Differentiating among racial/ethnic groups and its implications for understanding juvenile justice decision making

Both theory and research have been refined to gain a better understanding of when race and ethnicity matter in justice proceedings. In the present research, this line of inquiry was continued by differentiating among minority youth to assess the extent being African American, Native American, and Asian American influenced juvenile justice decision making and how these effects compared to one another and Whites. Utilizing an interpretation of the symbolic threat thesis that emphasizes stereotyping, the authors anticipated Native Americans to be responded to more severely than African Americans, followed by Asian Americans who were anticipated to be responded to more like Whites. The results indicated partial support for these expectations.     

Consequence Management in the 1995 Sarin Attacks on the Japanese Subway System

In the early to mid-1990s, a group known as Aum Shinrikyo amassed, and used against innocent civilians in Japan, an arsenal of chemical and biological weapons. Two examples are the use of sarin gas in Matsumoto in 1994 and in Tokyo in 1995. The attacks claimed a total of 19 lives and caused thousands of injuries. A review of the scenario, starting in 1994 and early 1995 with the sarin attacks, reveals potential opportunities to preempt such an attack or to mitigate its effects. The Aum Shinrikyo case study is a good learning tool for policymakers and emergency response professionals seeking to form a coherent domestic preparedness strategy.     

YouTube: a new space for birth?

Birth, in many societies, is considered to be a private affair. Although health and medical professionals usually assist, the only other people who share the birth process with mothers are their nearest and dearest. With the rise of information communication technologies, however, birth is no longer an exclusively private event. Some women are now sharing their birthing experiences with millions of viewers who are part of the online video ‘community’ YouTube Broadcast Yourself. Searching the word ‘birth’ on YouTube results in close to one million ‘hits’. This article is based on a small-scale, qualitative research project, which involved viewing and making notes on several hundred online videos of birth on YouTube and the accompanying posts and commentaries about the videos. These data were analysed through a feminist, poststructuralist and geographical lens. Throughout the article the term ‘cyber/space’ is used to highlight the mutually constituted nature of ‘real’ and virtual spaces. The article concludes that although YouTube has the potential to open up new windows on birth, this potential is not yet being realized. YouTube does not overcome or render insignificant material expressions of power, instead it typically privileges US experiences of birth, reiterates discourses of ‘good’ mothering and censors particular (mainly vaginal) representations of birth.     

Ethical issues in pro‐social advertising: the Australian 2006 White Ribbon Day campaign

• The Australian White Ribbon Day 2006 campaign was severely criticized by mental health professionals and those working in the family and domestic violence sector because of depictions of suicide and self‐harm in the television advertisement and accompanying promotional materials. The White Ribbon Day (WRD) National Leadership Group (NLG) rejected all requests by concerned groups to not use these campaign materials. They and their apologists claimed that such violent imagery was necessary to attract men's attention and was being misinterpreted as depicting suicide attempts.
• With preliminary ethics approval we set out to assess reactions to the television advertisement. After 24 interviews, the testing was terminated by the university research ethics officer after two male respondents demonstrated significant distress after viewing the ad. Furthermore, the results by that stage showed that there were perceived messages of suicide in the ad. These results were sent to the WRD NLG with a request to reconsider proceeding with the television advertisement and associated materials. Mental health and domestic violence organizations lodged similar requests. All requests were rejected. The case raises a number of ethical issues for pro‐social organizations when dealing with sensitive issues and using execution techniques that may impact negatively on vulnerable audiences.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

亚洲移民的社会性别研究——以菲律宾、印度尼西亚和中国为例

研究亚洲移民社会性别时,要关注两种主要形式:合同式的劳工移民和自发式的劳工移民,同时应关注劳工移民中的社会性别问题。以菲律宾、印度尼西亚和中国的移民情况为例,一般说来,这些移民工人的生存状况都受到了很大的局限,无法拥有输入国公民和永久居民拥有的许多权利,这是需要从国际、地区和国家等不同层面给予解决的政策性问题。     

A child at any price?: An overview of issues in the use of the new reproductive technologies,and the threat to women

Since the advent of modern contraceptive techniques, sexuality and reproduction have been divided more than at any other time in human history. At first, this was seen as a liberating process for women, particularly for heterosexual women. Now, new reproductive technology has separated sexuality and the procreative process even further: a child can now be created without recourse to sexual intercourse. This too has been presented as a liberation for women. However, within this process men are gaining control of an experience uniquely female. The result of allowing this technological process to go unchecked could be the elimination of women and the development of artificial wombs.     

Medical aspects of capital punishment executions

Between 1976 and the middle of 2001, approximately 718 human executions occurred in the U.S. (a small segment of worldwide executions). Data regarding the medical aspects of these executions are not readily available. We searched all public domain data in the U.S. to obtain specific data for all persons executed in the U.S. since 1976. Of the five methods of execution used (lethal injection, lethal gas, electrocution, hanging, and firing squad), significant differences emerged as measured by rate of complications, duration of time spent by the condemned in the "death chamber," as well as duration of time from the onset of execution procedures to pronouncement of death. These data suggest that human executions are difficult to carry out. Human executions are associated with significant physical complications. These data may help inform future discussions on human executions.