Nonmission–Based Values in Results–Oriented Public Management: The Case of Freedom of Information

Since the 1940s, Congress and the federal courts have sought to make U.S. federal administration more responsive to democratic–constitutional values, including representation, participation, transparency, and individual rights. As manifested in the National Performance Review, the New Public Management emphasis on results may reduce attention to these values, which for most agencies are not intrinsically mission–based. Freedom of information illustrates the problem of protecting nonmission–based, democratic–constitutional values in results–oriented public management. Agencies' annual performance plans under the Government Performance and Results Act overwhelmingly ignore freedom of information, even though it is a legal requirement and performance measures for it are readily available. This study concludes that focusing on results may weaken commitment to democratic–constitutional values by default. It suggests that using a balanced scorecard approach in performance plans could enhance attention to freedom of information and other democratic–constitutional values.     

Battered women who kill

This study assesses acquital rates using mock jurors in cases involving a battered woman charged with killing her husband. The simulated trial format was based on actual courtroom proceedings including witness cross-examination and jury deliberation proceedings. The type of plea entered was varied and reflected either self-defense, automatism, or a hypothetical plea of psychological self-defense. The severity of abuse incurred by the defendant was also varied along with expert testimony. Jurors more frequently found the defendant not guilty when a plea of automatism was entered compared to a plea of self-defense. The frequency of acquittals following a plea of psychological self-defense resulted in more acquittals than the self-defense plea but significantly fewer than the automatism plea. The likelihood of acquittal increased under conditions of severe abuse as opposed to moderate abuse. Expert witness testimony was observed to influence verdicts during juror deliberations.     

Consistency in policy thinking

This study examines consistency in opinion on a variety of important state and national policy questions. The data come from a two-wave panel study of adult Floridians conducted in 1981 and 1982. Wide variations in consistency of opinion over the 1-year period are found. Salience has an important impact on consistency, with respondents who find an issue salient almost always exhibiting more consistent opinions, but salience cannot explain the variations in consistency across issues. The level of government on which the issue is focused (national or state) has no bearing on consistency. Most important, the particular nature of the issue itself, especially how central it is to the individual and how long it has occupied the political agenda (maturity), affects consistency of opinion. Centrality and maturity both contribute to issue attitude consistency and even can compensate for one another. Both highly central new issues and remote old issues can produce consistent attitudes, but deficiences in centrality seem to override issue maturity. These findings illustrate the value of looking beyond opinion distributions to the meaning of the survey response. With information on consistency and its sources, the public opinion analyst can interpret polling results intelligently, and the study of public opinion can become more objective and scientific.     

The Influence of Wood Grain on the Bullet's Ricochet Behavior

When a bullet ricochets from wood, various parameters will influence its behavior. In this study, the influence of the wood grain on the ricochet angle (β) and deflection angle (γ) is assessed. Series of five .32 Auto bullets were fired at different angles of incidence (α) on boards of six wood types. The results confirm the previously shown effect that the mean β‐angles usually exceed α and increase when α increases. Overall, the maximum mean γ occurs when the angle of wood grain (ζ), in relation to the plane of impact, lies between 30° and 75° but differs per combination of wood and α. The results show the inclination of γ toward the left or right, depending on the bullets left or right rotation while also showing that the direction of ζ can enhance or counteract this effect considerably, especially when α is close to the critical ricochet angle.     

Rights and Relativistic Justifications: Replies to Kasachkoff and Husak

Law and Philosophy -     

The Notion of Consent to Sexual Activity for Persons with Mental Disabilities

This paper seeks to examine the notion of consent to sexual activity as it is applied to situations involving persons with mental disabilities both by both medical professionals and the law. This will be achieved by analysing sexuality and consent through the lens of disability theory and subsequently by including feminist theories on the notion of consent and of sexual activity generally where this serves to assist in coming to a genuine assessment of the nature and existence of consent to sexual activity for persons with mental disabilities. It is concluded that in order to ensure that genuine substantive consent to sexual activity on the part of the persons with mental illnesses is accurately assessed at both a civil and criminal level, a fusion of both feminist and disability theory into such assessments and adjudications is vital.