Soil forensics: How far can soil clay analysis distinguish between soil vestiges?

Soil traces are useful as forensic evidences because they frequently adhere to individuals and objects associated with crimes and can place or discard a suspect at/from a crime scene. Soil is a mixture of organic and inorganic components and among them soil clay contains signatures that make it reliable as forensic evidence. In this study, we hypothesized that soils can be forensically distinguished through the analysis of their clay fraction alone, and that samples of the same soil type can be consistently distinguished according to the distance they were collected from each other. To test these hypotheses 16 Oxisol samples were collected at distances of between 2 m and 1.000 m, and 16 Inceptisol samples were collected at distances of between 2 m and 300 m from each other. Clay fractions were extracted from soil samples and analyzed for hyperspectral color reflectance (HSI), X-ray diffraction crystallographic (XRD), and for contents of iron oxides, kaolinite and gibbsite. The dataset was submitted to multivariate analysis and results were from 65% to 100% effective to distinguish between samples from the two soil types. Both soil types could be consistently distinguished for forensic purposes according to the distance that samples were collected from each other: 1000 m for Oxisol and 10 m for Inceptisol. Clay color and XRD analysis were the most effective techniques to distinguish clay samples, and Inceptisol samples were more easily distinguished than Oxisol samples. Soil forensics seems a promising field for soil scientists as soil clay can be useful as forensic evidence by using routine analytical techniques from soil science.     

‘Modernising’ data protection Convention 108: A safe basis for a global privacy treaty?

Proposals for the reform or ‘modernisation’ of Council of Europe Data Protection Convention 108 have now been forwarded from the Convention's Consultative Committee for consideration by the Council of Ministers. This article assesses the changes proposed, which strengthen the obligations of Parties to implement the Convention as a matter of effective practice, not just as a law on paper. It tightens most of the existing data protection principles, and adds new ones which better align the Convention with the EU Directive (and proposed Regulation). The Convention Committee will have explicit new functions including assessing candidates for accession, and periodically reviewing implementation by existing parties. However, the proposals concerning the required standard for data export limitations are in some respects ill-defined and dangerous for data subjects. The existing standard that personal data can only be exported if the recipient provides ‘adequate’ protection has been abandoned for an undefined requirement of ‘appropriate’ protection. The article situates the risk of abandoning meaningful data export restrictions in the context of the USA's push for ‘interoperability’ of very different data protection standards.     

Lawyers' perspectives on ‘what is court-connected mediation for?’

This article analyses the results of an empirical investigation into lawyers' perspectives of the goal of court-connected mediation in the Supreme Court of Tasmania, Australia. The findings of other empirical studies are drawn upon to contextualise the results. The data reveal a tendency for lawyers to emphasise settlement in accordance with the law as the main purpose of court-connected mediation. There was evidence that some lawyers maintain a competitive approach to court-connected mediation, seeking to ‘win’ for their clients with minimal regard to the other party's goals or to achieve outcomes that reflect a legal assessment of the case. However, where non-legal, satisfaction-related needs were met, many lawyers viewed such outcomes as particularly positive. A mixed range of views was revealed, with the common goals of an opportunity for settlement and a focus on law as a reference point. The findings contribute to knowledge about lawyers' understandings of ‘what is mediation for?’.     

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.     

‘Terrorism’ — Too Elusive a Term for an International Legal Definition?

Netherlands International Law Review - In recent years, counter-terrorism measures have notably reshaped the relationship between terrorist suspects and the state. In this context, the discourse...     

Victims’ motivations for reporting to the ‘fraud justice network’

ABSTRACT

It is well-established that (online) fraud has one of the lowest reporting rates across all crime categories. However, there is a large gap examining why some victims choose to report online fraud offenses. Therefore, this paper examines the under-researched group of online fraud victims who reported their crimes to authorities. Based on interviews with 80 victims across Australia, who lost at least AUD10,000 to online fraud, this paper demonstrates two motivations behind reporting: a sense of individual justice, and an altruistic notion of protecting others. The paper also highlights the negativity associated with the reporting process. The paper uses these findings to determine what can be learnt from the victims who were willing to report. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges evident in seeking to improve the confidence of victims reporting to authorities.     

‘Look into my eyes’: can an instruction to maintain eye contact facilitate lie detection?

Abstract

Traditionally, research on offender profiling has investigated the relationships between offender behaviour and offender characteristics. However, evidence about offender behaviour is not the only evidence available at a crime scene. This study extends previous collaborative research between forensic scientists and psychologists (e.g. Bond & Sheridan, Journal of Forensic Science, 52, 1122–1128, 2007) to investigate how forensic science can assist in the psychological process of offender profiling. Specifically, the potential utility of footwear impression evidence in the task of offender profiling is investigated. Using 155 domestic burglaries, the consistency and homology assumptions underlying offender profiling were tested. Evidence supportive of both assumptions is reported. A multiple regression analysis identified significant relationships between cost of footwear and employment status, age of offender, and the relative deprivation of his/her residence.     

Structuration Theory and Wrongful Imprisonment: From ‘Victimhood’ to ‘Survivorship’?

Building on existing research from a zemiological approach, this article seeks to contribute to a more ontological understanding of the production and reproduction of harms associated with wrongful imprisonment in England and Wales. Drawing from Anthony Giddens’s theory of structuration, it is argued that whilst the harms of wrongful imprisonment are both complex and devastating, victims need not be perceived as entirely passive. Rather, victims of wrongful imprisonment can be viewed as knowledgeable agents with the intrinsic capacity and agency to strategically cope with and even survive the harms that they experience. The article concludes with personal accounts by victims of wrongful imprisonment that form an identifiable ‘survivor’ discourse to highlight some of the key critical factors that are vital in helping victims of wrongful imprisonment to re-structure their lives after release.     

Can Money Symbolize Acknowledgment? How Victims’ Relatives Perceive Monetary Awards for Their Emotional Harm

Legal systems differ markedly on how they treat the emotional harm suffered by close family members of crime or accident victims. This paper reports the results of two empirical studies examining how citizens whose child, partner, or parent was killed or seriously injured as a result of violent crime or tort (secondary victims) perceive a monetary award for their own non-economic harm relating to the death or injury of their loved one. The objective of our research was to test the Dutch legislator's assumption that a (modest) monetary award for secondary victims' emotional harm can have a meaningful symbolic value by providing recognition and satisfaction. Until then, no compensation was available for such harm under Dutch law. In addition, we examined whether victims' relatives preferred standardization or individuation in determining the amount of the award, how they evaluated the amount, and the manner in which such awards might be offered. In a first quantitative survey study conducted in the Netherlands, 726 secondary victims were asked for their evaluations of such awards for the emotional harm they suffered as a result of the death or injury of their family member. We also asked our representative sample about their actual experience of the legal process in order to put their evaluations of such awards into context. In a second qualitative study, conducted in Belgium, interviews were held with 14 secondary victims who had actually received an award for their own emotional harm under Belgian law (study 2). Results suggest that secondary victims regard an award for emotional harm as a positive gesture and may interpret it as helping to satisfy relatives' psychological concerns by seeing it, for example, as an acknowledgment of loss and responsibility. Overall findings suggest that victims' relatives may be seeking acknowledgement of their emotional losses and the norm violation.     

‘What to do with the cutters?’ – Best practices for offender self-injurious behaviors

This paper addresses focal concerns regarding self-injurious behavior (SIB) in offenders, provides guidance on current best practices, and explains and challenges myths often held by correctional staff and administration regarding SIB. It is organized along the following thematic areas: (1) Behavior: SIBs within corrections are complex, challenging, and often misunderstood; (2) People: reducing rates of SIB in a correctional facility is a difficult challenge that requires collaboration; and (3) Place: the challenge of providing therapeutic and medical care within a correctional setting. Subsequently, policy implications and best practices recommendations are provided in order to better address this problematic behavior.     

Community Crime Prevention and the ‘Partnership Approach’: A Safe Community for Everyone?

If creating a safer community is merely reduced to controlling and disciplining the most vulnerable groups, their opportunities for participation and emancipation are blocked. Installing such a crime prevention model leads to the further exclusion of these groups. Starting from research that focuses on the interagency relationships within community crime prevention, this article offers a model of creating some possibilities to create a safer community on the one hand and that holds back the dynamics of social exclusion on the other. It focuses on the relations between (community oriented) welfare agencies on the one hand and police agencies on the other hand. Starting from the empirical data, two polarising models are put forward in order to analyse the evaluate this co-operation: a consensus model and a conflict model. Referring to a normative framework, it will be argued that a conflict model has to be preferred in order to develop a socially just crime prevention model.     

Governing complexity: How can the interplay of multilateral environmental agreements be harnessed for effective international market-based climate policy instruments?

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - Major new multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) have entered into force in 2016, including the Paris Agreement (PA)...     

How long after waterproofing a deck can you still isolate an ignitable liquid?

Dried, treated wood was sealed with Thompson's WaterSeal "Clear Multi-Surface Waterproofer" and exposed to outdoor, summer conditions. Sections of the sealed wood were then periodically tested and analyzed in accordance with ASTM methods. The WaterSeal contained a medium petroleum distillate (MPD) as a solvent for a wax. The treated lumber contained a background of aldehydes that could mimic a dearomatized MPD if not carefully investigated by the analyst. The MPD of the WaterSeal was detectable 14 days, but not 27 days after application with exposure to relatively hot, dry and sunny weather conditions. The test was repeated with the MPD detectable 16 days, but not 20 days after application with exposure to cooler and wetter weather conditions. The testing demonstrates the need for a thorough and complete investigation by the fire investigator and the submission of comparison samples to the laboratory.     

‘No banquet can do without liquor’: alcohol counterfeiting in the People’s Republic of China

The illegal trade in alcohol has been an empirical manifestation of organised crime with a very long history; yet, the nature of the illegal trade in alcohol has received relatively limited academic attention in recent years despite the fact that it has been linked with significant tax evasion as well as serious health problems and even deaths. The current article focuses on a specific type associated with the illegal trade in alcohol, the counterfeiting of alcohol in China. The article pays particular attention to the counterfeiting of baijiu - Chinese liquor - in mainland China. The aim of the article is to offer an account of the social organisation of the alcohol counterfeiting business in China by illustrating the counterfeiting process, the actors in the business as well as its possible embeddedness in legal practices, trades and industries. The alcohol counterfeiting business is highly reflective to the market demand and consumer needs. Alcohol counterfeiting in China is characterised primarily by independent actors many of whom are subcontracted to provide commodities and services about the counterfeiting process. The business relies on personal networks – family and extended family members, friends and acquaintances. Relationships between actors in the business are very often based on a customer-supplier relationship or a ‘business-to-business market’. The alcohol counterfeiting business in China highlights the symbiotic relationship between illegal and legal businesses.     

How Do They ‘End Up Together’? A Social Network Analysis of Self-Control,Homophily, and Adolescent Relationships

Self-control theory (Gottfredson and Hirschi 1990) argues that individuals with similar attributes tend to ‘end up together’ (i.e., homophily) because of the tendency to select friends based on self-control. Studies documenting homophily in peer groups interpret the correlation between self-control, peer delinquency, and self-reported delinquency as evidence that self-control is an influential factor in friendship formation. However, past studies are limited because they do not directly test the hypothesis that self-control influences friendship selection, nor do they account for other mechanisms that may influence decisions. As a result, it is unclear whether the correlation between individual and peer behavior is the result of selection based on self-control or alternative mechanisms. To address this gap in the literature this study employs exponential random graph modeling to test hypotheses derived from self-control theory using approximately 63,000 respondents from 59 schools from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health). In contrast to the predictions made by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), and the conclusions drawn from prior research, there is little evidence that self-control influences friendship selection. The findings are embedded in past work on the relationship between self-control and peer relationships, and implications for future research are discussed.