Coping with Electronic Data Discovery Issues

This article provides an overview of the steps a company should take if electronic discovery is requested from it during the course of litigation. Either by seeking a protective order or by inducing a motion to compel by objecting to the discovery requests, a ruling should be obtained from the court as to the parameters and limits of the requested discovery and who bears the cost of retrieving and producing the electronic data. If production is ordered by the court, the producing party must ensure through the use of formal review measures that any privileges protecting the data are not waived. While severe sanctions may be imposed on a party who destroys electronic evidence after litigation is initiated or when it is reasonably likely that litigation will ensue, a company may prevent a broad-scale, expensive production of electronic evidence by installing prior to any litigation a system of routine organization and disposal of non-essential electronic data.     

The Attitudes Towards Dating Violence Scales: Development and Initial Validation

This study describes the development and validation of three Attitudes Towards Male Dating Violence (AMDV) Scales and three Attitudes Towards Female Dating Violence (AFDV) Scales. These scales measure attitudes toward use of psychological, physical, and sexual dating violence, respectively, by boys and by girls. Eight hundred twenty-three students from grades 7, 9, and 11 participated in the validation study. All six scales have good internal consistencies. As predicted, students were more accepting of girls' use of violence than of boys' use of violence, and boys were more accepting of violence than were girls. The six scales were positively correlated with traditional attitudes toward gender roles and with each other, providing evidence for their construct validity. Higher scores on the AMDV Scales were related to boys' past use of violence in dating relationships and to their having aggressive friends, supporting their criterion-related validity. Higher scores on the AFDV Scales were associated with girls' past use of dating violence but not with their having aggressive friends, providing partial support for their criterion-related validity. Singly or in combination, the Attitudes Towards Dating Violence Scales can be used to increase our understanding of the development and maintenance of violence-supportive attitudes in adolescents of all ages.