Implementing Equal Justice for Parents in Washington: A Dual Approach

In many states, legal representation for parents of dependent children is inadequate and can be a source of delays in securing permanency for children and unnecessarily protracted court proceedings. Often, such parents also face barriers to accessing services and independent evaluators. These issues are being addressed in the state of Washington through two approaches. The first is a successful enhanced legal representation program that has substantially improved case outcomes. The second is a statewide committee using innovative means to examine systemic responses to the challenges of the Adoption and Safe Families Act.     

The study of Western European cabinets

Abstract. We are still relatively unfamiliar with the structures and modes of behaviour of Western European cabinets and we need first to identify the range of the differences which exist with respect to two major dimensions along which cabinet governments can be located (collective v. hierarchical decision-making and political representation v. administrative and/or specialist skills). A valuable test can be obtained by considering in detail the cases of a number of countries in which the traditions of cabinet government are known to be different from those of the British model, both because of the existence of coalitions and because of specific traditions of 'administrative' and even 'bureaucratic' government. Marked variations emerge with respect to four elements: ministerial expertise, the large autonomy of ministers, the authority of the prime minister or chancellor, and the relatively limited influence of the council of ministers as a deliberative body. Cabinet government is a flexible machinery which has given rise to a number of different models corresponding to different traditions and to different conditions in which the political system operates.     

HOMICIDE TRENDS IN ATLANTA

In recent years in Atlanta, homicide has been the most common cause of death in males 20–40 years of age. To study homicide trends in this city we analyzed data for 591 resident victims of criminal homicide in two time perid. 1961–1962 and 1971–1972. Large increases occurred in the homicide rates for both black and white residents. In both races, these rate increases could be accounted for almost entirely by homicides involving firearms Homicide rates for black and whites in 1971–1972 were highest in census tracts with low indices of socioeconomic status; this association was found only for homicides in which the victim and assailant were relatives or acquaintances. There was little geographic overlap between areas with high rates of homicide in the home and high numbers of homicides in public. Using population-based rates facilitates comparisons of homicide occurrence between time periods and/or places.