Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Public administrators' relationships with processes and outcomes of the court system have been of interest for decades. Studies come from almost every analytical perspective in public administration: new public administration's evaluation of the courts as protectors of service recipients to the post modern understanding of the legal-public administration perspective that draws on both disciplines in shaping the behavior of individuals acting in the public sector. Neo-classical organization theory's focus on the institutional role of the courts can be contrasted with the movement away from judicial involvement through the use of privitized public services inherent in the new public management movement. All of these perspectives are accepted as providing insight into the ways the judicial system affects the work of the public administrator. Yet there is a limited amount of work examining how public administrators might actively bring concepts of judicial activity into their work environments. The case studies reported in this paper begin to fill that void. Cases developed from interviews of administrators will be used to bring practice based insight into the theories of partnership found in the current literature.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper presents qualitative findings from interviews conducted with a sub-sample of 54 (34.4 percent-) women comprising a larger sample (N = 609) about their social set and setting reasons for drug use, including their first time use, regular use, and heavy use periods. Qualitative data analyzed for this study were drawn from a federally funded study made possible by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). While the title of the research project was “The Impact of Family Violence on the Development of Women’s Drug Use” (1992-1998), the study was referred to as the “NIDA Women and Family Study (NWFS).” Sample subjects interviewed composed a convenience rather than a probability sample.

Women’s case histories include descriptions of how and why they first used drugs, regularly used drugs, and used drugs on a daily basis. Case histories are analyzed to determine what patterns characterize these phenomena. From a content analysis of the master list of reasons the 54 women gave for using drugs at different drug use periods, the author and co-author grouped the reasons into two distinct themes. Themes are discussed, analyzed, and illustrated below, using excerpts from interview data collected, followed by a summary and synthesis of the major findings from the thematic analysis.

Results of the qualitative case history analyses revealed that the women primarily used drugs as a response to their victimization experiences, involvement in drug and violent settings over the lifespan, human and social ambivalence, and role and social marginal status in society.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In this paper, we provide a systematic study of those spaces in which disjoint H-sets can be separated by disjoint open sets in a topological space. This introduces four new separation axioms that lie strictly between T2 and T3 spaces. This is joint work with Professor Jack Porter.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In this article, we examine the patterns of association among a number of different factors that may contribute to differences in the initial baseline level of subjective well-being among young people in transition to adulthood. Although we know that life satisfaction is relatively stable throughout adulthood with few factors leading to long term increases or decreases in the baseline of life satisfaction over time, we do not know very much about the determinants of baseline life satisfaction. Our own study addresses this question by using data from the adult and youth questionnaires of the German Socio-economic Panel to examine these factors are related to the initial assessment of life satisfaction by the individual in late adolescence. In most cases, factors that predict adult well-being also predict the level of well-being reported by the adolescents in our study. We found that personality traits were associated with subjective well-being and that consistency existed across different domains of satisfaction, specifically satisfaction with life and satisfaction with grades. Based on a wide range of measures, we found a strong pattern of association between the subjective well-being of the adolescents and variables that measured different dimensions of the experiences and assessments of parents regarding economic hardship, including parental unemployment and parental worries about financial situation. The quality of parental-adolescent relationships was also a predictor of adolescent well-being.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Becker (1963) and Zinberg (1984) explain that drug effects differ greatly depending on variations in the individual (‘set’) and situational (‘setting’) factors in which the drugs are consumed. Patterns, settings, rituals, and the significance attached to one’s drug use mitigates a drug’s pharmacological effects. Despite the documented importance such factors play for controlled substance use and harm reduction, governmental legislation and criminal justice approaches to drugs has focused solely on these drugs’ harmful and deadly effects seeking to completely eradicate illicit drug use. This approach has been especially true with club drugs.

In this paper, I will describe how 30 club drug users aged 22-33 that frequented New York City dance venues managed triggers of potentially harmful effects of their club drug use. Specifically, these ketamine, ecstasy, crystal methamphetamine, GHB, and/or cocaine users have avoided the negative consequences associated with illicit drug use (i.e. arrest, emergency room visits/other negative health consequences and unemployment). Conscious of the potential harms associated with club drugs, most of these users monitored dosage and food intake, avoided certain drug combinations, took responsibility for friends, and controlled or reduced their use during important life events. Overall, this paper will consider how current club drug policy 1) ignores the importance of ‘set’ and ‘setting’ in controlling drug use, 2) could potentially cause harm by dismantling the individual and situational factors that play a crucial role in promoting safe drug use, and 3) would be more effective if it incorporated a more balanced approach to drug use.