Religion,Age, and Crime: Do Religious Traditions Differentially Impact Juvenile Versus Adult Violence?

A growing body of empirical research demonstrates that the relative presence of religious adherents at the community-level has important relationships with rates of crime and violence. Less understood is how adherence to specific religious traditions (e.g., evangelical Protestant, Catholic, mainline Protestant) is associated with rates of crime, especially across particular age groups toward which religious traditions devote varying degrees of structural and cultural resources. Using data from the Religious Congregations and Membership Survey and age-specific arrest data from the Uniform Crime Reporting program in 2010, the current study finds that the impact of religious adherence on crime varies by religious tradition and across juvenile versus adult crime. Specifically, evangelical Protestant adherence is negatively associated with juvenile but not adult violence, while Catholic adherence is associated with reduced adult but not juvenile violence, net of controls. Implications for research on religious contexts and crime, as well as policy, are discussed.     

A Shot of Morality? Hispanic Immigration,Religious Contextual Characteristics,and Violence

Extant research often finds that the relative size of the Hispanic immigrant population is inversely associated with rates of crime at the macro level. Yet, few studies have empirically examined the indirect pathways through which Hispanic immigration might impact crime, especially sociocultural characteristics such as religious context. Utilizing data on known violent crimes from over 600 U.S. counties in 2010 paired with religious contextual data from the Religious Congregation and Membership Survey (RCMS), we observe that the presence of Hispanic immigrants is positively associated with community-level Catholic adherence, civically engaged religious adherence, and religious homogeneity that, in turn, are negatively associated with violent crime. Overall, religious contextual characteristics appear to significantly mediate the link between Hispanic immigration and violence at the macro level. Implications for the immigration-crime literature and broader macro-structural research are discussed.     

Families Created by Donor Insemination: Father–Child Relationships at Age 7

This study examined the psychological well‐being of fathers and father–child relationships in families with a 7‐year‐old child conceived by donor insemination. Twenty‐four donor insemination families and comparison groups of 25 egg donation and 32 unassisted‐conception families were assessed using a standardized interview and questionnaires administered to the father, and father–child dyads participated in an observational assessment of father–child interaction. On the basis of perspectives from Parental Investment Theory and stress‐related models, it was expected that donor insemination fathers would show raised levels of psychological problems and a poorer quality of parenting and have more conflictual relationships with their children than genetically related fathers in egg donation and unassisted‐conception families. These hypotheses were not supported by the findings. Instead, it seems that commitment to parenthood may be more important than genetic relatedness for positive father–child relationships.     

Anaemia following initiation of androgen deprivation therapy for metastatic prostate cancer: A retrospective chart review

Objective. Haemoglobin levels often decline into the anaemic range with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). We conducted a chart review of patients receiving ADT for metastatic prostate cancer to assess anaemia-related symptoms.

Methods. 135 stage IV prostate cancer cases were reviewed for treatment type; haemoglobin values before and after treatment; and symptoms of anaemia. Mean haemoglobin levels before and after for all treatment forms, for leuprolide alone, and for combination leuprolide/bicalutamide were calculated and evaluated for significant differences. The numbers of patients developing symptoms were recorded and the effects of specific therapies evaluated.

Results. For all ADT treated patients, mean haemoglobin declined by ?1.11 g/dL (p < .0001). Leuprolide-alone treated patients had a mean decline of ?1.66 g/dL (p < 0.0001). Leuprolide and bicalutamide combination treatment caused a mean decline of ?0.78 g/dL (p = 0.0426). 16 of 43 patients had anemia symptoms. Contingency analysis with Fisher's exact test shows patients receiving leuprolide therapy alone versus other forms of ADT were significantly less likely to have symptoms (χ² = 0.0190).

Conclusions. The present study confirms that ADT results in a significant drop in haemoglobin levels into the anaemic range. A number of patients become symptomatic from this change. Practitioners should monitor haemoglobin levels, and treat symptomatic patients.     

The Role of Experience in Prioritizing Adherence to SOPs in Police Agencies

Research has perennially substantiated the belief that experience is a crucial determinant of an officer’s ability to effectively use discretion in making decisions. Officers cite experience as “the best teacher”, and police managers are likely to agree, usually with an anecdote or two about their personal maturation experiences. This study is an attempt to investigate this question with a bit more subtlety. In the following sections, we will: (1) explain the theory behind the discretion-experience relationship we propose, as well as theoretical opposition to this notion, (2) hone in on the perceived importance of agency standard operating procedures as an influence on discretion, (3) demonstrate that the relationship between officer experience and the priority attributed to SOPs is parabolic, and (4) discuss our findings in the context of structural functional organizational theory.     

The Politics of the Exhibition: Viewing Corporate Museums Through the Paradigmatic Lens of Organizational Memory

This paper explores corporate museums as little–understood sites of organizational memory and proposes that corporate museums, as a form of organizational memory, are used strategically by organizations in the development of the firm's identity and image. More critically, the authors examine the politics of the exhibition of organizational memory, or what Sturken refers to as 'organized forgetting' or 'strategic forgetting'. The authors propose that organizations, through these museums, choose what is recalled (the politics of remembering) as well as what is not remembered (the politics of forgetting). Four propositions are suggested to guide future research on corporate museums with the purpose of furthering our understanding of these museums and their relationship to the development of organizational identity and image as well as organizational actions – past, present, and future. The paper concludes with implications for the organizational–studies scholar.     

Watershed-scale analysis of pollutant distributions in stormwater management ponds

Stormwater management ponds have become a common Best Management Practice in urban and suburban landscapes. Stormwater management ponds are designed to hold runoff from impervious surfaces and allow the settling of sediments and associated pollutants. Various semi-aquatic and aquatic wildlife species have been documented using stormwater management ponds as habitat, but these wetland-like systems are not managed to adhere to freshwater habitat pollutant guidelines. To address the potential for pollutant exposure for wildlife, we used a random sample of 68 stormwater ponds and estimated the proportion of ponds in a third-order watershed that exceed toxicity guidelines for trace metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments and chloride in surface waters. Ninety-six percent of ponds exceeded consensus-based threshold effect concentrations for at least one trace metal. Concentrations of at least one of the PAHs measured exceeded the threshold effects concentration in 63% of the ponds. Nine percent of ponds exceeded chronic toxicity levels of chloride on all sampling dates, and 21% exceeded acute toxicity concentrations on at least one sampling date. More studies are needed to evaluate toxic effects of pollutants in stormwater management ponds and the potential for interactive effects of pollutants on wildlife.     

Gender Equality and Corporate Governance: Policy Strategies in Norway and New Zealand

Advancing gender equality in the labour market continues to be a policy objective in many OECD countries. Wide national variations are evident in strategies and accomplishments towards improving gender equality at all levels of the labour market, including senior management and corporate governance roles. This article compares policy strategies in Norway and New Zealand directed towards achieving gender equality in the governance of corporate institutions. A principal feature of the New Zealand strategy has been a soft regulation approach in the form of advocacy and encouragement of equal employment opportunity policies, awareness‐raising and benchmarking. For Norway the use of legislation in the form of quotas and affirmative action programmes has been the predominant strategy. Using empirical data collected in 2004–2005 on women's perceptions and experiences of corporate governance participation, this article critically examines these different policy strategies.