Police attitudes in assigning responsibility for wife abuse

Prevailing myths concerning wife abuse generally tend to blame the victim. The present study examines the degree of responsibility assigned by police officers to the wife, the husband, as well as the couple's socioeconomic situation in cases of wife abuse. The officer's position (neutral vs supportive) adopted toward the woman is also investigated. The influence of eight characteristics related either to the spouses or to the situation of violence on both the officer's position and the attribution of responsibility is analyzed. The characteristics are: couple's socioeconomic status, type of household, drinking by husband, alleged antagonism on the part of the wife, ambivalence of wife to press charges, type of abuse, history of assault, and violence toward children. The results are based on answers to case vignettes provided by 235 municipal police officers. The data were analyzed by performing a multivariate analysis of variance. Results indicate the type of abuse to be the characteristic with the greatest impact on police attitudes. While the husband is systematically considered more responsible than the wife, police officers always consider the wife somewhat responsible, particularly when there is alleged antagonism by the woman and when threats of violence are present.     

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura causing sudden, unexpected death--a series of eight patients

Eight patients were presented to the medical examiner after dying suddenly and unexpectedly from thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Compared with patients who die after prolonged hospitalization and treatment, these patients showed fewer neurologic symptoms and correspondingly fewer or no microthrombi within the brain. Only four of eight subjects developed fever, which further contributed to misdiagnosis. The differences in clinical presentation between our cases and most published series is striking and may be explained by shorter duration and no treatment. Each case contained the characteristic histology of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Ischemic injury to the heart and conduction system was the most likely mechanism of sudden death. Included in this series is a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) diagnosed at autopsy, a concurrence that is now appearing more frequently in the medical literature.     

The ethical poverty of cost-benefit methods: Autonomy,efficiency and public policy choice

The principle of efficiency holds as the basic standard of market decision-making. Routinely however, it has been applied as a standard of judgement to public choices as well. This essay proceeds on the basis of four assumptions. First, that efficiency, outside the market context, has two manifestations (Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and Cost-Benefit Methods) which are made distinct by one's concentration on judging the most cost-effective means to policy ends otherwise arrived at, and the other's use of efficiency to judge both the means and end of policy choice. Second, that although efficiency is a fit primary decision standard within a competitive market a principle with more distinctly moral weight is needed to judge ends outside of markets. Third, that one possible source of this moral weight is individual autonomy or freedom that is a fit ethical principle upon which to set the ends of public policy. Fourth, that the use of cost-benefit methods rather than cost-effectiveness analysis implies that it can satisfy the requirements of both efficiency and autonomy. If the efficient policy choice also provided protection of individual autonomy then cost-benefit methods could be used for the analysis of public policy ends, but if it fails to have a deeper moral justification then the role of efficiency in the public sector must be limited only to its judgement of cost-effective means to policy ends arrived at by a non-efficiency standard. I will argue that the autonomy of individual choice in a market is a thin and morally impoverished ethical standard of judgement that adds no additional moral weight to market efficiency for the judgements of policy ends. This conclusion limits efficiency to the consideration of public means alone, eliminating cost-benefit methods as a fit approach to policy analysis while simultaneously promoting cost-effectiveness analysis and the search for an independent moral standard for the assessment of public ends.This essay was originally prepared for the 1989 meeting of the APSA in Atlanta and I wish to thank all those who read and commented on my work at that time. In addition, I would like to thank those who participated in its evolution to this form: Douglas MacLean, Mark Sagoff, Brian Barry, Alan Donagan, Russell Hardin, Maurice Wade, Andy Gold, Thomas Reilly, Diana Evans, an anonymous reviewer at Policy Sciences and its two editors, William Ascher and G. Brewer.     

The lay component in Scottish juvenile justice

A recently completed study of the Scottish juvenile justice system, employing a variety of methodological approaches, is used as a source of information on the behavior and attitudes of the lay volunteers who make up children's panels and are responsible for decisions concerning young people who are alleged to have committed an offense or are believed to be in need of care and protection. The reported data relate to the beliefs of panel members as to the causes of delinquency and the objectives of intervention and alternative disposals; the topics they raise for discussion in children's hearings and the factors which influence the decisions they make; and the manner in which they are perceived by the children and parents who have appeared before them.     

Assessment of methods of homicides in a Brazilian city: a preliminary study

Homicides in the city of Ribeir?o Preto, state of S?o Paulo, Brazil, were analyzed with regard to methods (firearms or others) and gender, in a retrospective study from 1993 to 1997. There was a progressive increase in the number of homicides, mainly after 1995, with an increment of 86.6% in 1997 in comparison to 1993. The incidence of homicides was higher among males, with firearms being the most common method in this group since 1993. In addition, a 10% increase in this method was observed since 1995, in association with a proportional reduction in the use of other methods. The incidence of homicides among females remained stable until 1996 and increased by 51.3% in 1997. Simultaneously, firearms have become the most common method among female victims (71.4%), pattern similar to that observed among males. Attention is drawn to the social and economic conditions and their relationships with drug traffic in the city.