Motivations, Barriers, and Impact of Continuing Judicial Education: A Survey of U.S. Judges

The journey to the bench is unique for every judge. For most, however, a position on the bench is preceded by law school, the bar exam, and a career as an attorney. Through these experiences, judges are expected to become knowledgeable about the responsibilities and duties that come with their new role. In fact, common-law judiciaries, such as the United States, are built on the assumption that legal practice is the best preparation for being a judge.1 Still, many judges might feel as if they are not fully prepared. Unlike judges in civil-law countries, who undertake specialized coursework in judicial studies from the earliest stages of their careers, judges in the United States typically “[take] the oath, [step] onto the bench, and [proceed] to fill the judicial role as if born in the robe.”2 As one judge put it, “[B]ecoming a federal judge is like being thrown into the water and being told to swim.”

Who is on our side? Complexities of national identification among native and immigrant youth in Catalonia

Youth in Catalonia are caught in the middle of a hotly contested political conflict over the region's possible independence from Spain. Focusing on a large sample of secondary school students (n = 1550; 24.6% immigrants) from 30 schools, we use multilevel modelling to investigate identification with competing national identities and their implications for xenophobia. The larger social context is reflected in native students viewing Catalan and Spanish identifications as incompatible with one another, whereas this is not the case for immigrant students, who are much more likely to identify as both Catalan and Spanish, albeit at a lower level. Investigating the perceived basis of what makes someone Catalan, native students viewed their national identity to be a matter of both ascription (e.g. birth, legal status) and practice (e.g. embracing traditions, personal feelings), whereas the identifications of both Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants were exclusively based on viewing Catalan identity as a matter of practice. Conceiving of Catalan identity as a matter of practice was also linked to lower levels of xenophobia. Our findings are consistent with the conception of Catalan national identity as cosmopolitan and welcoming to immigrants, in line with outreach of the Catalan independence movement seeking to attract support

Rethinking Individualism and Collectivism: Evaluation of Theoretical Assumptions and Meta-Analyses

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89926/1/oysermancoonkemmelmeier2002.pd

Intergroup contact versus conflict in Catalan high schools: A multilevel analysis of adolescent attitudes toward immigration and diversity

Western educational systems are often insufficiently prepared for the ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity resulting from immigration. In Catalonia, one of the wealthiest regions of Spain, a diverse, recent, and large-scale immigration coincides with a popular nationalist movement and increasingly salient national identifications. Focusing on a context where ethnic, national, religious, and linguistic divisions intersect daily, our aim was to determine if both beneficial and detrimental effects of intergroup contact exist by measuring three separate dependent variables, xenophobia, appreciation of diversity, and attitudes toward immigrant rights, among native (n = 1219) and nonnative (n = 379) students during their last year of compulsory education (10th grade). Multilevel modeling, with students nested within 82 classrooms in 30 high schools throughout Catalonia, revealed effects of national identifications, frequency of contact, socioeconomic status, and classroom ethnic composition. Results provide strong support for intergroup contact theory in that classrooms with higher proportions of immigrant students demonstrated less xenophobia and more positive attitudes towards immigrant rights overall. Implications of classroom characteristics were qualified by national identification and intergroup interactions. Simultaneously, modest detrimental implications of intergroup contact were unveiled in that higher proportions of immigrants in a classroom predicted lower appreciation of diversity; immigrants were more likely to embrace diversity when they were a minority in the classroom, though native and immigrant students were both low on appreciation of diversity in majority-immigrant classrooms. Findings also highlight the critical importance of national identification in a context where national identities are often contested

Child Sexual Abuse, Peer Sexual Abuse, and Sexual Assault in Adulthood: A Multi-Risk Model of Revictimization

This study explored the predictors and consequences of sexual assault occurring after the age of 16 years in a nonclinical sample of women. Child sexual abuse occurring before the age of 16 years was the only predictor of later sexual assault among comorbid risk factors. Peer sexual abuse, number of perpetrators, age at time of sexual abuse, and severity of sexual abuse did not increase the risk for later sexual assault. Adult sexual assault victims showed lower levels of mental health functioning than did survivors of child or peer sexual abuse. We discuss a specificity model of revictimization and the differential effects of child, peer, and adult sexual trauma on the developmental trajectory of sexual violence and psychosocial functioning.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43099/1/10960_2004_Article_300239.pd

Gender differences in the endowment effect: Women pay less, but won’t accept less

We explore different contexts and mechanisms that might promote or alleviate the gender effect in risk aversion. Our main result is that we do not find gender differences in risk aversion when the choice is framed as a willingness-to-accept (WTA) task. When the choice is framed as a willingness-to-pay (WTP) task, men are willing to pay more and thus exhibit lower risk aversion. However, when the choice is framed as a willingness to accept task, women will not accept less than men. These findings imply gender differences in the endowment effect. We also find that the effect size of the gender difference in risk aversion is reduced or eliminated as the context changes from tasks framed as gambles to other domains; and that attitudes toward gambling mediate the gender effect in gambling framed tasks

Solo status and women's spatial test performance: the role of individuation tendencies

The impact of anticipated solo status on women's spatial performance was investigated in an experimental study. The study was designed to test whether the underperformance of women entering testing situations who find themselves to be the only woman present is related to a tendency to individuate the self. Women performed a test of spatial ability under conditions of anticipated solo or non-solo status and responded to a measure of self-construal. In line with previous research, we found a disrupting solo status effect on women's performance on the spatial ability test. Most importantly, the negative effect of solo status on performance was partially mediated by individuation tendencies as reflected in a decreased predominance of the interdependent (as compared to the independent) level of the self under solo status conditions. These findings indicate that individuation tendencies play a crucial role in the process triggered in test takers under threatening performance situations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60972/1/490_ftp.pd