relationships in this at-risk, but understudied, group.     

Partner stalking and implications for women's employment

In general research suggests partner violence has a negative impact on women's employment. However, there has been limited examination of partner stalking and consequences for employment. The purpose of this study was to examine partner stalking and employment consequences among two samples of women. One sample was women who had obtained a protective order against a violent partner and had worked in the prior year (n = 482), about one half of these women were stalked by their violent partner and one half were not. The second study examined qualitative information from women recently stalked (n = 62) by a violent partner. Results from both studies suggest that women who were stalked by a violent partner were significantly more susceptible to on-the-job harassment and problems. Also, women reported that stalking by a partner interfered in their work through on-the-job harassment, work disruption, and job performance problems. Implications for policy and research are discussed.     

Coparenting Conflict and Parenting Behavior in Economically Disadvantaged Single Parent African American Families: The Role of Maternal Psychological Distress

Substantial research has focused on the negative associations between coparenting conflict, parental psychological functioning, and parenting behavior in European American, middle-income, families. However, less attention has been given to ethnic minority families and to families that are nontraditionally structured. In an effort to address this gap, the current longitudinal study examines the relation between conflict with the mother-identified primary co-caregiver and parenting practices in single parent, economically disadvantaged African American families. Participants included 234 mother–child dyads. It was hypothesized that conflict would relate to less utilization of positive parenting practices and that this association would be mediated, at least in part, by maternal psychological distress. Hypotheses were examined using structural equation modeling (Lisrel 8.3): Conflict with a co-caregiver was significantly related to parenting both directly and indirectly through maternal psychological distress. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Information Exchange in Policy Networks

Information exchange in policy networks is usually attributed to preference similarity, influence reputation, social trust, and institutional actor roles. We suggest that political opportunity structures and transaction costs play another crucial role and estimate a rich statistical network model on tie formation in the German toxic chemicals policy domain. The results indicate that the effect of preference similarity is absorbed by institutional, relational, and social opportunity structures. Political actors choose contacts who minimize transaction costs while maximizing outreach and information. We also find that different types of information exchange operate in complementary, but not necessarily congruent, ways.