Testing a measure of organizational learning capacity and readiness for transformational change in human services

Transformative organizational change requires organizational learning capacity, which we define in terms of (1) internal and (2) external organizational systems alignment, and promoting a culture of learning, including (3) an emphasis on exploration and information, (4) open communication, (5) staff empowerment, and (6) support for professional development. We shortened and adapted Watkins and Marsick's Dimensions of Learning Organizations Questionnaire into a new 16-item Organizational Learning Capacity Scale (OLCS) geared more toward nonprofit organizations. The OLCS and its subscales measuring each of the above 6 dimensions are unusually reliable for their brevity. ANOVAs for the OLCS and subscales clearly and consistently confirmed extensive participant observations and other qualitative data from four nonprofit human service organizations and one local human service funding organization.     

Probing the Depths of the Responsible Corporate Officer’s Duty

Many criminal law scholars have criticized the responsible corporate officer doctrine as a form of strict and vicarious liability. It is neither. It is merely a doctrine that supplies a duty in instances of omissions. Siding with Todd Aagaard in this debate, I argue that a proper reading of the cases yields that the responsible corporate officer doctrine is just duty supplying, and does not allow for strict liability when the underlying statute requires mens rea. After analyzing Dotterweich, Park, and their progeny, I probe the depths of this duty-supplying doctrine, including to whom the duty is owed, whether the duty is grounded in statute, cause of peril, or contract, and what the content of the duty is. Although the responsible corporate officer doctrine unveils questions we may have about duty generally, it is no more problematic than other duty-supplying doctrines in the criminal law.     

Beliefs about secondary confession evidence: a survey of laypeople and defense attorneys

We surveyed students, community members, and defense attorneys regarding beliefs about secondary confession evidence (i.e. when a third party tells authorities that a person has confessed to him or her) from jailhouse informants and other sources. Results indicated that laypeople perceive secondary confessions as less credible than other types of evidence (e.g. forensics, DNA, eyewitness testimony), and they are knowledgeable about factors that may influence the veracity of secondary confessions, such as incentives or previous testimony. However, they underestimated or were uncertain about how persuasive secondary confessions would be to themselves or other jurors. Compared to laypeople, defense attorneys were more sensitive about issues affecting the reliability of secondary confessions.     

Intelligent Agents and the Information Requirements of the Directives on Distance Selling and E-commerce

A significant amount of research in artificial intelligence is dedicated to intelligent agents, software that can perform tasks autonomously. Due to this autonomous character, agents are interesting from a legal perspective: lawyers struggle with the question whether agents are just instruments used by humans or legal entities that can perform legal acts. An interesting area for the practical application of agents is Internet commerce. Agents can find for their users profitable goods and services, and place orders online. The sellers of online goods and services have to meet information requirements that are laid down in the European Union Directives 97/7 and 2000/31. This paper addresses whether online sellers should provide (all) required information to agents directly, and as far as this is the case, in what format the required information regarding prices, delivery costs, etc. should be provided to agents.     

A critical review of published competency-to-confess measures

The development of standardized assessments for competency-to-confess evaluations has remained largely neglected for the last several decades. Groundbreaking research was conducted on Miranda waivers during the late 1970s, but researchers have failed to sustain programmatic research. This critical review focuses on four published Miranda measures (Comprehension of Miranda Rights, Comprehension of Miranda Rights-Recognition, Comprehension of Miranda Vocabulary, and Function of Rights in Interrogation). When evaluated by contemporary standards, the validation of these measures is very limited. Major improvements are needed for interrater reliability, test-retest reliability, content validity, construct validity, and criterion-related validity.     

Conservative Perspectives on American Federalism: Introduction

Conservatives were regularly criticized by liberals and othersfor their approach to federalism throughout the twentieth century.This trend began during the Progressive era, when the justicesof the "Lochner Court" were vilified for using national judicialpower to strike down local regulations. Several decades later,conservative opposition to New Deal programs was seen as insensitiveand elitist. Arguments for constitutional limitations on executivepower in the 1930s were attributed to the greed of businessmenand corporations. During the 1950s and 1960s, the conservativedefense of states' rights was explained by other unpleasantmotivations. Opposition to national civil rights laws was, formany, analogous to fondness for Jim Crow and other forms ofracial subjugation. Since the 1980s, conservative members ofthe Rehnquist Court have been denounced from various quartersfor their federalist perspectives. According to the Court'scritics, specious arguments about state sovereignty have beenused to rescind national rights and benefits.     

Older and more recent evidence on racial discrimination in sentencing

Examination of previous studies of racial discrimination in sentencing indicates more widespread evidence of discrimination than allowed in three separate reviews by M. J. Hindelang [(1969).J. Crim. Law Criminal. Police Sci. 60: 306–313], J. Hagan [(1975). InThe Aldine Crime and Justice Annual, Aldine, Chicago], and G. Kleck [(1981).Am. Social. Rev. 46: 783-805]. It is not the case, as these reviewers suggest, that racial discrimination is a thing of the past, shown almost exclusively for capital offences from the American South, and often supported only because relevant legal variables were not controlled. In addition, analysis of recent (1977) data from a non-Southern state (Pennsylvania) covering noncapital offenses and including recommended controls shows that evidence of racial disparity in sentencing is revealed more clearly when separate analyses are conducted within levels of urbanization. The labeling perspective and conflict theory guide our interpretation.     

Cross-Informant Ratings of the Emotional and Behavioral Functioning of College Students

One hundred seventy-four college students and a subset of their mothers and fathers provided ratings of college students’ emotional and behavioral functioning. College students and their mothers and fathers demonstrated variable levels of correspondence in their ratings of college students’ internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Similar findings were noted with t-test comparisons, with college students rating themselves as experiencing significantly higher levels of behavior problems than did their mothers and fathers. Further, college students’ ratings of their mothers’ and fathers’ parenting and their perceptions of their parents predicted significantly their ratings of their own behavior problems. Although mothers’ communication reciprocity and perceptions of their college students served as significant predictors of mothers’ ratings, a different pattern of results occurred with paternal variables. Overall, these findings further the understanding of correspondence and predictors of cross-informant ratings of college students’ emotional and behavioral functioning. Kimberly Renk is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, Florida, serving the Department of Psychology’s Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Illinois, her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at Illinois State University, and her Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of South Florida after completing a predoctoral internship in Clinical Psychology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Her current interests include parents’ perceptions of their children’s emotional and behavioral functioning and parent-child interactions. She and her graduate students pursue the study of these topics and provide clinical services to the community surrounding UCF through the Understanding Children and Families laboratory. Reesa Donnelly is a Doctoral student at the University of Central Florida. She received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Virginia and her M.S. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Central Florida. Her major research interests include parent-child relationships in the context of cognitive development and health psychology. Jenny Klein is a Doctoral student at the University of Central Florida. She received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Florida and her M.S. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Central Florida. Her main research interests are in the area of family interactions, parenting, and child emotional and behavioral problems in minority populations. Arazais Oliveros is a Doctoral student at the University of Central Florida. She received her B.A. in psychology from Florida International University and her M.S. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Central Florida. Her major research interests involve the area of children and parenting, especially in families with risk factors for child maltreatment (e.g., marital abuse, medical concerns). Elizabeth Baksh is a Graduate student at the University of Central Florida. She received her B.S. in psychology and religious studies from the University of Miami and her M.S.W. from the University of South Florida. Her major research interests include parent-child relationships in the context of pediatric psychology.     

Intimate Partner Violence Exposure and Childhood Psychopathology: Associations with Discriminating Fearful and Angry Faces in Young Children

Journal of Family Violence - Childhood exposure to traumatic violence may shape how children respond to threatening faces and increase risk for psychopathology. Maltreated children may exhibit...