Torture Approval in Comparative Perspective

Torture is (almost) universally condemned as barbaric and ineffective, yet it persists in the modern world. What factors influence levels of support for torture? Public opinion data from 31 countries in 2006 and 2008 (a total of 44 country-years) are used to test three hypotheses related to the acceptability of torture. The findings, first, show that outright majorities in 31 country-years reject the use of torture. Multiple regression results show that countries with high per capita income and low domestic repression are less likely to support torture. Constraints on the executive have no significant effect on public opinion on torture.     

Why the Electoral College is good for political science (and public choice)

While the Electoral College may not be good for the political system, it is very good for political science (and public choice). This essay documents many of the ways in which this assertion is true.     

Tangles,tears and messy conversations: using a media discussion group to explore notions of strong women

In this article, we discuss the experiences of six female secondary-school students participating in a media group that encouraged critical discussion and analysis of gender, particularly with respect to notions of strong women in popular media texts. Throughout the study, the participants viewed various forms of media and critically discussed gender representations. We describe the ways that we encouraged critical discussion that prompted the participants to challenge dominant perspectives and develop personal positions regarding gendered representations in popular media. Many discussions were convoluted and often contradictory. Throughout these debates, however, moments emerged in which participants identified complexities associated with gendered representations of strong women as related to privilege, beauty ideals and autonomy. We identify these moments as messy yet critical, requiring the researchers to challenge participants’ postfeminist notions of strong women. We emphasize the importance of ongoing dialogue and the potential of media for encouraging discussion.     

Procedural Justice in Family Conflict Resolution and Deviant Peer Group Involvement Among Adolescents: The Mediating Influence of Peer Conflict

The involvement of adolescents with deviant peer groups is one of the strongest proximal correlates to juvenile delinquency and stems from a variety of causes. Past research has linked ineffective parenting with peer variables, including deviant peer group involvement and peer conflict during adolescence. In this study, adolescents’ appraisals of procedural justice within the family (adolescents’ appraisals of how fairly they are treated by parents in the process of resolving family conflict) were examined as one aspect of effective parenting that may relate to deviant peer group involvement in early adolescence. Data from 1660 middle school students (ages 11–14, mean = 12.6) indicated that higher appraisals by adolescents of procedural justice during family conflict resolution were related to lower levels of both peer conflict and deviant peer group involvement. A structural model was tested in which the relationship between adolescents’ appraisals of procedural justice in the family and deviant peer group involvement was partially mediated by measures of peer conflict. This model was found to have adequate fit to the data, indicating that part of the relationship between procedural justice appraisals and deviant peer group involvement can be explained by levels of peer conflict. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Identifying Collateral Effects of Offender Reentry Programming Through Evaluative Fieldwork

The transfer of offender supervision from prisons to community corrections has prioritized the implementation of reentry programming and outcome evaluation oriented toward impact specification and evidence based practices discovery. Similar to rehabilitation research, generally, reentry scholarship tends toward the statistical documentation of recidivism and related public safety indicators while under-utilizing qualitative techniques. This study reports the qualitative methods and findings from a mixed methods evaluation of a national model county reentry program for offenders with co-occurring disorders. Observation of treatment services, in-depth interviews with jail administrators and services providers, and focus group interviews with a sample of treatment group participants evidenced collateral benefits of programming. Discussion centers on treatment program implications and the value of mixed methods for justice program evaluation.     

Global Administrative Law: The View from Basel

International law-making by sub-national actors and regulatorynetworks of bureaucrats has come under attack as lacking inaccountability and legitimacy. Global administrative law isemerging as an approach to understanding what internationalorganizations and national governments do, or ought to do, torespond to the perceived democracy deficit in internationallaw-making. This article examines the Basel Committee on BankingSupervision, a club of central bankers who meet to develop internationalbanking capital standards and to develop supervisory guidance.The Basel Committee embodies many of the attributes that criticsof international law-making lament. A closer examination, however,reveals a structure of global administrative law inherent inthe Basel process that could be a model for international law-makingwith greater accountability and legitimacy.     

Federal Administrative and Judicial Oversight of Medicaid: Policy Legacies and Tandem Institutions under the Boren Amendment

Because of the active role assumed by the courts in Medicaidnursing facility reimbursement, and because that role changedover time, federal intervention in this area provides a usefulwindow through which to examine the role of the federal judiciaryin oversight of state health policy making. Findings supportthe proposition that because judicial influence extends beyondprogram outcomes to include the organizational structure andbeliefs of key stakeholder groups, the effects of case decisions,and the statutes under which they are litigation, may be deeperand longer lasting than their usefulness as a litigation tool.Findings also support the proposition that neither the executivenor the judiciary acts in isolation but instead they serve astandem institutions guiding federal oversight of state policymaking. Data for this analysis derive from archival documents,secondary sources, and 101 in-depth interviews.