Improvisation and Mediation: Balancing Acts

Improvisation can be an important element of mediation practice, and there are several ways in which mediation practice correlates to improvisational performance. In this article, two mediation experts and two skilled jazz musicians explore the improvisational aspects of mediation. Two central themes emerge: (1) mediators often use improvisational techniques, and (2) by being improvisational, mediators can create environments that would encourage the parties themselves to be improvisational. We argue that practitioners can enhance their effectiveness as mediators by mastering improvisational skills.     

An unusual case using DNA polymorphisms to determine parentage of human remains.

The 2-year-old daughter of two farm laborers was reported missing while the farm owner was harvesting corn. Unidentifiable tissues and body parts were subsequently found admixed with silage. Samples of blood collected from the parents of the missing child as well as portions of the tissue recovered from the silage were subjected to analysis of DNA polymorphisms with probes usually used to identify paternity. In addition, allele-specific oligonucleotides were used to detect DNA polymorphism at the DQ alpha locus following DNA amplification using the polymerase chain reaction. In this case, the DNA results established that the tissue recovered from the silage was of human origin and confirmed the probable parentage of the two farm laborers.     

Out of the golden ghetto

He has written frequently about class, culture, and authority. Most recently he wrote the introduction to and edited The Protestant Establishment Revisited,published by Transaction.     

The effect of sexual stratification by race on arrest in sexual battery cases

LaFree finds that in most respects officials react more seriously to black assailants who assault white victims than other suspects. Yet paradoxically black assailants who assault white victims are not more likely to be arrested. He explains this apparent inconsistency by proposing that place of incarceration or length of sentence have to do with the seriousness of the offense, whereas arrest has to do with whether the assailant is guilty or innocent. This paper rejects that distinction, arguing that both involve judgments that reflect the influence of similar factors. Several such factors are examined in an analysis of 347 offense reports on sexual battery in Tallahassee over a recent five-year period. The data show that exceptionally cleared cases are the rule in black assailant-black victim (BB) rapes where victims and assailants are mostly acquainted, whereas cases pending predominate in black assailant-white victim (BW) rapes where victims and assailants are mostly strangers. When victims and assailants are acquainted, proportionately more arrests are made in BW rapes than in BB rapes. These findings are consistant with conflict theory’s position that powerful groups enforce sexual-property rules by the differential application of criminal law and punitive sanctions.