Digital Commons Network^™

Race, Class, And Community In A Southern Forest-Dependent Region, Chris R. Colocousis, Luke T. Rogers

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Based on a Community and Environment in Rural America survey, this brief looks at four counties in Alabama. It finds blacks and whites have different outcomes in the community, despite expectations of regional stability and greater equality. Though they reported similar rates of social mobility, African Americans in the "Black Belt" of Alabama are disproportionately poorer and employed in lower-skill jobs than whites.

New Hampshire Demographic Trends Reflect Impact Of The Economic Recession, Kenneth M. Johnson

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Between July 2008 and July 2009, more people left New Hampshire than moved to it, reversing a trend of domestic migration that had fueled the state's population growth over the past decade, according to U.S. Census Bureau data in released March 2010. This fact sheet summarizes the data.

Population, Sex Ratios And Development In Greenland, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Rasmos Ole Rasmussen

Sociology

Abstract

During the 20th century, Greenland society experienced a dramatic transformation from scattered settlements based on hunting, with mostly turf dwellings, to an urbanizing post-industrial economy. This transformation compressed socioeconomic development that took centuries to millennia elsewhere into a few generations. The incomplete demographic transition that accompanied this development broadly followed the classical pattern, but with distinctive variations relating to Greenland's Arctic environment, sparse population, and historical interactions between two cultures: an indigenous Inuit majority and an influential Danish minority. One heritage from Danish colonial administration, and continued more recently under Greenland Home Rule, has been the maintenance of population …

Rural Areas Risk Being Overlooked In 2010 Census, William P. O'Hare

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This issue brief describes how the census is conducted in rural areas, identifies some of the most difficult rural areas to count, and highlights what organizations are doing to ensure a more accurate census count in rural America. It also points out that undercounting by the census can lead to communities not receiving a fair share of federal funding.

Ocean Views: Coastal Environmental Problems As Seen By Downeast Maine Residents, Thomas G. Safford, Lawrence C. Hamilton

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief contends that loss of fishing jobs and income is the top environment-related concern among residents of Maine's Hancock and Washington counties, as well as forestry decline and water pollution. Also of note, across a wide range of environmental issues, political party affiliation is associated with level of concern about environmental problems.

Seeing Through The Invisible Pink Unicorn, Andrew Stuart Abel, Andrew P. Schaefer

Sociology

This paper explores the quasi-religious aspects of the Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU), an internet based spoof of religion. IPU message boards situate a moral orientation in an ongoing interactional process that sacralizes parody and an idealized form of “free thinking.” We employ content analysis and grounded theory to argue that IPU writers’ parody of religion serves as a ritual act and conclude our discussion by considering the implications of the findings for the literature on ritual.

The Changing Faces Of America’S Children And Youth, Kenneth M. Johnson, Daniel T. Lichter

Sociology

Recent U.S. Census Bureau projections indicate that by the middle of this century, non-Hispanic whites will cease to be a majority of the American population. In this article we document how for America’s youngest residents, the future is already here. America’s rapidly changing racial and ethnic composition has important implications for intergroup relations, ethnic identities, and electoral politics.

Updated Trends In Child Maltreatment, 2007., Lisa M. Jones, David Finkelhor

Crimes Against Children Research Center

New data released by the federal government about reported child maltreatment for 2007 show a mixed and ambiguous pic‐ ture about recent trends, with overall substantiated cases flat or declining , but child maltreatment fatalities increasing. The data for the tables and graphs included in this report are de‐ rived from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), which aggregates and publishes statistics from state child protection agencies. The most recent data from NCANDS were released in April, 2009 and concern cases of child mal‐ treatment investigated in 2007. (See http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ programs/cb/pubs/cm07/index.htm for more information.)

Updated Trends In Child Maltreatment, 2008., David Finkelhor, Lisa M. Jones, Anne M. Shattuck

Crimes Against Children Research Center

Recently released national child maltreatment data for 2008 show a generally encouraging situation during the first year of the serious recession that began in late 2007. Overall substantiated child maltreatment declined 3% from the previous year, including a 6% decline in sexual abuse. Child maltreatment fatalities stayed stable.

Integrating Information And Making Effective Decisions In Teams, Vanessa Urch Druskat

The University Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Modeling The Effects Of Peremptory Challenges On Jury Selection And Jury Verdicts, Roger Allen Ford

Law Faculty Scholarship

Although proponents argue that peremptory challenges make juries more impartial by eliminating “extreme” jurors, studies testing this theory are rare and inconclusive. For this article, two formal models of jury selection are constructed, and various selection procedures are tested, assuming that attorneys act rationally rather than discriminate based on animus. The models demonstrate that even when used rationally, peremptory challenges can distort jury decision making and undermine verdict reliability. Peremptory challenges systematically shift jurors toward the majority view of the population by favoring median jurors over extreme jurors. If the population of potential jurors is skewed in favor of conviction …

Rural Families With A Child Abuse Report Are More Likely Headed By A Single Parent And Endure Economic And Family Stress, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Wendy A. Walsh

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief, which is based on data from the Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, finds that rural families who have been reported to Child Protective Services are more likely than urban families to have financial difficulties and high family stress, as well as grow up in single-parent households. To effectively address these issues, the brief urges policy makers to look at the lack of accessible and adequate services for struggling rural families.

Out-Of-School Time Matters: Activity Involvement And Positive Development Among Coos County Youth, Erin H. Sharp

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief looks at the connections between how youth spend their free time and positive or negative attitudes about themselves and their future plans. Family studies assistant professor and Carsey faculty fellow Erin Hiley Sharp used data from the Carsey Institute's Coos County Youth Survey to show differences by activity level and students' expectations for positive outcomes in their future.

Federal Child Nutrition Programs Are Important To Rural Households, Barbara Wauchope, Anne M. Shattuck

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, examines how rural families use four of the major federal child nutrition programs. It finds that 29 percent of rural families with children participate but that there are barriers to these nutrition programs, such as the lack of public transportation and high operating costs for rural schools and child care programs.

Low Income And Impoverished Families Pay Disproportionately More For Child Care, Kristin Smith, Kristi Gozjolko

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

According to research based on the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation, working families with young children living in poverty pay 32 percent of their income on child care, nearly five times more than families living at more than 200 percent of the poverty level. This brief asks policy makers to consider allowing more subsidies to be available to those who could benefit most from them.