Psychosocial factors related to wife abuse

This paper reports the results of a comparative study of wife abuse. Factors that distinguished 94 physically abused women from a comparison group of 110 women were sought. The groups were matched on number of years married or cohabiting and socioeconomic status. Evidence was found that further supports a learning theory explanation of wife abuse. The study also found that wife abuse is no more likely to be displayed by blacks than by whites when the variable of social class is controlled.     

KENT V. UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT JUVENILE CASE

As we went to press the decision was issued. Because of its significance the Journal will treat the case in two phases. The article that follows concerns itself with the facts and issues presented; the next issue will interpret the decision. This is the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has passed on the legality of juvenile court procedures.     

Anti-SLAPP Legislation and Environmental Protection in the USA: An Overview of Direct and Indirect Effects

Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) protections lead to changes in the dynamic and complex interactions between private citizens, environmental regulators and polluting entities. Direct impacts are legally significant, but if our interest is in environmental and enforcement outcomes, indirect effects are likely to be more important. Changes in perceived legal and regulatory threats impact the choices of many parties who are never involved in an actual SLAPP suit. This paper describes the expected direction and type of interactions when anti-SLAPP protections are enacted and discuss the conclusions that follow from research to date.     

On the relationship between cognitive abilities and life-course-persistent offending among a sample of African Americans: A longitudinal test of Moffitt's hypothesis

Prior criminological research showed that cognitive abilities were related to delinquent and criminal activity, primarily within adolescent samples. Moffitt's developmental taxonomy anticipates that cognitive abilities will relate to criminal activity differently throughout the population of offenders, mattering more for life-course-persistent than adolescence-limited offenders. Unfortunately, prior research had not examined in great detail the long-term influence of cognitive abilities on criminal activity from birth to adulthood nor had research explored this issue within an African American sample. In this study, data from the Philadelphia portion of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (NCPP) were used to examine the long-term effect of cognitive abilities on criminal activity from birth to adulthood.