A randomized field trial in Oakland, California

This study evaluates the impact of a civil remedy program (Beat Health) on drug and disorder problems under experimental field trial conditions. Using calls for service data, the authors find statistically significant differences between the control and experimental groups, when drug problem calls prior to the start of the intervention were compared to drug calls during a 12-month follow-up period. The Beat Health sites, especially the residential sites, improved relative to the control sites. By contrast, the control treatment (patrol response) led to significant increases in drug problems, particularly at the commercial properties included in this study. The authors also examined the spatial influences of the Beat Health and patrol responses in catchment areas surrounding each of the 100 study sites. The results show some improvement in the experimental residential sites. The authors found, however, a possible displacement of drug problems in and around both the commercial experimental and control sites. They show that the displacement effect is most notable in the commercial control sites.     

Sex differences in empathy and its relation to juvenile offending

Implicit in most theoretical accounts of sex differences in offending is the assumption that females are less likely than males to engage in crime--especially serious, violent crime--in part because of their comparatively higher levels of concern for others and stronger affiliative ties. Much research suggests that significant sex differences in both empathy and serious offending emerge in adolescence, with females displaying notably higher levels of empathy and males engaging in notably higher levels of serious offending. However, there has been little empirical work assessing the degree to which sex differences in empathy among adolescents can account for sex differences in offending. This research uses data from a sample of adolescents attending public high schools in Philadelphia (n = 425) and a sample of adolescents incarcerated in the California Youth Authority (CYA) (n = 232) to examine the relation between empathy and serious offending. Results suggest that empathy acts as a protective factor for both males and females but that there are subtle differences among males and females in the relation between empathy and offending.     

Response of wild bee communities to beekeeping,urbanization, and flower availability

Urban Ecosystems - Wild bees provide pollination services and are currently declining at the global scale. A potential cause for this decline is competitive interactions with domestic honey bees....