Conflict resolution a pre-trial intervention

Parties involved in interpersonal disputes often use the Criminal Justice System as a medium of retaliation. This study analyzed the effectiveness of a Citizens’ Dispute Settlement Program as an alternative to criminal prosecution. The program consists of trained volunteer hearing officers mediating between the complainant and the defendant in order to resolve the conflict without court involvement. All hearings scheduled over a six month period were studied (N-264). The hearings were categorized according to type of offense and were analyzed to determine the race and sex of the parties involved, and the effectiveness of conflict resolution efforts in each category. In general, there was no significant relationship between race and being a party in conflict. However, there was a highly significant relationship as to sex, with the majority of complainants being female, and the majority of the respondents being male. Of the scheduled hearings, 93.5% (N-247) were diverted from the court system, for an estimated savings of $80,522. The authors concluded that a Citizens’ Dispute Settlement Program, through the pretrial intervention of conflict resolution efforts, provides an effective means of alleviating the congestion in our courts.     

Trust in elites and protest orientation: An integrative approach

The consensus based hypothesis that trust in political authorities is a major determinant of system stability has received less empirical support in the protest literature than its theoretical appeal once promised. We propose a major revision of the leadership-trust approach—one which integrates the conflict and consensus approaches by considering both public trust in established elites and public trust in challenging elites. Recognizing the importance of opposition leadership, we reason that thedifference between these two types of trust, which we conceptualize astrust differential, should explain protest orientation better than other trust-variable alternatives. The new trust differential variable suggests a distinctive typology of trust orientations which predict the degree of protest endorsement somewhat differently than the traditional authority-trust model. Using survey data collected in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1973, we test the integrative differential approach against and controlling for its classic competitors and find it to be a more powerful, independent predictor of protest orientation.This paper draws on findings and insights from papers that we presented at the American Sociological Association meeting, San Francisco, September 1978, and at the annual Western Social Science Association meeting, Denver, April 1978.     

When lawyers question children

This study assessed the impact of some complex question forms frequently used by attorneys who examine and cross-examine witnesses in the courtroom. Fifteen males and 15 females from each of four student populations (kindergarten, fourth grade, ninth grade, and college) viewed a videotaped incident and then responded to questions about the incident. Half the questions were asked in “law-yerese” (i.e., using complex question forms); the remaining half asked for the same information using simply phrased question forms of the same length. Lawyerese confused children, adolescents, and young adults alike. Questions that included multiple parts with mutually exclusive responses were the most difficult to answer; those that included negatives, double negatives or difficult vocabulary also posed significant problems. Results suggest that complex question forms impede truth-seeking and should be prohibited in court.     

Political business cycles at the municipal level

The present article tests predictions of rational political business cycle models using a large and previously unexplored data set of Portuguese municipalities. This data allows for a clean test of these predictions due to the high level of detail on expenditure items, an exogenous fixed election schedule, and homogeneity of Portuguese local governments with respect to policy instruments and institutions. Estimation results clearly reveal the opportunistic behaviour of local governments. In pre-electoral periods, they increase total expenditures and change their composition favouring items that are highly visible to the electorate. This behaviour is consistent with an effort to signal competence and increase chances of re-election.     

The Role of Death Qualification in Venirepersons' Evaluations of Aggravating and Mitigating Circumstances in Capital Trials

Previous research has found that death qualification impacts jurors' receptiveness to aggravating and mitigating circumstances (e.g., J. Luginbuhl & K. Middendorf, 1988). However, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether death qualification affects jurors' endorsements of aggravating and mitigating circumstances when Witt, rather than Witherspoon, is the legal standard for death qualification. Four hundred and fifty venirepersons from the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami, Florida completed a booklet of stimulus materials that contained the following: two death qualification questions; a case scenario that included a summary of the guilt and penalty phases of a capital case; a 26-item measure that required participants to endorse aggravators, nonstatutory mitigators, and statutory mitigators on a 6-point Likert scale; and standard demographic questions. Results indicated that death-qualified venirepersons, when compared to excludables, were more likely to endorse aggravating circumstances. Excludable participants, when compared to death-qualified venirepersons, were more likely to endorse nonstatutory mitigators. There was no significant difference between death-qualified and excludable venirepersons with respect to their endorsement of 6 out of 7 statutory mitigators. It would appear that the Gregg v. Georgia (1976) decision to declare the death penalty unconstitutional is frustrated by the Lockhart v. McCree (1986) affirmation of death qualification.     

The efficiency of an X-ray screening system at a mass disaster

This is a study to determine the efficiency and efficacy of using an X-ray security screening system to locate both dental fragments and other foreign objects that might be commingled with fragmented remains in a mass disaster. A controlled study by the Pennsylvania Dental Identification Team (PADIT) revealed that a manual examination of simulated body bags containing commingled dental parts and foreign objects by a team of trained forensic odontologists was very effective in locating dental fragments and in finding foreign objects. Although this was effective, it was not efficient, because it was very time consuming. With the use of an X-ray security screening system, the time factor could be reduced. This study also revealed that even though this sophisticated equipment could reduce the time factor in locating commingled dental and foreign objects, a forensic odontologist should be utilized to be most effective.