Social media governance: can social media companies motivate voluntary rule following behavior among their users?

Journal of Experimental Criminology - The purpose of these studies is to examine whether the procedural justice of a social media platform enforcement system for content moderation shapes...     

Die Durchsetzbarkeit des wasserwirtschaftlichen Ma?nahmenprogramms

Die europ?ische Wasserrahmenrichtlinie sieht zur Erreichung ihrer Umweltziele die Erstellung umfassender Ma?nahmenprogramme vor, die bis 2009 festzusetzen und deren Inhalte anschlie?end umzusetzen sind. Nach einem aufwendigen Planungs- und Kommunikationsprozess liegen mittlerweile zahlreiche Ma?nahmenprogramme im Entwurf vor. Damit richtet sich der Blick zunehmend auf die Frage, ob und wie die ehrgeizigen Ziele und Ma?nahmen tats?chlich realisiert werden k?nnen. Der vorliegende Aufsatz diskutiert die verfügbaren Mechanismen zur Umsetzung des Ma?nahmenprogramms und zeigt, dass dieses gegenüber dem Bürger zwar keine fl?chendeckende Verbindlichkeit beansprucht, dass jedoch namentlich im Bereich der Gew?sserunterhaltung sowie für die Erteilung und Modifikation wasserrechtlicher Genehmigungen Instrumente zur Verfügung stehen, die aus rechtlicher Sicht eine hinreichende Durchsetzbarkeit des Ma?nahmenprogramms gew?hrleisten. Dennoch ist gegenüber dem optimistischen Ziel eines in jeder Hinsicht “guten Gew?sserzustands” bis zum Jahr 2015 Skepsis angezeigt.     

‘Bad’ Boys and ‘Sad’ Girls? Examining Internalizing and Externalizing Effects on Parasuicides Among Youth

Suicide and parasuicides (i.e. suicidal ideation and suicidal attempt) have long been recognized as serious social problems, especially among youth. A series of logistic regression models were developed incorporating various internalizing and externalizing risk factors experienced by young people with the goal of predicting parasuicides among Canadian youth. The main objective of the research is to determine whether or not there are significant sex differences between these internalizing and externalizing influences on suicidal behavior. Data were used from the National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth—Waves 3 through 6, for a total sample of 2,499 15-year olds (48.9% male). Results show that both suicidal ideation and attempt are more frequent for girls compared to boys. Contrary to expectations, externalizing problems had a greater impact on girls and internalizing problems had a marginally greater impact on boys. This casts doubt on the notion that “bad boys” and “sad girls” are at greater risk for suicidal behavior. These results are discussed in light of their substantive importance, policy implications, and suggestions for future research.     

Attitudes toward the criminal legal system: Scale development and predictors

The purpose of this study was to assess attitudes toward the criminal legal system and determine how they are related to rule-violating behaviors and experiences with the criminal legal system. To this end, the Attitudes Toward the Criminal Legal System Scale (ATCLS) was developed and five studies were conducted with participants from New England, including college students, high school students, and the community. Studies 1 and 2 found support for the reliability and validity of the ATCLS, and a relation between the ATCLS and authoritarianism and belief in a just world. Study 3 examined the test–retest reliability of the ATCLS. Studies 4 and 5 were conducted primarily to uncover the relation between the ATCLS and law- or rule-related behaviors with a community and high school sample, respectively. Generally, results suggested that there were no sex differences on the ATCLS, but attitudes toward the criminal legal system might function differently for men and women with regards to authoritarianism and behavior.     

Political participation,political action and political identities: young d/deaf people's perspectives

This paper critically examines the dominant, and predominantly negative, discourses around young people's political participation, or supposed lack of it. Drawing upon contemporary debates about young people within geography, political science and sociology, it considers the ways in which a redefinition of what constitutes ‘the political’ is required if young people's engagement in political participation is to be understood fully. The paper reports on research conducted with young D/deaf people that did not intentionally set out to research their political participation, action or identi ties, but which uncovered a range of political aspects in their lives and experiences. It explores the ways in which volunteering can be defined as political action and, after de Certeau and Scott, how the use of British Sign Language can be a resistive act, a tactic or weapon of the weak. Threaded throughout the paper is a consideration of the ways in which there are complex geographies of activism at play.     

Cosleeping and sudden unexpected infant deaths in Kentucky: a 10-year retrospective case review

This retrospective case review investigates modifiable risk factors in sudden unexpected infant deaths, including those attributed to sudden infant death syndrome, and examines the impact of cosleeping with adults or siblings. The study examines sudden unexpected infant deaths from 1991 to 2000 in the state of Kentucky, excluding homicides and deaths from identifiable natural causes. Meta-analysis provides a cosleeping prevalence control in normal infants. Based on the findings described herein, we conclude that cosleeping may represent a risk factor in sudden unexpected infant deaths and that a full scene investigation, including whether the infant was cosleeping, should be sought in all cases of sudden infant death.     

Alternative direct-to-amplification cell lysis techniques for forensically relevant non-sperm cells

While efforts have been made to reduce the pervasive backlog of sexual assault evidence collection kits, the actual laboratory process remains very time-consuming due to the requirement of a differential lysis step before DNA purification, as well as intricate mixture analysis towards the end of the DNA workflow. Recently, an alternative, direct-to-amplification sperm lysis method (using 1 M NaOH) was identified. However, a direct cell lysis method for non-sperm cells has not been identified yet. Thus, the primary objective of this work was to find an alternative method that is quick, inexpensive, and does not require multiple purification steps for the lysis of non-sperm cells in sexual assault samples. In this study, vaginal swab samples were lysed with the control method, prepGEM™, as well as six alternative reagents: alkaline buffer with 25–200 mM NaOH, high-salt stain extraction buffer, modified radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) buffer, mammalian protein extraction reagent (M-PER™), digitonin buffer, and urea/thiourea buffer. Quantification using Quantifiler® Trio of vaginal and semen lysates revealed that the alkaline (25 mM NaOH) and M-PER™ methods were efficient for the lysis of vaginal epithelial cells without substantial sperm cell lysis. Following quantification, analysis of STR profiles from vaginal lysates revealed that the M-PER™ method showed promising results across all metrics examined, including the percentage of detected STR alleles, mean peak heights, peak height ratio, and interlocus balance. Thus, this method was recommended as an alternative to the traditional differential lysis method for non-sperm cells given its ability to produce amplification-ready lysates without any DNA purification step.