This article considers the nature of silence in UK asylum cases involving lesbian and gay claimants, asking whether the ambiguous and textured quality of silence can be a productive site of resistance, or whether the effect of silence perpetuates the problematic conceptualization of the refugee as a subjugated actor whose voice is muted within a hearing. The article discusses silence in light of the formal provisions of the Refugee Convention and evidentiary necessities around proof of an objective/subjective fear of persecution, questioning the impact silence has on the rendering of testimony and whether it is detrimental to an asylum claim. The equivocal nature of silence imparts a vulnerability to interpretation, rendering it subject to the imposition of unsolicited meaning. Silence's indeterminacy, it is suggested, should give pause to the court to proceed in a manner that invokes caution around such inference.

This study explores the service needs of adolescent children of prisoners by collecting information directly from the youth. The conceptual and empirical literature focused on children of prisoners generally attempts to describe or understand the effects of parental incarceration on prisoners' offspring but frequently fails to include data gathered directly from youth or include their voices in the litany of suggested programs and services. This study employed concept mapping technology to investigate the service needs of 14 adolescent children of prisoners living in an urban city in the Midwest. The findings revealed perceptions of unmet physical, emotional, psychological, and social needs divided into six thematic clusters. The findings also suggest that a single-service focus such as mentoring or tutoring may fail to meet the multiple and varied needs that these youth identified, especially those related to basic care such as food and clothing. Participants were asked to rate the themes on importance, and data suggest a high level of consistency between young women and young men. Strength-based solutions were then identified from the data to meet the needs of these youth.

Although some racial inequalities have lessened in the half-century since the passage of the first major civil rights legislation, the racial wealth gap remains and in recent years seems to be widening. Households with children are the least likely to be asset secure or have sufficient resources to enable investment in opportunities for mobility. Viewing inequality from this perspective indicates that what households are able to save and invest for the future might have a more lasting impact on the life chances of children than their current income and consumption. Summarizing data from the Saving for Education, Entrepreneurship, and Downpayment (SEED) Initiative, a quasi-experimental study that is part of a national demonstration of Child Development Accounts (CDAs) in the United States, this paper describes how African-American households engage with one important investment opportunity – college savings accounts for their pre-school children. Combining account monitoring, survey, interview and focus group data, we explore the reasons that many households chose not to open accounts or invest their own money. We offer suggestions for making asset development programs viable for low-income African-American families and their children.

As the numbers of women entering prison are increasing, more attention is being paid to the social circumstances of criminally involved women. Crime research has highlighted the familial roles of women more than men, focusing on the social and personal roles of women. This study examines a cross-sectional sample of 423 women in one state, assessing the associations of motherhood and intimate partnership with criminal activity. The study finds that criminal activity, particularly economic crime, is highly related to motherhood. Economic crime is predicted by having a higher number of young children, while both economic and violent crimes are predicted by a woman's history of victimization; marriage does not reduce these risks. ABSTRACT Existing studies indicate that inmates' families are an important source of deterrence to continued criminal offending and recidivism (Covington, 2003;Hairston, 1998Hairston, , 1991Richie, 2001). Findings from Slaught's (1999) study also found that family relationships have a strong positive influence on recovery from addictions and alcohol and on drug relapse prevention among parolees. A meta-analysis of the research on best practices with women offenders, completed by Dowden and Andrews (1999), identified family process variables, including concepts such as affection, to be strong predictors of postincarceration success for women.Recent research, however, indicates that family relationships, specifically motherhood and marriage, may have less than positive influences on the lives of some women offenders. A better understanding of the interplay between those relationships and criminal behavior of women will enable us to identify ways to help women reduce behaviors that put them at risk of arrest and incarceration and stem the rising tide of incarcerated women.

This article describes a mixed-methods, concept mapping study in an urban family drug court (FDC) designed to identify keys to FDC success from stakeholders' perspectives. Participating FDC team members and clients developed a set of items they deemed integral to an FDC, thematically clustered the items, and then rated their relative importance. Using these data, cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling generated 6 themes perceived as contributing to positive outcomes. Resultant concept maps revealed that, compared to team members, clients view relational aspects of the FDC as more important. The findings point to implications for future research and social work practice.