Children's street connections in a Canadian community

Preteen children's street activities in a small southern Ontario city were examined for understandings about how children on the street affiliate with one another and with adults after school. The everyday connections between children, shopkeepers, and municipal workers demonstrate that the municipal workers and merchants can offer caring, support, and sanctions to children when parents or teachers are not accompanying them. This provides children on the street with a form of guidance from extrafamilial mentors. The findings point to community-based potentials for naturally occurring crime prevention strategies, a significant aspect of Canada's new law: Youth Criminal Justice Act. 2003.     

Fatal meningitis and encephalitis due to Bartonella henselae bacteria

Bacterial infection due to Bartonella henselae commonly develops in children and young adults following cat/dog contacts and/or cat/dog scratches. Regional lymphadenopathy is its most common clinical expression. However, encephalitis and Parinaud's syndrome (oculoglandular syndrome) have also been reported as has systemic illness. A review of the international literature in all languages revealed no fatal complications in immunocompetent hosts. A four-year-old white child with no underlying illness began to have seizure-like activity. She was taken to a local hospital and subsequently transferred to a medical center. The child was treated aggressively for seizures and fever of unknown origin. However, her condition rapidly declined and she died without a specific diagnosis. At autopsy there was marked cerebral edema with no gross evidence of acute meningitis. Microscopic exams revealed multiple granulomatous lesions as well as a meningitis and encephalitis. A variety of cultures and stains were negative for acid fast and fungal organisms. Warthin-Starry stains of involved tissue including brain and liver revealed pleomorphic rod shaped bacilli consistent with Barronella henselae. Analysis of brain tissue with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot for the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was definitive for DNA of Bartonella henselae bacteria.     

Crime prevention participation:An exploratory analysis

Most past research on crime and crime prevention has focused on their occurrence in urban settings. Relatively little attention has been given to crime and citizen crime prevention in small town/rural areas. The present study uses secondary data from the National Crime Survey: Victim Risk Supplement, 1983 to investigate citizen participation in five crime prevention domains within large urban areas and small town/rural areas. The results suggest that, while there are some similarities in citizen participation, various factors have different degrees of impact in different locations. Further, differences in crime prevention participation are more a function of the type of crime prevention than of the size of the local population.     

IMPLEMENTING AN EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAM FOR FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS: DILEMMAS AND CHOICES

The food stamp legislation of December 1985 provided another opportunity to experiment with welfare to work reform, this time through employment and training programs for food stamp recipients. This new program can be seen both as an opportunity to move people toward self-sufficiency and as a bundle of programmatic contradictions which threaten that opportunity. Federal requirements for the program are described as are the dilemmas to which they give rise. These dilemmas concern program coverage of food stamp recipients, utility of the program components, the use of sparse funds, and the incorporation of such values as the harmonization of programs, administrative simplicity, and fairness to food stamp recipients.     

The experience of sexual assault: findings from a statewide victim needs assessment

A statewide assessment was conducted of assaults, experiences, needs, and recommendations of 125 adult victims receiving care at 19 sexual assault centers (SACs) in the State of Maryland. More than one half of the victims (55.6%) waited years before disclosing, with delays in reporting especially likely if the assault was perpetrated by a family member (the most frequent perpetrators at 42.4% of respondents). About one half of the victims (51.3%) had been previously sexually assaulted, yet only 9% of these victims had sought treatment. The majority of respondents (69.4%) indicated they would not be filing charges against perpetrators, and of those who did, 46.2% reported dissatisfaction with the interview with police. Psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety were the most common reasons for seeking care at the centers. Nearly all of respondents rated the care they received at the centers as very good or excellent. Respondents recommended more SACs, better advertising of their services, more mental health care within them (especially group therapy), and improved laws and law enforcement of perpetrators.     

If You Want Affluence, Prepare for War

The economy underlying the way of life taken for granted in Western industrial, affluent-consumer societies is an imperial system involving extreme injustice, oppression and use of terror. After documenting this situation at some length, attention is given to the general issue of affluence, resource scarcity and peace and security in a world of limited resources, severe inequality and obsession with economic growth and ever-rising living standards. It is argued that peace and security cannot be expected unless the rich and over-consuming countries undertake a fundamental, enormous (and improbable) shift away from their commitments to affluence and growth and towards The Simpler Way.