Intent and Ordinary Bias: Unintended Thought and Social Motivation Create Casual Prejudice

Social psychologists have addressed stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination for nearly a century. Everyday prejudices first seemed to lodge in abnormal personalities, pathological bigots who were exceptional (bad apples), but Freudian explanations proved inadequate. Purely cognitive explanations took their place, arguing that bias inevitably results from normal processes of categorization and association, often automatic. But this so-called cognitive miser account denies the role of intent, which does influence the activation and use of stereotypes and prejudices. People are more realistically motivated tacticians who display more cognitive bias under particular social motivations. The author's continuum of impression formation, proceeding from initial categorization to possible moderation by motives, illustrates this view. Plausible social motives include belonging, understanding, controlling, self-enhancing, and trusting, all known to influence ordinary bias. Social neuroscience is beginning to show that motivation and cognition mix at the earliest stages of ordinary bias.     

Homeland Security Preparedness: The Rebirth of Regionalism

The homeland security mission has placed many new demands onthe U.S. system of federalism. The successful implementationof homeland security policy requires cooperation among all levelsof government—federal, state, and local. Regionalism offersa powerful tool for encouraging greater intergovernmental cooperationand improved homeland security preparedness. We assess the impactof regionalism on intergovernmental cooperation and the implementationof the homeland security mission in Florida, an early proponentof the regional approach. From a regional perspective, we evaluatehow intergovernmental complexity, the quality and quantity ofintergovernmental networks, and security vulnerabilities contributeto perceived improvements in intergovernmental cooperation andhomeland security preparedness. The results of a 2004 mail surveyof city and county officials suggest that regional organizationalstructures are most effective in promoting intergovernmentalcooperation and preparedness where the intergovernmental landscapeis the most complex and where security vulnerabilities are themost intense.     

Implementing HAVA's Voter Education Requirement: A Crisis and a Federal Mandate Improve State-Local Cooperation in Florida

The political fallout from the presidential election of 2000that landed on both state and local officials, HAVA's broadlywritten voter education requirement giving the state great latitudein defining education, and the act's block-grant funding allowingmore programmatic decisions to be made by county supervisorsof elections each played a role in improving voter educationin Florida. Relationships between state and local election officialsalso improved, even though the state legislature expanded therule-making and coordination roles of the state Division ofElections. Voter education efforts in the 2002 and 2004 electioncycles, much more extensive than in 2000, were judged to bequite effective by both the voters and the county election supervisors.Improvements in voter confidence and participation paralleledthe expanded voter education efforts in this highly competitivebattleground state.     

Measuring damages for lost enjoyment of life: the view from the bench and the jury box

Civil jury instructions are inconsistent in defining what constitutes noneconomic damages, which may include pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life (LEL), among other injury sequelae. This inconsistency has been manifested recently in court decisions that have considered whether LEL should be treated as a separate element of noneconomic damages, distinct from pain and suffering. This paper reviews the case law on this issue and also describes a jury simulation experiment. Mock jurors awarded damages after they received instructions on noneconomic damages in which LEL was (1) not identified as a distinct element of damages; (2) defined as an element of damages distinct from pain and suffering, but participants awarded a single amount for noneconomic damages; or (3) defined as a distinct element of damages, and participants awarded separate amounts for LEL and pain and suffering. Instructions about LEL resulted in larger awards, but only when mock jurors also made a separate award for that element of damages.     

Pharmacogenomics as an aspect of molecular autopsy for forensic pathology/toxicology: does genotyping CYP 2D6 serve as an adjunct for certifying methadone toxicity?

Pharmacogenomics, applied as an aspect of molecular autopsy, may be used as an adjunct for certifying methadone fatalities. Methadone is metabolized by cytochrome P-450 (CYP) 1A2, 3A4, and 2D6. We hypothesized that methadone toxicity may be partially due to CYP 2D6 *3, *4, and *5 variant alleles, resulting in poor drug metabolism. A retrospective analysis was performed on covariables and risk factors of 21 methadone cases from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office (1998-2000). PCR genotyping showed: one heterozygous for 2D6*3, two homozygous for 2D6*4, five heterozygous for 2D6*4, and one heterozygous for both 2D6*3 and *4. This limited number of cases showed that the prevalence of poor metabolizer was higher but not significantly different from that of a control group (n = 23) (P > 0.05, Fisher Exact Test). Thus, CYP 2D6 mutations may not yet be directly associated with methadone toxicity. However, pharmacogenomics, complementing other case findings, served as an adjunct in interpreting methadone toxicity of poor and intermediate metabolizers.     

The ongoing debate over Medicare: understanding the philosophical and policy divides

This Article examines the evolution and status of Medicare, as well as the myriad current efforts to reform this longstanding entitlement. The author analyzes why healthcare financing for the elderly follows an administered pricing, fee-for-service model, while the working population generally obtains its insurance under a competitive market model. As a non-means-tested program modeled after Social Security, Medicare embraces both a universal entitlement philosophy of government-provided basic health services, and a need-based entitlement philosophy of caring for the Medicare-eligible elderly.