Drug Abuse and Partner Violence among Women in Methadone Treatment

This study aims to (1) describe rates of lifetime and current partner abuse among women on methadone; (2) examine the relationship between partner violence and demographics, substance abuse, and drug risk behaviors; and (3) explore the association between a victim's current use of crack/cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and drug risk behavior after controlling for demographics, household composition, history of victimization and sex trading. Approximately three-fourths of the women ever experienced physical, sexual, or life-threatening abuse and slightly less than one-third experienced at least one type of abuse during the previous year. A history of childhood victimization was reported by more than half of the women and one-third witnessed her mother being abused. Risk of partner violence was associated with victim's current drug and alcohol use, visiting shooting galleries, and living with someone with drug or alcohol problems. The study discusses the implications of the findings for research and intervention.     

E-Mail Communication and Group Cooperation in Mixed Motive Contexts

Two empirical studies are presented that explore how and why e-mail communication (versus face-to-face communication) influences cooperation in mixed motive group contexts. Results indicate that, relative to those engaging in face-to-face interaction, those who interacted via e-mail were (1) less cooperative and (2) felt more justified in being noncooperative. Feelings of justification mediated the relationship between communication media and the decision to cooperate or not.

An examination of job attitudes of white,black, and hispanic nurses in a public hospital

This paper reviews the literature on racial differences in job satisfaction and examines differences among whites, blacks and hispanics in job-related attitudes for a sample of nurses employed in a public hospital. Levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and job burnout were compared among the three race categories. Results indicated that significant differences existed for levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job burnout among whites, blacks and hispanics. Hispanics reported significantly higher job satisfaction than whites and blacks, and whites reported less organizational commitment and higher levels of job burnout than blacks.     

The Praxis Assignment: Experiential Learning in a Large Social–Community Psychology Class

In this article, a faculty member, a graduate student teaching assistant, and four undergraduates describe their experiences with a “Day of Social Justice Praxis Assignment” as a form of experiential learning in a 120-person social-community psychology course. The faculty member lays out the goals of the course and her hopes for the specific assignment. The undergraduates reflect on their experience with the assignment, and the graduate student contextualizes how their work is reflective or not reflective of the work produced in the class and course concepts. The article ends with a critical and frank discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of the assignment.     

The correctional orientation of community corrections: Legislative changes in the legally prescribed functions of community corrections 1992–2002

Over the years, the prevailing correctional orientation in the United States has shifted back and forth between punishment and rehabilitation. These changes in correctional ideology are typically marked by differing sentencing practices and changing criminal justice research agendas. On the other hand, how corrections is legally mandated to operate is less understood. In 1993, Johnson, Dunaway, Burton, Marquait, and Cuvelier assessed the legally prescribed functions of community corrections for all 50 states and classified them as either reform or control oriented functions. They concluded the majority of states were primarily reform oriented. In this study, we replicate Johnson et al.’s (1993) methods using the statutes from all 50 states in 2002. However, we classified our findings, as well as recoded Johnson et al.’s (1993) findings, into punishment or rehabilitation functions. We make comparisons between 1992 and 2002 for the purpose of assessing where legally mandated orientation of community corrections stands today on the punishment/rehabilitation debate.