Raising Considerations: Public Opinion and the Fair Application of the Death Penalty*

Objectives. A major justification for capital punishment is its perceived public support, yet common measures of public opinion do not capture the complexity of death penalty attitudes. This research, first, examines the stability of attitudes regarding the fair application of the death penalty when those attitudes are expressed within the context of an enlarged pool of considerations about its administration and, second, evaluates the directional effect of the considerations on those attitudes. Methods. Data from a national telephone survey that capture the complexity of these attitudes are analyzed using ordered probit estimation. Results. These results indicate substantial instability in attitudes regarding the fair application of capital punishment given the context of more pertinent considerations. Furthermore, within this context respondents tend to indicate that the death penalty is less fairly applied. Conclusion. The justification for capital punishment may rest on oversimplified conceptions of attitudes toward the death penalty and its application.     

Conflicting Varieties of Realism: Causal Powers and the Problems of Social Structure

Proponents of the view that social structures are ontologically distinct from the people in whose actions they are immanent have assumed that structures can stand in causal relations to individual practices. Were causality to be no more than Humean concomitance correlations between structure and practices would be unproblematic. But two prominent advocates of the ontological account of structures, Bhaskar and Giddens, have also espoused a powers theory of causality. According to that theory causation is brought about by the activity of particulars, in the social psychological case, individuals of some sort. Consistence would demand that structure be those individuals. But neither Giddens nor Bhaskar wish to reify structure to the extent that would fit it for a role as a powerful particular. If only human beings can be powerful particulars in these contexts, the only way that structures can be real must be as properties of conversational (symbolic) interactions. Human action is social just in so far as people direct themselves to engage well in joint activities with others.     

Will nuclear power pay for itself?

Will nuclear power ever generate enough revenue to cover its costs? Historical data covering capital, fuel, operations, maintenance, decommissioning, and waste disposal costs, and generation and revenue figures during the period 1953 through 1991 were analyzed and compared. The analysis shows that nuclear power is currently nowhere near meeting its costs. Scenarios projecting future costs and revenues were developed. Analysis of these projections suggests that even under the most optimistic conditions (where costs are cut considerably and revenues climb substantially), the current generation of the nuclear option over its lifetime may be best be economically marginal.     

Ordinal independence in nonlinear utility theory

Individual behavior under uncertainty is characterized using a new axiom, ordinal independence, which is a weakened form of the von Neumann-Morgenstern independence axiom It states that if two distributions share a tail in common, then this tail can be modified without altering the individual's preference between these distributions. Preference is determined by the tail on which the distributions differ. This axiom implies an appealing and simple functional form for a numerical representation of preferences. It generalizes the form of anticipated utility, and it explains some well-known forms of behavior, such as the Friedman-Savage paradox, that anticipated utility cannot.     

Is the Internet Changing Social Life? It Seems the More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Although there has been a tremendous amount of discussion in the popular press about how the Internet is changing all facets of social life, research on the impact of the Internet is only beginning to emerge. A review of the studies reported in this issue suggests that the Internet may have had less impact on many aspects of social life than is frequently supposed. In many cases, the Internet seems to have created a new way of doing old things, rather than being a technology that changes the manner in which people live their lives. As a consequence, the policy implications of increasing Internet use may be less than is often believed.     

Similarity and preferences in the space of simple lotteries

A. Rubinstein's similarity-relation approach to decision making under uncertainty is extended by introducing a new concept of correlated similarity relations. It is shown that every expected utility preference is consistent with the -difference similarity relation on the prize space and some correlated similarity relations on the probability space, and that a similarity relation on the prize space and correlated similarity relations on the probability space overdetermine the preference (in A. Rubinstein's sense).Earlier versions were presented at the Edwin Smart Symposium on Games and Economic Behavior, Ohio State University, 1989, the ESEM 1989 Meeting, the EEA 1989 Meeting, the Workshop on Rational and Boundedly Rational Principles of Strategic Behavior, Universität Bielefeld, 1989, and the ASSET 1991 Meeting. We wish to thank the comments received from the participants in those meetings and the stimulating suggestions of S. Ch. Kolm, R. D. Luce, and an anonymous referee. Financial support from the Universidad del Pais Vasco-Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, DGCYT (PS 87-0039) and Gobierno de Navarra are gratefully acknowledged.     

A Non-punitive Paradigm of Probation Practice: Some Sobering Thoughts

Dr L. R. Singer, Assistant Chief Probation Officier, Merseyside Probation Service, Rainford Hall, Crank Road, Crank, St Helens, Merseyside WA11 7RP. Summary The Government White Paper Crime, Justice and Protecting thePublic proposes a radical change for probation practice. Henceforthprobation work will no longer be an alternative to punishmentbut an alternative form of punishment. This article challengesthe conceptual and practical appropriateness of applying thenotion of punishment to the probation context. Probation officers,it is argued, are concerned with establishing rules for probationersand not inflicting pain on them. An alternative non-punitiveparadigm of probation practice is described. The paradigm isbased on the joint supervisory aims of support and surveillancewhich are implemented through the methods of counselling, assisting,directing, and monitoring. To illustrate the paradigm, referenceis made to an alcohol education course developed for offendersin trouble through drink. The efficacy of the alcohol projectand the non-punitive paradigm is demonstrated by the resultsreported from a three year evaluation study covering 152 offenders.The article concludes with an affirmation of the disciplinedbut non-punitive character of current probation work and arguesthat, to successfully protect the public and reintegrate offendersinto the community, the probation officer's employment of establishedsocial work knowledge, skills, and values is a strength nota weakness.     

A Spate of Suicide by Jumping

Since 1980 eleven patients of a psychiatric hospital have committed suicide by jumping from high buildings. Possible contributing factors to this spate of suicides include the effect of suggestion, the continued attempt to de-institutionalise patients with chronic illness, and administrative difficulties with a shortage of trained psychiatrists. Comment is also made on the wisdom of making potential sites for such suicides less accessible, and the medico-legal responsibilities of psychiatric hospitals.