Traumatic Events and Maternal Education as Predictors of Verbal Ability for Preschool Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Despite research on the effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on children, little is known about its impact on cognitive development. In this study, 87 preschool-aged children and their mothers exposed to IPV within the last two years participated in interviews to ascertain verbal ability, history of violence, and exposure to trauma. When compared to a national sample of 1,700 same-age children not evaluated for exposure to traumatic events, children exposed to IPV scored significantly lower on verbal ability, as assessed with standardized measures. In order to understand variation in verbal ability, multiple regression models were tested. Both prior exposure to traumatic events and the level of mother’s education were significant predictors of verbal ability. However, level of education mediated the relationship between traumatic events and the child’s verbal ability.     

Torture Approval in Comparative Perspective

Torture is (almost) universally condemned as barbaric and ineffective, yet it persists in the modern world. What factors influence levels of support for torture? Public opinion data from 31 countries in 2006 and 2008 (a total of 44 country-years) are used to test three hypotheses related to the acceptability of torture. The findings, first, show that outright majorities in 31 country-years reject the use of torture. Multiple regression results show that countries with high per capita income and low domestic repression are less likely to support torture. Constraints on the executive have no significant effect on public opinion on torture.     

Identifying Collateral Effects of Offender Reentry Programming Through Evaluative Fieldwork

The transfer of offender supervision from prisons to community corrections has prioritized the implementation of reentry programming and outcome evaluation oriented toward impact specification and evidence based practices discovery. Similar to rehabilitation research, generally, reentry scholarship tends toward the statistical documentation of recidivism and related public safety indicators while under-utilizing qualitative techniques. This study reports the qualitative methods and findings from a mixed methods evaluation of a national model county reentry program for offenders with co-occurring disorders. Observation of treatment services, in-depth interviews with jail administrators and services providers, and focus group interviews with a sample of treatment group participants evidenced collateral benefits of programming. Discussion centers on treatment program implications and the value of mixed methods for justice program evaluation.     

Regionalism,environment and Southern African class struggles∗

“In late April, 1992, the Malaysian government hosted an inter‐ministerial meeting for governments of the South in preparation for the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June. This would have been a praiseworthy initiative if not for the government's dismal record on environmental issues, especially on tropical timber logging. However, the government‐controlled media went out of its way to give the opposite impression in the weeks prior to the conference — just as it did before the 1989 Commonwealth Heads of Governments1 Meeting and other international forums.”     

Why the Electoral College is good for political science (and public choice)

While the Electoral College may not be good for the political system, it is very good for political science (and public choice). This essay documents many of the ways in which this assertion is true.     

Decision costs in legislative bargaining: an experimental analysis

We conduct an experiment to assess the effects of different decision rules on the costs of decision making in a multilateral bargaining situation. Specifically, we compare the amount of costly delay observed in an experimental bargaining game under majority and unanimity rule. Our main finding is that individual subjects are more likely to reject offers under unanimity rule. This higher rejection rate, as well as the requirement that all subjects agree, leads to more costly delay. This result provides empirical support for a classic argument in favor of less-than-unanimity decision rules put forth by Buchanan and Tullock (The calculus of consent: logical foundations of constitutional democracy, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1962).