Together despite the odds: Explaining racial and ethnic heterogeneity in union dissolution after incarceration

The U.S. incarceration rate rose dramatically over the past 45 years, increasing the number of marriages and cohabiting unions disrupted by a jail or prison stay. But as some have pointed out, not all unions dissolve as a result of incarceration, and there seems to be racial–ethnic variation in this tendency, with Blacks displaying higher rates of dissolution than Whites and Hispanics. Yet it is unclear what explains racial–ethnic differences in union dissolution among the incarcerated. Drawing on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), we examine why racial–ethnic differences in union dissolution exist among a sample of individuals who had a marital or a cohabiting union interrupted by an incarceration spell. In doing so, we draw on social exchange theory and structural and cultural theories to suggest that racial–ethnic disparities in union dissolution are explained by differential exposure to protective relationship characteristics. The results of Cox hazard models reveal that Blacks have significantly higher hazards of union dissolution than do Whites and Hispanics. These results also indicate that being married, having a child together, having full-time employment, a longer union duration, and a shorter incarceration spell may protect against dissolution and that these factors account, in part, for the greater risk of dissolution among Blacks relative to Whites and Hispanics.     

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime: An Historical Perspective

As the twenty-first century appears to be entering a more intensified globalised nuclear age, nations and academics alike consistently criticise the frameworks and foundational agencies created to ensure non-proliferation, security, and multi-lateral negotiations. Notwithstanding the significant reductions in nuclear arsenals made over the last several decades, thanks to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the numerous nuclear agencies and watchdogs, it is evident that the risks emanating from nuclear weapons and their associated materials have continually expanded. By ensuring that the global community has protections and safeguards in place to promote international dialogue and nuclear non-proliferation—including the Cooperative Nuclear Threat Reduction Program, International Atomic Energy Agency, Global Threat Reduction Initiative, as well as nuclear free zones and review processes—the nuclear non-proliferation regime can arguably ensure that the devastating threat to humankind is reduced. However, as countries scramble to once again refine and modernise their nuclear stockpiles, the necessity to review, re-shape, and re-think these foundational safeguards is more vital than ever.     

Community care as a penal sanction

Conclusion The community participation model, which rests on the philosophy of reintegration, is an important trend in recent penal policy. The sentence of community care in New Zealand is an illustration of that trend. However, there are lessons to be learned from the past four years. Clearly, the model has its practical limits. The extent to which the community wishes to participate in the provision of penal services is undoubtedly overstated by its proponents; as a result, community involvement is unlikely to be forthcoming unless the government provides adequate funding to groups and individuals providing such services to offenders. Even then, a gap is likely to remain between the rhetoric and the reality of community participation. The majority of the community care programs are bureaucratically organized, professionally staffed, and undertaken within the context of structured thera peutic regimes. They thus fall well short of the ideal of spontaneous, neighborly concern, which is such a strong part of the Western ideology of community. While some programs, particularly cultural programs offered by ethnic minority groups, have involved comparatively noninstitutional and informal relationships between sponsor and offender, these are few in number and have made little impact so far on the way in which the criminal justice system deals with offenders from ethnic minority groups. In sum, there is little to distinguish the majority of programs from conventional attempts at rehabilitation. Although higher levels of funding and more vigorous community development efforts by probation officers may stimulate community involvement, the New Zealand experience suggests that, at least in cultures without established processes of informal care and control, the community participation model will not be the new panacea in penal policy.This is a revised and expanded version of a paper given at the second conference of the Society for the Reform of Criminal Law, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Canada, August 1–4, 1988.B.A., University of Auckland 1971; LL.B. (hons.) University of Auckland 1973; Ph.D., Cambridge University 1978.     

Elements that underpin high-tech business incubation processes

The UK government’s emphasis upon knowledge as a key competitive differentiator has led to the establishment of incubators within universities to support the commercialization of ideas; however understanding of the process by which research ideas are commercialized is limited. The findings in this paper, based on a case study of the high-tech incubator at the University of Southampton, suggest that some of the salient factors that strengthen the incubation process include; a steady flow of new ideas, an empathy with founders, the creation and maintenance of internal and external networks and appropriate exit strategies for firms leaving the incubator.     

Racial profiling and searches: Did the politics of racial profiling change police behavior?*

Research Summary Scholarly research has documented repeatedly that minority citizens are disproportionately stopped, searched, and arrested relative to their baseline populations. In recent years, policymakers have brought increased attention to this issue as law‐enforcement agencies across the United States have faced allegations of racial profiling. In the 1990s, the politics generated by accounts of racially biased policing placed heightened pressure on law‐enforcement agencies. However, to date, few studies have explored whether the increased social and political scrutiny placed on police organizations influenced or changed their general pattern of enforcement among black and white citizens. Using data in the search and citation file from the North Carolina Highway Traffic Study, this research specifically examined whether the politics generated by the media coverage of racial profiling and racial profiling legislation in North Carolina influenced the search practices of officers of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol's drug interdiction team. The findings suggest that media accounts and the passage of new legislation were particularly powerful influences, which thereby reduced racial disparity in searches. Declines in the use of consent searches and an increased probability of finding contraband also were influenced by the politics of racial profiling. Policy Implications The results of this study suggest several important policy recommendations. First, law‐enforcement agencies must monitor the policing practices of their officers because such supervision can influence officer compliance with fair and unbiased policing policies. Next, supervisors need to familiarize themselves with enforcement data to identify potential problem officers and organizational practices. By doing so, police organizations will not only increase officer accountability but also will potentially improve communication with their local communities. Such communication can empower community members to file charges against officers who violate their civil rights. Next, the media and political effects documented in this study suggest that external oversight can be particularly influential on police practices. Therefore, police agencies should consider developing a citizen complaint board, which is an external oversight board that would be responsible for investigating allegations against officers who engage in racial profiling or other racially biased enforcement practices. Such a board could assist police administrators in identifying problem officers as well as in making recommendations for corrective action. Finally, external social and political pressure must continually be placed on police forces to improve equity in police behavior. These external forces can assist in creating opportunities for police to increase the overall quality and efficacy of policing.     

Measuring physical status and timing in early adolescence: A developmental perspective

Recently, the timing-of-events model typically used for exploring adult development has been proposed for studying early adolescence and the pubertal processes occurring then. As a consequence, new interest has been generated about the psychological effects of being early, on time, or late in sexual maturation during early adolescence. A major issue has to do with the choice of maturational events to study, since puberty is a process involving numerous events, all of which have a different developmental course. This paper reviews some of the maturational events that are applicable in studying psychological effects of pubertal status and timing. Nine changes are reviewed (bone, height, weight, body fat, breast, body hair, penile, testicular, and menarcheal changes) in terms of measurement techniques, psychometric properties, and intercorrelations with other pubertal events. In addition, the usefulness of each measure for psychological research on maturational timing and status is discussed. Finally, how pubertal measures may be incorporated into a developmental perspective is considered, especially with regard to rate, duration, and asynchrony of pubertal changes.Research Interests: Girl's psychological adaptation to pubertal change, biosocial aspects of female reproductive events, development of biological and socially at risk children and adolescents.Research Interests: Reproductive endocrinology, anorexia nervosa, neuroendocrinology, adolescence.