Stun gun injuries in the abuse and death of a seven-month-old infant

The author autopsied a seven-month-old infant who was shocked repeatedly with a stun gun by his foster mother, in an attempt by the foster mother to get the infant to stop crying. The stun gun injuries were round, well-circumscribed, erythematous macular lesions, which were found in pairs. The lesions were 2 in. apart, and were found to match the distance between the electrodes of the stun gun found in the foster mother's purse. Based on the electrical output of the stun gun, the small size of the infant, location of stun gun discharge, and the decreased resistance of the infant's skin, it can be concluded that the stun gun injury is responsible for the infant's death.     

Gender,Politics and the State: What Do Middle Eastern Women Want?

The essays that follow are drawn from invited presentations of the Conference Group on the Middle East, which meets annually in conjunction with the American Political Science Association. The essays published here were presented in San Francisco, August 29-September 1, 1996, on one of three panels dealing with gender, politics and the state. Thanks to the continuing generosity of the Ford Foundation, five scholars from the Middle East were able to participate. The contributors would like to thank Farhad Kazemi, Deborah Gerner and Jean Lecafor their excellent comments at the panels. Louis J. Cantori, who has shepherded the Conference Group since its creation by a group of University of Chicago graduates more than a decade ago, deserves special thanks for his tireless commitment.     

Does it pay to move from welfare to work?

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act requires welfare recipients to look for work and has made it more difficult for nonworking recipients to remain on the welfare rolls. In addition, the economic boom of the 1990s and changes in federal and state policies have raised the net income gain associated with moving from welfare to work. This paper analyzes data from a panel survey of single mothers, all of whom received welfare in February 1997. In 1999, those who left welfare and were working had a higher household income and lower poverty rate, experienced a similar level of material hardship, engaged in fewer activities to make ends meet, and had lower expectations of experiencing hardship in the near future than did nonworking welfare recipients. Estimations of fixed‐effect regressions of income that control for both observable and unobservable time‐invariant characteristics show that monthly net income increases by $2.63 for every additional hour of work effort. About 60 percent of the observed monthly income difference between wage‐reliant and welfare‐reliant mothers can be attributed to differences in their work effort. Thus, after welfare reform, it does pay to move from welfare to work. © 2002 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Strengthening Effective Government–Citizen Connections through Greater Civic Engagement

Citizens are more trusting of government since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, but their civic behaviors are little changed. One reason is that they mostly have been asked for monetary gifts to fund disaster relief and to serve others through existing nonprofit organizations. Available theoretical and empirical analyses suggest the three factors of motivation, skills, and network connections contribute to increased civic engagement, which is defined by behaviors such as seeking to persuade others to join in mobilizing commitment and resources to address a collective problem. Responses to 9/11 have not addressed these three factors. Increased civic engagement strengthens democracy and can contribute to the development of public judgment, which is critical to sustaining support of efforts to thwart terrorism. Success in any effort to increase civic engagement requires different strategies and actions by public officials.