Unlikely Democrats: Economic Elite Uncertainty under Dictatorship and Support for Democratization

Influential recent scholarship assumes that authoritarian rulers act as perfect agents of economic elites, foreclosing the possibility that economic elites may at times prefer democracy absent a popular threat from below. Motivated by a puzzling set of democratic transitions, we relax this assumption and examine how elite uncertainty about dictatorship—a novel and generalizable causal mechanism impacting democratization—can induce elite support for democracy. We construct a noisy signaling model in which a potential autocrat attempts to convince economic elites that he will be a faithful partner should elites install him in power. The model generates clear predictions about how two major types of elite uncertainty—uncertainty in a potential autocratic successor's policies produced by variance in the pool of would‐be dictator types, and uncertainty in the truthfulness of policy promises made by potential autocratic successors—impact the likelihood of elite‐driven democratization. We demonstrate the model's plausibility in a series of cases of democratic transition.     

Crimes and Security

This essay considers the role that the value of security might play in criminalisation. While endorsing security as a legitimate rationale for the creation of a criminal offence, it examines some existing offences that are created or structured in a particular way for security reasons. This is done through a two‐stage analysis. Stage one considers the consequences of adopting an offence or offence definition if it was interpreted ideally and complied with perfectly. Stage two considers how we can expect the offences to operate in the real world given imperfect compliance and non‐ideal interpretation.     

The ‘informal sector’ and the political economy of development

This paper takes an initial step in integrating insights from two sets of literature which have focused on central aspects of development with unfortunate independence. It highlights politically valuable resources, which are identified in the political economy literature, and shows that the informal sector literature provides ample evidence that these resources in general are (i) scarcely available to informal entities, (ii) poorly valued in their possession, and (iii) more often collectively unexploited by them. Overall, there seems to be an important though neglected bias in how the political system in less developed countries formulates, crafts, and implements policy.     

Insider Gang Knowledge: The Case for Non-Police Gang Experts in the Courtroom

Drawing on data from surveys and interviews administered to non-police gang experts, the authors argue that police gang detectives are often erroneous in their definition of gang membership and gang-related crime. Police gang experts often mistake signs of urban youth culture for gang membership and criminal conspiracy. Evidence is presented on the ways in which knowledge about gangs is often determined by the social position of the gang expert. Former gang members and community workers may demonstrate a more nuanced and accurate knowledge of gangs than gang detectives. We see the admission of non-police gang expert testimony to the courtroom as a viable way of countering social perceptions that view aspects of gang membership and racial membership interchangeably and possibly help counter disproportionate prison sentences bestowed upon black and Latino youth.     

Bladder rupture after intentional medication overdose

We report the case of a 51-year-old woman who had a medical history of diabetes, depression with past suicide attempts, and suicidal ideation. She was found unresponsive in a motel with multiple bottles of medicines (melatonin, carisoprodol, ativan, and clonazepam) and an unopened bottle of wine. She was transported to the local hospital and treated for benzodiazepine toxicity and aspiration pneumonitis.The decedent gradually became more alert and was extubated 3 days after hospital admission. The decedent was reportedly getting up to use the restroom when she became tachypneic and diaphoretic and complained of generalized body pain. Her condition quickly declined, and she was pronounced deceased. A postmortem examination revealed an acute bladder rupture and soft tissue hemorrhage.A review of the literature reveals that isolated bladder rupture after minimal or no trauma in association with alcohol or drug ingestion is an infrequently reported, but recognized, injury. The diagnosis of bladder rupture should be considered in a patient with lower abdominal pain, even without a history of trauma. A history of voiding or bladder dysfunction should increase the suspicion for this injury. If suspected, a retrograde cystogram should be obtained promptly. Failure to consider and recognize this injury may lead to significant morbidity.     

DNA identification in mass fatality incidents

DNA identification has become an important aspect of mass fatality management as well as in other instances of difficult identification of human remains. Most large mass fatality incidents will require DNA identification. Medical examiners should prepare for such potential eventuality. Whether DNA is tested, in mass fatality incidents, DNA specimens should be obtained from remains as well as from next-of-kin for potential testing. DNA identification is neither as slow nor as expensive relative to the overall fatality management as is commonly assumed. This article sought to provide medical examiners with a framework for DNA identification in mass fatality incidents.     

Searching the Soil: Forensic Importance of Edaphic Fauna After the Removal of a Corpse

Abstract: Arthropods at different stages of development collected from human remains in an advanced stage of decomposition (following autopsy) and from the soil at the scene are reported. The corpse was found in a mixed deciduous forest of Biscay (northern Spain). Soil fauna was extracted by sieving the soil where the corpse lay and placing the remains in Berlese–Tullgren funnels. Necrophagous fauna on the human remains was dominated by the fly Piophilidae: Stearibia nigriceps (Meigen, 1826), mites Ascidae: Proctolaelaps epuraeae (Hirschmann, 1963), Laelapidae: Hypoaspis (Gaeolaelaps) aculeifer (Canestrini, 1884), and the beetle Cleridae: Necrobia rufipes (de Geer, 1775). We confirm the importance of edaphic fauna, especially if the deceased is discovered in natural environs. Related fauna may remain for days after corpse removal and reveal information related to the circumstances of death. The species Nitidulidae: Omosita depressa (Linnaeus, 1758), Acaridae: Sancassania berlesei (Michael, 1903), Ascidae: Zerconopsis remiger (Kramer, 1876) and P. epuraeae, Urodinychidae: Uroobovella pulchella (Berlese, 1904), and Macrochelidae: Glyptholaspis americana (Berlese, 1888) were recorded for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula.     

Determinants of political judgments: The joint influence of normative and heuristic rules of inference

Prior research on political judgment has been polarized, with one group emphasizing normative models of political inference and the other emphasizing heuristic models of political inference. In accordance with recent findings in psychology, this article is rooted in the assumption that both normative and heuristic criteria simultaneously influence political judgments. Furthermore, differences in the relative extent to which these two processes serve to determine political judgments are hypothesized to depend on the nature of the judgment task. Two kinds of political judgments are considered: judgments reflecting beliefs about the candidates' stands on the issues and judgments reflecting global evaluations of the candidates. The reported results confirm that (1) voters rely on both normative- and heuristic-based considerations when forming these judgments, and (2) the relative extent to which these criteria influence these judgments depends on the complexity of the judgment task.