Simulating “Peripheral Harm” as an AMBER Alert Issuance Criterion: Implications for Anticipating Threats to Child Safety

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 669-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua H. Williams ◽  
Timothy Griffin ◽  
Danielle Miller ◽  
John Wooldredge
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Response ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Empirical Evaluation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Alert System ◽  
Negative Finding ◽  
The Public ◽  
Amber Alerts ◽  
Using Data

Although there is some limited research on the effectiveness of the America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alert system, to date, there has been no research specifically examining the viability of prospective AMBER Alert issuance criteria. Using data acquired from various media accounts of 446 AMBER Alerts issued in the United States and Canada, we examine how well “peripheral harm” (harm to someone other than the abducted child during the course of the abduction) predicts subsequent harm to the abducted child. Counterintuitively (from the perspective of AMBER Alert issuance decision making), peripheral harm or threat is negatively associated with harm to the victim in cases involving an AMBER Alert. Furthermore, this negative finding is spurious, and is primarily driven by the fact that, disproportionately, the abductors who commit “peripheral harm” in AMBER alert cases are parents and other family members of the child who are presumably unlikely to harm child relatives despite whatever violence they might commit (or threaten) against others. We discuss the implications for the use of peripheral harm as an AMBER Alert issuance criterion, the empirical evaluation of the system, and the public discourse surrounding the AMBER Alert system and its relationship to child protection in general.

scholarly journals Bella Abzug, queer rights, and disrupting the status quo

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor G Gates ◽  
Margery C Saunders
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Field Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Status

Workers who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)-identified have always been a part of the workplace in the United States, yet there has been a lack of awareness about how to advocate for the needs of these people. This lack of awareness was challenged by Congresswoman Bella Abzug. Abzug’s campaign for creating an equal working environment for sexual minorities initiated gradual changes in the public discourse concerning workplace and other broad equality measures for these communities. To frame these gradual transformations within a historical context, we use Lewin’s force field analysis framework to examine the change efforts of Abzug. Abzug had beginning success in thawing the status quo yet her visions for equality for LGBTQ people have yet to be realized. Using Abzug’s social action as an example, this article concludes that allies must continue to challenge societal oppression, power, and privilege and to demand civil rights protections for LGBTQ individuals.

“The Other Side”: Assessing the Polarization of Gender Knowledge Through a Feminist Analysis of the Affective-Discursive in Anti-Feminist Online Communities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Kathrin Rothermel
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
The Public ◽  
Production Building ◽  
Gender Knowledge

Abstract Given the current polarization of gender knowledge in the public discourse, this article investigates the “other side” of gender knowledge production. Building on feminist standpoint literature, I conduct a close reading of the affective-discursive dynamics of knowledge production in two anti-feminist online communities in the United States and India. I find that anti-feminist communities appropriate feminist practices of consciousness-raising to construct a shared sense of victimization. This appropriation is, however, incomplete. In contrast to feminist practices, anti-feminist knowledge generation is premised on the polarizing themes of “ultimate victimhood” and “ultimate other,” which lead to violence and exclusion, rather than liberation.

scholarly journals Evidence from internet search data shows information-seeking responses to news of local COVID-19 cases

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (21) ◽  
pp. 11220-11222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana I. Bento ◽  
Thuy Nguyen ◽  
Coady Wing ◽  
Felipe Lozano-Rojas ◽  
Yong-Yeol Ahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Seeking ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Closures ◽  
The Public ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
First Case ◽  
Search Data ◽  
Collective Attention

The COVID-19 outbreak is a global pandemic with community circulation in many countries, including the United States, with confirmed cases in all states. The course of this pandemic will be shaped by how governments enact timely policies and disseminate information and by how the public reacts to policies and information. Here, we examine information-seeking responses to the first COVID-19 case public announcement in a state. Using an event study framework for all US states, we show that such news increases collective attention to the crisis right away. However, the elevated level of attention is short-lived, even though the initial announcements are followed by increasingly strong policy measures. Specifically, searches for “coronavirus” increased by about 36% (95% CI: 27 to 44%) on the day immediately after the first case announcement but decreased back to the baseline level in less than a week or two. We find that people respond to the first report of COVID-19 in their state by immediately seeking information about COVID-19, as measured by searches for coronavirus, coronavirus symptoms, and hand sanitizer. On the other hand, searches for information regarding community-level policies (e.g., quarantine, school closures, testing) or personal health strategies (e.g., masks, grocery delivery, over-the-counter medications) do not appear to be immediately triggered by first reports. These results are representative of the study period being relatively early in the epidemic, and more-elaborate policy responses were not yet part of the public discourse. Further analysis should track evolving patterns of responses to subsequent flows of public information.

scholarly journals The American Democratic Deficit in Assisted Reproductive Technology Innovation

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 130-170
Author(s):  
Myrisha S. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technology ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Technology Innovation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reproductive Technology ◽  
Public Consultation ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom

In many areas of innovation, the United States is a leader, but this characterization does not apply to the United States' position in assisted reproductive technology innovation and clinical use. This article uses a political science concept, the idea of the “democratic deficit” to examine the lack of American public discourse on innovations in ART. In doing so, the article focuses on America's missing public consultation in health care innovation. This missing discourse is significant, as political and ethical considerations may impact regulatory decisions. Thus, to the extent that these considerations are influencing the decisions of federal agency employees, namely those who work within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the public is unable to participate in the decision-making process. This lack of a public discourse undermines the goals of the administrative state, which include democratic participation, transparency, and accountability.The United Kingdom, on the other hand, has had a markedly divergent experience with assisted reproductive technology innovation. Instead of ignoring the various ethical, social, and legal issues surrounding assisted reproductive technology innovation, the United Kingdom engaged in a five-strand public consultation on the topic of mitochondrial transfer, a form of assisted reproductive technology that uses genetic modification in order to prevent disease transmission. This article argues that after a multi-decade standstill in terms of the public discourse related to ethical issues associated with assisted reproductive technology and germline modification, it is time for the United States to institute a more democratic inquiry into the scientific, ethical, and social implications of new forms of assisted reproductive technology and ultimately, forthcoming medical innovations that involve genetic modification.

Clogged systems and toxic assets

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Horner
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Congress ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Federal Funds ◽  
The Public ◽  
Emergency Measure ◽  
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act ◽  
Economic Stabilization

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, also known as the “Wall Street Bailout,” authorized the allocation of $700B US to address the financial crisis of 2008. The “bailout” did not pass easily; members of the United States Congress reported feedback from angry constituents urging them to vote against it, and the measure failed its first vote in the House of Representatives. This essay focuses on metaphors used in public discourse to describe the “bailout” in the ten days between its introduction to Congress and its failure in the House. Advocates of the economic stimulus plan relied on metaphors that evacuated human agency, portraying the plan as an emergency measure necessitated by crises such as illness, natural disasters, and mechanical failures. Opponents to the plan extended and modified the administration’s metaphors to communicate a critique of the transfer of federal funds to private entities for the good of the public.

Decoding images: Toward a theory of pictorial framing

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abdel-Raheem
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
General Level ◽  
Frame Semantics ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Large Corpus

Using data from the Egyptian public discourse on the United States, this article lays out the foundation for building a general theory of pictorial framing. In this theory, at the most general level, the concept of pictorial framing refers to subtle alterations in the visual presentation of judgment and choice problems. Specifically, pictures are viewed as constructions, and pictorial meaning is seen as an intricate web of connected frames. The article thus adopts the view that a visual grammar is part of cognitive science and is fundamentally concerned with the relation between what goes on in the human mind and manifestations of this activity. The article draws on insights from blending model (Fauconnier and Turner, 2002), Relevance Theory (Sperber and Wilson, 1995) and frame semantics (Fillmore, 1985), discussing a large corpus of 90 multimodal cartoons on the United States.

Color Bind: Lessons from the Failed Homeland Security Advisory System

2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob N. Shapiro ◽  
Dara Kay Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Homeland Security ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Alert System ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
The Public ◽  
Advisory System ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
Protective Actions ◽  
National Leaders

An effective terrorism alert system in a federal government has one central task: to motivate actors to take costly protective measures. The United States' color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) failed in this mission. In federal systems, national leaders cannot compel protective actions by setting an alert level; they must convince constituent governments and private parties that the desired actions are worth the costs. Such beliefs can be generated either by sharing the information behind an alert or by developing enough confidence in the alert system that the government's word alone suffices. The HSAS did neither, largely because it was not designed to generate confidence. Rather, the system's creators assumed that the public would trust the national leadership and believe in the utility of the system's information. Over time, as the HSAS became increasingly perceived as politically manipulated, there was no built-in mechanism to recover confidence in the system. An alternative, trust-based terrorist alert system could solve this problem. Building on the notion of “procedural fairness” from the psychological and legal traditions, this system would retain the political advantages of the HSAS, facilitate greater compliance among the requisite actors, and ameliorate many of the strategic problems inherent in terror alert systems.

scholarly journals The Study’s Origins and Methodology

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-16
Author(s):  
Daniela Bandelli
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
International Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
The Subject ◽  
United States Mexico

AbstractThis chapter discusses the origin, spirit, objectives and methodology of this study on the surrogacy international debate. The aim of this study is to explain the politics of signification on surrogacy carried out especially by the women’s movement, verifying how it is contributing to the public discourse and policies on the subject, how it is being organized, as well as dividing, and how the proposed instances fit into global discourses and are recontextualized on the basis of social specificities. These aims are pursued through three case studies in the United States, Mexico and Italy. The key concepts of the theoretical framework of the research will also be described in this chapter, such as: the women’s movement, diagnostic and prognostic frames.

Peculiar Rhetoric

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjørn F. Stillion Southard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Abraham Lincoln ◽  
Free Blacks ◽  
Relative Power ◽  
American Colonization Society ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Effort

The African colonization movement plays a peculiar role in the study of racial equality in the United States. For white colonizationists, the movement was positioned as a compromise between slavery and abolition. For free blacks, colonization offered the hope of freedom, but not within America’s borders. Bjørn F. Stillion Southard shows how politics and identity were negotiated in middle of the public discourse on race, slavery, and freedom in America. Operating from a position of relative power, white advocates argued that colonization was worthy of support from the federal government. Stillion Southard analyzes the speeches of Henry Clay, Elias B. Caldwell, and Abraham Lincoln as efforts to engage with colonization at the level of deliberation. Between Clay and Caldwell’s speeches at the founding of the American Colonization Society in 1816 and Lincoln’s final public effort to encourage colonization in 1862, Stillion Southard explores the speeches and writings of free blacks who grappled with colonization’s conditional promises of freedom. The book examines an array of discourses to explore the complex issues of identity facing free blacks who attempted to meaningfully engage in colonization efforts. From a peculiarly voiced Counter Memorial against the ACS, to the letters of wealthy black merchant Louis Sheridan negotiating for his passage to Liberia, to the civically-minded orations of Hilary Teage in Liberia, Peculiar Rhetoric brings into light the intricacies of blacks who attempted to meaningfully engage in colonization.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document