Small business innovation,research, and development

Historically, small businesses have been the innovation engine of the United States, with significantly more than half of the new technologies and products coming from small enterprises. In 1992, there were more than 21 million small businesses with fewer than 500 employees each in the United States, including 4.5 million small corporations, 1.6 million partnerships, and 15.1 million sole proprietorships. Although most small businesses have considerably fewer than 100 employees, they employ more than half the private U.S. work force, contribute more than half of all sales in the country, and are responsible for over half of the private sector's products. From 1976 to 1990, small firms also generated 65% of the net new jobs. From 1988 to 1990, all of the net new jobs in the U.S. economy were created by small firms. Indeed, small business is really big business in the United States.     

Inmates: Who occupies our jails?

The purpose of this investigation was to identify inmate personal and demographic data that may be used to further define or profile persons with a greater likelihood of being at risk for serving a jail sentence. This study was explorative. The survey administration was similar in format to that conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice. Chaplains were used as survey proctors. Pilot studies were conducted to determine the suitability of survey content. Surveys consisted of 172 items. Subjects included four hundred inmates: males comprised 88.75 percent of the sample, Caucasians 58.25 percent, Blacks 37 percent, Hispanics 3.25 percent and other 1.5 percent of the sample. Respondents ranged in age from 15 to 64 years with an average age of 30.3 years. Less than two percent of the contacted inmates refused participation in the survey. Results are presented for demographic data, select legal/criminal data, select drug and alcohol use data, employment data, health, parent/family data, education data, social data, and “other”.     

The incidence of alleged sexual abuse in 603 family court cases

The conflict and animosity that sometimes accompanies child custody disputes can give rise to the propagation of allegations of child sexual abuse. To characterize the magnitude of the problem, the present study attempted to determine whether and to what extent child sexual abuse allegations predominate in family court litigation. The entire one-year caseload of a county family court docket was systematically reviewed and coded. Methodical evaluation of 603 family court files yielded base rates of pertinent allegations and other information profiling the cases. The findings did not support the contention that sexual abuse allegations are commonplace in child custody disputes. Sexual abuse allegations were made in 2% of cases in which custody or access was contested and in only 0.8% of the cases overal. Implications of the findings for future research were discussed.The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Honorable William R. Campbell and Barbara Scott, Clerk of Court for the South Carolina Fifth Judicial Circuit, as well as the contributions of Angie Newton, Frank Robinson, and Kimberly Ellis in the data collection process.     

Federal labor protetons and the privatization of public transit

Federal transportation officials assert that labor protections in the Urban Mass Transportation Act inhibit the propensity of local transit agencies to contract with private firms for services. The authors present results from a survey of a large sample of transit managers and econometric analysis to support their conclusion that labor protections do not appear to reduce the incidence of contracting. The labor protections, however, may be costly to transit management in other ways. The authors recommend actions, aside from repeal of labor protections, to increase contracting by local transit agencies.