On the basis of the literature reviewed in Part I of this two-part series (Norris, Friedman, Watson, Byrne, Diaz, and Kaniasty, this volume), the authors recommend early intervention following disasters, especially when the disaster is associated with extreme and widespread damage to property, ongoing financial problems for the stricken community, violence that resulted from human intent, and a high prevalence of trauma in the form of injuries, threat to life, and loss of life. Meeting the mental health needs of children, women, and survivors in developing countries is particularly critical. The family context is central to understanding and meeting those needs. Because of the complexity of disasters and responses to them, inter-agency cooperation and coordination are extremely important elements of the mental health response. Altogether, the research demands that we think ecologically and design and test societal- and community-level interventions for the population at large and conserve scarce clinical resources for those most in need.

60,000 Disaster Victims Speak: Part II. Summary and Implications of the Disaster Mental Health Research

1. Introduction: the authoritarian dynamic 2. Kindred spirits, common spark: the theory of the authoritarian dynamic 3. Manipulating threat and reassurance: data and methods 4. The authoritarian dynamic and the politics of fear: putting the pieces of the puzzle together 5. Authoritarianism and conservatism across cultures 6. Authoritarianism and conservatism: how they differ and when it matters 7. One true people: putting a dace on the theory 8. One right way: fleshing out the portrait 9. Manning the barricades: racism and Intolerance under conditions of normative threat 10. The authoritarian dynamic: implications.

The Authoritarian Dynamic

The effects of the medium of test administration-paper and pencil versus computerized-were examined for timed power and speeded tests of cognitive abilities for populations of young adults and adults. Meta-analytic techniques were used to estimate the cross-mode correlation after correcting for measurement error. A total of 159 correlations was meta-analyzed: 123 from timed power tests and 36 from speeded tests. The corrected cross-mode correlation was found to be.91 when all correlations were analyzed simultaneously. Speededness was found to moderate the effects of administration mode in that the cross-mode correlation was estimated to be.97 for timed power tests but only.72 for speeded tests. No difference in equivalence was observed between adaptively and conventionally administered computerized tests

https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/114/3/449.pdf

Equivalence of computerized and paper-and-pencil cognitive ability tests: A meta-analysis.

This paper examines 77,236 federal offenders sentenced under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and concludes the following. First, after controlling for extensive criminological, demographic, and socioeconomic variables, I found that blacks, males, and offenders with low levels of education and income receive substantially longer sentences. Second, disparities are primarily generated by departures from the guidelines, rather than differential sentencing within the guidelines. Departures produce about 55 percent of the black‐white difference and 70 percent of the male‐female difference. Third, although black‐white disparities occur across offenses, the largest differences are for drug trafficking. The Hispanic‐white disparity is generated primarily by those convicted of drug trafficking and firearm possession/trafficking. Last, blacks and males are also less likely to get no prison term when that option is available; less likely to receive downward departures; and more likely to receive upward adj...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/320276

Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Sentencing: Evidence from the U.S. Federal Courts*

Three studies were conducted with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) with autistic individuals. In Study 1, it was found that the traditional WCST is a highly reliable test for use with both autistic children and children with learning disabilities over time. In Study 2, the equivalence of the s

Reliability and validity of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in studies of autism.

The challenge of competence and creativity in computerized psychological testing.

/pdf/the-effect-of-the-federal-sentencing-guidelines-on-inter-2mvzz2jidp.pdf

The Effect of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines on Inter-Judge Sentencing Disparity

Research Summary:
In United States v. Booker, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal sentencing guidelines must be considered advisory, rather than mandatory, if they are to remain constitutional under the Sixth Amendment. Since the decision, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has provided policy makers with accurate and current data on changes and continuity in federal sentencing practices. Unlike previous changes in legal doctrine, Booker immediately increased the rates of upward and downward departures from the guideline range. Government-sponsored downward departures remain the leading category of outside–the-range sentences. The rate of within-range sentences, although lower than in the period immediately preceding Booker, remains near rates observed earlier in the guidelines era. Despite the increase in departures, average sentence lengths for the overall caseload remain stable, because of offsetting increases in the seriousness of the crimes being sentenced and in the severity of penalties for those crimes. Analyses of the reasons that judges reported for downward departures suggest that treatment of criminal history and offender characteristics are the two leading areas of dissatisfaction with the guidelines.

Policy Implications:
Assessment of changes in sentencing practices following Booker by different observers depends partly on competing institutional perspectives and on different degrees of trust in the judgment of judges, prosecutors, the Sentencing Commission, and Congress. No agreement on whether Booker has bettered or worsened the system can be achieved until agreement exists on priorities among the purposes of sentencing and the goals of sentencing reform. Both this lack of agreement and an absence of needed data make consensus on Booker's effects on important sentencing goals, such as reduction of unwarranted disparity, unlikely in the near future. Similarly, lack of baseline data before Booker on the effectiveness of federal sentencing at crime control makes before-after comparisons impossible. Despite these limitations, research provides a sounder framework for policy making than do anecdotes or speculation and sets valuable empirical parameters for the federal sentencing policy debate.

Paul J. Hofer

Papers

The challenge of competence and creativity in computerized psychological testing.

The Effect of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines on Inter-Judge Sentencing Disparity

United states v. booker as a natural experiment: using empirical research to inform the federal sentencing policy debate*

The Consequences of Mandatory Minimum Prison Terms: A Summary of Recent Findings

Developing standards for computerized psychological testing