The consumer racial profiling experiences of Black students at historically Black colleges and universities: An exploratory study

This article examines consumer racial profiling among Black students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Consumer Racial Profiling (CRP) is when store employees target a shopper or shoppers for discriminatory treatment based on their race or ethnicity. The research revealed that students have been exposed to a variety of CRP practices (e.g., being followed around, etc.). Even though they have been victims of CRP, many of the students did not report doing anything about it. Multivariate analyses were conducted to determine the most significant predictors of both having reported being a victim of CRP and also reporting the incident. The article concludes arguing that victims of CRP must report the incidents—if they are to be minimized, or in the best-case scenario, eliminated. In addition, the authors argue that criminologists should pay more attention to both CRP and the experiences and views of students at HBCUs.     

Toward a Theory of Fiscal Slack

Though the fiscal slack literature has advanced over the past decade, more research is needed for a systematic understanding of the determinants and uses of fiscal reserves at the local level. This paper reviews theory and empirical evidence on the determinants of municipal fiscal reserves offers a conceptual framework for analyzing fiscal reserves accumulation and tests a series of hypotheses using a panel of 2007–2012 financial data for 145 U.S. cities from 21 states. Generalized least squares models show that unassigned general fund balances and unrestricted net assets are positively associated with general fund surpluses in the previous year and with local household incomes, while not being related to measures of fiscal risk, revenue effort, and voter characteristics. Overall, the findings suggest a relatively stronger influence of the capacity to save than the need to save on local fiscal reserves.     

Getting to the Point: Attempting to Improve Juror Comprehension of Capital Penalty Phase Instructions

This research examined the effects of several versions of capital penalty phase instructions on juror comprehension. Study One documented the impact of California’s recently implemented “plain language” instruction. It showed that although the new instruction has clear advantages over the previous version, significant comprehension problems remain. Study Two evaluated several modified instructions designed to enhance comprehension. Participants heard either a standard patterned instruction or one of two alternatives—a psycholinguistically improved instruction, or a “pinpoint” instruction using case-related facts to illustrate key terms—in a simulated death penalty sentencing phase. Persons who heard modified instructions demonstrated higher levels of comprehension on virtually every measure as compared to those in the standard instruction condition.     

Assessing measurement invariance of PCL-R assessments from file reviews of North American and German offenders

Cross-cultural research on psychopathy necessitates assessment methods that are generalizable across linguistic and cultural differences. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare the factorial structure of Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) assessments obtained from file reviews of North-American (N = 2622) and German (N = 443) male offenders. The analyses indicated that the 18 item, 4-factor model of the PCL-R obtained with the standard PCL-R protocol (interview and file review) also holds for file review data. On a factor-by-factor level, the data are commensurate with strong factorial invariance of factor loadings and item thresholds for the Interpersonal and Lifestyle factors, and with likely metric invariance for the Affective factor. The Antisocial factor showed structural differences between the two samples. The results imply that cultural or environmental factors more strongly influence the judgment and/or expression of antisociality. Based on the results, cross-cultural comparisons between North-American and German offenders in terms of PCL-R psychopathy should be limited to the Interpersonal and Lifestyle factors. Further research using data obtained through the standard protocol (i.e., interview plus file information) is encouraged.