Worrying about terrorism and other acute environmental health hazard events

Using residents' worries about technology as a way of resolving environmental remediation dilemmas

The choice of technologies used to remediate contaminated environments are increasingly made via engagement with affected local residents. Despite this, little is known about how residents perceive remediation technology applications. Building on the findings of broader technology worry research, and drawing on data from a telephone survey of 2009 residents living near thirteen contaminated sites in Australia, regression analysis of closed-ended survey questions and coding analysis of open-ended survey questions are combined to identify the main predictors of worries concerning particular remediation technologies, and how worry affects them. This suggests respondents are more worried about the application of chemical remediation technologies than the application of physical and thermal technologies, which in turn caused more worry than the application of biotechnology. The paper suggests that these worries can be reduced via direct engagement with residents about remediation technologies, suggesting that such engagement can provide knowledge that improves remediation technology decisions.

Public Knowledge and Use of Sexual Offender Internet Registries: Results From a Random Digit Dialing Telephone Survey

The present study examines public knowledge and use of a sexual offender Internet registry in New Jersey. A 20-item random digit dial telephone survey of 1,016 New Jersey residents was completed to determine public awareness and use of the New Jersey Sex Offender Internet Registry (NJSOIR). Approximately 51% of respondents reported knowledge of the NJSOIR, while 17% had accessed the site. Of those who accessed the site, 68% took some preventive measure based on the information they obtained. Logistic regression analyses demonstrate that ethnicity, education, and Internet access were associated with residents' knowledge of the NJSOIR, while sex, race, education, being the parent/caregiver of a child below 18 years of age, and access to the Internet were associated with respondents' likelihood to visit the registry website. These results suggest that an intervention that will increase public awareness of sex offender registries and provide specific preventive measures the public can take is needed.