Shared Race/Ethnicity,Court Procedural Justice,and Self‐Regulating Beliefs: A Study of Female Offenders

Using survey data from a sample of white, black, and Hispanic incarcerated females (N = 554), we examine if the theoretically hypothesized and empirically demonstrated relationship between procedural justice and obligation to obey the law is substantiated among a sample of offenders and explore the impact that sharing the race/ethnicity of the defense attorney and prosecutor in their most recent conviction has on female inmates' perceptions of court procedural justice and their perceived obligation to obey the law. The findings reveal that female offenders who perceive the courts as more procedurally just report a significantly greater obligation to obey the law. In addition, white female inmates who had a white prosecutor were significantly more likely to perceive the courts as procedurally just. Non‐whites, though, perceive the courts as more fair if they encountered a minority prosecutor regardless of whether the prosecutor was black or Hispanic.     

YOUNG WOMEN AND HOUSEWORK

Despite much research which demonstrates the remarkable stability of the inequitable division of domestic labour within heterosexual couples, this key feminist issue is frequently neglected in the literature about contemporary young womanhood. This article begins with a review of literature about the politics of housework. Following this, young women's expectations and experiences of housework are explored through analysis of qualitative interview data in order to explore how they make sense of and respond to the resilience of the traditional sexual division of labour. Men's unequal contribution to housework is conceptualised in this article as an ‘awkward relic of modernity’ because it represents evidence of structures of male dominance at odds with widespread beliefs about progress towards sexual equality. The post-feminist environment of Western neo-liberal democracies, in which assumptions of individualised female empowerment co-exist with the continuation of manifestations of gendered inequality, provides the context against which these issues are theoretically considered.     

Offshore IT Outsourcing and the 8th Data Protection Principle - legal and regulatory requirements - with reference to Financial Services

In the global sourcing world, particularly in financial services,offshore outsourcing and associated data transfers are commonplaceand increasing, searching out lower cost third countries, whichmay have even fewer data protections. In such an environment,the1998 Data Protection Act’s 8^th Principle and associated7^th Principle security provisions become critical protectionsfor UK data subjects. Yet the few statistics that exist indicate that unrestrictedtransfers appear to occur from several EEA countries. Furthercriticisms are that the UK 1998 Act does not fully align withthe EEA Directive, the Schedule 4 exceptions are overly wide,the country assessment process can be ignored with the InformationCommissioner’s ‘blessing’ and his powers andresources are limited. Financial Services may be a contrasting exception, where theindustry regulator, the FSA, ‘incidentally’ enforcesmany of the data protection requirements of overseas data transfers,has significant direct enforcement powers and a model ADR approachthrough the Financial Ombudsman. Although the UK banking lawand regulation meets many privacy requirements, it falls shortof the full data protection requirements, clearly illustratingthe value that data protection legislation brings. The alternative self regulatory approach exemplified by theUS Safe Harbor illustrates the weaknesses of pure self regulation,recognized by the US financial services which are moving towardscentralized data privacy supervision with the Gramm-Leach-BlileyAct, reinforcing the worldwide trend towards a more EEA-stylesupervised personal data protection world. In short, seven years after the 1998 Act was passed, we areready for an appropriate mid-course correction, with the 8thPrinciple (& 7^th Principle) needed more than ever in thegrowing outsourced world.     

INVISIBLE PARTIES: LISTENING TO CHILDREN

This article discusses how children are involved in family court proceedings in New Zealand. On July 1, 2005, the Care of Children Act 2004 came into force. One of the changes brought about by this Act is an increased expectation that children will participate in proceedings involving them, by the court giving the child a reasonable opportunity to express his or her view. Children may participate in three ways, the primary mechanism being through the lawyer for the child. Children's views can also be elucidated through a specialist report, and direct participation can be achieved through judicial interviews. As each child is different, it is important that the unique circumstances of the case are accounted for. This article will discuss how each of the three methods can be combined to tailor an approach that gives every individual child a reasonable opportunity to express his or her view. There are a number of examples given of this approach in practice, showing how the court has adapted the process to accommodate the child's situation and personality.     

Term Limits and Legislative‐Executive Conflict in the American States

State governments have experienced considerable institutional change in the last several decades. None appeared at first glance to be as far‐reaching as the legislative term limits that were adopted by over 20 states in the 1990s. The evidence to date suggests that term limits have indeed changed the character of many of the states' legislatures, if not always as predicted by their advocates. We report data on veto dynamics over the period 1989–2008 to determine how term limits have impacted legislative‐executive relations. Our data both challenge and support what has become the conventional wisdom, i.e., that term limits will weaken legislatures relative to their governors. States with more stringent term limits experienced fewer gubernatorial vetoes but proved more likely to override those vetoes when they were issued. Taken together the evidence suggests that the relationship between governors and legislatures in the wake of term limits is more complex and variable than scholars and others had previously thought.