A Comparison of uninformed and informed death penalty opinions: A replication and expansion

This study examines the influence on death penalty opinions of participating in a college class on the death penalty. Students in the class (the experimental group) and in another class offered at the same time (the control group) were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their attitudes toward capital punishment at the beginning and at the end of the semester. They were also asked factual questions that measured their knowledge about capital punishment. Overall, the results of the study suggest that both groups were not well informed during the pretest measure. However, at the end of the semester, the group enrolled in the death penalty class were more knowledgable, less supportive of the death penalty based on general/absrtact questions, and more likely to favor alternatives to capital punishment than were the students in the control group.     

Managing conflict in divided societies: Lessons from Tajikistan

This article presents a new approach to managing conflict in divided societies and describes how it is being implemented in Tajikistan. This approach involves two interrelated strategies: (1) a five-stage unofficial dialogue process aimed at probing the dynamics of the conflictual relationships among the parties and designing a sequence of interactive steps to changing the relationships; and (2) a civil society strategy aimed at building institutions of civil society that transcend the traditional divisions in the society. Randa M. Slim is a program officer in charge of the international civil society programs at the Kettering Foundation, 200 Commons Road, Dayton, Ohio 45459.Harold H. Saunders, former member of the National Security Council Staff and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, is Director of International Affairs at the Kettering Foundation, 444 North Capitol Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. They co-direct the Tajikistani dialogue program.     

Southern African contradictions: Part I,the role of U.S. based multinational corporations (MNCs)

Summary This is the first of two articles which seek to explain how the distorted growth of South Africa has enabled it to dominate and underdevelop the entire southern African region while itself becoming increasingly dependent externally on Western multinational corporations. A simple model provides the theoretical framework for this analysis. A brief historial sketch of the handful of powerful mining finance houses, led by the Anglo American Group involving U.S. and British interests, have joined the racist South African Government to build state capitalism and coerce the black Africn majority to work for less than subsistence wages. In this context, the largest U.S. multinational corporations, many of them linked through their boards of directors and financial ties to each other and high U.S. officials, play an increasingly critical role in providing sorely-needed capital and advanced technology to strengthen South Africa's industrial complex. At the same time, U.S. interests are attempting to influence the South African black trade union movement to acquiesce to the basic structure of the resulting exploitative political economy.The second article will outline the way South African and multinational corporate interests have penetrated the political economies of neighboring countries to obtain low-cost labor, raw materials, and markets for their expanding output of manufactured goods.     

The provision of government information: the federal Freedom of Information Act experience

Abstract. A little more than a decade has elapsed since public access to federal executive branch records, previously thwarted by a ‘need to know’ policy, was facilitated by a new operational premise in government information law. Presuming all executive department and agency documents should be available to the citizenry, other than categories permissively exempted by the statute, the Freedom of Information Act provides both the basic authority and the procedure for realizing ‘the people's right to know’ about the activities and operations of the state. Until recent times, however, experience with the foi Act was not particularly satisfying. In 1974, after Congress discovered the failure of the executive branch to seriously and faithfully administer the law, amendments were made to the original statute to assure efficient operation. Presently, annual report data, required by the improved For Act, seem to indicate that most federal agencies are having little difficulty in meeting the new administrative standards. Initial implementation costs are high for some agencies but are peculiar to only a few entities and must be regarded as starting expenses which will, in all likelihood, significantly diminish over the next few years. Efforts toward refining the foi Act and its administration continue. While a degree of vigilance is required to maintain the existing guarantees of the statute, an element of vision will contribute to not only an extension of ‘the people's right to know’ but to the further realization of open government in an open society as well. Sommaire. Un peu plus de dix ans se sont écoulés depuis qu'un nouveau prin-cipe de la loi sur l'mformation gouvemementale a facilité l'accès du public aux dossiers du pouvoir exécutif, accès qui était restreint précédemment par la politique de la « connaissance en fonction des besoins ». Prenons pour acquis tous les documents des ministères et organismes devaient ětre accessibles aux citoyens, à l'exception des catégories prevues par la loi, la législature procurait à la fois l'autorité légale et la procédure pour assurer « le droit du peuple à connaitre » les activités et les opérations de l'état. Ce n'est que depuis peu, cependant, que l'application de la loi sur l'accessibilite de l'information est relativement satisfaisante. En 1974, le Congrès s'est rendu compte que le pouvoir exécutif n'administrait la loi ni sérieusement ni fidèlement et a apporté des amendements au texte original pour en assurer l'application efficace. A l'heure actuelle, les données des rapports annuels, exigés par la loi amendée, semblent indiquer que la plupart des organismes fédéraux n'ont pas de difficultés à respecter les nouvelles normes administra-tives. Les coǔts initiaux de mise en oeuvre sont élévés pour certaines organisations, peu nombreuses cependant, mais il faut considérer ces dépenses comme une mise de fonds de départ qui, vraisemblablement, diminuera au cours des prochaines années. Les efforts se poursuivent dans le but d'amilious la loi sur l'accessibilité de l'information ainsi que son administration. Une certaine vigilance est néces-saire pour maintenir les garanties existantes mais il faudra ausi une certaine vision qui contribuera non seulement àétendre « le droit du peuple à con-naitre » mais permettra aussi d'avoir un gouvernement accessible dans une société ouverte.     

Formation and change in lay evaluations of criminal sentencing

In public opinion polls, a substantial proportion of lay respondents report that judges are too lenient. We examine the factors that contribute to this perceived judicial leniency. The majority of lay respondents in our study said that judges are too lenient in their sentencing of burglary offenders; yet, their own sentencing preferences were more lenient than the required minimum sentence for residential burglary. Our survey and experimental data suggest that citizens' opinions are formed by their inaccurate impressions of the seriousness of actual criminal cases as well as actual judicial sentencing practices. Our experimental research indicates that opinions of judicial leniency can be changed by providing respondents with an example of the typical case that comes before the court. Directions for future research are discussed.We wish to express gratitude to Patti Vea, who, under the supervision of the first author, collected and entered the data from mass transit riders. We are indebted to Judge Warren Wolfson, Court Administrator Jeff Arnold, Chief Judge Harry Comerford, and Judge Frank W. Barbaro and his jury pool officers who gave us permission and assistance in obtaining juror participation for this research. We would like to thank Tom Tyler and Patrick McAnany for their insightful comments on earlier drafts, and editor Ron Roesch and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.