Integrating Municipal Workforces: A Comparative Study of Six Southern Cities

Black penetration of the municipal workforces of six southerncities—Atlanta, Augusta, Birmingham, Columbia, Macon,and Savannah—is examined for the purpose of highlightingthe factors either favoring or impeding integration. Also examinedis the relative importance of local and federal actors in changingonce segregated hiring patterns. Information was obtained througha series of interviews in each city with relevant participants.Results show that local factors are generally predominant ininfluencing black hiring (e.g., a black mayor, a white mayordependent on black electoral support, a permeable personnelstructure). However, federal intervention in individual discriminationsuits has had a strong effect in certain cities, particularlywhere suits resulted in consent decrees setting targets forminority hires.     

Different Concepts of Ethnicity in a Cross-Atlantic Study of Violence and Drug Use among Deviant Youth

Despite their common multi-ethnic populations, the meaning and application of the term ethnicity varies between the United States, Canada and the Netherlands. This paper attempts the construction of a racial/ethnic measure that enables meaningful cross-national comparisons. As part of the Drugs, Alcohol and Violence International (DAVI) project, the link between different measures of ethnicity and alcohol use, drug use, violence, and delinquency was studied within samples of 14- to 17-year-old juvenile detainees and dropouts in Philadelphia, Toronto and Amsterdam. Results showed a relationship between origin (the most discriminating of ethnicity measures) and alcohol and drug use, but not violence-related behaviour. Differences in substance use and violence were more attributable to differences between countries and samples than between ‘western’ and ‘non-western’ youth.Annemieke Benschop (MSc) is a researcher at the Bonger Institute of Criminology at the University of Amsterdam. Lana D. Harrison (MA, PhD) is Associate Director of the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies and a Professor at the University of Delaware (Newark, DE). Dirk J. Korf (MA, PhD) is an Associate Professor and Research Director at the Bonger Institute of Criminology at the University of Amsterdam, and an Associate Professor in Criminology at Utrecht University. Patricia Erickson (MA, PhD) is a Senior Scientist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto (Canada) and a cross-appointed Professor in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Toronto.     

Stranger and acquaintance sexual assault of adult males

This study examined victim and assault characteristics and the nature and extent of coercion, violence, and physical injuries among adult male victims of sexual assaults. Client records of three groups presenting to a sexual assault care center were included: males assaulted by a stranger (n = 64), males assaulted by an acquaintance (n = 81), and females assaulted by an acquaintance (n = 106). Study results revealed that male victims of sexual assault tended to be young, single men who reported high rates of vulnerabilities such as homelessness and physical, psychiatric, and cognitive disabilities. Male stranger assailant victims were more likely to experience assaults involving weapons and physical violence. Injuries sustained by victims and services delivered at the sexual assault care center were similar for both male and female clients. The results of this study reveal new information about violence in male sexual assaults and the vulnerability of the male victims.     

Heart embolization with the Kirschner wire without cardiac tamponade

The case of the heart embolization with the Kirschner wire that was used for shoulder trauma fixation, 2 years previously in a 67-year-old female, is reported. This case is unique; although embolization of foreign bodies to the heart is not a novel occurrence, heart embolization with non-broken Kirschner wire with a total length of 13.5 cm without cardiac tamponade was not described in medical literature so far.     

Priority and rescue financing in the Commonwealth Caribbean: lessons from the United States of America,United Kingdom and European Union

In investigating the operation of the rescue culture in the Commonwealth Caribbean as compared to the United Kingdom administration regime and Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, this paper laments that the Commonwealth Caribbean and the USA fail to consider key issues of post-petition priority for finance. It also delves into a critical, but overlooked, pillar of strong rescue frameworks: access to finance. Taking guidance from the European Union framework on state aid and the UK Funding for Lending and National Loan Guarantee, the author proposes a fair, transparent and efficient framework encompassing state involvement and state-driven private sector engagement.