COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY,MINORITY THREAT,AND POLICE BRUTALITY: AN EXAMINATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS CRIMINAL COMPLAINTS*

A growing body of evidence shows that minorities are disproportionately the targets of police brutality, but important theoretical questions about the causes of that inequity remain unanswered. One promising line of research involves structural‐level analyses of the incidence of police brutality complaints; however, existing studies do not incorporate variables from alternative theoretical explanations. Drawing on the community accountability hypothesis and the threat hypothesis, we tested the predictions of two prominent structural‐level explanations of police brutality in a study of civil rights criminal complaints. The study included cities of 150,000+ population (n = 114). The findings reveal that two community accountability variables—ratio percent Hispanic citizens to percent Hispanic police officers and the presence of citizen review—were related positively to police brutality complaints, partially supporting that perspective. Two threat hypothesis measures of threatening people—percent black and percent Hispanic (in the Southwest)—were related positively to complaints, as predicted. The relative degree of support for the two hypotheses is assessed.     

Diversity and Discontent: The Relationship Between School Desegregation and Perceptions of Racial Justice

A number of recent studies have explored the consequences ofinterracial peer effects on the academic and social performanceof minority students. This article contributes to that discussion,focusing, however, on perceptions rather than behaviors. Theanalysis suggests that exposure to white peers is associatedwith declining perceptions of racial justice among black andLatino high school students. While cautioning against causalinterpretations of this finding, the article suggests that theintegrationist aims of Brown v. Board of Education will notbe satisfied without more thoughtful and vigorous desegregationefforts.     

Americans and their sexual partners

Andrew M. Greeley is a priest, sociologist, novelist, and journalist. His scholarly writings concentrate on religion and ethnicity. His other writings range from critiques of the Catholic church to best-selling novels.     

A report of an international collaborative experiment to demonstrate the uniformity obtainable using DNA profiling techniques.

This paper describes a collaborative exercise intended to demonstrate whether uniformity of DNA profile results could be achieved between different European laboratories. It was shown that this goal can be obtained provided that a common protocol is followed (specifically the use of a common electrophoretic buffer as being the most important parameter). Generally, lower molecular weight loci (with lower molecular weight fragments) such as YNH24 perform better than higher molecular weight loci such as MS43a. The results of the exercise are discussed in relation to the objectives of the European DNA profiling group (EDNAP).     

大众传媒与中国外交政策的制定

我国自20世纪70年代末启动改革开放进程,由此媒体对中国外交政策制定的影响总体上呈逐渐上升的趋势.目前中国的大众传媒之于外交政策显示了五大主要的功能.尽管中国外交政策的制定还不是一个充分开放的过程,但体制内的政治精英仍可引导公众舆论,影响大众的认知.     

南非教育的改革与发展

1994年以来,南非新政府把提高全民教育水平作为基本政策,旨在实现社会经济可持续发展。新制度的确立使种族主义教育成为历史,教育部门的变革和重建随即展开。新政府的重要任务是促进建立统一、公平、高质量的国家教育体制,使所有南非国民能够平等地接受教育。尤其重视改善在种族隔离制度下受到歧视的非洲黑人的受教育条件,以增强他们在社会经济中的竞争力。     

利伯曼及其领导的以色列家园党

在以色列第17届议会大选中,利伯曼领导的前苏联移民党——家园党获得了11个议席,从一个小党一跃成为议会第五大党。它的崛起主要靠其传统优势、铁腕路线和竞选策略,最大限度地争取前苏联移民、强硬分子和摇摆性选民的支持;同时,民众对前进党的猜疑、对利库德集团的失望,以及对哈马斯的担忧,也为家园党的胜出添加了有利条件。未来,家园党将不断扩大自身的影响力,积极谋求进一步的发展,并可能给以色列政局带来不少变数。     

猪瘟病毒荧光RT-PCR快速检测方法的建立

以猪瘟病毒5′端非编码区为靶核酸序列设计引物和探针,建立了一步法荧光RT-PCR检测猪瘟病毒。荧光RT-PCR仅检测出猪瘟C株、T株,未能检测出牛病毒性腹泻病毒(BVDV)、猪呼吸系统冠状病毒、猪传染性胃肠炎病毒、猪细小病毒、伪狂犬病病毒、猪生殖与呼吸综合征病毒、PK-15细胞和牛睾丸原代细胞;对猪瘟病毒T株的扩增反应产物进行了测序分析,与预期序列相符。荧光RT-PCR的检测极限可达到1 TCID50/mL,整个试验流程只需2 h。采用荧光RT-PCR和抗原捕获ELISA同时检测临床病料、猪副产品共207份样本,两种方法的检出率分别为17.4%和13.5%,两者符合率为95.7%(198/207);荧光RT-PCR的检出率高于ELISA,两者差异显著。结果表明,建立的荧光RT-PCR可用于猪产品、临床病料中猪瘟病毒的快速检测。