“Strength at Home” Group Intervention for Military Populations Engaging in Intimate Partner Violence: Pilot Findings

In this brief report, we present information on the Strength at Home intervention to treat male active duty or military veteran perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) as well as preliminary pilot study findings. Strength at Home is a 12-session cognitive-behavioral group intervention developed by the authors that is based on a social information processing model of IPV perpetration. Six men referred to two intervention groups and five collateral female partners participated in this pilot study. Findings indicated large reductions for most indices of physical and psychological IPV from pre-treatment to 6-month follow-up. These initial results are promising though the small sample size and other study limitations preclude our ability to draw firm conclusions.     

Making Law in Mid-Eighteenth-Century England: Legal Statutes and their Application in the Justicing Notebook of Phillip Ward of Stoke Doyle

This article analyses the notebook of an eighteenth-century magistrate, Phillip Ward. As Ward was especially diligent in recording the rationale behind his decision-making, it offers some unique insights into the summary process. The article considers the nature of the business that Ward dealt with and the amount of discretion he exercised in making his decisions. Throughout it draws upon the growing body of work on the role of the magistracy in the eighteenth century while also engaging with the long-standing debate about the use of the law in the period. Importantly, since Ward was operating before Richard Burn published the first edition of his guide for JPs this particular magistrate drew upon his own legal experience and his father's extensive law library. So while Ward was not making up the law as he went along he was working out how to apply it to the hearings that came before him. Thus this article will be of interest to historians of crime and the law as well as those interested in the social relations of the period.     

Mapping Corporate Influence and Institutional Corruption Inside Canadian Universities

Corporate influences that threaten the independence of science and trust in research often remain hidden from the general public. For university administrators these improper influences are often tacitly accepted as simply the new reality of funding environments—something to be managed, rather than eliminated. In this article, we structurally map patterns of corporate influence that threaten to distort the independence of research. Specifically, we map relationships between the fossil fuel industry and three major Canadian institutions of higher education. We also provide case studies of institutional corruption inside two of these universities. Our findings reveal elite interlocking networks between the fossil-fuel sector and academia as well as corporate influences that serve to decrease the independence of science and trust in research.     

‘The fire rises’: identity,the alt-right and intersectionality

This article examines the ideology of the ‘alt-right,’ specifically in its relation to the importance of identity. Placing the alt-right within the context of the rising importance of identity within American society, the article discusses the alt-right as overlapping in significant ways with the identitarian elements within the American Left. Investigating the manner in which national/racial identity plays a central role in alt-right thinking and using the notion of ‘category-based epistemology’ for guidance, this article argues that the alt-right – rather than a quirk of the 2016 electoral cycle – is likely to increase in its importance as a ‘rightist’ form of intersectionality.     

Reputations,Perceptions, and International Economic Agreements

How do countries’ actions on the international stage affect their reputations? We propose that, particularly when evaluating countries about whom individuals may have few prior beliefs, international agreements may hold particular sway in establishing countries’ reputations. Specifically, if a relatively unknown country joins an organization with a country that has a good reputation, individuals will judge that original state to be less risky; if the better-known countries are generally perceived to have a bad reputation, the less-known state will also look more risky. This article presents evidence from a survey experiment in which individuals are asked about the weight of various factors in their perceptions of countries’ reputations. Subjects would randomly receive a prompt about a country’s domestic policy reform or its ties to other countries via economic or cultural agreements. The results show that states’ international ties play a role in assessments about country reputations. We also examine possible mechanisms underlying this finding. Lower risk associated with agreements with good countries is largely a function of anticipated economic benefits. However, the higher risk associated with agreements with bad countries seems to be more a function of anticipated political closeness between countries.     

Mental health, gender, and drug court completion

Drug-involved offenders report high rates of mental health problems that can negatively impact criminal justice outcomes. Yet, relatively little attention has been given to the mental health issues of drug court offenders. Therefore, this study examined 449 participants in a Delaware drug court and investigated relationships between mental health, gender, and program completion. Bivariate results indicated that gender was related to both mental health status and completion status. Multivariate findings revealed that two indicators of mental health, depression and being prescribed drugs for a psychological or emotional problem, were significant predictors of drug court completion. Policy implications include assessing the mental health status of all drug court participants at program entry so that services can be provided which aim to improve offender health and increase the likelihood of successful program outcomes. Drug courts must better meet the needs of participants with co-occurring disorders if they are to remain an effective and viable criminal justice intervention. This research was supported by grant RO1 DA12424 “Drug Court Offenders in Outpatient Treatment,” by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.     

VOICE ALTERATIONS

The experience of divorce is difficult for everyone involved. To best help with the legal experience, we need to understand gender differences that affect the process. This article adds to the understanding of that difference by addressing women's development and the female "voice." Women have not been acculturated to the subtle rules of litigation, which are in the male "voice." The authors offer an alternative scenario to add balance to the traditional experience of divorce for women and men and to the divorce process itself.