Violence and Gangs: Gender Differences in Perceptions and Behavior

Most research on violence has focused on males, but recent studies indicatethat females are also involved in violent crimes. Few studies, to date,have examined whether different or similar models explain male and femaleinvolvement in violent behavior. In the current research, we examine therelative contribution of social bond, self-control and social learningconcepts to the explanation of male and female violent offending. We alsoexplore the unique contribution of gang membership, school environment andprior victimization to these explanatory models. Using a multisite sampleof eighth-grade students, we find that results of a Chow test indicate theneed for separate theoretical models. Despite some similarities, differentfactors account for male and female rates of violent behavior.     

“It's not Fair!” Adolescents' Constructions of Appropriateness of Parental Reactions

Research suggests that perceived appropriateness of parental discipline plays a role in whether adolescents accept or reject parental messages, but little is known about how adolescents conceptualize or construct their ideas of appropriateness. One hundred twenty-two adolescents (M age = 16.87) answered questions about past situations (both antisocial and prosocial), how parents responded to these situations, the adolescent's perceived appropriateness of the parent's reaction, how the parent's reaction made the adolescent feel, and what the adolescent thought the parent's intentions were. Appropriateness ratings were related to the type of parental discipline used, with yelling associated with lower ratings of appropriateness and talking associated with higher ratings. Ratings were also related to adolescents' emotions, with negative emotions associated with lower ratings of appropriateness and positive emotions associated with higher ratings. Lastly, ratings were related to adolescents' perceptions of parental intent, with inhibiting and controlling intentions associated with lower ratings of appropriateness and caring and helping intentions associated with higher ratings.     

Are city elections unique? Perceptions of electoral cleavages and social sorting across levels of government

A long tradition of scholarship has argued that the cleavages that animate urban politics are distinct from those that structure regional or national politics. More recent scholarship has challenged this view, demonstrating the relevance of cleavages that apply at higher levels of government, such as partisanship and ideology, for urban elections. We contribute to this debate by investigating the perceptions of urban residents themselves. Using survey data from a major Canadian city, we use a novel survey question battery to compare how urban residents understand municipal and provincial electoral cleavages. We consider two questions that speak to the distinctiveness of local politics: (1) How do electors perceive coalitions of support at the two levels of government, and do perceptions of coalitions differ across levels? (2) How do perceptions compare to actual electoral coalitions at the two levels? We find little evidence to support the view that local electoral cleavages are unique.     

New localism or fuzzy centralism: policymakers’ perceptions of public education and involvement in education

This research examines local authority involvement in education as a function of local policymakers’ perceptions of education as a public service – namely, whether public education is for the benefit of society as a whole, or for individual students and parents. Perceptions of education and involvement in education were assessed through 107 questionnaires returned by mayors and heads of local education departments in Israel. The results show that (1) local policymakers tend to perceive public education as a general public service, and (2) the relationship between this perception and involvement in education varies with the locality’s centre-periphery status. In peripheral localities, perceiving education as a general public service and an understanding of ‘society’ as the local community leads to greater involvement in education. In central localities, involvement rose with a more individualised perception. Implications of the findings are discussed in line with viewing education in the spirit of new localism.     

集资犯罪探析

非法吸收公众存款、集资诈骗、擅自设立金融机构 ,擅自发行股票、公司、企业债券等金融违法犯罪屡屡发生 ,给社会公众的财产造成了重大损失 ,并引发了许多群体性治安事件 ,严重地影响了正常金融秩序 ,危及社会稳定和经济秩序有序运行。为加强对此类违法犯罪的打击和防范工作 ,遏制其发展蔓延势头 ,本文拟就此类犯罪的现状、特点、趋势和得逞的原因进行分析 ,并提出遏制此类犯罪的对策。     

Race and the probability of pleading guilty

The legal ramifications of pleading guilty and findings of an interdependence between pleading guilty and sentence severity suggest that the guilty plea decision is a significent turning point in case processing. The present research examines the variables affecting the probability of pleading guilty. The first analysis involves estimating a single probit equation of main effects of variables previously found to be related to pleading guilty. A second analysis is conducted estimating the same equation separately for black defendants and white defendants. Findings from the first part of the analysis indicate that physical evidence, number of charges, and confessing to the crime during police/prosecutor interrogation increase the probability of pleading guilty, whereas the number of witnesses, use of a weapon, and offenses carrying a minimum penalty of 5 years in custody with no maximum prison term decrease the probability of pleading guilty. Findings from the second analysis indicate that the effect of marital status, prior record of felony convictions, type of counsel, number of charges, and use of a weapon on the probability of pleading guilty varies by defendant's race. The research concludes by offering several competing explanations of these findings in hope of stimulating further research on the variables affecting the route of case disposition in felony processing.     

Longitudinal Links Between Perceptions of Adolescence and the Social Beliefs of Adolescents: Are Parents’ Stereotypes Related to Beliefs Held About and by Their Children?

This study examined: (1) relations between parents prior stereotypes about adolescence and their later beliefs about their own child during early and middle adolescence, (2) relations between parents stereotypes and their own childs behaviors during middle and late adolescence, and (3) the role of congruency between mothers and fathers beliefs about adolescence in predicting their childs behavior. The results revealed significant relations between parents prior stereotyped beliefs and their specific beliefs about their own children during the 7th and 10th grades. In addition, the relations between parents prior stereotypes and their adolescent childrens behaviors measured at 3 and 5 years later (10th and 12th grades) were estimated. Parents stereotypes about adolescence significantly predicted their childrens behaviors in both 10th and 12th grades. Finally, the congruency between mothers and fathers stereotyped beliefs was significantly related to their childrens behaviors in the 10th and 12th grades. Parents who had consistent and strong stereotypes about adolescence had adolescent children with more deviant peers than parents with consistent, but less-stereotyped views.Portions of this paper were presented at the 2002 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Adolescence, New Orleans, LA. This research was made possible by grants from NSF, the Spencer Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation to Jacquelynne Eccles and Bonnie Barber.Professor of Psychology, and Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University. Received PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan. Current interests include the development of social cognitive processes during childhood and adolescence, and gender differences in achievement motivation, self-perceptions of achievement, and parents influences on achievement.Doctoral Candidate and Research Assistant, Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University. Received MS in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Current interests include gender socialization and activity involvement during adolescence.Research Associate, North Carolina Center for Nursing. Received MS in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Current interests include adolescent development.     

Meeting the Dalai Lama and perceptions of democracy in China: a quasi-natural experiment

How does the international human rights community affect the likelihood of democratization? Scholarship on Chinese citizens’ preferences about their political system has not explored the importance of the external environment, perhaps surprising given the extensive foreign pressure on China’s authoritarian system over the last 30 years. I use a quasi-natural experiment around the meeting between President Obama and the Dalai Lama in 2011 to examine the impact of foreign pressure on citizens’ perceptions of democracy in China in real time. I show that the meeting significantly increased the Chinese public’s belief that their country is democratic, with those of above average patriotism over 11 percentage points more likely to believe China is democratic in the five days following the meeting than before. The findings suggest that some kinds of external pressure may help to increase satisfaction with authoritarian rule, ultimately boosting autocrats’ ability to hold on to power.     

侦查目的探析

侦查目的就是以观念形态表达的,国家进行侦查活动所期望达到的目标或结果。侦查目的是整个侦查活动的灵魂、任何侦查行为的开展必然受到侦查目的的影响。本文从分析侦查目的的概念及特征入手,对侦查目的的立论依据进行了阐述,并提出我国侦查目的的内容。