The Ironies of Helping: Social Interventions and Executable Subjects

Law and society scholars have theorized about the link between capital punishment and the hegemony of individualism, but few offer empirical investigations to illustrate how individualism makes capital punishment possible (and vice versa) in the contemporary United States. In order to fill this gap, we analyze the legal and human service records that were compiled in the construction of one executable subject, Daniel Farnsworth. Using a critical discourse approach, we look at what was said and not said about Daniel in the records created by various helping agencies. In our analysis, we demonstrate how the helping agencies involved in Daniel's life repeatedly relied on an individuating psychological paradigm that led them to produce decontextualized catalogs of his actions and characteristics. Next, we illustrate how these pathologizing accounts were, ironically, later invoked in court in the name of preserving his life. Finally, we explain how "helping" discourses, along with the rules that regulate capital defense practice, straightjacket defense attorneys into reinforcing individualism in this context.     

Long-Term Effects of Adolescent Negative Self-Feelings on Adult Deviance: Moderated by Neighborhood Disadvantage, Mediated by Expectations

This paper tests two competing hypotheses, derived from general strain and middle class measuring rod theories, regarding the moderating effects of neighborhood disadvantage on the long-term relationship between adolescent negative self-feelings and adult deviance. The results from longitudinal data support the middle class measuring rod theory: adolescent negative self-feelings increase adult deviance only in middle status neighborhoods and not in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Furthermore, this effect in middle status neighborhoods is mediated by low expectations of the future in while still in adolescence. Our findings show the importance of studying the combination of both the social psychological and the contextual influences on deviance.     

April 19

Richard Abanes, American Militias: Rebellion, Racism and Religion. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996. Pp.296, biblio, index. $13.49 (paper). ISBN 0–8308–1368–3.

John George and Laird Wilcox, American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Communists, & Others. Amherst, NY: Promethius Books, 1996. Pp.443, index.. $31.45 (cloth), $24.95 (paper). ISBN 1–57392–058–4.

Jim Keith, OKBOMB!: Conspiracy and Cover‐Up. Lilburn, GA: Illuminet Press, 1996. Pp.237, index. $14.95 (paper). ISBN 1–881532–08–9.

Kenneth S. Stern,A Force Upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Pp.303, biblio, index. $24.00 (cloth), $15.26 (paper). ISBN 0–684–81916–3.

Brandon M. Stickney, “All American Monster”: The Unauthorized Biography of Tim McVeigh. Amherst, NY: Promethius Books, 1996. Pp.336, index. $23.95. ISBN 1–57392–088–6.

Jess Walter, Every Knee Shall Bow: The Truth & Tragedy of Ruby Ridge & The Weaver Family. New York: ReganBooks, 1995. Pp.375. $24.00 (cloth), $6.29 (paper). ISBN 0–06–0391 74‐X.     

Beyond Performance: Racial Prejudice and Whites’ Mistrust of Government

Political Behavior - Scholars have argued that racial policy beliefs contributed to a decline in public trust among white-Americans, but this effect waned over time as racial policies left the...