The Iraq Coalition of the Willing and (Politically) Able: Party Systems,the Press,and Public Influence on Foreign Policy

Media outlets in multiparty electoral systems tend to report on a wider range of policy issues than media in two‐party systems. They thus make more competing policy frames available to citizens. This suggests that a “free press” is insufficient to hold governments accountable. Rather, we should observe more challenges to the governments’ preferred frames and more politically aware citizens in multiparty democracies. Such citizens should thus be better equipped to hold their leaders accountable, relative to their counterparts in two‐party democracies. I propose a mechanism through which democratic publics can sometimes constrain their leaders in foreign policy. I test hypotheses derived from my theory with cross‐national data on the content of news coverage of Iraq, on public support for the war, and on decisions to contribute troops to the Iraq “Coalition of the Willing.” I find that citizens in countries with larger numbers of parties confronted more critical and diverse coverage of Iraq, while those with more widespread access to mass media were more likely to oppose the war and their nations likely to contribute fewer troops to the Coalition.     

Assessing the Generalization of Psychopathy in a Clinical Sample of Domestic Violence Perpetrators

This study proposed that domestic violence perpetrators in a clinical sample could be categorized into distinct subgroups and that a particular subgroup of batterers would exhibit sufficient psychopathic characteristics to be clinically meaningful. Participants were interviewed in order to gather a relevant social, familial, educational, criminal, and substance abuse history. They were then administered several psychological measures including the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV). Results lent support to the empirical batterer typology identified by Holtzworth-Munroe, A., Meehan, J. C., Herron, K., Rehman, U., & Stuart, G. L. (2000). However, despite the presence of a more antisocial subgroup, psychopathy did not consistently differentiate among batterers across the measured dependent variables.     

Alcohol and drug use among rural and urban incarcerated substance abusers

A number of prisoners use drugs. Limited information is available about the extent to which urban and urban substance abusers differ in their drug use in criminal justice settings. In addition, many believe that rural areas are protected from drug use. However, findings from this study show only marginally statistical significant differences in drug use between incarcerated rural and urban drug users. It was expected that urban drug users would be more drug career involved with consistently higher levels of drug use and associated problems. Specifically, rural drug users in this study were older at age of first use of marijuana and cocaine; report fewer years of cocaine, hallucinogen, and heroin use; and report more alcohol and sedative use. Findings from this study suggest that rural and urban drug users are similar and that rural areas may be protective from some drug use but risky for other drug use.     

The validity of Niederhoffer's cynicism scale

Arthur Niederhoffer's (1967) Behind the Shield is widely regarded as a classic in the policing literature, yet problems associated with measurement of the key latent trait, cynicism, have limited the extent to which conclusions may be drawn from Niederhoffer's work, as well as some subsequent police cynicism research. In this article, Niederhoffer's research is revisited using survey data recently collected from a random sample of 499 Philadelphia police officers. The analysis begins by examining the validity of Regoli's (1976) modified cynicism scale from the perspective of Item Response Theory (IRT), using Rasch modeling techniques in an effort to more fully understand the scale's measurement properties. Then, Niederhoffer's primary research hypothesis is revisited. Three main findings are drawn: (1) the Likert response categories are being used by respondents as intended; (2) some of the scale items exhibit gender and race bias; and (3) the scale can be improved by dropping several items. Once the scale is adjusted, the findings indicate that the relationship between officer cynicism and years of service is slightly stronger than when the scale is used in its original form. Further, regression analyses yield theoretically consistent findings for the relationship between cynicism and one job-related measure (departmental disciplinary charges).     

Have paper,will travel: Participation at A.C.J.S. annual meetings

Graduate criminology and criminal justice faculty participation at the 1979–81 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meetings are examined. Results show that institution prestige, not faculty productivity, is the but predictor of meeting participation. It is suggested that further attention be devoted to profroessional concerns in order to understand the development of a academic criminology.     

The experience of sexual assault: findings from a statewide victim needs assessment

A statewide assessment was conducted of assaults, experiences, needs, and recommendations of 125 adult victims receiving care at 19 sexual assault centers (SACs) in the State of Maryland. More than one half of the victims (55.6%) waited years before disclosing, with delays in reporting especially likely if the assault was perpetrated by a family member (the most frequent perpetrators at 42.4% of respondents). About one half of the victims (51.3%) had been previously sexually assaulted, yet only 9% of these victims had sought treatment. The majority of respondents (69.4%) indicated they would not be filing charges against perpetrators, and of those who did, 46.2% reported dissatisfaction with the interview with police. Psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety were the most common reasons for seeking care at the centers. Nearly all of respondents rated the care they received at the centers as very good or excellent. Respondents recommended more SACs, better advertising of their services, more mental health care within them (especially group therapy), and improved laws and law enforcement of perpetrators.