Salient factor score and releasee behavior: Three validation samples

This paper provides an opportunity to observe the application of an actuarial device, used by the United States Parole Commission as an aid in parole selection, to three separate validation samples—each exceeding 1000 cases. Follow-up data for this study were provided through the cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In addition, evidence is presented which may shed light on the conflict in the literature regarding whether or not the rate of unfavorable outcome of released prisoners at risk actually declines substantially after the first year (i.e., whether or not the first year after release is really the most critical).Adapted from Report Fifteen, United States Parole Commission Research Unit, August 1977.     

Testing Ricardian equivalence under uncertainty

This paper uses experimental methods to analyze Ricardian equivalence when the probability of debt retirement is less than one. The results suggest that the presence of outstanding debt and the probability of debt retirement have a strong influence on savings behavior. When the probability of debt retirement is low, consumption by the current generation increases, as predicted by Keynesian theory. However, as the probability of debt retirement increases, bequests rise to offset the future generation's expected repayment liability, and deficit spending becomes much less expansionary, as predicted by Ricardian theory. In general, the average bequest is significantly larger when an outstanding debt is passed on to the next generation than when no debt exists, regardless of the probability of debt retirement. However, as long as there is some uncertainty about debt repayment, the presence of debt always stimulates some additional consumption, so that strong variants of Ricardian equivalence are not found.     

Racial Disproportionality in U.S. State Prisons: Accounting for the Effects of Racial and Ethnic Differences in Criminal Involvement,Arrests, Sentencing,and Time Served

Objectives

An important indicator of discrimination in the criminal justice system is the degree to which race differences in arrest account for racial disproportionality in prisons (“accountability”). A recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study raised concerns by reporting low and declining estimates of accountability. Our improved measure accounts for unreported Hispanic arrestees. We measure accountability at intermediate stages, including commitments to prison and time served. We also use victim reports to extend accountability from arrest to differential involvement in violent crimes.

Methods

Our methods utilize information on self-reported racial identity of Hispanic prisoners to provide more accurate comparison with the race of arrestees. We also assess accountability for 42 individual states and 4 regions.

Results

Our national estimate of accountability is close to previous estimates and much higher than those in the NAS report. Accountability is high for the serious violent crimes of murder and rape, and low for drug trafficking, drug possession, weapons, and aggravated assault, which involve more discretion in arrest, labeling and charging.

Conclusions

Our more accurate accountability results contradict the NAS report of low and declining accountability. Regional accountability estimates show no consistently stronger or weaker region. We also show a corrected national estimate of the ratio of black-to-white incarceration-rates has dropped from 6.8 in 1990 to 4.7 in 2011, an important correction to concerns of increasing discrimination. Reports of offenders’ race by victims and arrestees’ race are found to be close, supporting use of arrest as an indicator of involvement in violent crimes.

     

INTIMATE PARTNER ABUSE SCREENING IN CUSTODY MEDIATION: THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSESSING COERCIVE CONTROL

The central point of this paper argues that measuring physical violence alone is insufficient to detect relational distress in child custody/parenting time mediation samples. We present empirical findings from a large study attending custody/ parenting time mediation. Results suggest that the most economical and efficient screening tool should include measures of coercive controlling behavior. Our data suggests that coercive control is able to account for other victim distress variables crucial to mediation, including victim fear, victim safety and ultimately the fairness of the mediation process. We recommend that researchers continue to refine measures of coercive control to be used in custody/parenting time mediation settings.     

Semiotics and lived-spaces: Merleau-Ponty's concept of freedom as a potential goal for community transformation

In Maurice Merleau-Ponty's (1945 Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945/1962). Phenomenology of perception (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. [Google Scholar]) Phenomenology of Perception, there is a short chapter at the end of the book dedicated to the concept of freedom. Although brief, and often ignored, this chapter arguably presents the central crux of the thesis Merleau-Ponty works to constitute throughout a majority of the text: namely, that any sort of free action is only truly possible should one recognize, in his or her local circumstances, the reasons and conditions necessary for freedom to be considered at all. This current article takes up this concept of freedom, as well as others such as intercorporeity and the lived-body, as imperative points of consideration for both psychologists and child and youth workers who are interested in transforming communities on a local scale. Some examples of recent empirical research on community intervention are discussed in relation to the aforementioned concepts, with an emphasis on the importance of place and embodiment.