Regulation of donor conception and the "time to tell" campaign

The first jurisdictions in the world to introduce legislation regulating donor conception were Victoria (Australia) and Sweden in the 1980s. Under the Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act 1984 (Vic), donor-conceived people (aged 18 years and over), their parents (if children were under 18 years) and donors gained the right to apply for identifying information about each other. Information can only be given with the consent of each party. To date, over 3,500 donor-conceived children have been born in Victoria since the 1984 Victorian legislation was introduced (and enacted in 1988). The first 106 donor-conceived children under this legislation turned 18 in 2006 and many of them may not know that they are donor-conceived. The Infertility Treatment Authority, Victoria, conducted a public education campaign to provide information and support to people affected by the legislation. The campaign and services associated with donor registers have had a significant initial impact.     

A Life Table Approach to Estimating Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System

Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in the U.S. juvenile justice system persists despite substantial efforts to reduce it. The juvenile justice system is comprised of a series of interconnected stages, yet few studies to-date use methods to measure DMC that take the cascading nature of the decision-making process into account. Our study addresses this gap by applying life table analysis to identify the cumulative nature of DMC across multiple stages of the juvenile justice system using data from 2008 to 2010 in Georgia that include white, black, and Hispanic/Latino youth. We then compare these state-level results to life tables from a national sample of black youth and a subnational sample of Hispanic/Latino youth. Our findings show that arrest/referral accounts for the greatest proportion of total system-wide DMC for black youth, but most of the total DMC for Hispanic/Latino youth results from later stages.     

Loyalty,Justice, and Rights: Royce and Police Ethics in Twenty-First-Century America

The killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and others have instigated widespread debate concerning the ethics and politics of police behavior toward young black men in America. In this article, I show how Josiah Royce’s philosophy of loyalty provides a useful theoretical framework for diagnosing and working to overcome strained relations between police and black citizens in the United States. I begin by establishing the relevance of Royce’s thought to the realm of police ethics. Then, I argue that Royce’s notion of loyalty to loyalty is a useful and powerful lens through which we can examine the practice of police discretion, particularly as it comes to bear on racial profiling and use of force. I conclude by offering what I regard as Roycean recommendations aimed at ameliorating the fractured relationship between police and blacks in America today.     

Probation/Parole Officer Psychological Well-Being: the Impact of Supervising Persons with Mental Health Needs

Although supervising persons with mental illness can pose special challenges for community parole/probation officers (PPOs), few studies have investigated whether the number of supervisees on an officer’s caseload increases risk for poor mental health for PPOs and whether this link is due to emotional exhaustion. Using statewide survey data from 798 PPOs, we examine whether the number of supervisees on an officer’s caseload with mental health problems is associated with depressive symptoms reported the PPOs and whether this relationship is mediated by emotional exhaustion. In addition, we evaluate the potential mitigating role of both mental health services received by supervisees and officer training in mental health in the relationship between the number of supervisees on an officer’s caseload with mental health problems and emotional exhaustion experienced by PPOs. Findings reveal that PPOs with more supervisees on their caseload report significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms and that this relationship is completely explained away by emotional exhaustion. Neither mental health services received by supervisees nor officer training in mental health mitigated the link between the number of supervisees on an officer’s caseload with mental health problems and officer emotional exhaustion. This study underscores the importance of the psychological well-being of those on parole/probation for the emotional and mental health of the officers who supervise them.     

My Professor is Hot! Correlates of RateMyProfessors.com Ratings for Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty Members

“RateMyProfessors.com” ratings of the easiness, helpfulness, clarity, overall quality, and “hotness” of 407 criminal justice and criminology faculty members from across the United States were collected. Data were analyzed to determine what faculty characteristics determined these ratings. Experience working in the criminal justice field predicted higher ratings, while years of teaching experience was predictive of lower ratings. After controlling for instructors easiness and “hotness” ratings, the instructors’ ascribed characteristics (such as race and sex) explained the greatest proportion of variance in clarity, helpfulness, and overall quality scores. Professional characteristics, such as years of experience, publication rate, and possession of a doctorate were less influential on Ratemyprofessors.com scores.     

Resettle: a significant new step in an emerging pathway that manages risk and addresses need in high-risk personality disordered offenders on their release into the community

Abstract

This paper will describe an innovative UK service development, Resettle, which is designed to address the needs and risks of personality disordered offenders who are released into the community from prison and whose high risks of harm and re-offending are linked to their personality disorder (PD). All the cases worked with are subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). This non-residential, intensive community-based service is nationally funded jointly by the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice, originally as part of the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) programme for high-risk offenders. Resettle became operational in 2008. It is currently being independently evaluated via a randomised control trial that is due to complete in March 2013. Formal outcome data are, therefore, not yet available, however, the developing model of intervention based on experience and learning to date is described alongside the policy and service context for this area of work.     

Committee Property Rights,Executive Dominance,and Political Parties in Latin American Legislatures

Motivated by theories of congressional committees in the US context, and building on the growing body of work focusing on the institutional features of legislatures in Latin American presidential systems, this paper explores two previously overlooked aspects of committee politics. Using comparative data from three Latin American countries, it examines the strategic and jurisdictional dynamics in which chamber leaders assign bills to committees and then investigate the factors affecting presidential and partisan success within committees. In general, the authors find that committees have strong property rights and that characteristics of both bills and bill initiators strongly influence the survival of legislation in committee. The results shed light on the effects of institutional design on the policy process in presidential systems.