The Geography of U.S. Terrorist Incidents, 1970–2004

This paper describes the spatio-temporal trends in terrorist incidents in the United States, from 1970 through 2004. Utilizing the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) and ancillary data, we examine both the frequency of incidents and their characteristics: location, target type, attack type, weapon type, and perpetrator group. While the frequency of terrorist incidents has declined since the 1970s, there still is significant activity nationwide. Instead of urban-rural or West Coast-East Coast divisions, the pattern is a more complex mosaic based on group identity, target, and weapon type. We conclude that there is an explicit geography of terrorism, one that is quite decentralized and highly localized.     

Moral Concerns and Policy Attitudes: Investigating the Influence of Elite Rhetoric

A growing body of research documents the crucial role played by moral concerns in the formation of attitudes and a wide range of political behaviors. Yet extant models of moral judgment portray a direct linkage between moral intuitions and policy attitudes, leaving little room for the influence of political context. In this article, we argue that political rhetoric plays an important role in facilitating the connection between moral intuitions and political attitudes. Using a unique combination of media content analysis of the stem cell debate and individual-level measures of the public’s moral foundations, we examine the role of rhetoric in linking a person’s moral foundations to his or her attitudes. Our results show that individuals who are the most likely to have been exposed to political rhetoric have the strongest connection between their moral foundations and their attitudes on the issue. We also find that rhetoric was persuasive on this moralized issue and present suggestive evidence that it was most persuasive among those who endorsed the relevant moral foundation.     

Myths,Measures and Modernisation: A Comparison of Local Authority Performance in England and Wales

Local Authority performance in Wales is widely perceived as inferior to that in England. We analyse statistical evidence on current levels of performance and rates of improvement in the two local government systems, and find few significant differences between English and Welsh councils. Adverse judgements on Welsh local government seem to reflect perceptions of their management processes and methods of service provision rather than their substantive achievements. This may in turn be symptomatic of UK central government's assumption that public service improvement cannot be achieved unless organisations follow the specific model of ‘managerial modernisation it is currently promoting.     

Gorbachev's Wage Reform

The wage reform, an aspect of perestroyka, is described as it affects industry, and changes in the wage system are outlined. To stimulate better work, wages are being raised and differentials increased; to induce economies in labor, wage increases are to be financed from the enterprise's income. Self-financing and implementation of the reform to date are addressed as well, as are inconsistencies between the wage reform rules on self-financing and those of the Law on the State Enterprise. Finally, problems such as enterprise footdragging and unemployment and prospects for continued reform, inflationary pressure, and worker morale are considered. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 027, 124, 824.     

An outcome evaluation of a restorative justice alternative to incarceration

Restorative justice has become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional applications of criminal justice. The emphasis on victim needs and the personalizing of conflict resolution offers an attractive choice for those dissatisfied with the adversarial, impersonal, and retributive focus of the present criminal justice system. Many evaluations of restorative justice programs, especially those with a diversion goal, have rarely controlled for the possibility of net widening and the influence of offender risk on recidivism. This evaluation examined a prison diversion program that followed restorative justice principles. Using a matched comparison group and controlling for offender risk, the program demonstrated a diversion effect and a significant reduction in offender recidivism. The results are encouraging for jurisdictions experimenting with this new approach to justice and seeking a more integrated role for victims in criminal justice processing.     

Manual and Automated Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR): A Comparison of Associated Injury Patterns,

The purpose of this study was to identify and compare patterns of trauma associated with AutoPulse^® CPR and manual CPR. Finalized autopsy records from 175 decedents brought to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences were reviewed, 87 received manual‐only CPR, and 88 received AutoPulse^® CPR (in combination with manual CPR as per standard protocol). The characteristic pattern observed in manual‐only CPR use included a high frequency of anterior rib fractures, sternal fractures, and midline chest abrasions along the sternum. The characteristic pattern observed in AutoPulse^® CPR use included a high frequency of posterior rib fractures, skin abrasions located along the anterolateral chest and shoulder, vertebral fractures, and a few cases of visceral injuries including liver lacerations, splenic lacerations, and hemoperitoneum. Knowledge of the AutoPulse^® CPR injury pattern can help forensic pathologists differentiate therapeutic from inflicted injuries and therefore avoid an erroneous assessment of cause and manner of death.     

Risk Technology in Sentencing: Testing the Promises and Perils (Commentary on Hannah-Moffat, 2011)

The target article is a critique of the movement toward using structured risk assessment tools to inform decisions about sentencing. In this commentary, I analyze (a) the conditions under which it may be more or less fair to use well-validated risk assessment tools in this manner and (b) the extent to which doing so is likely to exacerbate, ameliorate, or have no effect on existing racial and other biases in sentencing. I recommend a policy-relevant research agenda that would specifically test whether and how adding well-validated risk assessment tools to the routine sentencing process alter the severity or nature of sentences. This agenda would also evaluate the extent to which these tools are implemented in “real world” settings faithfully enough to bridge the usual divide between science and practice.     

What is Fair Punishment for Alex or Ahmed? Perspective Taking Increases Racial Bias in Retributive Justice Judgments

Previous research frequently found that perspective taking may reduce various sorts of racial biases. In the present research, we propose that perspective taking may increase racial bias in the specific context of retributive justice judgments, that is, evaluations of what punishment is considered fair for offenders. In two studies, we manipulated whether or not participants took the perspective of a target offender, who was named either Alex or Ahmed. Results revealed evidence for racial bias under conditions of perspective taking in both studies: Perspective taking increased punishment for Ahmed, but not for Alex, in a theft case (Study 1). Furthermore, perspective taking decreased punishment for Alex, but not for Ahmed, in the case of less severe offense that is less clearly intentional (Study 2). The consequence is similar in both studies: More severe retributive justice judgments for Ahmed than for Alex under conditions of perspective taking.