Democracy,dictators and the regulation of arms exports: The UK and Iraq

Chris Cowley, Guns, Lies and Spies: How We Armed Iraq (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1992). Pp.273. £7.99.

Paul Henderson, The Unlikely Spy (London, Bloomsbury, 1993). Pp.294. £16.99.

David Leigh, Betrayed: The Real Story of the Matrix Churchill Trial (London, Bloomsbury, 1993). Pp.271. £5.99.

John Sweeney, Trading With the Enemy: Britain's Arming of Iraq (London, Pan Books, 1993). Pp.197. £5.99.     

Developmental validation of the SPERM HY-LITER™ kit for the identification of human spermatozoa in forensic samples

Abstract: With sexual assault evidence, the visualization of spermatozoa confirms that ejaculation has occurred. However, microscopic examination of spermatozoa is a laborious process and can sometimes result in sperm cells being overlooked. Here, we present the developmental validation of the SPERM HY‐LITER? kit, which contains a human sperm–specific mouse monoclonal antibody coupled to a fluorescent Alexa 488 dye. The kit was tested using samples of human semen, saliva, blood, and urine, various animal semen extracts, sexual lubricants, and a commercially available spermicidal film. Postcoital vaginal swabs, degraded semen samples, and samples prepared with sample fixation techniques that deviated from the kit‐provided protocol were also tested. In each case, the SPERM HY‐LITER? kit was demonstrated to bind only to human sperm cell heads. Limitations to this fluorescent staining procedure include nonspecific staining and increased background fluorescence with extreme heat fixation in some samples.     

Repealing Federal Oversight of State Health Policy: Lessons from the Boren Amendment

The Boren Amendment is frequently cited as an example where judicial involvement markedly shaped the implementation of federal legislation. Unlike other controversial health policies, Boren was eventually rescinded by Congress. Results indicate that the Amendment was repealed because changing socioeconomic, political, and programmatic conditions combined with policy‐oriented learning to facilitate a shift in policy venue away from the judiciary toward the President and Congress. This is because during the devolutionary climate of the mid‐to‐late 1990s, both the executive and legislature proved more conducive to the policy image promulgated by state officials that the Amendment unnecessarily restricted state discretion, than the policy image promulgated by providers that without the Amendment, low reimbursement levels would compromise access and quality. Data for this analysis derive from archival documents, secondary sources, and 101 interviews with state and federal experts.     

Screening for intimate partner violence: the impact of screener and screening environment on victim comfort

The barriers that professionals face when screening victims for intimate partner violence (IPV) are well studied. The specific barriers that victims face however when being screened are not. The authors sought to identify characteristics of the screener and screening environment that make a victim feel more or less comfortable when disclosing a history of IPV. One hundred forty self-reported female victims of IPV completed a survey regarding their experiences with screening and degree of comfort with certain traits of the screener and the screening environment. Women demonstrated a preference to be screened by a woman, someone of the same race, a provider aged 30 to 50 years, and without anyone else present. Screeners should be aware of characteristics that impact victim comfort and should provide multiple opportunities for women to disclose IPV in a safe, respectful, and culturally effective environment.     

In Search of the Uncovered Set

e-mail: nmiller{at}umbc.edu This paper pursues a number of theoretical explorations andconjectures pertaining to the uncovered set in spatial votinggames. It was stimulated by the article "The Uncovered Set andthe Limits of Legislative Action" by W. T. Bianco, I. Jeliazkov,and I. Sened (2004, Political Analysis 12:256–78) thatemployed a grid-search computational algorithm for estimatingthe size, shape, and location of the uncovered set, and it hasbeen greatly facilitated by access to the CyberSenate spatialvoting software being developed by Joseph Godfrey. I bring tolight theoretical considerations that account for importantfeatures of the Bianco, Jeliazkov, and Sened results (e.g.,the straight-line boundaries of uncovered sets displayed insome of their figures, the "unexpectedly large" uncovered setsdisplayed in other figures, and the apparent sensitivity ofthe location of uncovered sets to small shifts in the relativesizes of party caucuses) and present theoretical insights ofmore general relevance to spatial voting theory.     

Positive versus normative economics: what’s?the?connection? Evidence from the Survey of?Americans and?Economists on the Economy and?the?General?Social?Survey

Previous research suggests that positive and normative beliefs about economics are largely unrelated. Using questions from two national surveys, this study finds that: (a)?the underlying determinants of positive and normative beliefs are strikingly similar; (b)?education is by far the strongest overall determinant of both positive and normative beliefs; and (c) the variables known to push positive beliefs in the same direction as formal economic training—education, male gender, income growth, and job security—also push normative beliefs in the same direction. These results strongly suggest that the positive-normative connection has been underestimated.     

The impact of determinate sentencing on prisoner misconduct

Purpose

The shift from indeterminate to determinate punishment policies over the past three decades may have the unintended consequence of increasing prisoner misconduct due to the elimination or reduction of parole and earned gain-time to provide incentives for inmates to comply with institutional rules. This paper advances the existing scholarship addressing this issue.

Methods

Data on a cohort of 305,228 inmates admitted to prison in Florida over a twelve year period before and after the enactment of a “truth-in-sentencing” law in 1995 requiring all felons sentenced to prison to serve a minimum 85% of their sentence are examined to assess the impact of determinate punishment on whether inmates commit disciplinary infractions and the frequency of misconduct.

Findings

The data show that determinate punishment has had the unintended consequence of significantly increasing the level of inmate misconduct in general and across different types of misconduct; violent, property, and disorderly.

Conclusion

The findings indicate that states which currently have or are considering the implementation of determinate sentencing should examine potential changes in policies and practices to alleviate the impact of reductions in inmate incentives to abide by institutional rules.     

Distress resulting from perceivers' own intimate partner violence experiences predicts culpability attributions toward a battered woman on trial for killing her abuser: a path model

Intimate partner violence (IPV) constitutes the majority of assaults against women in the United States, and greater than one third of female homicide victims are murdered by an intimate partner. In a small percentage of cases, battered women kill their abusers, and evidence of battering and its effects may be used to support a plea of self-defense in these cases. Prior research has shown that culpability attributions toward battered women who have killed their abusers are influenced by perceiver variables, including gender. The present study expands on this research by examining the influence of psychological distress resulting from perceivers' own IPV experiences--and the mechanisms of this influence--on their culpability attributions toward a battered woman defendant. Female undergraduates in the present sample (N = 154) read a vignette, adapted from an actual criminal case about a battered woman who had killed her abuser. Data supported a hypothesized path model, wherein participants reporting greater psychological distress resulting from IPV perpetrated against them perceived themselves more similar to the defendant, in turn empathized with her to a greater extent, and, in turn, attributed less legal culpability to her. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Intoxication Levels of Bar Patrons at an Organized Pub Crawl in a College Campus Community

This field study examined whether participants of a traditional, end-of-semester pub crawl in a college campus community had higher levels of intoxication than non-participating bar patrons on the same night as the event. A total of 693 bar patrons participated in the study. Anonymous interview and breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) data were collected from pedestrians in a bar district at the end point of the pub crawl route between 10:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. on the night of the event during three different semesters (November, 2007, May, 2008, and May, 2009). A multivariate model adjusting for participant demographics and drinking variables showed that participation in the pub crawl was associated with a 70% reduced risk of being highly intoxicated (i.e., BrAC ≥ 0.08 g/210 L). The lower intoxication levels among pub crawl participants may have implications for harm reduction practices at high-risk drinking events. These implications are discussed.     

Analyzing Predictors of Drinking and Driving among Gender Cohorts within a College Sample

The current study focuses on predominant predictors associated with men’s and women’s engagement in driving under the influence (DUI) in an attempt to determine whether gender-specific interventions would be more affective at reducing impaired vehicle operation. A male-only subsample (n?=?863) and a female-only subsample (n?=?975) from a survey administered at a large Southeastern university containing self-reported measures of DUI were used to evaluate gender differences in motivations and correlates of DUI behavior. A series of logistic regressions containing indicators drawn from theories of deviant behavior (e.g., Akers’ social learning theory (SLT) and Gottfredson and Hirshi’s low self-control (LSC) theory) yield results indicating that differential association and imitation, both factors associated with SLT, are significant predictors for both gender cohorts’ DUI behavior. Low self- control was a significant predictor within female-only models, but not the final male-only models. This suggests that peer associations and modeling may be targets of intervention generally, but that, as it relates to DUIs, women may particularly benefit from programs focused at limiting impulsivity and risk-taking behavior as these are components of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s LSC construct.