Reconstructing Citizens as Consumers: Implications for New Modes of Governance

This article examines the relationship between government and the public within a producer–consumer market exchange. Four conceptual problems are identified in relation to the application of market models to the relationship between government and citizen. These types of models fail to account for the essentially political engagement between government and citizens, the collective responsibilities of government, the absence of markets in many areas of government service delivery and the complexity of relations between government and citizens.     

Revisiting the legal standards that govern requests to sterilize profoundly incompetent children: in light of the "Ashley Treatment," is a new standard appropriate?

This Note discusses the recent controversy surrounding a six-year-old girl named Ashley, whose parents chose to purposefully stunt her growth and remove her reproductive organs for nonmedical reasons. A federal investigation determined that Ashley's rights had been violated because doctors performed the procedure, now referred to as the "Ashley Treatment," without first obtaining a court order. However, the investigation did not make any conclusions regarding whether the "Ashley Treatment" could present a legally permissible treatment option in the future. After discussing the constitutional rights that the "Ashley Treatment" implicates and the current legal standards in place, this Note examines how courts have applied these legal standards to cases involving extreme requests. Drawing upon legal commentators, this Note concludes that a court could approve a request for the "Ashley Treatment" in appropriate and limited cases where the parents have presented clear and convincing evidence before a court that the benefits that the "Ashley Treatment" would provide to the child and her family outweigh the risks associated with the procedure. This Note argues that those benefits may include extrinsic considerations, but courts should remain cautious when considering such evidence and be sure that the evidence as a whole supports their conclusions.     

State Corporate and Federal Securities Law: Dual Regulation in a Federal System

Corporate law in the United States involves dual regulation.Although state and federal corporate law typically functionwithout mutual interference, the last thirty years have revealedpotential conflicts, chiefly in two situations. One involvescivil remedies for investors under federal securities statutes;the other is state anti-takeover regulation and its relationshipto the federal Williams Act. The postwar years until 1975 sawperhaps too much reliance on the federal component of corporateregulation. Since 1975, there has been a renaissance of statelaw. Recently, however, appreciation for state regulatory authoritymay have degenerated into hostility to the will of Congress.The authors argue that the core interpretive task in federalsecurities law is preservation of both regimes to maximum effect,because the Congress has expressly declared that state authorityshould continue adjacent to federal regulation.     

The Relationship Between Courtship Violence and Sexual Aggression in College Students

The relationship between physical and sexual aggression in college students was explored in the current study. Participants were 245 males and 411 females recruited from a 2-year or 4-year college. The vast majority were white. All of them responded to a measure of physical aggression (The Conflict Tactics Scale; Straus, 1979) and sexual aggression (the Sexual Experiences Survey; Koss et al., 1987). A subset of participants also responded to a questionnaire assessing Signs to Look for in a Battering Personality (Ryan, 1995). Results showed a significant association between physical and sexual aggression in men and women. In addition, the combination of physical and sexual aggression produced nonsignificantly higher levels of aggression than when they occurred alone. Discriminant analyses showed verbal abuse and threats predicted both physical and sexual aggression in men and women; however, gender differences emerged on other characteristics. Finally, effect size analyses showed larger effect sizes for sexual than for physical aggression on many of the Signs to Look for in a Battering Personality.     

Technology transfer into capital-intensive industry II. Effect of legislative action

Government policy supports the customary industrial goal of putting new technology to work in industry as quickly as possible, so as to enhance productivity and save energy. There is continuing debate over how to achieve this goal, specifically as to the impact of legislation on efforts to improve industrial energy conservation. The Office of Technology Assessment has studied the effects of four types of legislation on four large energy-using industries: Chemicals, paper, petroleum refining and steel. The legislative options include fuel taxes, changes in depreciation rules, energy tax credits, and lower interest rates. The analysis indicates that reasonable levels of the first three of these will not be persuasive in motivating new investments, and will not speed up the rate of new technology penetration. The limits of new technology introduction are set by capital availability and cash flow. Accordingly, lower interest rates which promote capital availability would indeed increase the levels of capital spending and hence accelerate energy conservation.     

Adolescents' Commitment to Developing Talent: The Role of Peers in Continuing Motivation for Sports and the Arts

The role of peer relationships in supporting or hindering adolescents' talent development has received little research attention, despite the importance of peers in adolescents' lives. We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 41 adolescents talented in sports or the arts, and their parents, to investigate (a) the role of peer relationships in adolescents' continued involvement in their talent activities, (b) possible differences in this role by activity domain, and (c) possible gender differences. Thematic analysis indicated that peers typically played a positive function in supporting the continued involvement of talented adolescents in their talent activities. There were differences in opportunities for peer relationships and social satisfaction between in-school and out-of school activities, but not between activity domains. Both males and females mentioned equally social benefits of such involvement. However, females mentioned receiving negative peer attention more frequently than males, and more often cited social dissatisfaction as a significant contributor to decreased involvement or quitting.