Matching Judicial Supervision to Clients' Risk Status in Drug Court

This article reports outcomes from a program of experimental research evaluating the risk principle in drug courts. Prior studies revealed that participants who were high risk and had (a) antisocial personality disorder or (b) a prior history of drug abuse treatment performed better in drug court when scheduled to attend biweekly judicial status hearings in court. In contrast, participants who were low risk performed equivalently regardless of the court hearings schedule. This study prospectively matches drug court clients to the optimal schedule of court hearings based on an assessment of their risk status and compares outcomes to clients randomly assigned to the standard hearings schedule. Results confirmed that participants who were high risk and matched to biweekly hearings had better during-treatment outcomes than participants assigned to status hearings as usual. These findings provide confirmation of the risk principle in drug courts and yield practical information for enhancing the efficacy and cost-efficiency of drug courts.     

Cost and the calculus of voting

Downs's (1957) theory of voting maintains that individuals balance the costs of voting against anticipated benefits in deciding whether to vote. However, most empirical tests of his theory have concluded that costs play little role in individuals' decisions to vote or abstain, and that benefits are the determining factor. Unfortunately, the existing empirical tests of the theory have been inadequate, especially in regard to the measurement of the cost of voting. Using data from the Comparative State Elections Project, we develop an improved indicator of the cost of voting. When this measure of cost is used in a test of Down's theory, we find, contrary to most earlier research, that the cost of voting seems to be a more important determinant of participation than the factors associated with voting benefits in Downs's model.The authors shared equally in the research reported; the order in which they are listed was determined randomly.     

Innocent victims and evil-doers

As a newspaper reader, headlines attract my attention to particular stories and suggest a way of reading the contents of these. To do this headlines must allow readers to use a variety of sense assembly methods so that they can be decoded to discover their message and instructions. In the paper I discuss how this happens by analyzing the heading GIRL GUIDE AGED 14 RAPED AT HELL'S ANGELS CONVENTION.     

Subsidizing the affluent: the case of medical education.

State and federal funds are important sources of revenue for medical schools, and a strong case can be made for public support for these institutions. Although the federal role is more widely known, the states in fact provide the bulk of direct support for medical training. The nature of aid from the two sources differs in significant ways. Most federal aid supports research or patient care, but much of state aid goes to support unconditional tuition subsidies. The primary beneficiaries of these subsidies are relatively affluent nonminority students who are beginning lucrative careers in the medical field--careers that would be lucrative even if no subsidies were provided. Nor does it appear that general subsidies are needed to attract poor and minority applicants. While targeted loans and scholarships to individuals may be justified, general tuition subsidies are not.     

Battered wives,lawyers, and district attorneys: An examination of law in action

The legal services received by 146 Milwaukee women who had been beaten by their husbands, but had been free of the violence for at least a year, are described and evaluated. Of these women 106 recieved legal help in connection with at least one battering incident. Some women saw more than one member of the legal profession, so the total number of legal contacts among the 106 women was 255. There is evidence that lawyers and district attorneys were most likely to be used by those battered women for whom the use of personal strategies and informal help sources (such as family and friends) were ineffective in combatting the violence. Contrary to the negative image of lawyers and district attorneys found in the literature on wife beating, most legal service contracts were rated as very or fairly successful by the battered women. The more difficult and severe the situation, the higher the success ratings given to lawyers and district attorneys by their clients. Despite the generally positive reactions that most beaten women had to lawyers and district attorneys, there were many negative incidents reported, including district attorneys who refused service or discouraged battered women from filing charges, and lawyers who sided with the aggressors or attempted to meet their personal and professional needs at the expense of their clients. These incidents remind us that it would be useful to educate legal professionals about the nature of family violence, the situation and needs of battered women, and the legal and ethical responsibilities that lawyers and district attorneys have when they are contacted by battered women.     

Some effects and noneffects of campaign commercials: An experimental study

This paper addresses the question of how TV commercials can be used to build support for a candidate. Employing experimental methods, the authors tested the independent effects of several advertisement variables. Spot advertisements of an actual congressional candidate were produced by the authors and shown to groups of viewers who had no other information about the candidate. Evaluation of the candidate differed little among experimental groups, and the lack of extreme differences suggests that the extent to which voters can be manipulated by manufactured images is severely limited. The implications of these findings for candidates and campaign professionals are discussed.