Developing a Tripartite Prevention Program for Impoverished Young Women Transitioning to Young Adulthood: Addressing Substance Use,HIV Risk,and Victimization by Intimate Partners

Little is known about the transition to adulthood for adolescent females and young women who are impoverished and homeless. Co-occurrence of drug use and abuse, HIV risk, and victimization is notable among homeless women, highlighting the need for comprehensive interventions. Unfortunately, evidence-based prevention approaches addressing these inter-related problems among impoverished women transitioning into adulthood are lacking. To address this gap, we designed an innovative prevention program by utilizing open- and closed-ended interview data from impoverished women (n = 20), focus groups with community experts and providers (2 groups; n = 9), and a theoretical framework to direct the research. Information provided by our focus groups and interviews with women supported our theoretical framework and highlighted the importance of addressing normative information, providing skills training, and utilizing a non-confrontational approach when discussing these sensitive issues.     

Yvon Delbos and Anthony Eden: Anglo–French Cooperation, 1936–1938

The period of tenure of Anthony Eden and Yvon Delbos as the foreign ministers of their respective countries coincided with a remarkable improvement and convergence in Anglo–French relations. This was no accident. Both men had similar ideas in relation to the challenges confronting Britain and France in international affairs. Neither wanted really close relations with Soviet Russia and both supported non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War despite their growing concern over German and Italian intervention. Delbos was highly critical of Mussolini's Italy and was firmly opposed to a Franco–Italian rapprochement while Eden, having originally given the Duce the benefit of the doubt, came to distrust him and to oppose even conversations with Italy without prior concessions, such as the withdrawal of Italian volunteers from Spain. Finally, both supported the appeasement of Nazi Germany, including colonial concessions, although Delbos towards the end of his period as foreign minister became more sceptical as to the prospects for success.     

Bullying in Early Adolescence and Antisocial Behavior and Depression Six Years Later: What Are the Protective Factors?

This study identified factors that protected (a) adolescent bullies from becoming antisocial young adults, and (b) adolescent victims of bullying from subsequent depression. Data were drawn from the Australian Temperament Project, a population birth cohort study that has followed participants since 1983. Systematic examination of potential risk modifiers (protective factors) was conducted within a regression framework. Low negative reactivity was found to protect bullies from later antisocial outcomes and higher parental monitoring moderated (ameliorated) the risk relation between bullying and antisocial behavior. High social skills and understanding schoolwork protected victims from later depression, but high attachment to peers intensified the risk relation between victimization and later depression. Preventive interventions targeting interpersonal skills and parent and peer relationships may be effective in reducing adverse outcomes of bullying.     

The social and emotional context of childhood and adolescent animal cruelty: is there a link to adult interpersonal crimes?

The link between early animal abuse and later violence toward humans may depend on how acts of animal cruelty are experienced by those whose behavior demonstrates this graduation. Unfortunately, the research investigating the social and emotional context for the youthful commission of animal cruelty as it escalates to adult interpersonal violence is relatively nonexistent. Using 112 cases from a larger sample of 261 inmates surveyed at both medium and maximum security prisons in a southern state, the present study examined the effects of age of onset and frequency of animal cruelty, the covertness of animal cruelty, the commission of animal cruelty within a group or in isolation, and empathy for the abused animals. Inmates who had covered up their childhood and adolescent animal cruelty were more likely to have been convicted of repeated acts of interpersonal violence, demonstrating that the role of empathy and individuals present during acts of animal cruelty were less important than concealing those acts.     

Women’s Role in Serial Killing Teams: Reconstructing a Radical Feminist Perspective

This article examines women’s roles in serial killing teams and reconsiders the traditional applications of radical feminist research on serial killers. These applications limit the utility of radical feminist theory for understanding female serial killers who kill in teams. An analysis of patriarchal power relations, which emphasizes the constitutive element of radical feminist theory, provides a useful framework to achieve insight into female serial killers who kill in teams. The advantage of this approach is demonstrated through three case studies of this type of female serial killer: Martha Beck, Myra Hindley, and Karla Homolka.     

Magnetic law: Designing environmental enforcement laws to encourage us to go further

The European Union has some of the world's most ambitious and highly developed environmental laws on its books, but their effectiveness is severely compromised by non-compliance. With the UNECE Aarhus Convention (1998), Europe launched an innovative legal experiment, democratizing environmental enforcement by conferring third party citizens and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) with legal rights of access to environmental information, public participation, and access to justice in environmental matters. Based on some 2000 surveys and over 150 interviews with stakeholders from three Member States – France, Ireland, and the Netherlands – we adopt a holistic, 360° perspective, capturing the views of regulated parties, NGOs, and the general public on this private governance experiment. Our data provide important new insights into the practical effectiveness of Europe's laws enabling private environmental enforcement, its (intended and unintended) effects on farmers' compliance decisions in the vital area of nature conservation, and how law might be used to stimulate pro-environmental predispositions.     

Blinking Subjects; Blinking Justice? – Law,Medicine and the PVS Patient

This paper argues that in medical discourse, there is insufficient unanimity of opinion with regards to the time at which an accurate diagnosis of PVS can be made and that clearly, there is an incomplete medical knowledge of the PVS condition. The judiciary chooses neither to question medical opinion that patients can be considered to be in PVS despite a failure to satisfy the diagnostic criteria, nor medical opinion that patients in `near PVS' will never recover. It is apparent from an examination of the judgements given in PVS cases that the law does not ascribe such individuals with full human status. Such a legal position is particularly problematic in ethical terms when applied in cases involving patients who are in a `near PVS' position, and in the light of evidence that some PVS diagnoses are inaccurate. The application of the best interests test in PVS cases results in the adoption of a paternalistic, objective approach that fails to respect the former competent individuals whom PVS patients once were. If, alternatively, the substituted judgement test were to be adopted, the principle of individual autonomy would become central to the question of whether PVS patients' treatment should be withdrawn. Furthermore, the application of this test would also ensure that PVS patients continue to be viewed as `persons'.     

Effects of Partner Violence and Physical Child Abuse on Child Behavior: A Study of Abused and Comparison Children

This study tests a model of the effects on child behavioral outcome of the child's exposure to partner violence and child abuse, in children who have experienced the two forms of victimization either separately or together. Recognizing that family contextual factors play an important role in influencing child outcome, an ecological model is proposed that designates family stress as the principal exogenous factor, with effects on child outcome mediated through caretaker distress, partner violence, and child abuse. The sample consists of 100 confirmed cases of physically abused New York City schoolchildren, ages 9 to 12 years, and their families, and 100 nonmaltreated classmates, matched for gender, age, and, as closely as possible, for race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, and their families. Child behavioral outcome is assessed by classmates for antisocial, prosocial, and withdrawn behavior and by parents and teachers for externalizing and internalizing problem behavior. Results are generally consistent with the hypothesis that partner violence and caretaker distress, both associated with family stress, increase the risk for child abuse and thereby raise the child's risk for poor outcome. Implications of differences among raters for the model's applicability, and implications of the results for clinical intervention, are discussed.