A Comparative Analysis of Capital Punishment provides a concise and detailed history of the death penalty. Incorporating and synthesizing public opinion data and empirical studies, Simon and Blaskovich's work compares, across societies, the offense types punishable by death, the level of public support for the death penalty, the forms the penalty takes, and the categories of persons exempt from punishment. It examines the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent to violent offenses, especially homicide, the extent to which innocent persons have become the victims of capital punishment, and occurrences of state sponsored genocide and democide. This book is a practical and useful tool for public policy makers, criminal justice practitioners, students, and anyone who seeks to better understand the worldwide debate on this controversial social issue.
The role, status, and treatment of women is one of the major issues confronting the military today. This volume provides a range of perspectives on the magnitude of concerns, the sources of problems, how issues might best be addressed, and the future for women in the armed services. It is based on a special issue of the journal Gender Issues, supplemented with additional contributions from leading scholars. Historical and theoretical perspectives are provided by Lorry M. Fenner and Jean Bethke Elshtain. Fenner focuses on the role of women in the military since 1940, and argues for broader inclusion of women as well as other groups that have previously been restricted from full participation. Elshtain analyzes the extraordinary ability of war to draw both women and men into civic life, and observes how it calls forth and establishes a sense of particular identity for both men and women. Critical views are provided by other scholars. Laura L. Miller examines the feminist movement's insistence on full participation in combat units. Former Army chaplain Marie deYoung provides qualitative and quantitative data on military readiness and unit cohesion in mixed gender units. Leading military scholars (Mady W. Segal, David R. Segal, Jerald G. Bachman, Peter Freedman-Doan, and Patrick M. O'Malley) review national surveys comparing male and female high school seniors' responses to surveys conducted on questions about their propensity to enlist. Male-female differences are also addressed by Judith Hicks Steihm, who looks at the opinions each group has about the capabilities and performance of women. She finds differences by rank on questions as to how hard female soldiers work as compared to male soldiers and whether women are ready for combat duty. Historically, the military has provided minorities equal opportunity. Brenda L. Moore and Schulyler C. Webb examine whether or not this is still perceived to be the case in today's Navy. They focus on different perceptions by women and men, and by African American women in particular. Finally, William O'Neill examines whether the post-cold war downsized military will find women soldiers more or less important. Drawing upon social science research, historical data, and contemporary opinion surveys, Women in the Military is a cutting-edge assessment of a major gender issue in the United States. It will be valuable to researchers in women's studies, as well as those teaching courses in sociology, history, and military studies. Rita James Simon is University Professor in the School of Public Affairs and the Washington College of Law at American University. She is the editor of Gender Issues and author of The American Jury, the Insanity Defense: A Critical Assessment of Law and Policy in the Post-Hinkley Era (with David Aaronson), Adoption, Race and Identity (with Howard Alstein), In the Golden Land: A Century of Russian and Soviet Jewish Immigration, Social Science Data and Supreme Court Decisions (with Rosemary Erickson), and Abortion: Statutes, Policies, and Public Attitudes the World Over.
Thirty years after it was first published, the issues raised in The Jury and the Defense of Insanity remain pertinent. Rita James Simon examines how motivated and competent juries are, how well jurors understand and follow judges' instructions, their understanding of expert testimony, and the extent to which their own backgrounds and experiences influence their decisions. Simon provides a rare opportunity to observe how jurors go about the process of deliberating and reaching a verdict by following them into the jury room and recording their deliberations. This pathbreaking study of jury room behavior provides compelling evidence of the effectiveness of our trial by jury system. The Jury and the Defense of Insanity was the product of an experimental study conducted as part of the University of Chicago Jury Project. Over 1,000 jurors were chosen to participate, not as volunteers, but as part of their regular jury duty, in two experimental trials, one on a charge of housebreaking, the other of incest. In each the insanity defense was raised. Court judges instructed the jurors to consider the recorded trials they were about to hear with all the care and seriousness they would give to a real criminal prosecution, and the taped recordings of their deliberations make it clear that they did just that. These recordings, along with responses to detailed questionnaires, yielded significant data, equally applicable to civil as to criminal cases. We learn their reactions to their fellow jurors; personal evaluations of the quality and effectiveness of deliberations; the degree to which religion, sex, social status, education, and like factors affect participation in and influence on the course of the deliberation; and the recounting of and reliance upon personal experience in seeking to reach a verdict, among other insights furnished by this study. This is an exact record--not a description or recollected account--of the struggle of a jury to weigh evidence and achieve a just verdict. For lawyers whose job it is to win civil and criminal cases, for behavioral scientists who study male and female reactions in their cultural environment to the circumstances that confront them, and to all who are interested in how people behave and why, in a dramatic, socially significant situation, this is a fascinating and revealing book.
Thirty years after it was first published, the issues raised in The Jury and the Defense of Insanity remain pertinent. Rita James Simon examines how motivated and competent juries are, how well jurors understand and follow judges' instructions, their understand-ing of expert testimony, and the extent to which their own backgrounds and experiences influence their decisions. Simon provides a rare opportunity to observe how jurors go about the process of deliberating and reaching a verdict by following them into the jury room and recording their deliberations. This pathbreaking study of jury room behavior provides compelling evidence of the effectiveness of our trial by jury system. The Jury and the Defense of Insanity was the product of an experimental study con-ducted as part of the University of Chicago Jury Project. Over 1,000 jurors were chosen to participate, not as volunteers, but as part of their regular jury duty, in two experimental trials, one on a charge of housebreaking, the other of incest. In each the insanity de-fense was raised. Court judges instructed the jurors to consider the recorded trials they were about to hear with all the care and seriousness they would give to a real criminal prosecution, and the taped recordings of their deliberations make it clear that they did just that. These recordings, along with responses to detailed questionnaires, yielded significant data, equally applicable to civil as to criminal cases. We learn their reactions to their fellow jurors; personal evaluations of the quality and effectiveness of delibera-tions; the degree to which religion, sex, social status, education, and like factors affect participation in and influence on the course of the deliberation; and the recounting of and reliance upon personal experience in seeking to reach a verdict, among other in-sights furnished by this study. This is an exact record not a description or recollected account of the struggle of a jury to weigh evidence and achieve a just verdict. For lawyers whose job it is to win civil and criminal cases, for behavioral scientists who study male and female reactions in their cultural environment to the circumstances that confront them, and to all who are interested in how people behave and why, in a dramatic, socially significant situation, this is a fascinating and revealing book.
The obstacles to assimilation and treatment of immigrant women are major issues confronting the leading immigrant-receiving nations today-the United States, Canada, and Australia. This volume provides a range of perspectives on the concerns, the sources of problems, how issues might be addressed, and the future of immigrant women. It is based upon a two-part issue of the journal Gender Issues, and contains a new introduction by the editor. The first section focuses on labor force experiences of women who have immigrated to the United States and Australia from Mexico and Latin America, Eastern Europe, Korea, the Philippines, India and other parts of Asia. Nancy Foner assesses the complex and contradictory ways that migration changes women's status. Cynthia Crawford focuses on Mexican and Salvadoran women who have recently moved into janitorial work in Los Angeles. M.D.R. Evans and Tatjiana Lucik analyze labor force participation of immigrants in Australia and family strategies of women migrants from the former Yugoslavia against the experiences of woman migrants from the Mediterranean world and other parts of the Slavic world. Economist Harriet Duleep reviews what is known as the family investment model. Monica Boyd tackles the controversial issue of the leading immigrant-receiving nations' unwillingness to declare gender an explicit ground for persecution and thus for gaining -refugee status. The second section deals with social class and English language acquisition, the obstacles women have had to overcome in gaining refugee status in the United States and Canada, and a comparison of movement patterns between different commentaries in Mexico and the United States on the part of Mexican male and female immigrants. Contributors include Suzanne M. Sinke, Katharine Donato, and Nina Toren. Immigrant Women will be valuable to researchers in women's studies, population demographics, as well as those teaching courses in sociology, history, and immigration. Rita James Simon is university professor in the School of Public Affairs at the Washington College of Law at American University. She is editor of Gender Issues and author of The American Jury, The Insanity Defense: A Critical Assessment of Law and Policy in the Post-Hinckley Era (with David Aaronson), Adoption, Race, and Identity (with Howard Altstein), In the Golden Land: A Century of Russian and Soviet Jewish Immigration, Social Science Data and Supreme Court Decisions (with -Rosemary Erickson), and Abortion: Statutes, Policies, and Public Attitudes the World Over.
With the opening of borders and the aging of populations in industrialized states immigration takes on new importance. More younger workers are needed to support the social contract established with the baby boom generation, and immigration offers one practical solution. Many countries, however, have little experience with large scale immigration and, especially in the current political and economic climate, a strong resistance to it. Immigration the World Over examines immigration statutes and policies and the societal reactions to immigrants in seven industrialized nations. Comparing the experiences of these nations demonstrates how policies differ and how those policies have facilitated or complicated the accommodation of immigrant populations. Using public opinion data, crime rates, and measures of social integration, the authors go on to show how some countries absorb immigrants to positive effect by addressing worker shortages and enhancing social diversity, while others resist immigration to their detriment.
The obstacles to assimilation and treatment of immigrant women are major issues confronting the leading immigrant-receiving nations today-the United States, Canada, and Australia. This volume provides a range of perspectives on the concerns, the sources of problems, how issues might be addressed, and the future of immigrant women. It is based upon a two-part issue of the journal Gender Issues, and contains a new introduction by the editor. The first section focuses on labor force experiences of women who have immigrated to the United States and Australia from Mexico and Latin America, Eastern Europe, Korea, the Philippines, India and other parts of Asia. Nancy Foner assesses the complex and contradictory ways that migration changes women's status. Cynthia Crawford focuses on Mexican and Salvadoran women who have recently moved into janitorial work in Los Angeles. M.D.R. Evans and Tatjiana Lucik analyze labor force participation of immigrants in Australia and family strategies of women migrants from the former Yugoslavia against the experiences of woman migrants from the Mediterranean world and other parts of the Slavic world. Economist Harriet Duleep reviews what is known as the family investment model. Monica Boyd tackles the controversial issue of the leading immigrant-receiving nations' unwillingness to declare gender an explicit ground for persecution and thus for gaining -refugee status. The second section deals with social class and English language acquisition, the obstacles women have had to overcome in gaining refugee status in the United States and Canada, and a comparison of movement patterns between different commentaries in Mexico and the United States on the part of Mexican male and female immigrants. Contributors include Suzanne M. Sinke, Katharine Donato, and Nina Toren. Immigrant Women will be valuable to researchers in women's studies, population demographics, as well as those teaching courses in sociology, history, and immigration. Rita James Simon is university professor in the School of Public Affairs at the Washington College of Law at American University. She is editor of Gender Issues and author of The American Jury, The Insanity Defense: A Critical Assessment of Law and Policy in the Post-Hinckley Era (with David Aaronson), Adoption, Race, and Identity (with Howard Altstein), In the Golden Land: A Century of Russian and Soviet Jewish Immigration, Social Science Data and Supreme Court Decisions (with -Rosemary Erickson), and Abortion: Statutes, Policies, and Public Attitudes the World Over.
Women's Roles and Statuses the World Over stands alone in the unique contribution it makes to the field of women's rights. Based solely on statistics and empirical data as opposed to opinion, authors Stephanie Hepburn and Rita Simon have crafted an important contribution to the study of women in society by comparing women's position in society within 26 nations throughout the world. This distinctive work addresses the status of women in the areas of education, work force, marriage and divorce, the Constitution, abortion and contraceptives, public office, military service, and health care. The countries selected reflect a representative pool of the world's cultures, religions, traditions, races, laws, and politics. Hepburn and Simon present the weaknesses, strengths, and progress or digression of each of the selected nations, painting a clear picture of how much more progress must occur in order to set men and women on equal footing. Women's Roles and Statuses the World Over is intended to serve scholars and general audiences alike as a handbook providing empirical data and comprehensive references on the social issues, problems, and practices that affect women today.
An update of "Women and Crime" (c1975), this second edition focuses on updating demographic data, which indicate changes in women's social status and involvement in criminal activities, examining court data for changes in judges' treatment of women, and looking at changes in opportunities for women to acquire academic and vocational skills as well as the provisions and programs available for spending time with their children.
Rita J. Simon and Rhonda M. Roorda's In Their Own Voices: Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories shared the experiences of twenty-four black and biracial children who had been adopted into white families. The book has since become a standard resource for families and practitioners. Now, in this sequel, we hear from the parents of these remarkable families and learn what it was like for them to raise children across racial and cultural lines. Simon and Roorda's candid interviews shed light on the issues these parents encountered while raising their children and reveal whether they received adequate preparation and training from social work professionals and adoption agencies. The authors explore what role race played during thirty plus years of parenting, what lessons these parents learned about themselves, and whether they would recommend transracial adoption to others. Combining trenchant historical and political data with absorbing firsthand narratives, Simon and Roorda once more bring a unique scholarly and human dimension to the literature on transracial adoption.
In the past thirty years, women and crime has become a major intellectual and professional specialty. The Crimes Women Commit: The Punishments They Receive represents the third edition of Women in Crime, a classic in the field by Rita J. Simon first published in 1975. This classic text will become an essential tool for teachers and researchers within criminology and criminal justice, and among the subfields within sociology, psychology, and economics, where research on women who commit crimes has grown into a major area of interest.
Intercountry Adoptees Tell Their Stories reflects the thoughts and experiences of adult transracial adoptees. The authors conducted in-depth interviews in order to understand and examine the adoptees. The men and women interviewed in this study offer the readers a detailed and personal glimpse into their worlds. They represent a range of positive and negative adoption stories and describe the complexities of ethnic identity formation.
Sensitive and high-profile public policy issues often benefit from being considered in comparative perspective. Here, euthanasia and the right to die are examined in the context of the social, legal, and religious settings of a wide range of countries. The authors employ public opinion data, where available, to illustrate the great disparity between approval of physician-assisted suicide and the general illegality of the practice. Ultimately, making and implementing laws to ensure a responsible right to die_as the U.S. has been struggling with in Oregon, Michigan, and elsewhere_will be informed by experiences in such places as the Netherlands, Australia, and the only country in the world where euthanasia is a clear-cut medical option: Colombia.
The cultures of law and social science differ markedly as to the kinds of truth they pursue. Law is deductive, presenting its findings as certainties; social science is largely inductive, presenting its conclusions as subject to revision and contingency. Yet the legal community traditionally draws at will and unsystematically on the findings of social science, sometimes with unfortunate results. The authors of this study explore this issue by focusing on the manner in which the United States Supreme Court uses social science data in reaching its decisions. Concentrating on decisions involving the issues of abortion, sex discrimination, and sexual harassment, they show that the use of such data has increased over the last twenty years, but they also show that whether such data are used appears to hinge more on the liberal, conservative, or longheld positions of the judges and the types of cases involved, rather than on the objectivity or validity of the data. By offering insights into how data are used by the Supreme Court, the authors hope to show social scientists how to make their research more suitable for courtroom use and to show the legal community how such data can be used more effectively.
Global Perspectives on Social Issues: Juvenile Justice Systems is an attempt to characterize juvenile offenders in twenty-five nations in North America, South America, Western, and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Each chapter represents a fact sheet and contemporary report on juvenile justice systems in the eight different regions of the world.
From 1870 to 1900, over a half million Russian Jews came to the United States. Russian Jewish emigration had ceased by the 1920s due to the effects of the First World War, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Quota Acts, but a century later, Jews from the former Soviet Union began to emigrate in large numbers. This detailed account describes the motivations of Russian and Soviet Jews for leaving their homeland and their subsequent adjustments to life in the United States. Simon, a sociologist, provides insight into who these Jewish immigrants were and are, what they accomplished, and how they have been viewed.
In this detailed 1978 study, Professor Rita J. Simon examines two significant ethnic communities in Israel: one of ultra-Orthodox Jews, and the other of Israeli Arabs. The Jews form a tiny but cohesive group with a strong sense of pride in their heritage and values. The Arabs, who comprise thirteen percent of the total population of Israel, occupy a politically and culturally sensitive position within that state. The author argues that despite these and obvious other cultural differences the two communities are akin in their separateness from the mainstream of Israeli society. She presents explanations of how and why both groups maintain cultural values and social patterns that prevent their assimilation into and acceptance by the broader society. Continuity and Change is significant as a study of contemporary social conditions in Israel, of sources of conflict within that society, as of implications that these conflicts have for the future.
This third book in the Global Perspectives on Social Issues series grants scholars and policy makers an overview of the steps being taken by governments and educational organizations worldwide to increase the quality, standards, goals, and accessibility of education. Authors Rita J. Simon and Lisa Banks examine and compare the system of education, literacy rates, enrollment rates, types of public and private schools, years of compulsory education, and the amount of money the government allocates to education in twenty countries worldwide. Each country's demographic characteristics and political, social, and economic institutions are summarized, and the influence of each nation's political and cultural ideology on the educational system is discussed.
Adoption, Race, and Identity is a long-range study of the impact of interracial adoption on those adopted and their families. Initiated in 1972, it was continued in 1979, 1984, and 1991. Cumulatively, these four phases trace the subjects from early childhood into young adulthood. This is the only extended study of this controversial subject. Simon and Altstein provide a broad perspective of the impact of transracial adoption and include profiles of the families involved in the study. They explore and compare the experiences of both the parents and the children. They identify families whose adoption experiences were problematic and those whose experiences were positive. Finally, the study looks at the insights the experience of transracial adoption brought to the adoptive parents and what advice they would pass on to future parents adopting children from different racial backgrounds. They include the reflections of those adopted included in the 1972 first phase, who are now adults themselves. This second edition includes a new concluding chapter that updates the fourth and last phase of the study. The authors were able to locate 88 of the 96 families who participated in the 1984 study. Bringing together all four phases of this twenty-year study into one volume gives the reader a richer and deeper understanding of what the experience of transracial adoption has meant for the parents, the adoptees, and children born into the families studied. This landmark work, will be of compelling interest to social workers, policy makers, and professionals and families involved on all sides of interracial adoption. Rita J. Simon is university professor in the School of Public Affairs at the Washington College of Law at American University. She is editor of the journal Gender Issues and author of The American Jury, The Insanity Defense: A Critical Assessment of Law and Policy in the Post-Hinckley Era (with David Aaronson), In the Golden Land: A Century of Russian and Soviet Jewish Immigration, Social Science Data and Supreme Court Decisions (with Rosemary Erickson), and Abortion: Statutes, Policies, and Public Attitudes the World Over. Howard Altstein, a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Maryland, is the co-author of Intercountry Adoption: A Multinational Perspective. He has also collaborated with Rita Simon on their twenty-year study of transracial adoption.
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