Differences in attitudes toward terrorists: Type of terrorist act, terrorist ethnicity, and observer gender and cultural background

To explore the interrelationship between terrorist acts, terrorist ethnicity, and observer gender and cultural background in Israel, we recruited 211 participants aged 19–75 years. The majority were male (63%). As for the ethnic and religious cultural background, 40% were Jewish, 40% Druze, and 20% Muslim. The participants answered questions about their demographic characteristics, read three scenarios of terrorist acts, addressed attitudes toward terrorists, and suggested the length of imprisonment. We manipulated the type of act (shooting and killing/burning religious institutions/throwing stones at cars) and terrorist ethnicity (Arab/ Jewish). The results indicate significant main effects of the manipulated variables regarding attitudes toward terrorists. Also, Muslim Arab participants expressed more negative attitudes in cases of Jewish terrorists than Arab terrorists, whereas Jewish participants expressed more negative attitudes toward Arab terrorists than Jewish terrorists. Druze participants did not differentiate between Arab and Jewish terrorists. Furthermore, in cases of Arab perpetrators, Jewish participants suggested imprisonment terms 2.4 times longer than in cases of Jewish perpetrators. The discussion addresses the findings in the context of social identity theory and dual social identification. Regarding practical implications, the findings imply the need for education and training on ethnic bias among policymakers and practitioners.

Mandatory Minimum Reforms, Sentencing, and Racial-Ethnic Disparities

Over the last 20 years, numerous states and the federal government enacted mandatory minimum reforms, especially for drug offenses. Yet little is known about how effective these reforms have been at the state-level in lowering drug sentences. Using quasi-experimental methods and administrative data, this study evaluates the impact of state-level mandatory minimum reforms on drug sentences and their concomitant racial-ethnic disparities. We find that state-level mandatory minimum reforms do not lower drug sentences in general or change racial-ethnic disparities statistically significantly. These findings suggest that the profound racial-ethnic bias sparked by state-level mandatory minimums are not fully ameliorated by subsequent state-level reforms.

Reduction in TLco and survival in a clinical population

How best to express the level of lung gas transfer (TLco) function has not been properly explored. We used the most recent clinical data from 13 829 patients (54% male, 10% non-European ancestry), median age 60.5 years (range 20–97), median survival 3.5 years (range 0–20) to determine how best to express TLco function in terms of its relation to survival. The proportion of subjects of non-European ancestry with Global Lung Function Initiative (GLI) TLco z-scores above predicted was reduced but was significantly increased between −1.5 to −3.5 suggesting the need for ethnicity appropriate equations. Applying GLI FVC ethnicity methodology to GLI TLco z-scores removed this ethnic bias and was used for all subsequent analysis. TLco z-scores using the GLI equations were compared with Miller's US equations with median TLco z-scores being -1.43 and -1.50 for GLI and Miller equations respectively (interquartile range −2.8 to −0.3 and −2.4 to −0.7, respectively). GLI TLco z-scores gave the best Cox regression model for predicting survival. A previously proposed six-tier grading system for level of lung function did not show much separation in survival risk in the less severe grades. A new four-tier grading based on z-scores of −1.645, −3 and −5 showed better separation of risk with hazard ratio for all-cause mortality of 2.0, 3.4 and 6.6 with increasing severity. Using GLI FVC ethnicity methodology to GLI TLco predictions removed ethnic bias and may be the best approach until relevant datasets are available.

Ethnic bias in restorative processes? An analysis of access to the police-based national Danish VOM-programme

In this article, possible ethnic bias in access to the national Danish police-based Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) programme is investigated. The analyses of this project show that the VOM personnel informants believe that ethnic minority offenders are underrepresented in this VOM programme. Also, numerous examples of essentialist views on ethnicity and culture emerge among police personnel in the interview and observation data. Yet interestingly, the national VOM participation rates in penal cases analysed for this article show that while young male ethnic minority immigrants are underrepresented in VOM some years, young male ethnic minority descendants are actually overrepresented in VOM meetings.