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DeValve, E. Q.
Previous literature suggests crime victims' experiences or reactions to crime run on a continuum from little or no effect to extreme effects. Participants in this study reported minor to serious effects from crime victimizations. Additionally, this study found that talking with the offender may be a helpful component to the victims' recovery, and highlights the need for further research.
Shaw, J.I., & Skolnick, P.
This study examined the effects of psycholegal knowledge on a mock jury decision-making task. Psycholegal knowledge was obtained by completion of a university course on psychology and law focusing on jury decision-making. It was predicted that psycholegal knowledge would enhance juror competence, motivation, and satisfaction with participation in the legal process. Mock jurors who had taken the course were compared with those who had not. Both groups were shown a videotape of a rape trial and participated in jury deliberations. Jurors trained in psycholegal knowledge voted for acquittal more often than those who were not. Additionally, trained jurors were more satisfied, were more confident that their jury reached a correct verdict, and believed more that their jury's decision was based on the evidence presented than did untrained jurors. Content analysis of jury deliberations found that trained jurors were more task oriented and focused on relevant evidence than untrained jurors. The feasibility of implementing a juror training program prior to jury service was discussed.
Kenna, C. E., & Burstein, A. G.
Although crime rates have been decreasing for a number of years, crime continues to be an important problem both economically and socially. An emerging factor is the need to house an increasing number of female offenders. Although the amount of crime committed by women has increased in the last forty years, little research has been conducted with this population. The Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), a self-report personality inventory developed by Auke Tellegen, is a relatively new means of psychologically examining populations of interest. The MPQ measures eleven personality traits and three higher order factors. Thirty-two violent and 23 nonviolent women inmates at the Louisiana Correctional Institution for Women were administered the MPQ. A discriminant function analysis using the primary trait measures accurately classified 81.8% of the women. Thus the MPQ would seem a promising tool to use in the further study of this and possibly other criminal groups.
Youngcourt, S., & Huffman, A.
Although organizational decision-makers are turning toward "family-friendly" policies to reduce employee work-family strain, the usefulness of such policies, as well as perceptions of their availability, remains unclear. Thus, we examined both perceived availability of family-friendly programs as well as the actual usage of such programs for minimizing work-family conflict. Data from the Work and Family Services for Law Enforcement Personnel in the United States study (Delprino, O'Quinn & Kennedy, 1995) were used from 866 married police officers. Results showed that work stress was positively related to work-family conflict. Furthermore, whereas no relationship between program usage and work-family conflict emerged, there was both a direct negative relationship between program availability and work-family conflict and family-friendly policy availability moderated the relationship between work stress and work-family conflict.