Search

OBJECTIVE To map the fine-touch pressure thresholds of the adult penis in circumcised and uncircumcised men, and to compare the two populations. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Adult male volunteers with no history of penile pathology or diabetes were evaluated with a Semmes-Weinstein monofilament touch-test to map the fine-touch pressure thresholds of the penis. Circumcised and uncircumcised men were compared using mixed models for repeated data, controlling for age, type of underwear worn, time since last ejaculation, ethnicity, country of birth, and level of education. RESULTS The glans of the uncircumcised men had significantly lower mean (sem) pressure thresholds than that of the circumcised men, at 0.161 (0.078) g (P = 0.040) when controlled for age, location of measurement, type of underwear worn, and ethnicity. There were significant differences in pressure thresholds by location on the penis (P

Correctional policies, such as the elimination of Pell Grants to prisoners, often limit inmate educational opportunities. Thus, examination of the possible negative consequences of such actions seems important. Though characterized by some inconsistency, previous research has suggested that post-secondary education within prison has the beneficial effect of reducing recidivism. What is missing is an explicit comparison of the effects of different types of correctional education programs, with a specific focus on discerning the relative effects of college versus non-college education. The present study addresses this issue through analysis of 972 Ohio inmates paroled or released from prison between 1989 and 1992. Our results suggest that college has a substantially stronger negative impact upon recidivism hazard rates than do other forms of correctional education (e.g. high school, GED, vocational education) and imply that, perhaps, the current policy regarding post-secondary correctional education programs is misguided.

The American public’s fascination with the death penalty has given rise to many empirical studies. Perhaps because of its perceived severity and finality or perhaps because of its power to express collective outrage, Americans remain engaged in the debate about the ultimate abrogation of a criminal career. However, curiously few members of the media or the academy have examined the population to which the question is most directly relevant— prison inmates. Who can speak more meaningfully to the effects of punishment than the punished? Who better than criminals can speak about what will deter crime? Although public opinion polls are useful for tracking shifts in penal preferences, they generally cannot speak to more than the public’sperception of how well the death penalty is accomplishing the goal of crime reduction.

Seeking to redress the lack of inmate-centered research, the authors examine inmate attitudes towards capital punishment to determine whether individual and social characteristics predict death penalty support for a sample of 309 midwestern inmates. The authors’ results indicate that while a slight majority of inmates opposed capital punishment (53%), opposition softened considerably for crimes such as serial killing, child molestation, and child abuse. Factors that significantly predicted inmate death penalty support included the belief that capital punishment deters violent crime, family members’ capital punishment advocacy, and a high score on the Alpha scale (a measure assessing inmate identification with violent and aggressive aspects of hegemonic masculinity). In addition, a significant inverse relationship emerged between the belief that a person can be rehabilitated and death penalty support. The findings strongly suggest that inmate death penalty opinions are complex and nuanced and can offer considerable insights regarding the efficacy of current social control practices.

This paper analyzes the success of a camp retreat weekend called Project Trust involving middle school students and teachers. The goal of the camp is to break down barriers between cliques identified as active in the school. The camp focuses on building team relationships across clique membership and incorporates elements of peace education and conflict resolution. A treatment group (campers) and comparison group (noncampers) were administered an adaptation of the Bogardus Social Distance Test and the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale before and after the camp. Attendance was found to lower social distance scores for nine of the ten groups/cliques. Campers also had higher self-concept scores after the retreat.

OBJECTIVES: Our objectives were to (1) expand and strengthen the women's health curriculum at the University of California, San Francisco, and (2) evaluate the responses of both medical students and faculty to this curriculum. STUDY DESIGN: A written evaluation of the curriculum in women's health was completed by both students and faculty. Variables studied included mean scores of cases, the overall course score, and the preferences of medical students for faculty specialty in teaching the small groups. RESULTS: The overall course evaluation score was 7.81 (range 1 to 10). For those students who had both faculty from internal medicine or family medicine and obstetrics and gynecology, there was a strong preference that obstetrician-gynecologists teach the majority of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: The new case-based curriculum in women's health was enthusiastically received by both medical students and faculty. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 1997;176:1368-73.)