HOW JUDGES DECIDE WHETHER SOCIAL PARENTS HAVE PARENTAL RIGHTS: A FIVE‐FACTOR TYPOLOGY

Courts have issued conflicting rulings regarding the rights (e.g., custody, visitation) and responsibilities (e.g., child support) of non‐biological gay parents. This analysis establishes a typology of five factors that most commonly influence judges' decisions. These factors include: interpretation of parenting statutes, legislative intent, parental intent, legal documents establishing parenthood, and the child's best interests. Despite these common themes, there is still much discrepancy among court rulings. Based on this analysis, there are steps parents can take to protect their legal rights and living arrangements. Finally, policy suggestions are offered for courts and lawmakers. These legal actors can take steps (e.g., clarifying statutes) that would provide certainty for families in case of parental separation or the biological parent's death.     

Callous and unemotional traits and social cognitive processes in a sample of community-based aggressive youth

Psychopathic traits are associated with violent, aggressive behaviors and recidivism in adulthood. To increase positive treatment outcomes, it is arguably beneficial to identify and treat psychopathy as early as possible. Furthermore, because research shows that the effectiveness of behavior modification is likely to be affected by the social information-processing patterns of aggressive children, it is important to understand the relationship between conduct-disordered traits and social cognitions. The results of this study showed that callous/unemotional traits in a community-based sample of behavior-disordered youth (57 male, 19 female; 10-19 years of age; 63% African American) significantly predicted values in obtaining a tangible reward and getting into trouble or being punished. However, callous/unemotional traits, impulsivity/conduct problems, and narcissism failed to predict positive expectations regarding receiving a tangible reward, reducing aversive treatment, and demonstration of dominance. Implications for these results are presented.     

Analysis of hydrogen peroxide field samples by HPLC/FD and HPLC/ED in DC mode

The goal of this paper is to describe applications of two recently developed HPLC methods for the analysis and confirmation of the presence of hydrogen peroxide residues in field studies. The procedure utilizes two different HPLC systems, one with post-column derivatization followed by fluorescence detection (HPLC/FD), and the other with electrochemical detection (HPLC/ED). The two systems were utilized to detect hydrogen peroxide in a variety of typical forensic samples including pre- and post-blast samples, as well as a series of environmental control samples. Peroxide-based organic explosives were also examined due to their propensity to produce peroxide residues following detonation. Because samples collected from post-blast scenes are frequently shipped or stored prior to analysis, the effects of storage time, temperature and type of substrate material on the recovery of hydrogen peroxide residues were also investigated. The combined results of the study demonstrate the capability of two HPLC approaches with selective detection in the analysis and investigation of suspected incidents involving peroxide based explosives.     

Cracks in the Opposition: Immigration as a Wedge Issue for the Reagan Coalition

The absence of a core means that a majority coalition can never choose a policy that will keep it safe from minority appeals to its pivotal members. In two dimensions, strategic minorities will always be able to offer pivotal voters attractive policy concessions. We argue that this instability of multidimensional politics explains why minorities raise wedge issues and how wedge issues result in partisan realignment in legislative politics. Applying agenda‐constrained ideal point estimation techniques to immigration debates, we show that the Reagan coalition—pro‐business and social conservatives—has been vulnerable on the wedge issue of immigration and that parties have switched their positions on immigration over the last three decades. We use the uncovered set as the best‐fit theoretical solution concept in this legislative environment, to capture the limits of majority rule coalitional possibilities and policy change in the two‐dimensional absence of a core.     

The impact of judge–defendant communication on mental health court outcomes

Previous research has shown that mental health courts have been successful in reducing the rates of recidivism among mentally ill offenders. However, none of these studies, to date, have examined exactly what aspects of the courts reduce these rates of recidivism and what makes them successful. The current study utilized a sample of 291 mentally ill criminal offenders participating in a mental health court to examine whether those participants who were addressed by and communicated with the judge had a reduction in recidivism rates and the severity of new charges in comparison to those who did not. The hypotheses regarding greater judge–defendant communication and recidivism were not supported. This suggests that communication in and of itself is not sufficient to reduce recidivism. Future research of a qualitative nature is essential to identify if the frequency, tone, and valence of the communication results in improved outcomes. In addition, these results may indicate a necessity for more stringent training and guidelines for the maintenance of Mental Health Courts. Results of the current study suggested differences between genders, such that females were spoken to by the judge more frequently than were men.     

Nuclear Dominoes: A Self-Defeating Prophecy?

Is the nuclear domino theory historically valid? Despite its longstanding centrality to thinking on nuclear proliferation amongst scholars and policymakers, in recent years a revisionist consensus has emerged in opposition to this traditional view. Based on an analysis of historical evidence from the aftermath of the 1964 Chinese nuclear test, this article argues that scholars have gone too far in rejecting the nuclear domino theory. Reactive proliferation has been more prevalent than commonly believed, and while it is true that only India acquired a nuclear arsenal in response to the Chinese test, to a significant extent this is precisely because the United States was aware of the danger of reactive proliferation and worked to stop it. Finally, the historical evidence suggests that the nuclear domino theory is compatible with both domestic and prestige motivations for proliferation in addition to the security motives normally associated with the theory.     

Personality Correlates of Aggression: Evidence From Measures of the Five-Factor Model, UPPS Model of Impulsivity, and BIS/BAS

Although many studies of personality and aggression focus on multidimensional traits and higher order personality disorders (e.g., psychopathy), lower order, unidimensional traits may provide more precision in identifying specific aspects of personality that relate to aggression. The current study includes a comprehensive measurement of lower order personality traits in relation to three forms of aggression: reactive, proactive, and relational. Traits related to interpersonal antagonism and impulsivity, especially impulsive behavior in the context of negative affect, were consistently related to aggression across multiple indices. These findings suggest that certain lower order traits are of critical importance to understanding who engages in aggressive behavior and why this behavior occurs.