This article addresses a key question in debates around judicial diversity: what evidence is there that a more diverse judiciary will make a difference to substantive decision-making? The article begins by outlining the range of arguments for a more diverse judiciary which include, but are not confined to, making a difference to substantive decision-making. It then turns to consider the considerable evidence which now exists both to refute and to support the existence of substantive differences in decision-making following the appointment to the judiciary of women and others from non-traditional backgrounds. On the basis of this evidence, it draws conclusions as to the kinds of differences in decision-making which might be expected, and the circumstances under which different approaches to decision-making are likely to flourish.

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Families of premature and ill newborns admitted to a regional newborn intensive care unit were studied prospectively to assess the incidence of reported child abuse and neglect. Of the 255 infants discharged to their parents, ten were subseqtiently reported as victims of maltreatment during the first year of life. The high incidence of maltreatment (3.9%) in these Prelnatttre and ill newborns supports the findings of retrospective studies that there is an increased risk of maltreatment in these special infants. Thirteen family psychosocial characteristics, assessed by admission interview, showed significant association with later maltreatment. These family characteristics included social isolation, a family history of child abuse and neglect, serious marital problems, inadequate child care arrangements, apathetic and dependent personality styles, and inadequate child spacing. Maltreated infants were less mature at birth and had more congenital defects than their nursery mates. There was also less family-infant contact during the prolonged nursery hospitalization in families in which maltreatment eventually occurred.

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