Social perception of rape: how rape myth acceptance modulates the influence of situational factors

This study assessed the role of rape myth acceptance (RMA) and situational factors in the perception of three different rape scenarios (date rape, marital rape, and stranger rape). One hundred and eighty-two psychology undergraduates were asked to emit four judgements about each rape situation: victim responsibility, perpetrator responsibility, intensity of trauma, and likelihood to report the crime to the police. It was hypothesized that neither RMA nor situational factors alone can explain how rape is perceived; it is the interaction between these two factors that best account for social reactions to sexual aggression. The results generally supported the authors' hypothesis: Victim blame, estimation of trauma, and the likelihood of reporting the crime to the police were best explained by the interaction between observer characteristics, such as RMA, and situational clues. That is, the less stereotypic the rape situation was, the greater was the influence of attitudes toward rape on attributions.     

Foundation Ownership and Financial Performance: Do Companies Need Owners?

A curious ownership structure is found in Northern Europe—foundations that own and operate business companies. The foundations are non-profit entities, they have no members and no owners, and they cannot be dissolved. In many cases, these entities control more than 50% of the votes in successful international companies. Obviously, this structure completely blocks the market for corporate control, but it also violates other basic principles of agency theory and corporate finance. Nevertheless, we present evidence that a sample of foundation-owned companies listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange are at least as efficient as other listed companies in terms of risk adjusted stock returns, accounting returns and Tobins Q. Thus, they question whether profit-seeking ownership is a necessary condition for competitive enterprise.JEL Classification: D23, G34, L31     

Materialities of Legal Proceedings

The author explores materialities as pre-established and co-producing features of criminal proceedings. This is done by discussing courtrooms, files and stories in relation to English Crown Court hearings. The three materialities gain significance in the course of the court hearing, but do not derive from it. They exceed the course of talk-in-court. Once the hearing started, the pre-established materialities can be referred to but not simply modified. Materialities, in this line, provide stability and guidance for the hearing. They facilitate, purify and condense it. However, their temporal separation causes problems for those who run the show. Materialities can be employed but not fully integrated. Unwelcome parts do, at times, disturb, disrupt and complicate the current dealings.     

Differences in attitudes toward gays and lesbians among criminal justice and non-criminal justice majors

The criminal justice system is supposed to protect and serve all members of the community equally; therefore, any prejudicial attitudes harbored by criminal justice students may negatively impact their job performance as future justice professionals. Four hundred and eighty-four students at a large Midwestern university were surveyed on their views toward gay and lesbian persons and issues. The responses of criminal justice majors were compared to the responses of students majoring in other fields. Criminal justice majors tended to have more negative views of gays and lesbians than students in other majors. However, there was not a significant difference between the two groups of students in their willingness to extend rights to and socialize with gay and lesbian individuals.     

Public satisfaction with the police in domestic violence cases: The importance of arrest,expectations, and involuntary contact

This study examines the importance of victims’ expectations of the police, the decision to arrest, and voluntary contact on satisfaction ratings of the police in domestic violence cases. Based on results from past research and modern police policy, several hypotheses are tested including: fulfilled expectations, offender arrests, and voluntary contacts resulting in positive satisfaction ratings of the police. To investigate these predictions further, the present study utilizes data from a national study on violence against women in the United States. Logistic regression analyses indicate that fulfilled expectations and the arrest decision are important to positive satisfaction ratings. Findings also indicate that involuntary, not voluntary, contact with the police leads to higher satisfaction ratings.     

Academic dishonesty among criminal justice majors: A research note

There is a limited, but growing body of literature on the academic integrity of criminal justice majors. This study adds to the research by surveying 850 students at a Midwestern university and comparing criminal justice majors to students majoring in other disciplines. The survey consisted of various academic dishonesty behaviors, rationales for being academically dishonest, and whether or not the behaviors were ethical. The results indicated that there were some differences between criminal justice and non-criminal justice majors; however, for most measures, the two groups of students were similar. Unfortunately, the overall level of cheating was high for both criminal justice and non-criminal justice students.