Race as a factor in university admissions

In two recent cases, Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306. (2003) and Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244. (2003), the Supreme Court held that the Equal Protection Clause permitted state schools to use race-sensitive admissions in order to obtain the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body. The diversity-based argument for race-sensitive admissions, scholarships, awards, and other opportunities at universities should have been rejected because it does not consider the full range of costs and benefits and because the more narrow educational effects probably weigh against such programs. However, this does not suggest that applicants’ race, ethnicity, and gender should be ignored. Rather the same consideration that led to the defeat of the diversity argument, i.e., reasoning capacity, supports the consideration of demographic factors. However, attention to such factors further undermines the consequentialist case for affirmative action.     

Randomized experiments in criminology: What have we learned in the last two decades?

This paper aims to review randomized experiments in criminology with offending outcomes and reasonably large numbers that were published between 1982 and 2004. A total of 83 experiments are summarized, compared with only 35 published between 1957 and 1981: 12 on policing, 13 on prevention, 14 on corrections, 22 on courts, and 22 on community interventions. Randomized experiments are still relatively uncommon, but there have been more large-scale multi-site experiments and replication programs. There have also been several experiments in which 100 or more places were randomly assigned. Relatively few experiments (only 10 out of 83) were conducted outside the United States. Meta-analyses suggest that prevention methods, correctional therapy, batterer programs, drug courts, juvenile restitution and deterrent policing were effective in reducing offending, while Scared Straight and boot camp programs caused a significant increase in offending.     

Campaign contributions in Texas Supreme Court races

One of the most disturbing features of an elective judiciary is judicial campaign finance. This paper explores the financing of the 1988 Texas Supreme Court races, probably the most expensive partisan judicial election campaign in history. It examines the sources of the funding of those six seats on the court in terms of competition among interest groups for control of the court. It also examines proposed reforms in the system of campaign finance and points out that those reforms are not neutral tools of good government, but that instead they have massive political implications for the interests vying to influence the direction of tort law in the state.     

Book reviews

Russland als Vielvolkerreich. Entstehung, Geschichte, Zerfall. Andreas Kappeler. München, Germany: C. H. Beck, 1992, 395 pp, bibliography, index.

A Traveller's Companion to Central Asia. Kathleen Hopkirk. London: John Murray, 1993, 292 pp, £16.

Samarkand and Bukhara. John Lawton. Photographs by Francesco Venturi. London: Tauris Parke Books, 1992, 128 pp, £16.95. Mirror of the Orient. Roland and Sabrina Michaud. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992, 96 pp, £12.95, paperback.

The Continuing Conflict in Kashmir. Regional Conflict in Jeopardy. Iftikhar H. Malik. London: Research Institute for the Study of Conflict and Terrorism, 1993, 25 pp, £10.     

Book reviews

Transcaucasian Boundaries John F. Wright, Suzanne Goldenberg and Richard Schofield (editors) London: UCL Press, 1996, 248pp, £40 and £14.95

The Russian Policy Debate on Central Asia Irina Zviagelskaia London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995, X, 41 pp, £12.50

CIS Integration Trends: Russia and the Former Soviet South Mark Webber London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1997, IX, 72 pp, £12.50 Both distributed by Plimbridge Distributors Ltd, Estover Road, Plymouth. Devon PL6 7PZ, and in North America by the Brookings Institutional Press, Washington DC.

Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition Tadeusz Swietochowski New York: Columbia University Press, 1995, xvi, 290 pp, $34.95

The Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran, 1920–1921 Cosroe Chaqueri Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995, xvii, 649 pp, $75.00

Bibliography of Islamic Central Asia Yuri Bregel (editor and compiler) Bloomington, Indiana: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University, 1995, in three volumes: Pt. I, LXXTV+773 pp; Pt. II, XLIII+774–1512 pp; Pt. III, XXXII+1513–2276 pp, $299

Mohieddin Alempour. A Tajik Visionary Baqer Moin (editor) London: BBC Persian Service, Bush House, 1997, illus, 140 pp, £20

Tatar Costume M. Zavyalova Kazan: Zaman Publishers Fund Turan, 1996, illus, 252 pp, $50