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Conviction
Kinds of Conviction Selected AbstractsMoral Conviction and Political EngagementPOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2008Linda J. Skitka The 2004 presidential election led to considerable discussion about whether moral values motivated people to vote, and if so, whether it led to a conservative electoral advantage. The results of two studies,one conducted in the context of the 2000 presidential election, the other in the context of the 2004 presidential election,indicated that stronger moral convictions associated with candidates themselves and attitudes on issues of the day uniquely predicted self-reported voting behavior and intentions to vote even when controlling for a host of alternative explanations (e.g., attitude strength, strength of party identification). In addition, we found strong support for the hypothesis that moral convictions equally motivated political engagement for those on the political right and left and little support for the notion that a combination of morality and politics is something more characteristic of the political right than it is of the political left. [source] Criminal Law/Medical Malpractice: Court Strikes Down Murder Conviction of Physician Where Inappropriate Care Led to Patient's DeathTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 2 2000Alessia T. Bell No abstract is available for this article. [source] Family factors in the intergenerational transmission of offendingCRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 2 2009David P. Farrington Background,Convicted parents tend to have convicted children, but there have been few previous studies of transmission between three generations, especially including both records and interviews for hundreds of people. Method,In the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD), 411 south London males have been followed up from age 8 to age 48. These males (generation 2, G2) are compared with their fathers and mothers (generation 1, G1), and with their biological sons and daughters (generation 3, G3). Results,There was significant intergenerational transmission of convictions from G1 males to G2 males, and from G2 males to G3 males. Convictions of fathers still predicted convictions of sons after controlling for risk factors, but the predictive efficiency was reduced. Transmission was less from G1 females to G2 males, and from G2 males to G3 females. There was little evidence of intergenerational transmission from G1 to G3, except from grandmothers to granddaughters. Conclusions,The intergenerational transmission of offending may be mediated by family, socio-economic and individual risk factors. Intervention to reduce intergenerational transmission could target these risk factors. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Alibi Believability: The Effect of Prior Convictions and Judicial InstructionsJOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Meredith Allison Undergraduates (N = 339) listened to a simulated police interview with a defendant concerning his alibi. We studied the impact of (a) the strength of the alibi evidence; (b) defendant's prior convictions; (c) judge's instructions on prior conviction evidence; and (d) perceivers' need for cognition (NFC) on alibi believability and defendant guilt ratings. Defendants previously convicted of the same crime as the current charge were seen as more likely to be guilty than defendants previously convicted of a different crime. Judge's instructions did not affect guilt ratings. NFC was less influential than anticipated, but did affect participants' understanding and recall of judicial instructions. Strong alibis were seen as more believable and led to lower guilt ratings than weak alibis. [source] Past Convictions: The Penance of Louis the Pious and the Decline of the Carolingians , By Courtney M. BookerRELIGIOUS STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 2 2010Owen M. Phelan No abstract is available for this article. [source] Forensic Science, Wrongful Convictions, and American Prosecutor DiscretionTHE HOWARD JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, Issue 1 2008DENNIS J. STEVENS This exploratory research will show that neither forensics or its fictionalised (CSI Effect) accounts, nor substantial evidence secured by police investigators, shape prosecutor decisions to charge a suspect with a crime, which can often result in freeing guilty suspects and convicting innocent individuals. In the summer of 2006, 444 American prosecutors responded to a survey. The findings reveal that judges, juries, and defence lawyers are influenced more by prime-time American drama forensic accounts than by the substantial documented evidence of a case. It was also discovered that regardless of the dangerous apprehension of violent criminals by the police, some suspects are never charged because of faulty prosecutor behaviour. One implication of these findings is that police officer alienation from the legal system is at an all-time high, and that prosecutors lack professional supervision and personal motivation to represent the ,people', giving rise to vast human and legal rights violations of suspects and defendants. [source] The Influence of Congenital Heart Disease on Psychological Conditions in Adolescents and Adults after Corrective SurgeryCONGENITAL HEART DISEASE, Issue 6 2006Kambiz Norozi MD ABSTRACT Objective., The present study was designed to examine psychological characteristics of adolescents and adults with operated congenital heart disease (ACHD). Particularly it was to be examined whether cardiological parameters may be associated with subjectively perceived impairments and measures of psychological distress. Patients., A total of 361 men (209) and women (152) between 14 and 45 years underwent medical checkups and an interview on psychological and sociological issues. Setting., The medical part consisted of a complete cardiological examination including the classification of residual symptoms according to the New York Heart Association (NYHA), and spiroergometry. The Brief Symptom Inventory was used for depicting current psychological and somatic symptoms. These were assessed on 9 subscales: somatization, obsession-compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. Results., The analyses revealed statistically significant associations between the degree of NYHA class and psychological symptoms. These findings could not be reproduced for physical fitness as measured by peak oxygen consumption. No gender differences emerged. Conclusions., Our results suggest that psychological measures of ACHD are not directly dependent on their physical fitness or on the severity of residual symptoms. Instead, patients' subjective appraisal of their disease severity and the conviction to what degree one can depend on the operated heart may be important determinants of psychological states. [source] Who Cares about Auditor Reputation?,CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 3 2005JAN BARTON Abstract I provide evidence on the demand for auditor reputation by examining the defections of Arthur Andersen LLP's clients following the accounting scandals and criminal conviction marring the auditor's reputation in 2002. About 95 percent of clients in my sample did not switch auditors until after Andersen was indicted for criminal misconduct regarding its failed audit of Enron Corp. I test whether the timing of client defections and the choice of a new auditor are consistent with managers' incentives to mitigate potentially costly information and agency problems. I find that clients defected sooner, mostly to another Big 5 auditor, if they were more visible in the capital markets; such clients attracted more analysts and press coverage, had larger institutional ownership and share turnover, and raised more cash in recent security issues. However, my proxies for agency conflicts , managerial ownership and financial leverage , are not associated with the timing of defections or the choice of new auditor. Overall, my study suggests that firms more visible in the capital markets tend to be more concerned about engaging highly reputable auditors, consistent with such firms trying to build and preserve their own reputations for credible financial reporting. [source] Low internalised restraint predicts criminal recidivism in young female prisonersCRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 5 2009Ellen Kjelsberg Background,The Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (WAI) measures social-emotional adjustment along two dimensions: distress and restraint. Four types of adjustment according to this measure have been shown to correlate with criminal recidivism among young male prisoners: reactive (high distress, low restraint), suppressor (high distress, high restraint), non-reactive (low distress, low restraint) and repressor (low distress, high restraint). Aim,To evaluate the predictive potential of the WAI among young female prisoners. Methods,Women under 30 years old, consecutively admitted to one of three Norwegian prisons, were asked to complete the WAI. Most of those eligible (102, 94%) did so. Re-conviction data were collected from the National Crime Register 38 months (SD = 9.0) after release. Results,The overall re-conviction rate was 38%. Rates differed according to the four WAI types: 53% in the non-reactive, 50% in the reactive, 22% in the suppressor and 11% in the repressor group (p = 0.006). Kaplan,Meier analyses showed that group differences were explained by the WAI restraint dimension (p = 0.008). Differences on the distress dimension did not influence re-conviction. Cox regression analysis (adjusting for age at first court conviction and prior offences) found that women with low restraint scores were almost three times as likely to re-offend as women with high restraint scores. Conclusion,The WAI appears to be an effective tool for identifying women who are particularly vulnerable to re-offending. Evidence of high capacity for restraint is protective, regardless of distress levels and even after adjusting for the effect of other criminologically important factors. The findings are suggestive that there may be value in individualising ,treatment' or rehabilitation programmes for prisoners. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A comparison of offenders with intellectual disability across three levels of securityCRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 1 2006Todd Hogue Background,A number of authors have described, with disparate results, the prevalence of people with intellectual disability and their characteristics, in a range of offender cohorts defined by service use. These have included high security, a range of criminal justice services and community services. There is a need for research comparing cohorts of offenders with intellectual disabilities across different settings. Aim and hypothesis,To conduct such a comparison and test the hypothesis that severity of characteristics measured will be highest in highest levels of residential security. Method,A clinical-record-based comparison a offenders with intellectual disability in high security (n = 73), medium/low security (n = 70), and a community service (n = 69). Results,Groups were similar in age and tested IQ levels. Early psychiatric service contact had been more likely in the lower security groups. In line with the hypothesis, more complex presentations, in particular comorbid personality disorder, was more likely in the highest security group. Both fatal and non-fatal interpersonal violence convictions were significantly related to group, with more in the high security group sustaining a conviction both at the index offence and prior to that. Over 50% of all groups had at least one conviction for a sexual offence. A regression model accounting for 78% of the variance was made up largely of disposal variables (Mental Health Act status and probation) and indications of antisocial traits (criminal damage, lifetime conviction for murder and ICD-10 personality disorder classification). Conclusions and implications for practice,The authors show that context of sampling affects most relationships between intellectual disability (ID) and offending when the methods for measuring ID are held constant. The results also present several questions on the relationship between risk, services available in an area and referral to higher security. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Childhood predictors of adult criminality: are all risk factors reflected in childhood aggressiveness?CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 3 2002L. Rowell Huesmann Background Early aggressive behaviour is one of the best predictors of adult criminality. Aim To assess the degree to which family background variables, parental beliefs and behaviour and child intelligence predict child aggression and adult criminality. Method Data were used from the Colombia County Longitudinal Study, a longitudinal study of 856 children in third grade in New York, in 1959,60. Adult measures of criminal behaviour, child measures taken at age eight, child peer-nominated aggression, child's peer-nominated popularity, child's IQ and parental measures at eight years were used. Results Aggressive children were less intelligent, less popular, rejected more by their parents, had parents who believed in punishment, were less identified with their parents' self-image and were less likely to express guilt. As adults, more aggressive children with parents who were less well educated, experienced more marital disharmony and who seldom attended church were most at risk for arrest. However, after the effect of early aggression was controlled, most effects disappeared and only parents having a strong belief in punishment added significantly to risk of arrest by age 30; the only fact that then reduced the risk of arrest was having parents who attended church often. Both parental authoritarianism and child IQ reduced the risk of conviction for arrested children. Discussion Level of aggression at age eight is the best predictor of criminal events over the next 22 years. A clear implication is that the risk for criminality is affected by much that happens to a boy before he is eight years old. Preventive interventions need to target risk factors that appear to influence the development of early aggression. Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] THE LABELING OF CONVICTED FELONS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR RECIDIVISM,CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 3 2007TED CHIRICOS Florida law allows judges to withhold adjudication of guilt for individuals who have been found guilty of a felony and are being sentenced to probation. Such individuals lose no civil rights and may lawfully assert they had not been convicted of a felony. Labeling theory would predict that the receipt of a felony label could increase the likelihood of recidivism. Reconviction data for 95,919 men and women who were either adjudicated or had adjudication withheld show that those formally labeled are significantly more likely to recidivate in 2 years than those who are not. Labeling effects are stronger for women, whites, and those who reach the age of 30 years without a prior conviction. Second-level indicators of county characteristics (e.g., crime rates or concentrated disadvantage) have no significant effect on the adjudication/recidivism relationship. [source] INTEGRATING CELERITY, IMPULSIVITY, AND EXTRALEGAL SANCTION THREATS INTO A MODEL OF GENERAL DETERRENCE: THEORY AND EVIDENCE,CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 4 2001DANIEL S. NAGIN We propose a model that integrates the extralegal consequences from conviction and impulsivity into the traditional deterrence framework. The model was tested with 252 college students, who completed a survey concerning drinking and driving. Key findings include the following: (1) Although variation in sanction certainty and severity predicted offending, variation in celerity did not; (2) the extralegal consequences from conviction appear to be at least as great a deterrent as the legal consequences; (3) the influence of sanction severity diminished with an individual's "present-orientation"; and (4) the certainty of punishment was far more robust a deterrent to offending than was the severity of punishment. [source] Incorrect citation suggests an opinion opposite to our conviction: a clarificationDENTAL TRAUMATOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Yango Pohl No abstract is available for this article. [source] Belief in transforming another person into a wolf: could it be a variant of lycanthropy?ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2 2007A. G. Nejad Objective:, Lycanthropy is a rare psychiatric condition in which the patient believes in being transformed into an animal. Belief in the transformation of another person into an animal has not been reported, so far. Here, a patient with an impression of bipolar mood disorder (mixed type) and such delusion is reported. Method:, A single case is reported. Results:, A young male patient in his first psychiatric episode, developed delusional conviction of his mother's transformation into a wolf. He did not have any delusions regarding the transformation of himself into an animal, although he reported drooling for months before developing a delusional belief regarding his mother. Conclusion:, Belief in the transformation of another person into an animal may have similar roots as lycanthropy and could be considered as a variant of this syndrome. [source] Patriotism for Citizens of the Penultimate SuperpowerDIALOG, Issue 4 2003Walter Brueggemann Abstract: The United States of America confesses its penultimate status as "One nation under God." Yet this relationship,of the ultimacy of God and the penultimacy of nations,is frequently forgotten when foreign policy is crafted. The arrogant autonomy of such superpowers operates on the mistaken conviction that they will not be called into account. But the preacher says otherwise. The Old Testament witness teaches us that there is a grave danger to nations making such unrestricted claims of temporal ultimacy. Any state that imagines that it can use its power in unrestrained ways against any other state or vulnerable population,no matter how weak,misunderstands its place in a world under divine rule. It is thus essential that the preacher, along with the congregation, must dare to recover the rhetoric of prophetic imagination concerning God's governance in the public sphere. Empowered and humbled by the mandate of scripture, the preacher must counter the rhetoric of popular patriotism and witness to God's sovereignty over nations. We may then move beyond analysis to alternative, and finally set our hearts and minds on the evangelical task of empowering the faithful to alternative forms of citizenship. [source] Congress, Kissinger, and the Origins of Human Rights DiplomacyDIPLOMATIC HISTORY, Issue 5 2010Barbara Keys The Congressional "human rights insurgency" of 1973,1977 centered on the holding of public hearings to shame countries engaging in human rights abuses and on legislation cutting off aid and trade to violators. Drawing on recently declassified documents, this article shows that the State Department's thoroughly intransigent response to Congressional human rights legislation, particularly Section 502B, was driven by Kissinger alone, against the advice of his closest advisers. Many State Department officials, usually from a mixture of pragmatism and conviction, argued for cooperation with Congress or for taking the initiative on human rights issues. Kissinger's adamant refusal to cooperate left Congress to implement a reactive, punitive, and unilateral approach that would set the human rights agenda long after the Ford administration left office. [source] Bede on the BritonsEARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 2 2009W. Trent Foley This paper addresses the many facets of Bede's portrayal of the Britons in the Historia ecclesiastica, first by illustrating his attempts to cast the Britons generally in the role of usually villainous biblical types and then by examining his often more positive portrayal of certain Britons and British groups independently of those types. His recommendation of certain British Christians as saints to be imitated as well as his conviction that God has not abandoned them to perdition exempts him from the charge of being unqualifiedly anti-British. Nevertheless, his singular stereotyping of them among all the peoples of Britain reveals an especial virulence not easily explained by his biblically informed world-view. [source] The effect of time spent in treatment and dropout status on rates of convictions, cautions and imprisonment over 5 years in a primary care-led methadone maintenance serviceADDICTION, Issue 4 2010Phillip Oliver ABSTRACT Background Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in primary care settings is used increasingly as a standard method of delivering treatment for heroin users. It has been shown to reduce criminal activity and incarceration over periods of periods of 12 months or less; however, little is known about the effect of this treatment over longer durations. Aims To examine the association between treatment status and rates of convictions and cautions (judicial disposals) over a 5-year period in a cohort of heroin users treated in a general practitioner (GP)-led MMT service. Design Cohort study. Setting The primary care clinic for drug dependence, Sheffield, 1999,2005. Participants The cohort comprised 108 consecutive patients who were eligible and entered treatment. Ninety were followed-up for the full 5 years. Intervention The intervention consisted of MMT provided by GPs in a primary care clinic setting. Measurements Criminal conviction and caution rates and time spent in prison, derived from Police National Computer (PNC) criminal records. Findings The overall reduction in the number of convictions and cautions expected for patients entering MMT in similar primary care settings is 10% for each 6 months retained in treatment. Patients in continuous treatment had the greatest reduction in judicial disposal rates, similar to those who were discharged for positive reasons (e.g. drug free). Patients who had more than one treatment episode over the observation period did no better than those who dropped out of treatment. Conclusions MMT delivered in a primary care clinic setting is effective in reducing convictions and cautions and incarceration over an extended period. Continuous treatment is associated with the greatest reductions. [source] The Illegal Way In and The Moral Way OutEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY, Issue 2 2007Gerhard Øverland At the heart of the current debate about immigration we find a conflict of convictions. Many people seem to believe that a country has a right to decide who to let in and who to keep out, but quite often they appear equally committed to the view that it is morally wrong to expel someone from within the borders of their country if that would seriously jeopardise the person in question. While the first conviction leads to stricter border controls in an attempt to prevent would-be immigrants from entering the country illegally, the latter conviction ensures that aliens with a legitimate claim on protection will not be removed forcibly. It is not strange, therefore, that the task of pinning down a morally sound immigration policy is such an elusive enterprise. In this paper I take it for granted that no electorate would be prepared to accept the kind of policy they ought to, and that we in consequence will continue to let in as few immigrants as is currently the case. Given this constraint I argue against two common assumptions concerning a viable immigration policy. First, granted that certain conditions are satisfied, professional smugglers should not face legal sanctions for bringing asylum seekers to a potential host country. Second, countries that limit immigration should not treat people seeking family reunion preferentially or on a par with other immigrants, but rather act so as to maximise the number of refugees allowed to enter. [source] Ancestors and variants: tales from the crypticEVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2000William E. Browne SUMMARY Those who work at the interface of development and evolution are united by the conviction that developmental comparisons can shed light on both the evolution of specific morphologies and the macroevolutionary process itself. In practice, however, the field comprises a diversity of approaches. As the field grows and practitioners attempt to digest a growing mountain of comparative data, the various approaches of "Evo Devo" have themselves evolved. A meeting organized by the authors and held at the University of Chicago in the Spring of 1999 illustrated some of these changes. This review will draw on its content to discuss recent developments in two areas: the reconstruction of common ancestors and the developmental basis of evolutionary change. [source] The Financialization of Urban RedevelopmentGEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 8 2010Ted Rutland Spurred by the conviction that not only financial capital but also changes in finance and changes in its relations with non-financial activities have immense and complicated consequences for ongoing processes of urban redevelopment, this article puts the presently separate financialization and urban redevelopment literatures in conversation. The article begins with a review of the financialization literature, outlining and evaluating four different approaches to the topic and seeking to consider what, if anything, they might have to offer to an area of inquiry that has long considered finance to be a central concern. The second section examines how financial capital has been analyzed in the urban redevelopment literature since the pioneering work of David Harvey in the 1970s. The final section examines how financialization has played out in the medium-sized port city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Drawing on interviews with financiers and property developments, as well as secondary research materials, the study describes how a recent urban design process in Halifax enlisted urban images and ideas to rewrite development regulations, eliminate popular political involvement in the development approvals process, and lever open the downtown landscape to the whims of worldwide financial markets. The essay concludes that studies of urban redevelopment would indeed gain something by engaging with the financialization literature, so long as the former continue to attend not just to financial capital but also to the material and ideological mechanisms through which property is continually reproduced as a financial asset. [source] Servants and citizens: Robert Beale and other Elizabethans*HISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 206 2006Patrick Collinson Within the Elizabethan polity, which, given the rule of an unmarried woman with no identified or universally acknowledged successor, was unprecedented and unique, the conviction among the queen's subjects that they were also members of a commonwealth, citizens, which they owed to their educational formation and religious world-view, was reinforced. After briefly examining the careers of a number of public-spirited Elizabethans, members of parliament biographed by the late Joan Henderson, this article focuses on Robert Beale, ardent Protestant, polymath, diplomat and long-serving clerk of the privy council, as the supreme example of a citizen concealed within a royal and loyal servant. [source] The magistrate, the community and the maintenance of an orderly society in eighteenth-century EnglandHISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 191 2003Gwenda Morgan The lone magistrate was the central figure of early modern English law enforcement, yet few records of his activities survive. This study of one of the rare notebooks kept by a local J.P. in north-east England in the eighteenth century suggests that his primary purpose was to negotiate peace between disputants rather than to secure prosecution and conviction of those accused of crimes. Prosecutions in court were few. Reconciliation was mixed with enforcement in areas such as employment relations, poor relief and the maintenance of illegitimate children, but here, as in the many cases of physical assault, outcomes were frequently ,agreed'. [source] The Tokugawa Bureaucracy and Urban Crises: A Revival of the Humanist Traditions of China and Japan in Ogyu Sorai's Political WritingsHISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2007Yasuko Sato Ogyu Sorai (1666,1728) is a Japanese Confucian scholar who formulated his political philosophy, honoring the benevolent Way of the ancient Chinese Sages. It was his firm conviction that the task of government is to bring peace to the people. This humanistic concern was indeed central to classical Confucianism before the rise of a bureaucratic empire like the Qin (221,206 bce). How then is it possible to account for this lofty idealization of early Chinese Confucianism and its relevance to Tokugawa Japan (1600,1868)? This paper explores how Sorai's pursuit of Chinese antiquity was pitted against Tokvgawa bureaucratic control in the Edo metropolis and how he celebrated the centrality of great human beings to the promotion of popular welfare. In this view, the institution of soceity rests ultimately on political personalities who govern the land virtuously, and not on enforcement of order by punishments. It is worth noting, however, that Sorai did not articulate this humanist position merely as a Sinologist. In his mind, the Confucian values of humane rulership and interpersonal and social ethics were conflated with the samurai ideals prior to the establishment of the centralized Tokugawa power structure. He was well acquainted with the mental prowess of Japan's military lords and with their commitment to the primacy of human potentialities in both the military and civil arts. Theoretically, the ideal drawn from the way of antiquity is decentralized rule, as samurai rulers were originally lords of their fiefs. The construction of a human order in autonomous regions is what Sorai considered to be essential to realizing a society where the people can enjoy peace and tranquility. [source] Jesus Christ in Asia: Our Journey with Him as Pentecostal Believers§INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MISSION, Issue 375 2005Wonduk Ma This study presents a typical Asian Christians struggle to live faithfully as a believer, but alio with Pentecostal experiences and conviction. Sharing challenges with other Asian Christians, Pentecostal believers have added challenges and possibilities to bring church unity. As a young movement, however, it will take time for the movement to mature [source] "The Deal": The Balance of Power, Military Strength, and Liberal Internationalism in the Bush National Security StrategyINTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 1 2008Adam Quinn The Bush National Security Strategy, even as it calls for "a balance of power that favors freedom," in truth rejects a balance of power approach to international order. It foresees instead the cooperation of all Great Powers under American leadership in furtherance of a common agenda imagined to be founded in universal values. Such rejection of a genuine "balance of power" approach represents a coherent evolution from America's long tradition of foreign policy thought. Emerging from its founding tradition of separation, U.S. strategic thought was influenced both by Theodore Roosevelt's advocacy of military strength in the service of good and Woodrow Wilson's ideological conviction that American engagement in the world could be made conditional on the pursuit of global reform in line with an idealized conception of American values and practices. The conviction that this notional "deal" is still valid provides this administration's ideological bedrock. The Bush worldview should not be seen as a radically new phenomenon, but as a logical outgrowth from the American foreign policy tradition. [source] Uncovering the Truth: Examining Truth Commission Success and ImpactINTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 1 2007ERIC BRAHM While there is growing interest in examining what long-term impact truth commissions have on society, our understanding has been hampered by a number of empirical problems. Specifically, most studies focus on a small biased subsample of cases, rely on anecdotal evidence and normative conviction, and fail to follow the truth commission's legacy beyond its immediate reception. What is more, although a range of purposes have been put forward for truth commissions, there is little consensus on what criteria might be used to assess them. These issues are further compounded by a growing chorus of critics who see truth commissions as either ineffectual or dangerous. This article fleshes out the nature of these problems and outlines how a multimethod strategy might be effective in addressing them. Furthermore, it suggests two potential means of assessing the impact of truth commissions, specifically their effect on subsequent human rights practices and democratic development. The article concludes by suggesting how some problems with this strategy can be overcome by further iterations of a multimethod approach. [source] Welfare, husbandry and veterinary care of wild animals in captivity: changes in attitudes, progress in knowledge and techniquesINTERNATIONAL ZOO YEARBOOK, Issue 1 2003J. K. KIRKWOOD Since the first zoos were founded, attitudes to keeping wild animals in captivity have changed considerably. A much firmer conviction that animals have the capacity for consciousness and thus suffering, has been one factor in the growth in concern for welfare in recent decades. The pursuit of conservation goals and higher welfare standards has driven remarkable advances in the husbandry, veterinary science and care of wild animals. [source] The challenge of caring for patients in pain: from the nurse's perspectiveJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 20 2009Katrin Blondal Aim., To increase understanding of what it is like for nurses to care for patients in pain. Background., Hospitalised patients are still suffering from pain despite increased knowledge, new technology and a wealth of research. Since nurses are key figures in successful pain management and research findings indicate that caring for suffering patients is a stressful and demanding experience where conflict often arises in nurses' relations with patients and doctors, it may be fruitful to study nurses' experience of caring for patients in pain to increase understanding of the above problem. Design., A phenomenological study involved 20 dialogues with 10 experienced nurses. Results., The findings indicate that caring for a patient in pain is a ,challenging journey' for the nurse. The nurse seems to have a ,strong motivation to ease the pain' through moral obligation, knowledge, personal experience and conviction. The main challenges that face the nurse are ,reading the patient', ,dealing with inner conflict of moral dilemmas', ,dealing with gatekeepers' (physicians) and ,organisational hindrances'. Depending upon the outcome, pain management can have positive or negative effects on the patient and the nurse. Conclusions., Nurses need various coexisting patterns of knowledge, as well as a favourable organisational environment, if they are to be capable of performing in accord with their moral and professional obligations regarding pain relief. Nurses' knowledge in this respect may hitherto have been too narrowly defined. Relevance to clinical practice., The findings can stimulate nurses to reflect critically on their current pain management practice. By identifying their strengths as well as their limitations, they can improve their knowledge and performance on their own, or else request more education, training and support. Since nurses' clinical decisions are constantly moulded and stimulated by multiple patterns of knowledge, educators in pain management should focus not only on theoretical but also on personal and ethical knowledge. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||