Parents' Reactions to Child Day Care Organizations: The Influence of Perceptions of Procedures and the Role of Organizations' Trustworthiness

On the basis of the uncertainty management model, we argue here that when people are uncertain about an organization's trustworthiness, they may resolve the question how they should react toward the organization by relying on their perceptions of the organization's procedures. As a consequence, we predicted that the reactions of parents whose child was in a day care center would be strongly influenced by their perceptions of the procedures used by the organization that was responsible for their children's day care when the parents would be uncertain about the organization's trustworthiness. However, when parents would be certain that the organization could be trusted they would be less in need of procedural information, yielding less strong effects of perceived procedure on parents' reactions. The findings of a survey study corroborate this line of reasoning. In the discussion it is argued that these findings suggest that people especially rely on their perceptions of procedures when they are uncertain about important aspects of their lives, such as the trustworthiness of organizations that are responsible for their children's day care.     

Having the cake and eating it too: efficient penalty clauses in Common and Civil contract law

In this paper we examine one of the areas where there is a marked difference between Civil and Common contract law, that of the enforcement of liquidated damages and more particularly of penalty clauses. Common law judges are quite reluctant to enforce liquidated damages, especially if they believe that they include penalty clauses which are not enforceable. On the contrary, in almost all European contract laws liquidated damages are readily enforced, as are penalty clauses when they are not manifestly excessive. Although most law and economics scholars have criticized Common law courts for the non-enforcement of penalty clauses, there is a sizable minority of scholars who have defended the Common law “non-enforcement” policy on the ground that penalty clauses are inefficient because they hinder efficient breach. However, and despite the merits of the arguments advanced by advocates of the non-enforcement of penalty clauses, we believe that Common law’s rejection of penalty clauses is inefficient. We further show that the Civil law solution to the problem is not only comparatively more efficient, but that it can also appease the worries of those scholars who are afraid that efficient breaches will be deterred. The solution that Civil law systems give to the problem manages to enforce the parties’ wishes and to avoid deterring efficient breaches. However, we point out that in order for the Civil law systems to take advantage of this superiority, the interpretation of their Civil Codes should be guided by economic analysis and the respect to the wishes of the contracting parties.     

WOMEN,RACE, AND CRIME *

This paper explores the capacity of alternative theoretical perspectives to explain the self-reported criminality of black and white young adult females. When criminal involvement is regressed on the theory operation-alizations separately by race, a key difference emerges: For white women, significant effects are clustered in the social-psychological theory groups (bonding, attitudes, and maturation), but for the black women the social-psychological variables have only scattered and inconsistent eflects. Instead, for black women structural indicators emerge as the important predictors of criminal involvement.     

The use of human skin in the fabrication of a bite mark template: two case reports

Comparison of a suspected biter's dental arches with the patterned injury of a bite mark is especially difficult when the bite occurs in an anatomic location with a small radius of curvature or with complex or compound curves. The authors present two case reports in which human skin was used as a template for the reproduction of a bite. In one case the victim's skin was used; in the other, the skin of a anatomically similar person was used. The use of inked dental casts, photography, and transparent overlays significantly reduced the errors common to analysis of bite marks in these highly curved areas.     

Retention of Offender DNA Samples Necessary to Ensure and Monitor Quality of Forensic DNA Efforts: Appropriate Safeguards Exist to Protect the DNA Samples from Misuse

Retention of offender DNA samples serves an important quality assurance role for forensic DNA laboratories. Consistent with the principles of confidentiality underlying the establishment of the state and national DNA databases, safeguards are in place to protect the DNA samples from unauthorized use.     

Demonstration of esophageal varices postmortem by gastroesophageal phlebography

The study presents a method for the demonstration of esophageal varices at autopsy by gastroesophageal phlebography. The veins visible on the radiographs were controlled and evaluated by studying the gross appearance of sections of the esophagus at the level of the varicose veins and by histologic examination of the sections. The phlebography was found to be useful in estimating the varicose and normal veins of the esophagus. The study indicates further that the degree of varicosity is not always proportional to the severity of cirrhosis of the liver, and there may be varicose esophageal veins in patients with liver or heart disorders without hepatic cirrhosis.