Capriciousness or Fairness?

Abstract

Previous research on capital sentencing have discovered quantitative proof of discrimination, especially by race of the victim. The present study examines prosecutorial decision making in Kentucky. Using a method of analysis developed by Berk et al., it seeks to determine the level of capriciousness (uncertainty) present in the prosecutorial decision to seek the death penalty. Kentucky prosecutors were most likely to seek the death penalty in cases where black offenders killed white victims.     

Judges or Comrades?

Not long ago I had occasion to be present at a meeting of the comrades' court of Housing Operation Office No. 16 of Moscow's Bauman District. A statement by Citizeness Kh-va accusing the M-v couple of unseemly behavior ("They curse, threaten, put garbage in the soup…") was being considered. M-v is a young scholar — an art specialist. I am his research director, and naturally I am not at all indifferent to how he conducts himself in his home life.     

Arsenic poisoning: acute or chronic? Suicide or murder?

The case of the death by arsenic poisoning of a 62-year-old white man is presented. One year prior to death, he developed intermittent bouts of severe gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhea, hyperpigmentation and keratosis of the skin, neutropenia, and Guillain-Barré-like neuropathy for which he was hospitalized several times. Urine test results 6 months prior to death indicating 36 mg/L arsenic were believed to be in error. At the patient's last admission, he appeared in the emergency room with severe gastroenteritis, hypotension, and dehydration. He died 3 days later. Antemortem as well as autopsy specimens revealed elevated arsenic concentrations. Arsenic micrograms/g analysis by neutron activation of hair pulled from the man's head revealed by centimeter segmental analysis proximal to distal: 226, 104, 28, 56, 41, 40, and 74. The wife of the decedent was charged with murder by arsenic poisoning of this, her fifth, husband. The defense alleged that the decedent had committed suicide. The judge awarded a directed verdict of "not guilty." Particulars of the medical, toxicological, and investigative findings are presented.     

Privatisation or Competition?

Market competition is essential for any economy to be efficient. In order to develop competition in a transition economy, it is conventionally thought that privatisation should take place first. This wisdom has been challenged by the Chinese reform experience of the last two decades, which modified the incentive structure of state enterprises and created markets and market competition in the absence of large scale privatisation. China's experience, however, raises the question of whether its chosen type of reform is sufficient to promote competition in a market dominated by public firms. To answer this, we need to know what kind of markets were created – regional markets closed to trade or unified markets with easy access – and whether or not improved incentives for state firms have led to competition. This paper investigates these questions on the basis of a survey of both theory and empirical evidence; and finds that the Chinese reform policies did succeed in stimulating competition among state firms.     

Is China a safe haven for Asian Tigers?

This paper presents a number of noteworthy innovations that can be used to test the hedge and safe haven properties of Chinese stocks against stocks from four East Asian countries commonly referred to as the Asian Tigers. First and foremost, the hedge property of Chinese stocks was tested at different frequencies. Secondly, based on assertions of the Fractal Market Hypothesis, for the first time (to the best of our knowledge), turbulent periods in stock markets were identified by estimating the wavelet power spectra of stock returns. Thirdly, the safe haven property of stocks was analysed by estimating their coherence and phase angle during the identified turbulent periods. It is inferred that Chinese stocks can be used as both a weak hedge as well as weak safe haven against stocks of the Asian Tigers.     

Global War on Girls? Policing Girls’ Sexuality and Criminalizing Their Victimization

This article briefly explores the disconnect between the global discourse on girls’ issues, which really focuses on girls’ rights, and most particularly their right to be free from victimization, and the American focus on girls, which is far more concerned with bad or violent girls. Specifically, the article reviews the increase in girls’ arrests in the United States for offenses like simple assault and the concomitant increase in girls’ share of juvenile court populations. Arguing that the maltreatment of girls is at the heart of such a shift, the article reviews current data on the prominence of cross-over or dual status youth (youth who have experienced both victimization and criminalization) in the female court population. Presenting evidence that the failure to protect American girls from harm is related to these patterns, the article concludes with a gender-responsive program that focuses on reducing harm to girls so as to prevent their future delinquency.     

How Strong Is Public Support for the Death Penalty in Singapore?

Singapore is well known internationally for its uncompromising stance towards law and order and its use of the death penalty in particular for murder and drug trafficking. Until 2012, it was one of the few countries in the world where the death penalty was mandatory for persons convicted of these two crimes. The law was amended in 2012 to give a judge the choice to impose the death penalty or life imprisonment (with caning) for non-intentional murder and drug trafficking in some situations. What do Singaporeans think of the use of the death penalty in their own country? This article reports on some findings of a survey conducted in 2016 on 1500 Singaporeans to assess their knowledge and support of the death penalty.