A LAWYER FOR EVERY CHILD: CLIENT-DIRECTED REPRESENTATION IN DEPENDENCY CASES

The article begins with a due process analysis concluding that children are legally entitled to counsel and continues by presenting examples of federal and state legislation, court decisions, and public policy arguments that support this right. The article then goes a step further to advocate for a traditional, client-directed model of representation, which empowers children and leads to better judicial decision making. Finally, the article discusses the impact of high caseloads and lack of training on attorney performance. This article serves as an important addition to the academic literature examining the need for and role of the child's attorney in dependency proceedings.     

CHILD CUSTODY MEDIATION AND SPOUSE ABUSE

This article discusses domestic violence, providing information and a review of literature regarding this phenomena. The article then goes on to describe a protocol developed by the Orange County (California) mediation and investigative unit that provides protection to the alleged victim of violence through the use of assessment interviews, co-mediation with a male-female mediation team, and the development of postparenting arrangements that provide for protection and security. The article also reviews a sample of 100 domestic violence cases handled in Orange County during 1991. Data from this research suggest that mediators using the protocols described in this article are able to guide the more serious, high-risk cases into more protective outcomes and that mediation can provide a very important adjunct to the trial court process.     

The application of a simple RIA technique for the detection of 19-OH F1 alpha/F2 alpha prostaglandin, a specific semen marker, in semen contaminated vaginal swabs: time since intercourse studies

The specificity of the 19-OH F1 alpha/F2 alpha prostaglandin antisera for the detection of semen in seminal/vaginal mixtures, has been evaluated. Using a parallel curve test we found that the antibody showed a high specificity for these seminal prostaglandins in seminal/vaginal mixtures at concentrations of between 2 pg and 40 pg/100 microliter. The precision of the assay has been improved by the use of a donkey-anti-rabbit ferritin-bound second antibody. The application of this detection system makes it possible to complete an assay within 4.5 h. A survey of 50 semen-free vaginal swabs obtained from 3 donors, taken throughout the menstrual cycle, showed no trace of these prostaglandins. They were also not detected in the vaginal secretions of two further donors who were undergoing medication. Using only 10-microliter aliquots of a seminal/vaginal swab extract, prepared in 500 microliter, it was possible to detect semen up to approx. 80 h after one sexual act.     

FAMILY CARE COMMITMENT DISCRIMINATION: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN WORK AND FAMILY

This Note discusses the pervasive problem of employment discrimination based on family responsibilities, or family care commitment discrimination. Employees with family care commitments often find themselves being pulled in opposing directions—between work and family. When an employee is forced to choose work, for financial reasons, over family, his or her family ends up suffering. The current state and federal statutes aimed at employment discrimination are insufficient to deal with family care commitment discrimination. This Note proposes a change to the current legislation and explains how this change will protect employees and families, while causing employers to internalize externalities by adopting more family‐friendly policies.     

Political Decentralization and Technological Innovation: Testing the Innovative Advantages of Decentralized States

Are politically decentralized states better at fostering long‐run technological innovation than centralized states? Societies with decentralized governments are widely seen as agile, competitive, and well structured to adapt to innovation's gale of creative destruction. Meanwhile, centralized states, even when democratic, have come to be viewed as rigid and thus hostile to the risks, costs, and change associated with new technology, or prone to cling too long to foolhardy or outdated technological projects. Therefore government decentralization is often perceived as a necessary institutional foundation for encouraging long‐run technological innovation. However, in this article, I analyze data on international patent activity, scientific publications, and high‐technology exports, and show that there exists little evidence for an aggregate relationship between government structure and technological innovation.     

Ending Up in Pizza: Accountability as a Problem of Institutional Arrangement in Brazil

Brazilians often complain that investigations of corruption by public servants drag on for years or bring few legal sanctions on the perpetrators. This lack of accountability is so pervasive that a slang phrase, acabou em pizza , is often invoked when investigations are inconclusive. This article investigates the role of four Brazilian public institutions charged with keeping public servants accountable. For analysis, it breaks the accountability process into its three component stages: oversight, investigation, and sanction. Through a study of six prominent cases of corruption, it shows that the weakness of the accountability process in Brazil is due not entirely to the toothlessness of individual institutions of accountability, but also to the independence of such institutions at each of the three stages. These findings suggest that institutional arrangements influence the degree of accountability, and thereby also public trust and confidence, in Latin America's largest democracy.     

Youth Gangs: A 1990s Perspective

The juvenile gang in the 1990s differs in many significant ways from the gangs described in the “classical” gang studies of the 1950s and 1960s. Juvenile justice professionals should be aware of the changes in the nature, organization, motivation, and activities of gangs and plan intervention strategies accordingly. One important issue in gang research—one which has great implications for public policy—is defining “gang” and “gang-related crime.” The existence of a “gang problem” in a community may be more related to the definition of “gang” and “gang-related” than to the objective issue of whether, or not, a gang problem exists. Further issues relating to the gang of the 1990s involve changing age and sex distribution of gang members, increasing violence by gangs, and deeper involvement with drug distribution. Implications for public policy are discussed.