The Ecological Distribution of Community Advantage and Disadvantage: Power Structures,Political Economy,Communities, and Green-State Crime and Justice

Certain forms of criminology such as social disorganization theory examine how community characteristics influence crime. That approach, however glosses over the fact that the distribution of community advantages and disadvantages (CAD) has structural origins, and that the distribution of CAD is also an indicator of the kinds of social, economic and ecological injustice communities face. Building on observations recently made by Moloney and Chambliss concerning the integration of state and green criminological research, this article explores the structural origins of CAD, how taking a political economic view of CAD relates to the distribution of crime and injustice in communities, and how a CAD approach promotes the integration of state crime, radical criminological and green criminological research.     

Risky Business: Behavioral Profiles of Sexually-Impulsive Adults in the United States

The goal of the present study is to clarify the heterogeneity of risky behaviors (such as substance use, gambling, and crime) and psychiatric disorders among a large sample of 5304 nationally representative adults who acknowledge engaging in sexually-impulsive behaviors. Participants were selected from more than 43,000 respondents of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). Latent class analysis was used to identify subgroups of sexually-impulsive individuals and then multinomial regression was used to identify the relative risk for comorbidity with related impulsive behaviors or psychiatric disorders. Results showed that a four class solution provided the best fit and revealed higher odds of experiencing specific comorbid risky behaviors or psychiatric disorders based on class membership. Results challenge the widely held notion that self-regulatory behaviors are impacted globally, and instead suggest that certain self-regulatory behaviors are more likely to be impacted when other underlying conditions are present in sexually-impulsive individuals. Implications of this heterogeneity and recommendations for health care providers are discussed.     

Compensation for nuclear damage: a comparison among the international regime,Japan and China

Following the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011, how the compensation system for nuclear damage should be improved has obtained broad attention. The compensation system, including liability rules, insurance and government involvement, does not only concern to what extent the victims can be sufficiently compensated, but is also relevant to create incentives for the nuclear industry to enhance safety. International compensation regimes for nuclear damage started to emerge since 1960s, but still fail to engage some (potentially) big “nuclear power” ones. The Japanese and Chinese systems are such ones which received less attention until recently. This paper will, on the one hand, engage in a positive study by giving a comparison between the international regime, the Japanese and the Chinese system; on the other hand, provide a normative analysis by using economic criteria to examine the efficiency of the systems and formulate suggestions for reform.     

Convenient and Inconvenient Truths in Family Law: Preventing Scholar‐Advocacy Bias in the Use of Social Science Research for Public Policy

This is the second of two articles on the risks of advocacy bias in the reporting of research findings when boundaries are blurred between social science research and advocacy in the pursuit of public policy. In the first article we identify common ways in which social science researchers and reviewers of research—wittingly or unwittingly—can become advocates for ideological positions and social policies at the expense of being balanced reporters of research evidence. The first article discusses the difference between truth in social science and truth in law and identifies a range of scholar‐advocacy strategies that bias research evidence, illustrated by recent debates about overnight parenting of infants and toddlers. In this second article we show how biased research evidence by scholar advocates results in increased confusion and controversy that diminishes the credibility of all parties and stalemates progress in the field, using a case illustration of intimate partner violence in family court. We also show how adherence to scientific methods prevents the misuse of research and suggest a number of collaborative, integrative measures that can help transcend the adversarial stalemate. In a look to the future we consider some unbiased, standardized ways of assessing the strength and generalizability of research evidence.     

The State of the Art of Child Hearings in Germany. Results of a Nationwide Representative Study in German Courts

According to German family law, in family court proceedings that deal with custody or access rights, family judges are obligated to personally hear the child if the feelings, ties, or will of the child are significant for the decision. In a research study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Justice, a nationwide representative survey of all judges compiled their personal information and their attitudes and expectations as well as various parameters regarding the concrete practice of hearing children. Also, with a very complex methodological design, over 50 children and their parents were studied one week in advance of the hearing, directly before and after the hearing, and four weeks following the hearing. The results of the study are presented, particularly those pertaining to the burden and relief for the children and the expectations of judges. The practical experiences of family judges in personally hearing children are included as well.     

Treatment-Related Reductions in Disability Are Associated with Reductions in Perceived Injustice Following Treatment of Whiplash Injury

Emerging evidence suggests that perceived injustice is a risk factor for poor recovery outcomes in individuals with whiplash injuries. The present study examined the relative contributions of treatment-related reductions in pain severity, depressive symptoms, and disability in the prediction of reductions in perceived injustice in individuals with whiplash injury. The study sample consisted of 71 individuals (43 women and 28 men) who sustained whiplash injuries in motor vehicle accidents and who were enrolled in a treatment program designed to promote functional recovery following whiplash injury. For the purposes of this study, only individuals who scored above the risk threshold on a measure of perceived injustice were included in the study sample. Participants completed measures of pain severity, disability, depressive symptomatology, and perceived injustice prior to treatment and after treatment. Change scores were computed for study variables. The results revealed that reductions in pain severity and disability were correlated with reductions in perceived injustice. Regression analyses revealed that only reductions in disability contributed significant unique variance to the prediction of reductions in perceived injustice. Clinical and theoretical implications of the present findings are discussed.     

Psychometric Properties of a Brief Instrument to Assess Perceptions of Injustice Associated with Debilitating Health and Mental Health Conditions

The present study examined the psychometric properties of a shortened and simplified version of the Injustice Experience Questionnaire (IEQ). The instructional set of the original IEQ was modified to make it better suited to the context of debilitating health and mental health conditions that do not necessarily arise as a result of injury. The number of items was reduced from 12 to 5, and the response scale was simplified. The Injustice Experiences Questionnaire – Short Form (IEQ-SF) was administered to individuals diagnosed with a chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) condition (N?=?88) or major depressive disorder (MDD) (N?=?87). The internal consistency of the IEQ-SF was acceptable. The IEQ-SF was significantly correlated with measures of pain severity, depressive symptom severity and disability in both samples. Individuals with MDD scored higher on the IEQ-SF than individuals with MSK. The IEQ-SF was shown to be sensitive to treatment-related reductions in perceived injustice. Preliminary analyses suggest that the IEQ-SF is a reliable and valid measure of disability-related injustice perceptions associated with debilitating health and mental health conditions.