Civil Citations for Cannabis Possession: Alternatives to Arrest for Adolescent Substance Use

Results from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) have indicated that approximately 8% of responding adolescents ages 12–17 engaged in illicit substance use during the past year; the most commonly reported substance used was marijuana (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), NSDUH series H-44, HHS publication no. (SMA) 12-4713, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD, 2012). Importantly, marijuana use places adolescents at risk of arrest when found in possession of cannabis. Drug abuse violations are associated with multiple consequences for the youth, their families, and communities. Policy makers, therefore, have encouraged the use of civil citations to reduce drug abuse related arrests for youth. Purpose: The current study sought to identify and describe civil citations use for youth marijuana possession. Methods: Using a secondary dataset, we examined aggregate arrests in a Central Florida county. Results: During a 3-year period, 1635 arrests were made for cannabis possession. The vast majority of such arrests were for multiple charges (n?=?1272; 78%). For those arrested due to cannabis possession alone (n?=?363; 22%), over 75% were adults (n?=?281). Therefore, only 82 youth were arrested under the charge, accounting for less than one quarter of all arrests for F.S. §893.13.6b (2013). However, the majority of these youth were detained in juvenile assessment centers (65%, n?=?59); a rate markedly higher than their adult counterparts (37%, n?=?105). Discussion: Due to the concerns associated with arrest and detainment, the authors contend efforts should be made to increase use of civil citations for youth with cannabis possession when possible. Implications for policy are presented.     

Enduring image: Capturing defining moments in crises

In today's media environment, crises are magnified as media events and are rich sites for the inception of images. Particular images, like a photograph or a sound bite are found to endure as representations of defining moments of crises. This study seeks to examine the concept of an enduring image, how it is engendered and how it impacts crisis communication efforts. The study utilizes five case studies of crisis with an inherent enduring image. An enduring image constitutes a prime representation of the accused in a given crisis. These images are loaded with symbolic potential and exhibit a sense of permanence in public consciousness. Understanding the implications of an enduring image can offer insights to organizations on how to better manage one's public and media image during or after a crisis. The study is arguably the first in examining the significance and potency of enduring images in crises.     

DriveID: safety innovation through individuation

The driving task is highly complex and places considerable perceptual, physical and cognitive demands on the driver. As driving is fundamentally an information processing activity, distracted or impaired drivers have diminished safety margins compared with non- distracted drivers (Hancock and Parasuraman, 1992; TRB 1998 a & b). This competition for sensory and decision making capacities can lead to failures that cost lives. Some groups, teens and elderly drivers for example, have patterns of systematically poor perceptual, physical and cognitive performance while driving. Although there are technologies developed to aid these different drivers, these systems are often misused and underutilized. The DriveID project aims to design and develop a passive, automated face identification system capable of robustly identifying the driver of the vehicle, retrieve a stored profile, and intelligently prescribing specific accident prevention systems and driving environment customizations.     

The Relationship Between the Number of Types of Legal Gambling and the Rates of Gambling Behaviors and Problems Across U.S. States

In this article, we examine the relationship between the total number of types of gambling that are legal in a state and the gambling involvement of state residents. Of particular interest is whether more types of legal gambling are associated with higher rates of problem gambling. Telephone surveys of U.S. adults were conducted in 1999–2000 and 2011–2013. The same questions were used and the data sets were combined for most of the analyses. Gambling exposure was defined as the sum of the number of years that all types were legal. Results tabulated by state showed progressively higher rates of problem gambling, frequent gambling and any past year gambling as the number of legal types of gambling increased. Holding constant the number of legal types, problem gambling rates increased as exposure increased. States with longer exposure to legal lotteries or casinos tended to have higher rates of problem gambling. An analysis was also conducted in which the data sets from 1999 to 2000 and from 2011 to 2013 were compared. Among the states, there was a striking positive relationship between changes in the number of legal types of gambling between the two studies and changes in rates of frequent gambling between the two studies. For states that had fewer types of legal gambling in 2011 than in 1999, the rates of frequent gambling went down. For states that increased their types of legal gambling, rates of frequent gambling typically, but not always, went up. Possible explanations for these results were discussed.     

Social work students in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: correlates of post-disaster substance use as a negative coping mechanism

Social work students’ post-disaster coping while in the field is an important workforce issue with ethical implications. The current study utilized secondary data collected in a previous study examining post-disaster alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among social work student volunteers (N = 416) in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (HKR). The current sample included participants from the original study who responded to a single-item measure of AOD use as a negative coping mechanism (N = 290). The present study examined potential explanatory variables of AOD use in the aftermath of HKR, including demographic (age, gender, and race) and psychosocial characteristics (hurricane-related stressors, previous traumatic stressors, and post-traumatic stress). The multivariate logistic regression model distinguished between students who never or rarely used AOD and those who used AOD often to cope with HKR, accounting for 24% of model variance. Social work students who report post-disaster AOD use may risk experiencing additional, trauma-related vulnerabilities, should be further assessed, and provided necessary specialized supports to enable their well-being and to prevent impaired practice.     

Factors Relating to the Use of Family Therapy with Adolescent Marijuana Abusers

This study reported on the results of the use of family therapy by marijuana-abusing adolescents. The investigators used a statewide each admission for state supported services. Data on 38,281 adolescent admissions were reported on their age at first use, age of admission, severity of use, ethnic and racial attributes, gender, place of residence, employment status, insurance coverage, and presence of comorbid conditions. The results showed that adolescents most likely to use family therapy were unemployed, white, less than 13 years of age, living in urban areas, experienced in marijuana use and have been judged to have a comorbid condition. Insurance coverage or gender did not influence the likelihood for adolescents to receive family therapy. The authors make recommendations on reducing the barriers to access to family therapy that were found by this study.     

The Adoption and Use of the Hirschman–Herfindahl Index in Nonprofit Research: Does Revenue Diversification Measurement Matter?

Since its introduction by Tuckman and Chang (Nonprofit Volunt Sector Q 20(4):445–460, 1991), the Hirschman–Herfindahl Index (HHI) has been widely adopted into the nonprofit literature as a precise measure of revenue concentration. This widespread adoption has been characterized by diverse composition, with the HHI’s calculation being largely determined by the nature of the available data and the degree to which it contained disaggregated measures of revenue. Using the NCCS 990 Digitized Data, we perform an acid test on whether different HHI measures yield significantly different results. Four measures of revenue concentration—an aggregated measure based on three revenue streams, an aggregated measure separating government grants from other contributions, a more nuanced measure based on seven revenue streams, and a fully disaggregated measure based on thirteen revenue streams—are used to predict two dominant nonprofit financial health dimensions: financial volatility and financial capacity. Overall, our results show that aggregation in HHI measurement matters; aggregation often downplays relationships by influencing the significance levels and magnitudes of estimates in a non-trivial way.     

The Kids Say Project: Supporting Children to Talk about their Experiences and to Engage in Decision-making

Research and policy calls for hearing the voices of children and youth in out-of-home care and involving them in decisions about their own lives. The “Kids Say” cards were designed to facilitate this engagement, particularly with Indigenous children and youth. A feasibility study explored the extent to which the Kids Say cards were acceptable to young people, and prompted discussion about their lives and what is important to them. The study involved 47 participants, aged 7 to 18 years, from three cultural groups: Aboriginal n?=?20; culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) n?=?10; non-Indigenous English-speaking n?=?17. The cards were found to be appealing to all three groups, and to facilitate child and youth voice. Findings also did not differ significantly according to gender or age. These preliminary findings indicate the potential value of appropriate practice tools to support children and youth to share their experiences and participate in decision-making.

IMPLICATIONS

• Engaging resources, such as the Kids Say resource, are potentially valuable in supporting practitioners to encourage children and young people to share their experiences and participate in decision-making about their own care and service needs.

• Training in creating safe sharing contexts for children and young people is essential. While emphasis is often given to gathering child voices, there is a need for at least equal emphasis on respectful adult listening.