Penelope J. Hanke

Women opiate users' perceptions of treatment services in New York City

This paper focuses on the treatment experiences of women opiate users in New York City. Historically, drug research has used male samples, and drug treatment programs have been based upon the concerns of men. Treatment counselors and administrators are typically male, and female clients are frequently outnumbered by male clients. In addition, unique needs of women are not addressed. Primary among these needs is child care, a provision that is not a standard feature of most programs. Additionally, many women opiate users may be in dysfunctional families and/or have histories of sexual victimization that may require special counselling. Using data from 208 women drug users who had been in an opiate treatment program, this paper examines their perceptions of the extent to which these programs incorporate womens distinctive concerns and the degree to which such provisions are affected by the perceived numbers of women clients in these programs.

Putting school crime into perspective: Self-reported school victimizations of high school seniors

Since the classic Safe School Study in 1977 by the National Institute of Education, there has been increasing concern with safety in schools in the United States. Media coverage since the 1960s has highlighted violence and terror. The Presidents Task Force on Victims of Crime in 1982 also decried

A Comparative Analysis of Drug-Using Women With and Without Treatment Histories in New York City

Treatment histories of 459 drug-using women in New York City were examined to determine if there were any differences between women who have ever entered a treatment program and those who have not. Both bivariate and regression procedures were employed. The bivariate analysis revealed that the two groups of women differed significantly with regard to age, race, having children, age at which they began their drug-using careers, and the number of lifetime arrests. Controlling for all other variables in the regression analysis, only three variables significantly contribute to the likelihood of entering treatment: age, age at which regular drug use began, and the number of lifetime arrests. Implications of these findings for targeting younger women for treatment intervention are discussed.

Damned on arrival: A preliminary study of the relationship between homicide, emergency medical care, and race

This article examines the effect of racial differences in access to emergency transportation and subsequent medical care of assault victims on the chance that the victim would die and the assailant subsequently would be charged with homicide. Examination of female homicide offender records in Alabama from the 1930s to 1985 found a relationship between the race of the offender and the time of death of the victim. These findings suggest that racial differences in access to emergency transportation and subsequent medical care of her victim increased the chances that an African American assailant subsequently would be charged with homicide 24 percent more often than her Caucasian counterpart. Because of limitations in the first data set, the analysis was extended to homicide victims reported in the 1988 United States Mortality Detail Files. Analysis of the national victim data replicates the Alabama inmate findings. Extending the analysis by residence replicates the results for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan residences. Extending the analysis by cause of homicide finds the same difference among victims by gun, a larger difference among victims by cutting and piercing, and a smaller difference among victims by all other causes. Racial inequities in the administration of justice traditionally have focused on detecting bias in the administration of justice. These findings suggest that racial inequities in the delivery of medical care are responsible for a substantial portion of the racial differences in both victims and convictions for homicide.

Sentencing disparities by race of offender and victim: Women homicide offenders in Alabama, 1929–1985

This study explores the issue of sentencing variations due to race among female offenders. Prison records of the population of women (N = 685) committed to Julia Tutwiler Prison in Alabama for homicide between 1929 and 1985 were examined. Despite the fact that few cases were interracial, sentencing patterns suggested that the race of both offender and victim did indeed matter. Bivariate results indicated that whites who killed interracially were most likely to have received generally light sentences, of 1–5 years, while whites who killed intraracially were most likely to have received moderate to heavy sentences (i.e., 6–10 or 11–20 years). By contrast, 50% of cases involving African Americans with white victims received life, and African American‐African American homicides predominantly received light sentences. Full regression models, however, indicated that the effect of interracial victim‐offender relationship was modified when final offense charge were considered from cases committed in pre‐Civil Rig...

Book Reviews : Without Locks And Bars: Reforming Our Reform Schools by Grant R. Grissom and William L. Dubnov. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1989. 240 pages

execution. A humane death row would preserve the humanity of the condemned and thereby make executions difficult or impossible to bear for both guards and prisoners. Likewise, confining the condemned with the regular maximum security prisoners will not eliminate the torture of living with a death sentence. The descriptive parts of the book and the analysis of the psychology of death and death work are undoubtedly excellent, well-crafted and powerful. It must be granted that living under a death sentence is immensely difficult, but the conclusions derived are less compelling. For a society that has consistently preferred capital punishment as the deserved penalty for the most heinous and brutal crimes, Johnson’s study has identified another problem to be addressed in &dquo;perfecting&dquo; the administration of this penalty. Like the response of the past