Showing 1 – 2 of 2 results.
Curated
Controlling Victimization in Schools: Effective Discipline and Control Strategies in a County in Ohio, 1994 (ICPSR 2587)
Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: United States, Ohio
Time period: 1994-01-01--1994-12-31
The purpose of this study was to gather evidence on the relationship between discipline and the control of victimization in schools and to investigate the effectiveness of humanistic versus coercive disciplinary measures. Survey data were obtained from students, teachers, and principals in each of the 44 junior and senior high schools in a county in Ohio that agreed to participate in the study. The data represent roughly a six-month time frame. Students in grades 7 through 12 were anonymously surveyed in February 1994. The Student Survey (Part 1) was randomly distributed to approximately half of the students in all classrooms in each school. The other half of the students received a different survey that focused on drug use among students (not available with this collection). The teacher (Part 2) and principal (Part 3) surveys were completed at the same time as the student survey. The principal survey included both closed-ended and open-ended questions, while all questions on the student and teacher surveys were closed-ended, with a finite set of answers from which to choose. The three questionnaires were designed to gather respondent demographics, perceptions about school discipline and control, information about weapons and gangs in the school, and perceptions about school crime, including personal victimization and responses to victimization. All three surveys asked whether the school had a student court and, if so, what sanctions could be imposed by the student court for various forms of student misconduct. The student survey and teacher surveys also asked about the availability at school of various controlled drugs. The student survey elicited information about the student's fear of crime in the school and on the way to and from school, avoidance behaviors, and possession of weapons for protection. Data were also obtained from the principals on each school's suspension/expulsion rate, the number and type of security guards and/or devices used within the school, and other school safety measures. In addition to the surveys, census data were acquired for a one-quarter-mile radius around each participating school's campus, providing population demographics, educational attainment, employment status, marital status, income levels, and area housing information. Also, arrest statistics for six separate crimes (personal crime, property crime, simple assault, disorderly conduct, drug/alcohol offenses, and weapons offenses) for the reporting district in which each school was located were obtained from local police departments. Finally, the quality of the immediate neighborhood was assessed by means of a "windshield" survey in which the researchers conducted a visual inventory of various neighborhood characteristics: type and quality of housing in the area, types of businesses, presence of graffiti and gang graffiti, number of abandoned cars, and the number and perceived age of pedestrians and people loitering in the area. These contextual data are also contained in Part 3.
Curated
Impact of Oleoresin Capsicum Spray on Respiratory Function in Human Subjects in the Sitting and Prone Maximal Restraint Positions in San Diego County, 1998 (ICPSR 2961)
Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: San Diego, United States, California
Time period: 1998-01-01--1998-12-31
Oleoresin capsicum (OC), or pepper spray, has gained wide acceptance as standard police equipment in law enforcement as a swift and effective method to subdue violent, dangerous suspects in the field. As a use-of-force method, however, OC spray has been alleged in the media to have been associated with a number of in-custody deaths. The goal of this study was to assess the safety of a commercially available OC spray in use by law enforcement agencies nationwide. The study was conducted as a randomized, cross-over, controlled trial on volunteer human subjects recruited from the local law enforcement training academy in San Diego County, California. Subjects participated in four different experimental trials in random order over two separate days in a pulmonary function testing laboratory: (a) placebo spray exposure followed by sitting position, (b) placebo spray exposure followed by restraint position, (c) OC spray exposure followed by sitting position, and (d) OC spray exposure followed by restraint position. Prior to participation, subjects completed a short questionnaire regarding their health status, history of lung disease and asthma, smoking history, medication use, and respiratory inhaler medication use. Prior to exposure, subjects also underwent a brief screening spirometry in the sitting position by means of a portable spirometry device to determine baseline pulmonary function. Subjects then placed their heads in a 5' x 3' x 3' exposure box that allowed their faces to be exposed to the spray. A one-second spray was delivered into the box from the end opposite the subject (approximately five feet away). Subjects remained in the box for five seconds after the spray was delivered. During this time, subjects underwent impedance monitoring to assess whether inhalation of the OC or placebo spray had occurred. After this exposure period, subjects were placed in either the sitting or prone maximal restraint position. Subjects remained in these positions for ten minutes. Repeat spirometric measurements were performed, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, end-tidal carbon dioxide levels, and pulse rate were recorded, and an arterial blood sample was drawn. A total of 34 subjects completed the study, comprising 128 separate analyzable study trials. Variables provided in all three parts of this collection include subject's age, gender, ethnicity, height, weight, body mass index, past medical history, tobacco use history, and history of medication use, as well as OC spray or placebo exposure and sitting or restraint position during the trial. Part 1 also includes tidal volume, respiratory rate, and heart rate at baseline and at 1, 5, 7, and 9 minutes, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure at baseline and at 3, 6, and 9 minutes. Additional variables in Part 2 include predicted forced vital capacity and predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second, and the same measures at baseline, 1.5 minutes, and 10 minutes. Derived variables include percent predicted and mean percent predicted values involving the above variables. Part 3 also provides end-tidal carbon dioxide and oxygenation levels, oxygen saturation, oxygen consumption at baseline and at 1, 5, 7, and 9 minutes, blood pH, partial pressure of oxygen, and partial pressure of carbon dioxide at 8 minutes.