Asking the Right Questions: Utilizing a Judicial Checklist to Track the Educational Success of Youth in Foster Care

Asking about the educational objectives for children in foster care has not been a priority in most juvenile and family courts. Research has shown that compared to the general school population, children in foster care have lower grade point averages, change schools more frequently, earn fewer credits toward graduation, and are more likely to be placed in special education programs. In response, Casey Family Programs, in collaboration with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges' Permanency Planning for Children Department, developed a Judicial Checklist with key educational questions to be asked from the bench. The Checklist has become a useful tool for juvenile and family court judges when assessing the effectiveness of current educational placements of the children who come before their courts, tracking their performance, and in making a positive future impact on their educational outcomes.     

A COMPARISON OF DELINQUENCY TRENDS

Comparative data are presented assessing trends in the juvenile crime rates for Japan and the United States over the past decade. Both court and arrest records show that the rate of juvenile crime has increased substantially in the United States while remaining essentially stable in Japan. The analyses demonstrate that this conclusion holds even when appropriate controls are introduced for the age groups involved. Suggestions are made for future research that might explain the differences reported for the two nations.     

SOCIAL CONTROL AND SOCIAL LEARNING MODELS OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR A Synthesis

Social control and social learning models of delinquent behavior are reviewed and compared. The data analysis shows that predictions from the social learning model ficrther specify the control perspective. Thus, attachments are an important influence on delinquent behavior only when the source of attachment is taken into consideration, Further, the data presented suggest that observational learning has an influence on delinquent acts as suggested by social learning theory. Particular parental behaviors which influence the reinforcing value of the home appear to have the primary influence on delinquent behavior in the parent/child bond. From this study, it is concluded that a combination of the social “bonding” notion from control theory along with specific principles of social learning lay the groundwork for a more comprehensive theory of delinquent behavior than either perspective alone.     

THE AMBIGUOUS JUVENILE ARREST

Uniformity of juvenile arrest definitions and operations was investigated in 49 police stations in rural, suburban, and large urban areas. Data were taken from interviews and questionnaires administered to police chiefs, clerks, and officers, as well as from on-site observations. The meaning of a juvenile arrest was found to vary widely and to reflect poorly the statutory requirements. Greatest uniformity was found among recording clerks. Their practice of recording as an arrest any juvenile brought or cited into the station provides a useful operational definition. Implications of these data for uniform crime reporting, program evaluation, and equal justice are suggested.     

The Embedded Epistemologist: Dispatches from the Legal Front*

In ordinary circumstances, we can assess the worth of evidence well enough without benefit of any theory; but when evidence is especially complex, ambiguous, or emotionally disturbing—as it often is in legal contexts—epistemological theory may be helpful. A legal fact‐finder is asked to determine whether the proposition that the defendant is guilty, or is liable, is established to the required degree of proof by the [admissible] evidence presented; i.e., to make an epistemological appraisal. The foundherentist theory developed in Evidence and Inquiry can help us understand what this means; and reveals that degrees of proof cannot be construed as mathematical probabilities: a point illustrated by comparing the advantages of a foundherentist analysis with the disadvantages of probabilistic analyses of the evidence in the Sacco and Vanzetti case (1921), and of the role of the statistical evidence in Collins (1968).     

Monopoly in the Marketplace: The Ideological Denial of Visas

The McCarran-Walter Act mandates the exclusion of nonimmigrant aliens from entry into the United States. Hundred of detentions and exclusions occur yearly under the Act, and Latin Americans appear to be disproportionately likely to be excluded.
This article argues that the Act, a Cold War statute, ignores current political reality and American self-interest. The exclusionary subsections provide no more protection from terrorists and other genuine internal security risks than is available from other statutes. But they reduce the exchange of people and ideas, including foreign policy issues; fuel a negative image abroad of America; and impermissibly burden the first amendment and equal protection rights of American citizens. This article proposes that the subsections in question be repealed and replaced with narrower statutes.     

A TEST OF VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON THE INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE*

Past research indicates that adults who were subject to severe physical discipline as children are often violent toward their spouse and children as adults. This association is usually attributed to modeling or the learning of attitudes that legitimate hitting family members. Using four waves of data from a sample of midwestern families, this study found only limited support for these explanations. Analysis showed that the relationship between childhood exposure to harsh parenting and recurrent adult violence toward children or a spouse was mediated by the extent to which parents displayed an antisocial orientation. This pattern of findings is consistent with criminological theories that view criminal and deviant behavior of all sorts as rooted in a general antisocial orientation acquired in childhood largely as a result of ineffective parenting.     

‘A Natural and Voluntary Dependence’: The Royal Academy of San Carlos and the Cultural Politics of Art Education in Mexico City, 1786–1797

In this article, I explore the controversies that characterised the foundational years of the Royal Academy of San Carlos of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in Mexico City (1786–1797). They provide provocative insights into questions of competing agendas and ambitions among the artists and bureaucrats of the royal academy. They also illuminate contemporary understandings about the hierarchical relationships between a metropolitan power, Spain, and its American colonies and their visual culture and artistic production, which mirror broader political hierarchies and relationships of power and subordination.