The prediction of dangerous and/or violent behavior is particularly important to the conduct of the U.S. criminal justice system when it makes decisions about restrictions of personal freedom, such as preventive detention, forensic commitment, parole, and in some states such as Texas, when to permit an execution to proceed of an individual found…

Driving while intoxicated (DWI) courts have recently gained traction as a potential solution to the problem of repeat DWI offending. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of peer-reviewed studies that have examined their effectiveness. Thus, the current study compared DWI court graduates to a group of similar offenders who completed probation.…

This article reports on a review of the literature comparing the outcomes of social workers with those of non-social workers. The review was commissioned by NASW's Texas Chapter to examine empirical evidence regarding the comparative effectiveness of social work to possibly support efforts to educate employers and the public about the value of…

Women often enter judiciary positions through the trial courts, particularly county courts, because they see these courts as a stepping-stone to higher judicial office. As the eligibility pool of experienced female Hispanic lawyers expands, Hispanic women are increasingly taking seats on trial court benches. What political and demographic shifts…

Legislative change, ethical dilemmas, and client management issues were all faced by social work students in a recent effort to impact guardianship in the State of Texas. Since the mid-1990s, Texas had been without a statewide system to provide guardianship services. In 2004 a group of social work students, law students, faculty, guardianship…

Born out of one legal battle over affirmative action, the Texas college-admissions policy known as the "top 10 percent plan" is now at the center of another. The University of Texas at Austin is being challenged in U.S. District Court over its 2004 decision to return to using race-conscious admissions criteria after years without them.…

Presents challenges to knowledge management revealed in a 1998 study of county judges and clerks in rural Texas courts. Proposes a model for integration of knowledge management work practices in local courts into large-scale state information systems. This model emphasizes the need for a holistic, well-integrated view of local practitioners' work…

Women arrested for intimate partner violence raise challenges for those working in domestic violence programs. Theoretically, there is no agreement about whether women are aggressive for the same reasons as men or merely victims fighting back in an abusive relationship. Practically, there is very little research to guide treatment of this…

Each month, "Curriculum Review" offers teachers mutual support, the sharing of ideas, and words of encouragement to help them face challenges in the classroom. The February 2005 issue of "Curriculum Review" contains the following articles: (1) "Inspiring Words for Educators"; (2) "We Hear from Readers"; (3)…