Optimism as a Mediator Between the Experience of Child Abuse,Other Traumatic Events,and Distress

In this study, we examined the role of dispositional optimism in mediating distress among students who experienced traumatic events, including child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse. Participants included 199 undergraduate and graduate students (aged 18–63 years) from a private university in Oregon. In this study, dispositional optimism partially mediated distress among individuals who had experienced child physical abuse and child emotional abuse; participants with higher levels of optimism had lower levels of distress. In addition, dispositional optimism fully mediated distress among individuals who had experienced traumatic events such as rape, assault, and fire; participants with higher levels of optimism had lower levels of distress. Contrary to prediction, the experience of child sexual abuse was not associated with distress. Clinical implications of these results are addressed.     

Further notes on information,corruption, and optimal law enforcement

We consider two important notes on optimal law enforcement with corruption. First, we analyze the role of asymmetric information on the emergence of collusion between criminals and enforcers. Second, our paper proposes that the optimal criminal sanction for the underlying offense is not necessarily maximal. We achieve this result by coupling the criminal sanction for the underlying offense with a criminal sanction for corruption, both imposed on offenders. A higher criminal sanction for the underlying offense implies that the government must spend more resources to detect and punish corruption (since the likelihood of collusion increases). Thus, the government could reduce this sanction, save on detection, and increase the criminal sanction for corruption (in order to offset the negative effect on deterrence). We are grateful to Mitch Polinsky and two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions. The usual disclaimers apply.     

Guilt Shall Not Escape or Innocence Suffer? The Limits of Plea Bargaining When Defendant Guilt is Uncertain

This article examines optimal prosecutor behavior with respectto plea bargaining when defendant guilt is uncertain. I showthat when jury beliefs and behavior are determined endogenouslyin equilibrium along with defendant and prosecutor behavior,plea bargaining can play only a limited role in managing society'sconflicting desires to maximize punishment of the guilty andminimize punishment of the falsely accused. In particular, whileit can be optimal for prosecutors to use plea bargaining toinduce a large fraction of guilty defendants to voluntarilysort themselves from the innocent, such sorting must come atthe cost of imposing relatively short sentences on such guiltydefendants who accept plea bargains.     

The Effect of a Standard to Improve Person Descriptions by Children

This study examines whether or not using a person as a standard/comparison improves the ability of a child witness to provide more accurate detail about a previously observed person. Study participants included 135 children who observed a male stranger and were then later asked to describe and answer various questions about that person using a third-person standard/comparison. Despite the fact that one-half of participants were exposed to a standard/comparison, neither participants’ gender or exposure to the standard/comparison improved recollection outcomes. However, the gender of the standard/comparisons - especially where female - did have a significant effect on the recall ability of male participants.     

Community Correction Officer Perceptions Of Ex-Offender Reentry Needs And Challenges

Research into community corrections officers’ perceptions of the needs of ex-offenders has largely been overlooked. While some empirical research has emerged regarding federal parole officers’ perceptions, it is conceptually incomplete. A gap in the literature remains regarding the concordance or discordance between offenders and community corrections officers’ perceptions of offender needs and the opportunities for success upon release. Using a sample of community corrections officers in Seattle, Washington, this research examined officer perception of ex-offender needs, the value officers’ placed on the specific needs, and the opportunities available for offenders to meet their needs. Differences between officers emerged including the finding that female officers rated needs and challenges for offenders significantly different than male officers. Policy implications of the research are discussed. This research was made possible due to a grant award from the College of Arts and Sciences at Seattle University. This research was first presented at the 2005 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Conference in Chicago. We are grateful to Mac Pevey and Keven Bovenkamp from the Washington State Department of Corrections and Bill Corn and Tim McTighe from United States Probation and Pretrial Services for their support, assistance, and for making the study possible. A special thanks to our research assistant Tania Reyes who was instrumental in collecting the data for this investigation.     

Managing Equality in Social Dilemmas: Emotional and Retributive Implications

The equality rule is an important coordination rule in symmetric public good dilemmas. Although prior research emphasized that people use the equality rule out of efficiency concerns (as it helps to obtain the public good in the most efficient manner among group members), it may also reflect a true preference for fairness. More precisely, research examining emotional and retributive reactions as a result of a violation of the equality rule by a fellow group member showed that equality indeed is related to people’s personal values and what they consider to be fair. The present paper suggests that a violation of the equality rule results in emotional reactions, and these emotional experiences encourage further retributive actions. The different reactions following an equality violation are described as a function of three features: (1) the motives to use equality, (2) attributions for explaining the violation, and (3) the honesty of the given explanation. The write-up of this paper was partly supported by GOA/05/04 from the Research Fund of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The research and write-up was supported by a fellowship of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, Grant No. 016.005.019), awarded to the second author.