A Clinical Study of Competency to Consent to Hospitalization and Treatment in Geriatric Inpatients*

Abstract: This study used a Competency Questionnaire modified for medical surgical patients (CQ‐Med). Twenty‐nine patients (ages 65–94 years) admitted to a geriatric medicine unit were studied. Along with the CQ‐Med, patients were administered several WAIS‐R subtests, the Blessed Dementia Scale (BDS), and Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE). Additionally, a blind forensic evaluation for competency to consent to hospitalization and treatment was performed for the purpose of validation of the CQ‐Med. Results of the study found that, as expected, increased age was correlated with decreasing performance on the CQ‐Med and decreased findings of competence by clinical exam. However, there was great variability within each age group, demonstrating individual differences in the progress of declining competency. CQ‐Med scores also correlated well with the WAIS‐R subtest raw and scaled scores. Scores on the MMSE and BDS were less well correlated. The CQ‐Med may be a useful adjunct in assessing declining competency in geriatric patients.     

How Law Changes the Environmental Mind: An Experimental Study of the Effect of Legal Norms on Moral Perceptions and Civic Enforcement

This paper examines how different legal instruments affect people's moral intuitions and willingness to engage in social enforcement in the field of environmental law. These instruments vary in terms of their governance technique, the process through which they were enacted, and their allocation of enforcement responsibilities. Their effect on citizens' moral evaluation and emotional reaction to corporate polluting behaviour are examined, based on an experimental survey of a representative sample of 1400 individuals in Israel.
Our findings demonstrate that their design influences people's level of moral and emotional resentment when faced by environmentally problematic behaviour, as well as their motivation to engage in private enforcement. The design of the regulatory instrument could thus generate biases in social reactions to polluting behaviour, irrespective of its actual ecological adverse effect. We analyse the moral and psychological mechanisms which underlie these effects and explore their various policy implications.     

Etat incitateur ou “deuxième ville”: l'animation socioculturelle à Genève

Cet article propose une analyse du paysage hétéroclite de l'animation socioculturelle à Genève. À partir d'un aperçu historique de son développement, les auteurs proposent une typologie, distinguant l'animation “d'allégeance” basée sur des valeurs et des formes d'intervention traditionnelles, l'animation “de gestion” caractérisée par la professionnalisation de l'intervention, l'animation “de conscientisation” en coopération conflictuelle avec les instances étatiques et, enfin, l'animation “indépendante” insérée dans des niches culturelles. Cette typologie nous permet de souligner d'une part des transformations dans l'action de l'Etat, qui développe des activités incitant à l'animation auto-organisée à la place des interventions planificatrices du social et, de relever d'autre part la variété dans la pratique d'animation qui se situe entre dépendance étatique complète et deuxième ville. Les conséquences de ces transformations seront discutées du point de vue de leur contribution à la création de nouveaux espaces publics urbains, ainsi que de l'effet de la diversité dans l'animation sur la diffusion du lieu de la politique dans la société.     

A comparison of Latino and White citizen satisfaction with police

Latinos represent the fastest growing racial/ethnic population in the United States, yet paradoxically, are one of the least studied groups in the field of criminal justice (Schuck, Lersch, & Verrill, 2004). This study aimed to fill this gap by comparing citizen satisfaction with police among Latinos and Whites in the majority-minority city of San Antonio, Texas. Drawing upon prior research as a guide, the study modeled citizen satisfaction with police from a sample of 592 survey respondents that were contacted by telephone in the fall of 2005. Models across the two groups indicated that neighborhood disorder strongly influenced satisfaction and Latinos had slightly higher satisfaction levels when compared with Whites. Implications for future research are discussed regarding the enhancement of knowledge about ethnic differences in perceptions of police and the larger criminal justice system.     

Do Employers Prefer Workers Who Attend For‐Profit Colleges? Evidence from a Field Experiment

This paper reports results from a resume‐based field experiment designed to examine employer preferences for job applicants who attended for‐profit colleges. For‐profit colleges have seen sharp increases in enrollment in recent years despite alternatives, such as public community colleges, being much cheaper. We sent almost 9,000 fictitious resumes of young job applicants who recently completed their schooling to online job postings in six occupational categories and tracked employer callback rates. We find no evidence that employers prefer applicants with resumes listing a for‐profit college relative to those whose resumes list either a community college or no college at all.