This review of the empirical literature reveals that violence is vastly over predicted, regardless of who is doing the predicting or how the predictions are made-yet much current social policy in the areas of mental health and criminal justice assumes that psychologists and psychiatrists can accurately predict who will be physically violent.…

The accelerating growth of restitution as an institutionalized program in juvenile courts throughout the country is documented. According to studies, the number of formal restitution programs has increased from approximately 15 in 1977 to more than 400 in 1989. Program components include financial restitution, community service, victim-offender…

The World Federation of Therapeutic Communities is an international association of drug treatment centers that use the "Therapeutic Community" (TC) to combat chemical dependency and drug addiction. Their 1985 conference focused on bridging services between the TC and the traditional human service systems. A total of 85 separate papers…

Elected officials, justice professionals, courts and other institutions of our society are contributing to a reevaluation of juvenile justice information policy. The tenet that juveniles who commit crimes are not culpable is being challenged as the public's safety and economic well being is increasingly threatened by children engaged in criminal…

This handbook was written for parents, law enforcement officers, attorneys, and government officials who deal directly with cases of parental kidnapping. It provides a guide through the criminal and civil justice systems and a summary of the laws on parental kidnapping. Actions that parents can take and laws that may help them when their children…

A study of the criminal justice system in New York City led to the publication in December 1982 of "A Guide to Our Criminal Justice System." A portion of the guide dealt with the steps involved in the arrest to disposition of a juvenile. On July 1, 1983, the New York State Legislature's Act to "Recodify the Family Court Act"…

Two studies examined the effects of variations of intent, outcome and pain in depictions of rape on the perceptions and punishment of rape. Numerous sex differences in perceptions were found. Females perceived more pain and tended to focus on the effects of outcome while males tended to respond more to the intent variation. Females assigned more…

It was hypothesized that adjudged severity of rape depends on sexual/social history of the victim, even when non-consent is established. Ss (N=650) recommended sentences for rapists for five types of victim when victim testimony was corroborated vs. non-corroborated. "Victim" effect was significant, "corroboration" effect was not. Sex differences…

The incorporation of criminal law theory into the first-year criminal law course is discussed as an example of adding the jurisprudence of specific subject matters to standard courses. Jurisprudential issues appropriate for study are suggested along with guidelines for teaching techniques, selection of materials, and use of class time. (JT)

Policy analysis, or policy study, is defined as the study of the nature, causes, and effects of alternative public policies; sometimes policy analysis refers to specific methods used. Two new developments associated with policy analysis are discussed. One is the concern for deducing the effects of alternative policies before they are adopted, as…

The document reports the status of over 100 current court cases relating to the rights of handicapped individuals. Court cases are divided into the following categories: commitment, community living, criminal law, discrimination, guardianship, institutions and deinstitutionalization, medical-legal issues, parental rights and sexuality, special…

This annotated bibliography of documents discussing program evaluation methodologies was compiled in order to help federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies improve their evaluation activities. The three major categories include: (1) techniques and methodology for evaluation of criminal justice projects, (2) evaluation methods and…

Traditionally, rape has been defined as "carnal knowledge of a woman by force and against her will." The test of force has been crucial, and consent deduced. Victims were assumed to be consenting parties unless criminal circumstances could be proved. Victims were oftened questioned about past sexual behavior. Current reform efforts have attempted…

This thesaurus contains listings of descriptors or terms used to index the literature in the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) documentation data base and to store and retrieve information about the literature for users of the service. Term selection is based largely on the vocabulary of the authors of the documents entering the…

The purpose of this paper was to increase awareness of some of the ways that we, as individuals and as a society, are encouraging the crime of rape. The paper examines our ideals about sexuality, appropriate sexual roles for women and men, the relationship between sex and aggression and how these contribute to rape. Laws, court procedures and…