A Longitudinal Study of Modifying Influences in the Relationship Between Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment

The increased risk of child maltreatment in the presence of domestic violence is well documented, but much remains unknown about factors that modify this relationship. This study investigates the roles of risk and protective factors in the relationship between domestic violence and being reported to the Department of Social Services for child maltreatment. Consistent with the literature, we find a significant overlap between domestic violence and maltreatment. Young maternal age, low education, low income, and lack of involvement in a religious community add to the risk for maltreatment associated with domestic violence. Separation between the maternal caregiver and her partner significantly reduces the risk for maltreatment when domestic violence is reported. A significant reduction in the risk for maltreatment is also found with higher levels of support from the maternal caregiver reported by the child in the context of domestic violence.     

MEDIATIVE EVALUATIONS: THE PROS AND PERILS OF BLENDING ROLES

Child custody evaluators with experience in mediation may be tempted to use mediation skills and strategies in their evaluation processes. This article explores the benefits and risks of blending mediation with evaluation, comparing the perspectives of professionals and clients.     

Constitutional Reform, the Lord Chancellor, and Human Rights: The Battle of Form and Substance

This article examines the impact of the Human Rights Act on the government's constitutional proposals for reform of the role of the Lord Chancellor and the appointment of the judiciary. It also looks at the uncertain acceptance of a 'human rights' culture by the department charged with lead responsibility for its implementation. It concludes that the government went further than was required in reforming the role of the Lord Chancellor. As a consequence, considerable - and possibly undue – weight now hangs on the enlarged role of the Lord Chief Justice. Meanwhile, the Department of Constitutional Affairs and its ministers have rejected the 'rule of law' brief of the Lord Chancellor without clarity as to where such responsibilities might now be adequately located within government.     

PROFILE: CHILD CUSTODY MEDIATION SERVICES IN CALIFORNIA SUPERIOR COURTS

California is now in its 11th year of mandatory child custody mediation, with a current yearly case volume statewide estimated at 65,494. This article profiles the variations in programs and mediation styles in 56 of the state's 58 Superior Courts. Two research studies provide the basis for the information on program structures, case activity, procedures, agreement formats, recommendations, facilities, security, and fees.     

Environmental liability and harmonization in the presence of transboundary effects and hidden assets

Within the context of transboundary disputes, this paper seeks to determine which liability concept, negligence or strict liability, performs better when assets are secure against foreign claims for transboundary damages. Our results indicate that, if assets are hidden from foreign claims, strict liability will not implement the socially optimal outcome, but neither will negligence. However, even though the socially optimal outcome is not always achieved, strict liability weakly dominates negligence. These results suggest that the harmonization of statues that deal with transboundary pollution should be based on strict liability not negligence. JEL classification K32 · Q5 Smith and Eckert both thank SSHRC of Canada for financial assistance. We thank two referees for valuable comments that greatly improved the paper and Matt Smith for his research assistance. All remaining errors are our responsibility.     

West African Voices

A new literary programme has been started in the West AfricanService of the B.B.C., and this article is a reprint of oneof the talks. The Ibo speaker was formerly in the Customs, andqualified as a barrister last November: he is also the authorof numerous poems in English, and of a novel, The Prince ofUtete. The other two are schoolmasters working as Assistantsat the School of Oriental and African Studies. For technicalreasons, the orthography is not quite complete.     

The referral decision scale with mentally disordered inmates

Correctional facilities are increasingly burdened with mentally disordered offenders and are faced with the formidable task of effectively screening inmates for major mental disorders and suicide potential. Teplin and Swartz (1989) developed the Referral Decision Scale (RDS) as a rapid screen for schizophrenia and major mood disorders in jail populations. However, more recent research by Hart, Roesch, Corrado, and Cox (1993) has called into question the effectiveness of the RDS. In this study, we examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the RDS with the Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia—Change Version (SADS-C) and the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) on a sample of 108 mentally disordered inmates. The RDS provided moderate evidence of convergent validity but failed to demonstrate acceptable discriminant validity, because of high intercorrelations on RDS subscales (heterotrait-monomethod coefficients). In comparison, the SADS-C yielded similar evidence of convergent validity and excellent discriminant validity.The authors would like to thank the Research Opportunities Program, University of North Texas for its grant support and Captain James Moore for his active cooperation.Tarrant County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services.     

The relationship between education, experience, and police performance

This study used data from 299 police officers from 12 municipal police departments across the state of Virginia to determine the relationship between education and police performance. Performance was measured by supervisor evaluations of each officer's overall performance, communication skills, public relations skills, report writing skills, response to new training, decision making ability, and commitment to the police department. Significant correlations were found between education and most measures of performance. Most importantly, the results show a significant correlation between overall performance and education (r=24, p.<001). The only variables not proving to be significantly related to education were objective measures of the volume of arrests, number of times the officer required discipline, and number of accidents. Interestingly, the benefits of a college education do not become apparent until police officers gain experience. In addition, police, officers with only a high school diploma decreased in overall performance after five years of experience.