Examining the relationship between school suspensions/expulsions and felonies

This paper examines the suspensions and expulsions of students. Using individual student pupil (rather than incident) data, this research examines whether these rates are driven by a few high-volume offenders and whether high-volume offenders become felons. This study uses the number of students at three levels of violations: 0 offenses, 1–3 offenses, and four or more offenses. The authors also examined the relationship between the three groups of violators and committing a felony as a juvenile. The number of offenses per student ranged from 0 to 31. Findings indicated that those with 0 school infractions had no felonies, while the other two groups of violators 1–3 and four or more had a similar numbers of felonies. Implications for developmental models of delinquency are discussed.     

Democracy and Rule-making Within the EC: An Empirical and Normative Assessment

The object of this article is to consider the democratic legitimacy of the structure of legislative authority which exists within the EC. The analysis draws upon the work of Joseph Weiler, and accepts that different conceptions of democracy may best explain different aspects of the Community. The present article addresses only what Joseph Weiler terms the supranational aspects of the Community and suggests that a replication model of democracy can help us to understand the division of competence in this area. While changes can undoubtedly be made which will improve the operation of democracy within this sphere of the Community, and such changes are suggested in the subsequent analysis, it is argued that the republican model provides a sound basis on which to build.     

On the selection of capital juries

Death qualification may bias capital juries not only because it alters the composition of the group “qualified” to sit, but also because it exposes them to an unusual and suggestive legal process. This study examined some of the effects of that process. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two conditions in which they were exposed to standard criminalvoir dire that either included death qualification or did not. Subjects who were exposed to death qualification were significantly more conviction prone, more likely to believe that other trial participants thought the defendant was guilty, were more likely to sentence him to death, and believed that the law disapproves of death penalty opposition. Several psychological features of the death-qualification process are suggested to account for the biasing effects.     

SOCIAL PROGRAM INNOVATION AND DISSEMINATION: A STUDY OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE PROCESSES

The dissemination of social program innovations that have been demonstrated to be effective through rigorous evaluation is an important issue. The classical dissemination framework emphasizes the position that programs implemented with fidelity to the original model are most likely to produce the positive outcomes demonstrated in the model's evaluation phase. However, critics suggest that local programs that are extensively modified are more likely to meet local goals and, therefore, are more likely to be sustained within the organization. The present research examined the implementation, effectiveness, and routinization of seven innovations replicated in a nationwide sample of organizations. The innovations were diverse in both content and implementing context and were located in a variety of sites, including schools, courts, prisons, police departments, and social service agencies. The results suggest that the innovations were replicated with acceptable levels of fidelity to the disseminated program models, and that higher-fidelity implementations tended to be more effective than those implemented with lower fidelity. The implications of the findings for social program dissemination policy are discussed and the authors propose an expansion of Berman's contingency model of innovation dissemination.     

Criminal justice and the nineteenth-century paradigm

This article examines the influence of psychological individualism on nineteenth-century law and criminal justice policy. The nineteenth century—a formative period both for American law and for human sciences—was dominated by a single overarching conception of human behavior. This article explores the implications and consequences of that domination by first examining the general conditions under which individualism flourished in the United States, and then focusing on specific criminal justice policies that were pemised on this individualistic paradigm. It suggests that individualistic assumptions about human behavior were incorporated into what became intractable legal and institutional forms. The article also develops the relationship between law and human science during this period, and the way in which criminal justice policies were advanced as scientific doctrines. Finally, it concludes with a brief discussion of the role played by psychology in criminal justice policy since the nineteenth—century, and the recent resurgence of psychological individualism.     

National Styles of Worker Protection in the United States and Japan: The Case of the Automotive Industry

This paper compares and contrasts the national styles or approaches to the regulation and management of occupational safety and health distinctive of the United States and Japan within the context of the automotive industries of these two countries. Referring to comparative workplace injury and illness experience and data on safety and health regulatory activities, strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches are considered. It is suggested that an optimal strategy would contain elements of both approaches. Elements of the two approaches that might be adapted cross-nationally are identified and discussed.     

Detecting Manipulation in Futures Markets: The Ferruzzi Soybean Episode

Manipulation—the exercise of market power in a futuresmarket—is a felony, but recent court and regulatory decisionshave made conviction of a manipulator problematic. Instead,regulators attempt to prevent manipulation. Deterrence by convictionis more efficient than prevention if manipulations can be detectedwith high probability. An analysis of the Ferruzzi soybean episodeof 1989 demonstrates how to detect manipulation with standardstatistical techniques. It is exceedingly unlikely that theprice and quantity relations observed in May and July 1989 werethe result of competition; they instead reflect market power.The ability to detect manipulation reliably suggests that existingregulation of manipulation in futures and securities marketsis inefficient because it relies on costly prevention ratherthan deterrence.