Section I:An Introduction to Community Sentiment -- 1. "There Ought to be a Law!": Understanding Community Sentiment.- 2.The Influence of Media and Community Sentiment on Policy Decision-Making -- 3.Methods and Measures Used in Gauging Community Sentiment -- Section II: Measuring Community Sentiment -- 4.Using Mock Jury Studies to Measure Community Sentiment toward Child Sex Abusers -- 5.Using Secondary Survey Data to Study Community Sentiment: An Example Examining Sentiment toward Income Based on Family Needs -- 6.Understanding how Individual Differences are Related to Community Sentiment toward Safe Haven Laws Using a Student Sample -- 7.Using Mail Surveys to Assess Perceptions of Law Enforcement Officers and Prosecuting Attorneys Regarding Parental Involvement Laws -- Section III: Changing Community Sentiment -- 8.Understanding Changes in Community Sentiment about Drug Use during Pregnancy using a Repeated Measures Design -- 9.Sentiment toward Same-Sex Divorce -- 10.Changing the Sentiment of those the Law Affects: Federal Marriage Promotion Programs -- 11.How Attitude Functions, Attitude Change, and Beliefs affect Community Sentiment toward the Facebook Law -- Section IV: Community Sentiment and Perceptions of Justice -- 12.Promoting Positive Perceptions of Justice by Listening to Children's Sentiment in Custody Decisions -- 13.Same-Sex Parents' Sentiment about Parenthood and the Law: Implications for Therapeutic Outcomes -- 14.Is There a Therapeutic Way to Balance Community Sentiment, Student Mental Health, and Student Safety to Address Campus-Related Violence? -- Section V: Community Sentiment and the (Sometimes Unintended) Outcomes of Legal Actions -- 15.Unintended Consequences of Policy Responses to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Civil Commitment and Community Sentiment in North Dakota -- 16.Adult Consequences for Juvenile Behavior: Does Sentencing Policy Aimed at Serious Adult Behavior Cast too Wide a Net? -- 17.An Examination of Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws: Can Community Sentiment Lead to Ineffective Laws? -- 18.Silver Alert Programs: An Exploration of Community Sentiment Regarding a Policy Solution to Address the Critical Wandering Problem in an Aging Population -- Section VI: Concluding Thoughts and Future Directions -- 19.Future Directions in the Study of Community Sentiment toward Legal Actions Affecting Children and Families.