Progress toward racial equality and reduction of black criminal violence

Trends in racial inequality and in black involvement in violence were examined to determine whether black progress toward equality and the Black Power Movement could have contributed to a reduction in black violence. The belief that egalitarian trends and the Movement could have ameliorative effects on violence is supported by subcultural theories, Fanon's Colonial Model, and other social scientific statements. The trends are consistent with the belief, structural changes indicated by educational and political progress being closely associated with violence reduction. But cultural change seems important too because, despite a period of black economic progress, no violence reduction occurred before an improvement in black self-concept. Indeed, the earliest black income and occupational gains were associated with several years of increasing black violence. Thus, the purely structural explanation of Blau and Blau (1982) and their emphasis on economic progress are questionable. In addition, Skogan's (1979) demographic explanation of the decrease in black violence in the early 1970s is shown to lack merit.     

Explosions in the Sky: Coverage for Non-Contaminating Properties of Pollutants

Pollution liability and general liability insurance policies, in theory, should afford complementary rather than overlapping coverage. While this works well in theory, non-traditional pollution events challenge this outcome. This article focuses on loss events resulting from explosions, and in particular whether the resulting harms should be considered for coverage under a pollution policy or a general liability policy.     

Value Recapture: A Rose by Another Name

The fuel crisis, increased federal funding, and urban center development and redevelopment are all increasing the pressure for rapid transit systems in urban areas. As with other publicly funded developments, such systems often lead to an increase in value of privately owned land near transit stations. This is due to the enhanced commercial, industrial, and residential development potential created by superior access and concurrent generation of intense local activity. Such an increase in value is unearned-a windfall, in essence. Arguably, it should accrue, at least in part, to the public agency which incurred substantial expenditures in developing the public facility-the cause of the value increase in the first place. Such an accrual of value could be offset against the public cost of the improvement. This article deals with several proposed methods of such “value recapture”: “excess” or “supplemental” condemnation, tax assessment, intergovernmental cooperation and air rights development.     

The Structure of Censorship Attitudes

Research about censorship attitudes across disciplines shares the normative goal of predicting and modifying attitudes perceived as either too permissive or too restrictive. Understanding attitude structure is important to achieving this goal. This study explores the intra-attitudinal structure of public censorship attitudes, specifically the general tendency to endorse particular government actions. For twenty-one scenarios, respondents indicated their agreement with each of five possible government reactions: prior restraint; subsequent punishment; time, place, manner restrictions; allow, and protect. Scale scores were computed for each government response. There are strong correlations between the two punitive restriction options and between the two permissive government responses. The time, place, manner response option related moderately to the other scales. Additional structural information is provided by examining scale relationships with other variables: gender, liberal-conservative self-rank, religiosity, need for cognition, authoritarianism, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion.