Social Issues & Debate Topics
The Abuse of Women—A Worldwide Issue - European Traditions, American Traditions, Abuse In Other Cultures
Domestic violence has existed in almost all societies throughout history. Its origin can be traced back centuries to the development of patriarchal and hierarchical systems of authority in which males controlled all property. In such systems, women and children were often considered to be the property of men. The growth of male-oriented societies promoted the widely accepted belief in male superio…
America Discovers New Ways to Communicate - E-mail, Instant Messaging, Voice Over Internet Protocol (voip), Mobile Phones, The Future Of Communications
In 1985 American adults typically had one phone number for the house and one for work. By 2004, many techsavvy Americans had added such alternate communications as a cell phone, a fax line, an instant messaging account, an e-mail address for business, another for home, and still another to ward off spam. Communication has undeniably been one of the central motivations behind the technical strides …
America's Families - Households, Changing Family Structure, Same-sex Partners And Families, Multigenerational Families, Military Families In Wartime
In virtually all cultures, the family is considered the basic societal unit. Because the U.S. Census Bureau provides the most comprehensive statistics available on families in America, this book uses its terms and definitions as they concern the American family. The Census Bureau conducts a nationwide population census every ten years. In addition, the Bureau gathers economic information and surve…
American Businesses - Legal Structures Of Businesses, Federal Regulation Of Business, The Role Of Small Business In A Complex Economy
From small, independent companies to international corporations, American businesses play a vital role in the functioning of the economy. The United States is often said to have a "boot strap" society, meaning that the economic opportunities provided by the country's system of government allow people to "pull themselves up by their boot straps" to succeed financi…
The American Consumer - The Rise Of The Consumer Culture, Contemporary Consumer Spending, Rising Debt, Decreasing Savings, And Stagnating Incomes
By the early twenty-first century the United States was a society driven largely by consumerism—not just economically, but socially and culturally as well. This consumer culture, which began its rise after World War II ended in 1945, reached unprecedented levels by the early 2000s, with consumer spending accounting for more than 67% of gross domestic product in 2003. Such aggressive spendin…
The American Economy—An Overview - Measuring The Economy, Defining The American Economy, The Main Components Of The American Economy, Regional And Local Economies
"The economy" is the term used to describe the system of making, distributing, and consuming material goods and services. The many facets of a country's economy include the spending habits of consumers, labor issues, employment patterns, the banking and financial industries, taxes, and the government regulation designed to help keep the economy running smoothly. There are two …
Attitudes and Behaviors of American Youth - Family Life, Spending Habits, Junk Food, Dating, Sex, Marriage, And Children - GENERAL SATISFACTION
A few national studies periodically survey the attitudes, opinions, and behavior of American teenagers on a range of topics. For example, since 1979 the University of Michigan has conducted the annual study Monitoring the Future; the study's primary focus is monitoring drug- and alcohol-related behaviors among American secondary school students, college students, and other young adults. Mar…
Casinos: An Introduction - The Historical And Current Status Of Casinos, Casino Acceptability, Casino Games, The Casino Gambler
When most people think about gambling, they think about a casino. But what is a casino? According to Merriam Webster's dictionary, a casino is a "building or room used for social amusements, specifically gambling." This definition is much broader than what the average American would consider a casino to be. Most people would picture one of the megaresorts in Las Vegas—a…
Casinos: Native American Tribal Casinos - History, Gambling Classes, Regulation, Federal Recognition, Revenues, Tribal-commercial Casino Ventures
Indian Gaming: Final Impact Analysis (2004), a report issued by the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), reported that casinos operated by Native American tribes made $16.7 billion during 2003. Commercial casinos during that same year made $27 billion, as reported by the American Gaming Association (AGA) in 2004 State of the States: The AGA Survey of Casino Entertainment. Tribal casinos, the…
Causes and Effects of Child Abuse - Some Contributing Factors To Child Abuse, The Violent Family, Abusive Mothers, Abusive Fathers, Abusive Siblings
Raising a child is not easy. Everyday stresses, strains, and sporadic upheavals in family life, coupled with the normal burdens of child care, cause most parents to feel angry at times. People who would not dream of hitting a colleague or an acquaintance when they are angry may think nothing of hitting their children. Some feel remorse after hitting a loved one; nevertheless, when they are angry, …
Challenges Change and Innovation in Health Care Delivery - Safety, Protecting Consumers From Health Care Fraud, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Information And Communication Technology
Since the 1970s the U.S. health care system has experienced rapid and unprecedented change. The sites where health care is delivered have shifted from acute inpatient hospitals to outpatient settings such as ambulatory care and surgical centers, clinics, and physicians' offices as well as long-term care and rehabilitation facilities. Patterns of disease have changed from acute infectious di…
Child Sexual Abuse - A Betrayal Of Trust, Freud, What Is Child Sexual Abuse?, How Frequent Is Abuse?
Civilian National Security Infrastructure - White House Staff, National Security Council (nsc), U.s. Department Of States
At the apex of the U.S. federal government is the Constitution. (See Figure 8.1.) The Constitution gives the job of providing for America's national security to the president and the executive branch of the government, as well as to the legislative branch (the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate). It designates the president the commander in chief of the American armed forces.…
Combating Poverty: Hope for the Future? - Poverty Improves … Or Does It?, Antipoverty Campaigns Championed By The Rich And Famous, End Of Poverty?
How effective has the international community been in combating global poverty throughout and since the twentieth century? The answers—for there are many—are varied and surprising. Some experts estimate that society is well on its way to achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which, among other things, strive to cut extreme poverty rates in half by the yea…
Comparing the New (TANF) with the Old (AFDC) - Public Opinion Polls, A Brief Background Of Afdc, Afdc-up, Federal Spending On Afdc And Tanf
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA; PL 104-193), the welfare-reform law enacted in 1996, ended the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and replaced it with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. AFDC was an entitlement program that guaranteed benefits to all recipients whose income and resources were below state-deter…
Countries of Proliferation Concern - China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, Syria
Since the end of the cold war and the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threat no longer focuses solely on two superpowers but includes a host of nations, among them China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and Syria. Figure 3.2 and Figure 3.1 (both in Chapter 3) show the countries actively involved in developing b…
Court Rulings on Firearms - Second Amendment Interpretations, Federal Court Cases, State Laws, Local Rulings, Responsibility For Handgun Deaths
The U.S. Constitution and most state constitutions guarantee the right to bear arms, but the courts have ruled that this right may be strictly controlled. Many laws and regulations have been enacted at the local, state, and federal levels to regulate firearms. When these laws have been challenged, state and federal courts have consistently upheld the right of governments to require the registratio…
Crime - Victimization Of Minorities, Minorities As Offenders, Minorities In Prisons And Jails, Gangs
Current Immigration Statistics - What Does It Cost To Get A U.s. Visa?, Foreign-born Population
To understand the scope of the immigration issue in the United States, it is important to know the number of immigrants in the country, where they came from, why they came, and why some did not get to stay. Because immigrant statistics have been the basis for legislation as well as the funding of projects, information about immigrants' ages, skills, ability to work, and location of settleme…
Domestic Terrorism - Notable Incidents Of Domestic Terrorism, The Incidence Of Domestic Terrorist Attacks And Casualties In The United States
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) divides terrorism into two distinct types: international terrorism and domestic terrorism. The FBI defines international terrorism as "the unlawful use of force or violence committed by a group or individual, who has some connection to a foreign power or whose activities transcend national boundaries, against persons or property to intimidate or coe…
Domestic Violence—The Laws and the Courts - Landmark Legal Decisions, Key Domestic Violence Legislation, Filing Charges, The Courts, Differing Responses To Stranger And Nonstranger Crime
Before the 1962 landmark case Self v. Self, when the California Supreme Court ruled that "one spouse may maintain an action against the other for battering," women had no legal recourse against abusive partners. The judicial system had tended to view wife abuse as a matter to be resolved within the family. Maintaining that "a man's home is his castle," the U.S. g…
Education - Public School Outcomes, Reforming The Public School System, Minorities And College
In The Condition of Education, 2005 (2005, http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005094.pdf), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that two factors—rising immigration and the baby boom echo—boosted public school enrollment from the latter part of the 1980s and into the first half of the 2000s, reaching an estimated 48.3 million in 2004. Enrollment is projected to contin…
The Effects of Abuse—Why Does She Stay? - Reasons To Stay, Multiple Victimization Arguments, A Larger Context, Different Perceptions Of Reality, What Can A Woman Do?
One of the most frequently asked questions about abused women is: Why do they stay? Some authors and advocates argue that the relevant questions for battered women themselves are very different. They believe that the very question implies there is something wrong with the woman for staying, rather than placing the blame where it belongs—on the batterer. Better questions, Barnett argues, mig…
the Internet Electronics and Entertainment Media - Gaming, Recorded Music, Television, Journalism And New Media
For many Americans, new technologies simply mean new toys. Nearly every advancement in consumer technology since the 1980s has in some way been tied to entertainment. Table 5.1 shows the amount of money Americans spent between 1998 and 2001 for media content, which included pay-TV subscriptions, video games, home video, and music. On average, most American adults spent $683.33 on all media in 2001…
Emerging and Transition Economies: Widening the Poverty Gap - Asia, The People's Republic Of China, India
An emerging economy is one that is moving from developing to developed (or industrial),while a transition economy is one evolving from a planned economy (meaning one controlled by the government, as in the former Soviet bloc countries) to a free market economy like those in North America and Europe. A country may be both emerging and transitional. Countries undergoing these economic shifts experie…
Factors Affecting Poverty and Welfare Use - Assistance From The Government, Family Structure Of Welfare Recipients, Divorce, Never-married Adults
Poverty is the largest single factor that drives people to apply for governmental assistance, commonly called "welfare." Many researchers agree that the major factors that create poverty are family size, family background, low educational achievement, unemployment, underemployment (for example, part-time workers who want to work full-time), low wages, and the prevailing economic cond…
Family Life and Living Arrangements - Marital Status, Teenage Pregnancy, Minority Family Structure, Homeownership
The family is regarded as the cornerstone of society in the United States. For many years, particularly when the United States was primarily an agricultural society, extended families—multiple generations living in the same household—were considered typical. As the culture became more urban and mobile, nuclear families—two parents and their children—became the American …
Firearms and Crime - Murder, Police Deaths And Injuries, Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Justifiable Homicide, Victimization
The frequency and ways in which guns are used to commit crimes is the focus of this chapter. Many of the statistics come from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the U.S. Department of Justice, which collects crime statistics through its Uniform Crime Reports program. Its annual publication Crime in the United States is a primary source for statistical information on crime. The FBI'…
Gambling in America - Types Of Legal Gambling, How Americans Gamble Their Money, Casino Gambling, Who Is Gambling?
Historically, gambling has been a popular form of recreation in North America. George Washington liked to play cards, and Benjamin Franklin printed and sold playing cards. Americans were so fond of card games that when the British Stamp Act of 1765 put a one-shilling tax on playing cards, people became extremely upset. In fact, anger about the Stamp Act and a tax on tea contributed to support for …
Gambling in America—An Overview - Historical Review, Public Opinion
What is gambling? Merriam-Webster's dictionary gives half a dozen definitions, including playing a game of chance for money and making a bet on an uncertain outcome. One definition says that gambling is staking something on a contingency. Another says that gambling is taking an action with an element of risk. Combining various terms together provides the following overall definition: Gambli…
Guns—Injuries and Fatalities - What Is Known About Firearms Injuries?, Firearm Fatalities, The Cost Of Firearm Injuries, Guns And Self-defense: The Studies
Firearm-related incidents are a leading cause of preventable injury and death, particularly among young people. Doctors Against Handgun Injury, a coalition of twelve clinical and professional medical societies, calls handgun injuries a public health problem, a political issue, and a criminal justice concern. The group contends: "While we have enough data in the area of firearm injuries to k…
Guns and Youth - Deadly Assaults, Young, Armed, And Dangerous, Reductions In Youth Firearm Violence, Students And Guns
There was a time when feuds among teenage boys might end in nothing more dangerous than a fistfight. Unfortunately, during the 1980s and 1990s young people more often turned to guns to resolve disputes. Youth gangs and school shootings dominated news headlines. The peak decade was 1983–1993, when arrests of youths for serious violent offenses surged by 70%; the number of young people who mu…
Health - Health Care, Pregnancy And Birth, Diseases And Minority Populations, Aids, Behaviors That Threaten Health
The demographic profiles of non-Hispanic African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and Alaska Natives differ considerably from those of the nonminority population. Because a high percentage of minorities live in urban areas, they are exposed to a greater number of environmental hazards, including pollution, traffic hazards, substandard and/or overcrowded h…
Health - Social Characteristics Of Minority Populations That Affect Health, Self-assessment Of Health, Pregnancy And Birth
Minority groups face particular health-care challenges in addition to those of the general population. The Office of Minority Health was created in 1985 to advocate culturally and linguistically competent services and prevention efforts for minority communities. Among their main areas of concern: …
High Tech and Daily Life - Everyday Activities And The Internet, The Home Electronics Revolution, Robots, High Tech Automobiles
Since the early 1980s, high tech has been creeping into every aspect of life, becoming as invisible in many Americans' everyday lives as running water or refrigeration. Many Americans think nothing of going online to check the weather, buy tickets, plan holidays, look for religious inspiration, or find information on hobbies from coin collecting to rock climbing. The Internet also contains …
The History of the Right to Bear Arms - An Early Precedent—militias And The Ownership Of Weapons, Early Gun Control Laws, The English Bill Of Rights
The right to bear arms has long been an American tradition. From the time colonists settled on American soil, Americans have held weapons to protect themselves. Armed citizen-soldiers won America's freedom more than two centuries ago. Partly because of this long-standing tradition, attempts to control a citizen's right to own a gun evoke strong emotions. The modern debate over gun co…
The Housing Problem - The Primary Reason For Homelessness, Housing The Poor, Habitat For Humanity, Where The Homeless Live
A home was at one time defined as a place where a family resided, but as American society changed, so did the definition of home. A home is now considered a place where one or more people live together, a private place to which they have legal right and where strangers may be excluded. It is the place where people keep their belongings and where they feel safe from the outside world. For housing t…
How Much Does the Nation Spend on Welfare? - Public Aid, State Expenditures For Social Welfare, Private Welfare Expenditures, Welfare-reform Legislation
The U.S. Social Security Administration defines social welfare expenditures as the cost of "cash benefits, services, and the administration of public programs that directly benefit individuals and families." This broad definition includes expenditures for social security (Old-Age, Survivor's, Disability, and Health Insurance, or OASDHI), health and medical programs, education,…
Immigration—Almost Four Hundred Years of American History - Coming To America, Attitudes Toward Immigrants, The First Century Of Immigration, Immigration At The Turn Of Thetwentieth Century
This chapter covers the impact of immigration and related legislation from the founding of the first American colonies through the 1970s. Immigration from the 1980s to the present follows in Chapter 2. Information for these two chapters was drawn from a variety of resources, but in particular the U.S. Census Bureau; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration; t…
Immigration Laws and Policies Since the (1980s) - The Immigratioin Reform And Controlact Of 1986 (irca), Immigration Marriage Fraudamendments Of 1986, The Immigration Act Of 1990 (immact) - BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
In "Immigration: Shaping and Reshaping America" (Population Bulletin 58, no. 2, June 2003), Philip Martin and Elizabeth Midgley point out that before the 1980s, U.S. immigration laws might have changed once in a generation, but the quickening pace of global change since 1980 brought major new immigration legislation in 1986, 1990, and 1996. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks l…
Important Names and Addresses
America's Second Harvest 35 East Wacker Dr. Suite 2000 Chicago, IL 60601 (312) 263-2303 1-800-771-2303 URL: http://www.secondharvest.org/ Association of Gospel Rescue Missions 1045 Swift St. Kansas City, MO 64116-4127 1-800-4-RESCUE FAX: (816) 471-3718 URL: http://www.agrm.org/ Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 820 First St. NE Suite 510 Washington, DC 20002 (202) 408-1080 FAX: (202) 4…
Important Names and Addresses
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) 125 Broad St., 18th Fl. New York, NY 10004-2400 (212) 549-2500 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.aclu.org American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) 918 F St. NW Washington, DC 20004-1400 (202) 216-2400 FAX: (202) 783-7853 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.aila.org American Refugee Committee 430 Oak Grove St., Ste. 204 Minneapolis, MN 55403 …
Information Technology and American Business - Information Technology Industry, The Impact Of Information Technology On American Businesses, E-commerce, It And Currency
The explosive growth of electronic and communications technologies since the 1980s was fueled in no small part by corporate America's desire to make money. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, such high-tech companies as Microsoft and Intel strove to create affordable computers, Internet technologies, cell phones, and a variety of electronics-based products for use in the office and at home. A h…
Information Technology and Government - Communicating With Government, The Federal Government And Internet Technologies, Elections And Politics, The 511 Travel Information System
Since the 1990s, government bodies in the United States at the local, state, and federal level have made a concerted effort to use the Internet and other information technologies to streamline their operations and their dealings with the public. Much of this effort has been focused on making information available via the Internet. Local and municipal governments began posting meeting minutes and a…
Insurance—Those With and Those Without - Who Was Uninsured In 2002 And 2003?, Sources Of Health Insurance, Children, Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act Of 1996
In 1798 Congress established the U.S. Marine Hospital Services for seamen. It was the first time an employer offered health insurance in the United States. Payments for hospital services were deducted from the sailors' salaries. In the twenty-first century, many factors affect the availability of health insurance, including employment, income, personal health status, and age. As a result, a…
International Comparisons of Health Care - A Comparison Of Health Care Spending, Resources, And Utilization, Overviews Of Selected Health Care Systems
International comparisons are often difficult to interpret, because definitions of terms and reliability of data as well as cultures and values differ. What is important in one society may be unimportant or even nonexistent in another. A political or human right that is important in one nation may be meaningless in a neighboring state. Evaluating the quality of health care systems is an example of…
International Terrorism - Defining Terrorism, Motivations And Trends, International Terrorism Statistics, State-sponsored Terrorism, Substate Terror Groups
On September 11, 2001, nineteen members of the al Qaeda terrorist group hijacked four U.S. commercial airliners and flew two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania. More than three thousand people were killed and thousands more injured as a result of these devastating attacks, wh…
International Trade and America's Place in the Global Economy - Balance Of Trade, Trading Partners, Trade Agreements, Nafta, The International Monetary Fund, The World Bank
World merchandise trade totaled $7.3 trillion in 2003, and trade in commercial services reached $1.8 trillion, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in International Trade Statistics 2004 (Geneva, Switzerland: World Trade Organization, 2004). Despite its economic dominance—as shown by per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Figure 3.1—the United States is only one player…
The Internet and Education - Elementary And Secondary Schools, Colleges And Universities, Distance Learning, Cheating
Knowing how to use an Internet browser has become as important a skill in modern life as knowing multiplication tables. Internet illiteracy restricts a person's access to job listings, e-mail communication, online information sources, and dozens of convenient, efficient tools that make work and life easier. Aware of this, high schools and colleges in the late 1990s increased efforts to expo…
The Internet and the Electronic Age - The History Of The Internet, The Digital Divide, The Future Of Computing And The Internet
Since the 1980s, innovations in electronics and communications technologies have utterly transformed the way in which Americans lead their lives. Computers and the Internet have dramatically reduced the time needed to complete dozens of mundane tasks, such as finding directions, searching library catalogs, or researching products. Cell phones, e-mail, and instant messaging now enable people to com…
Internet Gambling - The Internet, Internet Gambling Becomes Big Business, Online Games, Online Gamblers, The Legal Issues
Internet gambling is a relatively new phenomenon. The first gambling Web sites on the Internet launched in the mid-1990s. The new medium has since soared in popularity, particularly in the United States. Millions of Americans gamble online each year, even though the government considers the practice to be illegal. In April 2003 the U.S. Department of Justice estimated that there would be 1,800 Int…
Intimate Partner Violence Issues and Attitudes - Violence On Our Minds, The American Psychological Association Considers The Issues, Preventing Relationship Violence
Recent adoption and use of the term "intimate partner violence," instead of "wife battering," "spouse abuse," or "domestic violence," is one sign of changing views about violent relationships. Intimate partner violence describes a broader range of abusive relationships, including psychological abuse and social isolation, and acknowledges that…
the Courts The Law and the Homeless - A Law Concerning The Education Ofhomeless Children, Restrictive Ordinances, Alternative Strategies, Constitutional Rights, Homeless Court
The process of renewal and rebuilding that accompanies an influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas is called gentrification. It typically displaces earlier—and usually poorer—residents, and often destroys ethnic communities (Tom Wetzel, "What Is Gentrification?" 2004, http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/gentry.htm). While gentrification has positive…
Lotteries - Lottery History, Lottery Games, International Lottery Games, Lottery Administration, Lottery Player Demographics, Group Play
A lottery is a game of chance in which people pay for the opportunity to win prizes. All money taken in by a lottery is pooled and used to award the winners and to pay the costs of administering the lottery. The money left over is profit. Lotteries are extremely popular around the world and are legal in more than a hundred countries. In the United States all lotteries are operated by state governm…
Family Marital Status and Living Arrangements - Marital Status, Teenage Pregnancy, Minority Family Structure, Living Arrangements Of Children, Home Ownership
Regardless of their composition, families are generally regarded as a cornerstone of society. For many years, particularly when the United States was primarily an agricultural society, extended families—multiple generations living in the same household—were considered typical. As the culture became more urban and mobile, nuclear families—two parents and their children—b…
Income Money and Poverty Status - Change In Methodology, Income Differences, Poverty Status Of Minorities, Children Living In Poverty, Welfare Reform - ELDERLY POOR, GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS
Income greatly influences where people live, what they eat, how they dress, what they drive, and what schools their children can attend. How much money and income they have is usually determined by their occupation, which is often directly related to their level of education. Racial and ethnic backgrounds can play a big role in all these factors. In the years prior to and including 1973, the pover…
The Nation's Health Care System - Is The U.s. Health Care System Ailing?, The Components Of The Health Care System
When asked to describe the U.S. health care system, most Americans would probably offer a description of just a single facet of a huge, complex interaction of people, institutions, and technology. Like snapshots, each account offers an image, frozen in time, of one of the many health care providers and the settings in which medical care is delivered. Examples of these include the following: Medica…
Online Health Resources - Health Care On The Internet, Medication Online, The Medical Data Revolution
Prior to the Internet, finding the latest information on a health issue typically required access to a university or medical library and specialized knowledge of the subject. Most medical studies and information existed in expensive books and journals, which were generally written for those with formal training. The Internet gave rise to a plethora of accessible, informative Web sites that average…
Poverty in the Developing World - Latin America And The Caribbean, The Central Asian Republics, North Korea
Developing countries are those with incomes (in terms of gross domestic product, or GDP) that fall between the least developed countries and the industrialized nations. Most countries in the world can be described as "developing": neither hopelessly poor nor hopefully rich. These countries have segments of deep, absolute poverty and instances of great wealth in their populations, but…
Poverty and Violent Conflict - Categories Of Violent Conflict, Violent Conflict And Human Development, Poverty In The Most Dangerous Places On Earth
The populations of countries engaged in conflict or warfare almost always experience some degree of economic hardship. During World War II (1939–45) much of Europe was reduced to near starvation, and even the United States—which saw no military action on its own soil—imposed strict rationing of goods on its citizens. This is because during times of war financial resources that…
Preparing for Biological and Chemical Attacks - The Federal Role, Bioattack: The Dalles Incident, Critical Biological And Chemical Agents, Cities Readiness Initiative
While conventional weapons, such as explosives and firearms, remain the most likely means by which terrorists might attempt to harm U.S. civilians, the possibility of an attack involving biological or chemical weapons has increased. Many nations and terrorist groups have explored the use of such weapons on small and large scales, and many countries, including the United States, have chemical and/o…
Public Opinion About Health Care - Most Americans Believe That Access To Health Care Is A Right, Many Americans Are Concerned About Their Ability To Pay For Health Care
As with many other social issues, public opinion about health care systems, providers, plans, coverage, and benefits varies in response to a variety of personal, political, and economic forces. Personal experience, and the experience of friends, family, and community opinion leaders—trusted sources of information such as members of the clergy, prominent physicians, and local business and ci…
Public Opinion About the Internet and Information Technologies - E-mail, Cellular Phones, E-commerce, E-crime, Entertainment Media
Since the advent of the Internet, the Gallup Organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., has polled Americans about everything from their general use of computers and the Internet to the trust people place in online health-care advice. Data from a Gallup poll conducted in April 2003 revealed that 79% of Americans used a personal computer at their office, place of work, or school. A December 2…
Rape and Sexual Harassment Around the World - Purposes Of Rape, Marital Rape, Acquaintance Rape, Rape Among Lesbians And Gay Men, Sexual Harassment
Historically, because women have been viewed as the possessions of their fathers and husbands, sexual abuse of a woman has been considered a violation of a man's property rights rather than a violation of a woman's human rights. However, primarily through the efforts of women's advocacy groups worldwide, rape is no longer viewed as a violation of family honor but as an abuse a…
The Refugee Influx - Who Is A Refugee?, How Many Are Admitted?, Gaining Entry Into The United States, East Asian Refugees
Every year millions of people around the world are displaced by war, famine, civil unrest, and political unrest. Others are forced to flee their countries in order escape the risk of death and torture at the hands of persecutors. Generally, refugees are people who have been persecuted in their homeland, or have a well-founded fear of persecution there, on account of race, religion, nationality, me…
Repressed Memory Versus False Memory - The False Memory Syndrome Foundation, Studies On False Memories, Trauma And Dissociation, Betrayal Trauma Theory
In the early 1900s Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud first proposed the theory of repression, which hypothesizes that the mind can reject unpleasant ideas, desires, and memories by banishing them into the unconscious. Some clinicians believe that memory repression explains why a victim of a traumatic experience, such as childhood sexual abuse, may forget the horrible incident. Some also believe…
Resources
Many different organizations study the homeless and the poor. Notable among them for their many large studies on homelessness is the Urban Institute. This organization's ongoing studies of the homeless are among the largest and most comprehensive in the United States. Their publications were a major source of information for this volume, especially: The 1996 National Survey of Homeless Assi…
Resources
The U.S. Census Bureau collects and distributes the nation's statistics. Demographic data from the bureau include Profiles of General Demographic Characteristics and Population Projections Program (projections released periodically). The bureau also produces studies on racial and ethnic groups, including The Asian and Pacific Islander Population in the United States: March 2002 (2003), The …
Resources
The United States government provides most of the statistical information concerning immigration and naturalization. Much of the information comes from various branches of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The primary sources are the 2003 Statistical Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (Office of Immigration Statistics, Department of Homeland Security, 2003) and Yearbook of Immigration Sta…
Resources
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) publishes an annual Human Development Report, which focuses on a different development issue each year. In addition, it publishes regional and national reports on poverty and development. The UNDP is one of the main proponents of the Millennium Development Goals; each year its Human Development Reports address progress toward the MDGs. Other UN program…
Resources
The U.S. Bureau of the Census collects and distributes the nation's statistics. Demographic data from the bureau include Profiles of General Demographic Characteristics (2000), Population Projections Program (projections released periodically), Population by Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin (2000), Our Diverse Population: Race and Hispanic Origin, 2000, and Population by Age, Sex, Race, a…
Resources
The U.S. Social Security Administration publishes the quarterly Social Security Bulletin and the Annual Statistical Supplement to the Social Security Bulletin, which provide a statistical overview of major welfare programs. The Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) publishes the TANF Annual Report to Congress, which describes the Tempora…
Resources
The U.S. Department of Commerce, and, specifically, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), was invaluable in collecting the most up-to-date labor and economic data for this book. BLS publishes statistical data on wages, benefits, and income; inflation and economic indexes; employment and unemployment; industries and occupations; employment demographics; and worker healt…
Resources
The Bureau of the Census of the U.S. Department of Commerce is probably the single most important collection point for demographic information about American life. Many of its publications were essential for the preparation of this book, including: Geographic Mobility: 2002 to 2003 (2004), Fertility of American Women: 2002 (2003), Children and Households They Live In: 2000 (2004), Custodial Mother…
Resources
The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS; Washington, DC) is the primary source of national information on child maltreatment known to state child protective services (CPS) agencies. The latest findings from NCANDS are published in Child Maltreatment 2002 (2004). The most recent national incidence study, The Third National I…
Resources
The Pew Charitable Trust established the Pew Internet & American Life Project in 1999. Since then, the Pew Internet Project has conducted dozens of surveys to determine just who in America uses the Internet and how they use it. All of their publications can be found online at www.pewinternet.org. America's Online Pursuits (2003), The Internet and Daily Life (2004), and E-mail at Work…
Resources
Several resources useful to this book were published by companies and organizations within the gambling industry. Most notable are Harrah's Survey '04: Profile of the American Casino Gambler, The Vital Signs of Legalized Gaming in America, GTECH's 8th Annual National Gaming Survey (2000), 2004 State of the States: The AGA Survey of Casino Entertainment from the American Gaming…
Resources
Many government agencies in Washington, D.C., publish timely information on their programs and the American population. The U.S. Bureau of the Census publishes statistics on American life in its Current Population Reports, including Children's Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2002 (2003), Income in the United States: 2002 (2003), Fertility of American Women: June 2002 (2003), …
Resources
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) monitors alcohol, tobacco, and firearms production and regulation and is the major source of statistical and technical information on these categories. The annual Firearms State Laws and Published Ordinances provides a complete overview of firearm regulations of towns, cities, states, and the federal government. The ATF also publishes periodic pres…
Resources
Agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) collect, analyze, and publish a wide variety of health statistics that describe and measure the operation and effectiveness of the American health care system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, tracks nationwide health trends and reports its findings in several periodicals, especially its Adv…
Resources
The U.S. government provides useful nonclassified information on national security. Government sources include the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, along with such government agencies as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The U.S. Department…
Resources
The Gallup Organization provided much valuable information on public opinion for this book in a variety of subject areas. Other information about public opinion came from Harris Interactive, the Leisure Trends Group, and Roper Starch Worldwide. The U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Household Travel Survey (2001) provided extensive information on the tra…
Resources
A number of studies were conducted on domestic violence when spouse abuse first became a public issue during the 1970s and 1980s. Since that time, however, there has been little government-funded statistical research on domestic abuse. The pioneering work done at the University of New Hampshire's Family Research Laboratory in Durham, New Hampshire, has become an authoritative source of info…
Sports Gambling - Social Attitudes Toward Sports Gambling, Pari-mutuel Gambling, Legal Sports Gambling, Illegal Sports Gambling
Wagering on sporting events is one of the oldest and most popular forms of gambling in the world. The ancient Romans gambled on chariot races, animal fights, and contests between gladiators. The Romans brought sports and gambling to Britain, where they have flourished for hundreds of years. Cockfighting, bear- and bullbaiting, wrestling, and footraces were popular sporting events for gambling thro…
Spouse and What Partner Abuse—Who and When? - Definitions Of Abuse, How Much Abuse Occurs?, Who Strikes The First Blow?, Abused To Death
Although domestic violence has occurred for centuries, women have generally felt isolated, unsupported, and ashamed because of their victimization and frustrated in their attempts to deal with or escape the violence. The consciousness-raising groups that emerged during the rise of the second wave of U.S. feminism in the 1960s and 1970s provided small groups of women a place to discuss their proble…
State Constitution Articles Concerning Weapons
The Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution reads: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Alabama: That every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state. Art. I, sect. 26 (enacted 1819, Art. I, sect. 23, with "defence�…
Supply and Demand: Who Offers Gambling? Who Gambles? - Supply—gambling Opportunities And Opportunists, Demand—the Gamblers
Like any business in a capitalist society, the gambling industry is driven by the principles of supply and demand. Gambling proponents say that demand drives supply. In other words, the industry grows and spreads into new markets because the public is eager to gamble. Illegal gambling has always flourished, and opinion polls show that most Americans favor legal gambling opportunities—partic…
Technology and Crime - Fraud And The Internet, Viruses, Intellectual Property Theft, High-tech Law Enforcement
New technologies introduce new problems into a society. Those technologies that became widespread in the 1980s and 1990s were no exception. Cell phones, the Internet, computers, and other forms of digital technology have fueled epidemics in identity theft, intellectual property theft, and other crimes that most people were hardly aware of in the 1970s. Brand new crimes related to advances in infor…
The Threat of Conventional Weapons - Trade In Conventional Weapons, Small Arms Sales And The Role Of Igos And Ngos, Land Mines
Weapons are an integral part of any military. Conventional weapons of the early twenty-first century are accurate and deadly enough to destroy almost all types of military targets, including buried command centers, hardened aircraft shelters, and tanks and other armored vehicles. Challenging and combating the proliferation, or spread, of weapons that can be used against the United States and its a…
Treatment for Male Batterers - Standards For Batterer Intervention Programs, A National Study Of Batterer Intervention, Treatment Of Types Of Batterers
The first batterer intervention programs were established in the late 1970s. Activists working with battered women created the programs because they felt that real progress in reducing domestic violence required changing the behavior of batterers. Criminal justice agencies responded by referring an increasing number of batterers to intervention programs in an effort to deter further violence. Seve…
Vacations and Travel - Domestic Travel, The Nature Trail, The Lure Of Sand, Surf, And Ocean Breezes
Americans love to take vacations. Their destinations may vary from a trip to a national park for camping, fishing, boating, or hiking, to a visit to a theme park such as Disneyland. A vacation can also be a flight to Egypt, a cruise to the Virgin Islands, a romantic three-day weekend in New York, or staying home to read a book. The way Americans vacation and travel and their expectations of vacati…
Welfare Reform—The First Eight Years - Characteristics Of Those Who Leave Welfare And Those Who Remain On The Rolls, Work Participation, Employment And Earnings
Eight years after the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA; PL 104-193), welfare reform remained a hotly debated topic. In April 2003 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its fifth annual Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) report to Congress. The report showed that welfare reform has caused major changes in welf…
When Women Kill Their Partners - Spousal Murder Defendants, Factors That Influence The Murder Of Husbands By Wives, Legal Issues Surrounding Battered Women Who Kill
Women do not kill their intimate partners nearly as often as men do. The National Crime Victimization Surveys estimate that intimate partner homicide accounts for just 4% of murders of men but about one-third of the murders of women. However, when women do kill, they are most likely to kill an intimate partner or other family member. In Women Offenders, a special report from the Bureau of Justice …
Women and Children in Poverty - Global Conventions On The Rights Of Women And Children, Progress Toward International Goals, The Feminization Of Poverty
Virtually all groups that study poverty—from international organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank to small local charities—agree that the most effective way to reduce it is to improve the social, economic, and political situation of women and, by extension, children. Women's levels of health, education, and security reflect those of their families. When a mot…
