The influence of length of marriage and fidelity status on perception of marital rape

To what extent does the length of the marriage or the wife's faithfulness to the husband influence the perception of responsibility or trauma in marital rape? In the current study, each participant was presented with one of four marital rape vignettes. The vignettes varied only in the length of the marriage (3 years or 15 years) and the fidelity status of the wife (continuously faithful or involved in an ongoing sexual affair with another man). Results indicate that both length of marriage and fidelity status significantly influence perceptions of marital rape. Specifically, participants assigned greater responsibility for the rape to unfaithful wives than to faithful wives. This finding is particularly salient for wives in long-term marriages as compared to wives in short-term marriages. Additionally, participants perceived rapes within long-term marriages as more traumatic than rapes within short-term marriages.     

The DC Court of Appeals resurrects Redskins dispute

Seven American Indians petitioned to cancel trade mark registrationsfor various REDSKINS trade marks; the district court's grantof summary judgment against them for laches (unreasonable delay)was remanded by the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit fora rehearing in respect of one of the petitioners on the basisthat the district court ‘started the laches clock’in 1967, when he was only 1 year old, thus contravening theequitable principle that laches runs only from the time a partyhas reached the age of majority.     

Book reviews

Derek Bok, The State of the Nation (Harvard University Press, Cambridge and London, 1996), 483 pp., ISBN 0–674–29210–3

Philip J. Davies and Frederic A. Waldstein (eds), Political Issues in America Today: the 1990s Revisited (Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 1996), 275 pp., ISBN 0–7190–4225–9

Marino Regini, Uncertain Boundaries. The Social and Political Construction of European Economies (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995), 164 pp., ISBN 0–521–473771–3

Dietrich Rometsch and Wolfgang Wessels (eds), The European Union and Member States: Towards Institutional Fusion? (Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1996), xvii + 382 pp., ISBN 0–7190–4809–5 (hb)

Stephen D. Morris, Political Reform in Mexico. An Overview of Contemporary Mexican Politics (Rienner, Boulder and London, 1995), x + 262pp., ISBN 1–55587–594–7 (pb)

Atilio Boron, State, Capitalism, and Democracy in Latin America (Rienner, Boulder and London, 1995), x + 262 pp., ISBN 1–55587–508–4 (hb)

Alexander Stille, Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and Death of the First Italian Republic (Vintage, London, 1995), 467 pp., ISBN 9–59–959491–9 (pb)

David Westerlund (ed), Questioning the Secular State: The Worldwide Resurgence of Religion in Politics (Hurst, London, 1996), 428 pp., ISBN 1–85065–241–4     

Family‐Centered Practice in Florida: Family Court Actions and Perceptions

Family and dependency courts can become valuable partners in efforts to stem the tide of child maltreatment using a family‐centered strategy. Florida's response to a 2008 federal Child and Family Services Review included a commitment to implement family‐centered practice in child protection services and the courts that hear these cases. Evidence of this implementation was documented in a formative evaluation conducted in 2010 and 2011. Findings based on interviews with dependency judges, Children's Legal Services attorneys, and Guardian ad Litem volunteers provide useful insights on how these practices were perceived and implemented.     

Early Care and Education for Children in the Child Welfare System: Evaluations of Two Training Programs

Despite evidence that early care and education services benefit at-risk children, they remain underutilized by families in the child welfare system. This article describes two training programs developed to educate child welfare and childcare/preschool staff about the importance of early care and education for maltreated children and how to access these services. A combined total of 274 trainees completed knowledge tests about this topic and significant pre- to post-training improvements indicate that both training programs effectively increased participants' knowledge about this important topic. In addition, improvement in self-assessed competency was observed for participants in one program, and positive changes in attitudes and anticipated practice behavior regarding childcare for foster children were observed among participants in the other.