Hawaii QUEST and EPSDT coverage: An overview

Established in August 1994, QUEST is Hawaii's Medicaid 1115 managed care, demonstration waiver. QUEST extends EPSDT (Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment) benefits to nearly 106,000 enrollees in Hawaii, or almost three out of every 10 individuals under the age of 21 in the state. Under QUEST, more beneficiaries in younger age groups are covered, compared to those in older age groups. In the 1999 federal fiscal year, QUEST attained an overall 89% screening rate and a 64% participant rate. Although the screening and participation rates can be improved, steady progress has been achieved in the past five years. More children and youths are now covered and the participant rate has gained 24 points since 1994. Much of this progress is due to QUEST's emphasis on managed care to deliver EPSDT services.     

Cultural (Re)production of digital inequality in a US community technology initiative

In the US, community technology centers (CTC) are a policy response to facilitate the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) to citizens who might otherwise lack access to these resources. The implicit assumption guiding CTC initiatives is that access to ICT will improve the life chances of the individuals who become involved in these centers. It is, however, prudent to empirically examine this assumption because the case for community technology interventions is somewhat weakened if the benefits of ICT use fail to accrue to those who are disadvantaged. Informed by Bourdieu's theory of reproduction, this study of a CTC initiative in an inner-city community explores the role of culture in reproducing digital inequality. Digital inequality reflects not only disparities in the structure of access to and use of ICT; it also reflects the ways in which longstanding social inequities shape beliefs and expectations regarding ICT and its impacts on life chances. While this initiative is considered successful in the sense that it provided access and basic computer literacy to residents lacking these resources, it represents a technology-centric fix to a problem that is deeply rooted in systemic patterns of spatial, political and economic disadvantage.     

A comparison of male and female dually arrested domestic violence offenders

This research provides information on dually arrested female defendants in domestic violence cases. The data comes from all heterosexual domestic violence cases resulting in a dual arrest from one large mid-South city during a 28-month period. Information on matched pairs of dually arrested male and female defendants (N = 317) came from multiple sources, including official criminal justice records (arrest reports and local criminal histories) as well as victim/offender interviews with both the arrestee and his/her partner. Comparisons were made between males and females in terms of their demographics, criminal histories, prior history of domestic violence (as both victim and offender), and behavior during the instant offense. Analyses revealed that these couples had ample contact, whether as victim or offender, with the criminal justice system. While there were no significant differences in partners' reports of minor and severe physical abuse, criminal justice date indicated that male arrestees demonstrated a significantly higher overall level of severity of violence than their female counterparts. Additionally, male arrestees had a more serious history of intimate partner and extrafamilial violence as well as other indicators of an antisocial lifestyle in comparison to female arrestees. To the extent that females in our cohort demonstrated less overall criminality and engaged in less severe domestic aggression, the idea of equivalency of violence between male and female arrestees must remain questionable.