Housing affordability and family well‐being: Results from the housing voucher evaluation

Abstract

Studies report that real estate brokers often provide less information to black clients than to whites and steer them to different neighborhoods. However, few studies have investigated racial differences in housing search procedures. If blacks believe they will receive less useful information from brokers, they may avoid them.

Analyzing 1992 data from Detroit, this study finds that blacks were significantly less likely than whites to consult brokers. Blacks tended to rely more on methods such as talking with friends, checking newspaper ads, or driving through neighborhoods. Blacks were also more likely to believe that they missed housing opportunities because brokers discriminate. Differences in the socioeconomic characteristics of subjects account for some of the differences in the use of brokers. Eradicating discrimination by brokers will broaden housing opportunities only for blacks who use brokers. Policy actions that address the perception of discrimination by brokers may be a more powerful tool.     

A critical analysis of the NBC news special “six days plus twenty years: A dream is dying”

The July 1, 1987 NBC News documentary on Israel's occupation of the West Bank neglected the context of the occupation, failing to give any historical perspective on the Israeli‐Palestinian dispute. The nature of the Palestinian opposition— characterized by intransigence and violence—was virtually ignored by NBC. The unbalanced coverage of the conflict served only to confuse the viewer and distort the salient issues involved.     

How should we understand the effect of age on sexual recidivism?

Abstract

Research into the effect of age on sexual recidivism risk is a relatively new and developing area of interest and is likely to be of great interest for forensic practitioners responsible for the community supervision of sexual offenders. Meta-analytical and follow-up reconviction studies indicate an inverse relationship between age and sexual recidivism risk, where younger sex offenders pose a greater risk of reconviction than older sex offenders. This finding has led to the development of actuarial risk scales which identify younger sex offenders (<25 years) as posing the greatest risk. However, recent research studies have reported contradictory results to this assumption and found a non-linear relationship between age and sexual recidivism risk. Only a small number of studies have investigated the effect of age on sexual recidivism by comparing age bands and rates of sexual recidivism. Researchers have also considered the effect of age on actuarial risk, which risk factors are associated with which age bands and sexual recidivism rates between sex offender subgroups. The purpose of this paper is to integrate this research and to link commonalities between these studies. This paper organizes the effect of age on sexual recidivism into five categories: (i) the effect of age and actuarial risk; (ii) the effect of age on sexual arousal; (iii) the effect of age-at-release on sexual recidivism risk; (iv) the effect of age-at-first-offence on sexual recidivism risk; and (v) the effect of age on child molesters and rapists on sexual recidivism risk. Important differences were found between age bands of sexual offenders in terms of sexual recidivism risk and actuarial risk factors as well as differences between rapists and child molesters. The relative importance of factoring age when assessing risk in sex offenders is discussed.     

Are Immigrants and Their Descendants Discriminated against in the Danish Criminal Justice System?

The study presents Danish data from 2000 showing disparities between persons with a Danish background and persons with a foreign background regarding their treatment in the criminal justice system. Persons with a foreign background are more likely to be arrested in relation to a charge, they are more likely to be remanded in custody without subsequently being convicted, and they are more likely not to be convicted when charged with an offence. Controlling for a number of factors regarding the suspect and the crime does not eliminate the disparities. A number of possible explanations are discussed.1 ¹The results of this study were presented at the Second European Society of Criminology Conference in Toledo in 2002. We are grateful to two anonymous referees for their valuable comments.      

根据肋骨推断年龄的初步研究

肋骨和全身其他骨一样,其形态一生都在变化.Kerley发现,青春期的肋骨胸骨端呈波浪状;中年期的呈杯状,有锐利的边缘;老年期的呈不规则状.最近,Iscan等根据Kerley的初步观察,把肋骨胸骨端作为测定年龄的又一可以实践的部位,先后用两种方法对其形态改变进行了分析.他们最初用的是成分分析法(component analysis),后来用的是阶段分析法(Phase analysis).iscan等认为,阶段分析     

早期普通法中的司法与王权——英国司法独立的“中世纪起源”的再思考

司法独立的起源,往往被追溯到中世纪英格兰的普通法法院.但对于普通法法院形成之初的诉讼个案的考察却表明,尽管这一时期的法院已脱离于国王的人身而“自主运行”,但并没有完全摆脱国王的干预.在涉及法律疑难与王室利益的重大案件中,国王仍然直接或间接地左右着判决的结果;即便是那些表面上看来不利于国王的判决,背后依然可能隐藏了更深层的政治利益的考量.这一时期的法官自主性仍然是非制度化的,也无法等同于现代意义的司法独立的起源。     

Marriage and power: Age at first marriage and spousal age gap in lesser developed countries

This paper examines age at first marriage for women and spousal age gap as an indicator for female agency from 1950 to 2005. Using a dataset of 77 LDCs this paper seeks to explore which variables determine differences at a country level in marriage patterns. We look at the influence of urbanisation, education, percentage population of Muslim faith, and family type. We find that education is a key in determining at what age women marry, having as would be expected a positive effect on age at first marriage and depressing spousal age gap. Urbanisation is significant, with a positive effect on age and negative on spousal age gap, although the effect is not very large. The percentage Muslim variable depresses female age at first marriage and increases spousal age gap but only when family type is not controlled for. The initially strong negative effect of percentage population Muslim over the period under consideration on age of first marriage has decreased, which raises some interesting questions about the role of Islam in female empowerment.     

Sampling and statistical considerations for the Suchey–Brooks method for pubic bone age estimation: Implications for regional comparisons

Although the Suchey–Brooks (SB) system is currently the most widely used method for age-at-death estimation from the pubic bone, the system continues to evolve through stepwise improvements. Since the system was developed from a pubic bone sample derived mainly from North Americans, it is unclear how well it performs on populations from other continents. During the last decade, studies of the SB system on pubic bone samples from local populations in Europe and Asia have indicated regional differences in the relationship between age and pubic bone development. However, these studies have for the most part followed different research protocols, which make comparisons between their results less meaningful. It would be most useful if future regional analysis of the SB system were done in a rigorous and uniform fashion, following standard procedures. In this paper, sampling and statistical considerations are outlined that hopefully will help to standardize research on the SB system.     

我国户籍制度的法理分析与平等权宪政保护机制构建

我国户籍制度已日显其弊病,它侵害公民的人格尊严,违背平等、自由、公正的宪法理念,应当站在宪政的高度对其进行改革：还原户籍的原初功能,消除制度性歧视,完善宪法对平等权利体系的规定,承认平等权作为公民的一种权利对立法者有拘束力,建立宪政审查机制,从而体现对人的价值、人的尊严、人的自由和平等的终极关怀,使立法更趋公平,使社会更加公正。