THE ALIENATED CHILD:A Reformulation of Parental Alienation Syndrome

In this article, controversies and problems with parental alienation syndrome are discussed. A reformulation focusing on the alienated child is proposed, and these children are clearly distinguished from other children who resist or refuse contact with a parent following separation or divorce for a variety of normal, expectable reasons, including estrangement. A systemic array of contributing factors are described that can create and/or consolidate alienation in children, including intense marital conflict, a humiliating separation, parental personalities and behaviors, protracted litigation, and professional mismanagement. These factors are understood in the context of the child's capacities and vulnerabilities.     

THERAPEUTIC WORK WITH ALIENATED CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES

This article describes goals and strategies for family-focused counseling and therapy when children are alienated from a parent after separation and divorce. The confidential intervention takes place within a legally defined contract and is based on a careful assessment of the dynamics of the multiple factors that contribute to the alienation and how the chilďs development is affected. Strategies for forming multiple therapeutic alliances with often reluctant, recalcitrant, and polarized parents are discussed together with ways of helping the child directly.     

The Gender Gap in Violent Victimization, 1973–2004

In this paper, data from the NCS and NCVS are developed for the purpose of describing long-term trends in male and female violent victimization for the period 1973–2004. More specifically, gender-specific trends in violence are compared according to crime type and victim–offender relationship. Despite their potential usefulness, these data have not been published previously. The data reveal that the gender gap in robbery victimization has remained relatively stable while the gender gaps in aggravated and simple assault victimization have narrowed over time. Results varied when the data were disaggregated by victim–offender relationship. Male and female rates of nonstranger simple assault and nonstranger robbery were roughly equivalent throughout the period, and the greater risk for male nonstranger aggravated assault that was evident three decades ago has largely disappeared. The gender gap persists in stranger assault, but has narrowed somewhat because male rates of victimization have declined more than female rates. In addition, male and female trends and the gender gap in nonlethal intimate partner violence differ from the patterns established in intimate partner homicide studies. The paper concludes with a discussion of research that is needed to understand why the gender gap in violent victimization has changed for some types of violence but not others, and how greater attention to gender will improve efforts to understand crime trends.

The Stable Isotope Ratios of Marijuana. II. Strontium Isotopes Relate to Geographic Origin

Abstract:  Effectively addressing marijuana trade is aided by understanding marijuana geographic sources. We analyzed the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr of marijuana samples grown in 79 counties across the United States to determine if a primary geologic signal is retained in marijuana, which could therefore be useful for geographic sourcing. The marijuana results were compared with modeled bedrock ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values based on ⁸⁷Rb decay rates and a generalized geologic map of the U.S.A. A significant correlation was observed between marijuana ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and modeled bedrock ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr. Although values clustered near the 1:1 relationship, there was a predominance of positive anomalies, perhaps attributable to carbonate bedrock. A small number of negative anomalies were also observed, which were generally associated with granitic bedrocks. These results suggest that strontium isotopes in marijuana record the geographic origins of marijuana, and that refinement of the base strontium map (or strontium isoscape) and improved understanding of other strontium sources would be productive.     

Forensic Analysis of Explosives Using Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS)—Part 2: Forensic Inter-Laboratory Trial: Bulk Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopes in a Range of Chemical Compounds (Australia and New Zealand)

Abstract:  Comparability of data over time and between laboratories is a key issue for consideration in the development of global databases, and more broadly for quality assurance in general. One mechanism that can be utilized for evaluating traceability is an inter-laboratory trial. This paper addresses an inter-laboratory trial conducted across a number of Australian and New Zealand isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) laboratories. The main objective of this trial was to determine whether IRMS laboratories in these countries would record comparable values for the distributed samples. Four carbon containing and four nitrogen containing compounds were distributed to seven laboratories in Australia and one in New Zealand. The laboratories were requested to analyze the samples using their standard procedures. The data from each laboratory was evaluated collectively using International Standard ISO 13528 ( Statistical methods for use in proficiency testing by inter-laboratory comparisons ). "Warning signals" were raised against one participant in this trial. "Action signals" requiring corrective action were raised against four participants. These participants reviewed the data and possible sources for the discrepancies. This inter-laboratory trial was successful in providing an initial snapshot of the potential for traceability between the participating laboratories. The statistical methods described in this article could be used as a model for others needing to evaluate stable isotope results derived from multiple laboratories, e.g., inter-laboratory trials/proficiency testing. Ongoing trials will be conducted to improve traceability across the Australian and New Zealand IRMS community.     

The New Public Service: Serving Rather than Steering

The New Public Management has championed a vision of public managers as the entrepreneurs of a new, leaner, and increasingly privatized government, emulating not only the practices but also the values of business. Proponents of the New Public Management have developed their arguments largely through contrasts with the old public administration. In this comparison, the New Public Management will, of course, always win. We argue here that the better contrast is with what we call the "New Public Service," a movement built on work in democratic citizenship, community and civil society, and organizational humanism and discourse theory. We suggest seven principles of the New Public Service, most notably that the primary role of the public servant is to help citizens articulate and meet their shared interests rather than to attempt to control or steer society.     

Motives for suicide--a study of Australian suicide notes

Analysis of a large sample of suicide notes from 262 suicides in Australia found that men less often had escape from pain as a motive for their suicides and more often had love/romantic problems. The suicides of older persons were more often motivated by escape from pain and less often had love/romantic problems.     

Reviving and revising a termination model

Little research has been reported on the termination of public programs since a prolific period in the late 1970s. The rich conceptualizations from the literature remain largely untested due to research difficulties and to a well-articulated position that terminations (unlike other policy process stages) are the result of luck and consequently unproductive for scientific examination. An investigation of the seventy year long death struggle at the National Hansens Disease Center (formerly the National Leprosarium) verifies that patterns do exist and that deLeon's 1978 termination model, slightly updated, provides a good basis for continuing termination research.