The Eric Garner Case: Statewide Survey of New York Voters’ Response to Proposed Police Accountability Legislation

The Eric Garner case was unique because this police-induced death was caught on video from before the moment of physical confrontation. A mixed-methods representative household survey and Garner's arrest video were used to determine NYS voters’ opinions (n = 119) about police indictment and Governor Cuomo's request for expanded authority. Respondents were asked whether the officers should face indictment, shown the arrest video, and then asked again about indictment. Prior to the video, a majority of respondents (n = 86; 57.4%) believed involved officers should have been indicted. After viewing, the proportion increased by 13.7%. A majority supported Cuomo's call for expanded authority to appoint a special prosecutor in cases where police are involved in civilian deaths. Study limitations include prior exposure to the footage and a low response rate. NYS voters generally supported Cuomo's proposal for appointing a special prosecutor; however, a quarter of respondents disagreed with the method of reform and expressed a: 1) preference for every case to go to trial; 2) preference for a case-by-case basis; or 3) distrust in state-appointed special prosecutors. This research could inform discussions regarding proposed system reforms. Future research with a less well-circulated video is needed to determine the extent to which videos of police-induced deaths affect public opinion.     

Visual representations of ethnic violence: an Indonesian portrayal

The horrific violence that has marred Indonesia's ‘transition to democracy’ raises numerous disconcerting questions; not least of which is how future interested actors or governments – central and regional alike – will tackle these atrocities in a historical framework. How should a series of historical events, such as the killing of thousands of Indonesians by Indonesians be (un)officially remembered? Two paintings that hang in Sambas, West Kalimantan's most prominent cultural centrepiece, the Alwadzi Koebillah kraton, are remarkable, for they give us a glimpse as to how local voices might attempt to possess the historical meanings and readings of Indonesia's recent ethnic strife. Perhaps one of a kind in Indonesia, these paintings boldly portray the bloody battles that took place in Sambas in early 1999, pitting the ‘courageous’ and ‘youthful’ Malays of Sambas against the ‘middle-aged’ and ‘treacherous’ Madurese. These depictions make it abundantly clear that, through this bloodletting, Sambas Malays awoke from their slumber in time to mobilise, to confront and to defeat their nemesis. As an ethnopolitical force, the glorious rise of ‘Malay’ is unmistakable. The broader political context in which these paintings were commissioned, however, invests them with greater significance. Only in a decentralised state, one distinct from the excessive centralism of the New Order, would the (semi) public display of these heroic memorials to local, i.e. non-national, violence be made possible.     

‘Somebody Else's Roadmap’: Lived Experience of Maudsley and Family‐based Therapy for Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

The Maudsley and more recent family‐based therapy manualised approaches are positioned by some as the gold standard, evidence‐based therapy for adolescent anorexia nervosa (AN). However, a significant proportion of adolescents and their families either discontinue this therapy and/or find that it simply does not work for them. These adolescents and families are under‐represented in the literature on therapeutic interventions for adolescent AN. This paper begins to address this gap with an in‐depth qualitative case study that explores the lived experience of Maudsley family therapy (MFT)/family‐based therapy (FBT) for one female adolescent (age 14 years) and her family over the period of 3 years (ages 11–14). Although initially handing over the responsibility for her eating was comforting and reinstated a sense of control in the family system, these experiences were not maintained. When she did not progress past the first phase of FBT, she and her family experienced the approach as blaming. She felt silenced and family alliances were weakened. This paper analyses how the family members negotiated and preserved their identities within this disabling context.     

Beyond Cans and Capacity

Many essential public services are provided through networks of community‐based nonprofit organizations. Previous research has demonstrated that simply providing additional resources to these organizations is insufficient to better address demands for public services. We also know little about how and why these organizations adopt network‐level objectives related to service provision. In this analysis, we expand the focus of service provision beyond capacity to incorporate the unique roles that define the very existence of nonprofit organizations, and how these roles affect organizational behavior with respect to service network objectives. We use focus group, survey, and administrative data from one hundred community‐based nonprofit organizations in an emergency food service network to explore the relationships among capacity, roles, and specific program objectives.     

Comment

Some considerations relating to the post–data selection of models are discussed. These include some difficulties with orthodox theory, implementation of the likelihood principle, and Bayesian tests of hypotheses.     

Forensic Patients and Forensic Mental Health in Victoria: Legal Context,Clinical Pathways,and Practice Challenges

Forensic mental health services in Australia have evolved and developed considerably over the past two decades. To clinicians unfamiliar with them, the contemporary practice environments in which professionals deliver specialised forensic mental health services and the legislation governing offenders with a mental illness can appear extremely complex. This article outlines the legislation applying to individuals found not guilty of a serious offence on the grounds of mental impairment in the State of Victoria, describes the characteristics of the forensic patient population, and delineates the clinical pathway forensic patients typically take, using an illustrative case example. The competencies and attributes required by forensic practitioners are highlighted, along with the clinical challenges they face, including the inherent need to address risk in a service that has become recovery-focused in orientation. A central theme of the discussion is how social workers adapt their practice within these highly regulated settings to effectively meet forensic patients' needs.     

Infant health, race/ethnicity, and early educational outcomes using the ECLS-B

Using data from the "Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Birth Cohort," this article emphasizes the central role of poor infant health as a mechanism in the formation of early educational disparities. Results indicate that the varying prevalence of poor infant health across racial/ethnic groups explains a significant portion of the black disadvantage and a moderate portion of the Asian advantage relative to whites in math and reading skills at age four. Results also demonstrate that infant health is an equal opportunity offender across social groups as children with poor health are equally disadvantaged in terms of early cognitive development, regardless of racial/ethnic status. Overall, results indicate that health at birth has important consequences for individual educational achievement and racial/ethnic disparities in cognitive development and school readiness.     

The impact of mimicry on sales - Evidence from field and lab experiments

A buyer’s observation that one or more people are consuming a product can lead that buyer to consume the product as well. The evidence supporting unconscious and unintentional (automatic) mimicry of consumption suggests that it is a pervasive and robust phenomenon. However, up until now most findings on the antecedents of mimicry have been obtained from lab studies. Using a field study, the current research shows that passengers in a train mimic the consumption behavior of other passengers. Two subsequent lab studies suggest that mimicry of consumption is all the more powerful the more people there are consuming and the more intense and consistent their consumption behavior is. However, the impact of the number of people on the willingness to engage in mimicry reaches a peak at approximately eight people and is relatively constant thereafter.     

Trauma and couples: mechanisms in dyadic functioning

Research traditionally has focused on the development of symptoms in those who experienced trauma directly but overlooked the impact of trauma on the families of victims. In recent years, researchers and clinicians have begun to examine how individual exposure to traumatic events affects the spouses/partners, children, and professional helpers of trauma survivors. The current study reports data from a larger mixed-methodology study that includes qualitative interview data from 17 individuals, coded to identify the mechanisms that may affect the couple's interpersonal functioning when there is a history of trauma exposure in one or both partners. The following primary themes were identified: role in the relationship, boundary issues, intimacy problems, triggers, and coping mechanisms. Areas for future research and clinical implications also are identified.