The Athenian economy in the age of Demosthenes: path dependence and change

In this paper, we formulate for the first time the Persian–Athenian conflict of the fifth century as a signaling game. A specific approach to path dependence and regime change is presented. Following the successful outcome for Athens, it was transformed into a seapower. This again resulted in the fourth century into an unparalleled change of the Athenian economy, which shows a number of characteristics that makes us call it the first “modern” economy. We analyze the sectorial structure of the Athenian economy, its trade pattern, contribution to employment/GDP, tax system, banking and services and the emergence of new organization forms like private banks, joint-stock companies and offshore services.     

An outcome evaluation of a restorative justice alternative to incarceration

Restorative justice has become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional applications of criminal justice. The emphasis on victim needs and the personalizing of conflict resolution offers an attractive choice for those dissatisfied with the adversarial, impersonal, and retributive focus of the present criminal justice system. Many evaluations of restorative justice programs, especially those with a diversion goal, have rarely controlled for the possibility of net widening and the influence of offender risk on recidivism. This evaluation examined a prison diversion program that followed restorative justice principles. Using a matched comparison group and controlling for offender risk, the program demonstrated a diversion effect and a significant reduction in offender recidivism. The results are encouraging for jurisdictions experimenting with this new approach to justice and seeking a more integrated role for victims in criminal justice processing.     

No change is a good change? Restrictive deterrence in illegal drug markets

Purpose

This study applies the concept of restrictive deterrence to a sample of drug market offenders. In particular, we assess the influence of behavioral changes post-arrest on time to rearrest.

Methods

The sample consists of arrest data on all drug offences in South Australia from the start of 2000 to the end of 2007 (n = 26819). Cox proportional hazard models are used to conduct survival analyses. Supplementary models focus on those repeatedly arrested for cannabis cultivation to assess the influence of adjusting amounts of drugs on time to rearrest.

Results

Changing behaviors is related to more rapid rearrest. Switching offense location, drug seriousness, and charge seriousness are all risk factors. However, among offenders repeatedly arrested for cannabis cultivation, changing location and increasing the number of plants they grow is related to a longer period before rearrest.

Conclusions

Offenders that change their drug market behavior after being arrested appear to be placing themselves in situations in which they are more likely to fail due to the dangers of breaking into an unfamiliar market or offense pattern. Offenders with the longest post-arrest survival seem to be those that maintain their overall pattern of behavior while implementing subtle arrest avoidance techniques.     

Class and crime in war-time: Lessons of the American Vietnam war resistance in Canada

Class circumstances follow from as well as causally precede crime, and therelationship between class and crime is highly contingent. This tangled webof causation makes it challenging to meaningfully study links between classand crime. I propose that this tangled causal web can be better understoodif we direct more research to distinctive class settings in which particularkinds of crime occur. This implies directing more research attention to nonrepresentative samples that derive from nonrepresentativesettings, with the goal of increasing our leverage over theoreticallycontingent, class-connected contextual variables. This unconventionalresearch agenda is illustrated through an analysis of the lives of Americanswho resisted the draft and military service in Vietnam by ``dodging' and``deserting' military service and migrating to Canada, a new setting wherethese selective service and military ``criminals' were transformed by theiradopted nation's immigration policy into ``New Canadians' and unexpectedsymbols of Canadian sovereignty.     

Theoretical and legal issues related to choice blindness for voices

Purpose. To examine whether choice blindness occurs for auditory stimuli, namely voices. Methods. One hundred participants listened to three pairs of voices and had to decide each time which one they found more sympathetic or sounded more criminal. After they made a choice, participants were presented with the chosen voice again and had to match it to a face. However, during the second trial, participants were actually presented with the voice they had previously not chosen. Results. Only 19% of the participants detected this change concurrently, an additional 10% detected it retrospectively. This indicates that choice blindness transfers to auditory stimuli. Whether participants had previously evaluated sympathy or criminality of the voices had no effect on choice blindness. Conclusions. The study shows that choice blindness is a robust phenomenon that can also be elicited when auditory stimuli are employed. Implications for earwitness testimony and expert witnesses in the context of forensic speech analysis are discussed.     

Private Military and Security Companies and the Liberal Conception of Violence

Abstract

The institution of war is the broad framework of rules, norms, and organizations dedicated to the prevention, prosecution, and resolution of violent conflict between political entities. Important parts of that institution consist of the accountability arrangements that hold between armed forces, the political leaders who oversee and direct the use of those forces, and the people in whose name the leaders act and from whose ranks the members of the armed forces are drawn. Like other parts of the institution, these arrangements are responsive to changes in military technology and needs, to geopolitical facts, and to moral and political norms. In particular, they are sensitive to the forms that military organization takes. Since the emergence of modern states in Europe some 500 years ago, there have been three main such forms: private providers—in the form of mercenaries, in early modern Europe—then professional standing armies, which in turn developed into citizen armies. Although elements of the three organizations have coexisted in many armies, the citizen army model has dominated until recently. That model brought with it a particular conception of the accountability relations between the army, the state, and the people. The state had authority over and directed the army, which was accountable to it. In turn the state was accountable for its use of the army to the people, on whose behalf it acted.

The dominance of state authority over the military is now under strain, with the professional and private elements—in the form of private military and security companies (PMSCs)—having increasing importance. As those elements increase in power and presence, so it becomes more difficult to make the state accountable to the people for its use of the military, and more difficult for the people to act as a restraining force on the way in which the military used.

In this essay, I outline and assess these developments—with particular emphasis on the emergence of PMSCs—in the light of a liberal view of (political) violence. The essay focuses on the situation in the United States, which possesses by far the most important military force in the world today, and in which the use of PMSCs is most developed. The paper has three main sections and a brief conclusion: the first section sketches the liberal view of violence and its implications for organizations dedicated to its use; the second outlines the salient characteristics of the three historically dominant forms of armies; and the third looks at the current situation in which the three forms coexist uneasily.     

The influence of forensic evidence on the case outcomes of homicide incidents

Objective

In spite of the growth of forensic science services little published research exists related to the impact of forensic evidence on criminal case outcomes. The present study focused on the influence of forensic evidence on the case processing of homicide incidents.

Materials and Methods

The study utilized a prospective analysis of official record data that followed homicide cases in five jurisdictions from the time of police incident report to final criminal disposition.

Results

The results showed that most homicides went unsolved (34.5% conviction rate). Only 55.5% of the 400 homicide incidents resulted in arrest of which 77% were referred to the district attorney. On the other hand, 94% of cases referred to the district attorney were charged. Cases were more likely to have arrests, referrals, and charges when witnesses provided information to the police. Suspects who knew their victims were more likely to be arrested and referred to the district attorney. Homicides committed with firearms were less likely to be cleared. The most noteworthy finding was that none of the forensic evidence variables significantly influenced criminal justice outcomes.

Conclusions

The study results suggest that forensic evidence is auxiliary and non-determinative for homicide cases.     

University student beliefs about sexual violence in prison: rape myth acceptance,punitiveness, and empathy

Abstract

The public desires more punitive sentencing for sex offenders; however, treatment has been shown to be most effective in increasing public safety. It has been suggested that public education about the benefits of sex offender treatment could influence public policy. The purpose of this study was to determine if a brief psychoeducational intervention could influence individuals’ attitudes towards the treatment of sex offenders. Overall, findings showed that a psychoeducational intervention can affect subsequent attitudes; furthermore, the nature of the intervention will be significant in determining the level of attitude change.     

IT-related Crime – Old Crimes in a New Guise,But New Directions Too!

This article constitutes an attempt to describe the nature of IT-related crime and how it is likely to evolve in the future. By means of a number of empirical studies, the authors have attempted to estimate the prevalence of a number of different IT-related incidents and offences in Sweden during the period 1997-1998. The article shows that IT-related crime consists to a large extent of less serious offences. One might say that everyday crime has expanded into a new technological environment. Parts of the study nonetheless indicate that there are more serious IT-related offences being committed. In this regard the authors' focus is on offences related to the most valuable commodity in modern society, information. On the basis of the empirical studies, two different developmental patterns are identified; the first of these involves everything carrying on much the same as before, with no real evidence of any radical shift taking place; the second involves society going through a period of relatively comprehensive structural and technological change, which in turn is creating new and dangerous opportunity structures for crime.     

Crafting public security: demilitarisation,penal state reform and security policy-making in post-authoritarian Chile

ABSTRACT

Here I dissect the institutionalisation of ‘citizen security’ as a category and sector of public policy in post-authoritarian Chile. Deploying a Bourdieusian field theory approach and questioning narratives of security policies as responses to criminality or adaptations to democratic values, I argue that the construction of a new security policy sector – with a new consensus (distinct from that of National Security), with reformed police and courts in its core, leaving aside the military and extending beyond traditional agencies – derives from (i) struggles over policing and criminal justice reforms, (ii) tensions between the military and democratic authorities in democracy and (iii) performative integrations of the new policy components. These mechanisms explain the evolution of the security problem and the progressive aggregation of bureaucratic agencies and methods to the ‘public security policy’ – policing, judiciary, urban design, prisons and prevention plans. I close discussing alternative accounts of institutional variations in security governance in the region.     

Governing crime and violence in Latin America

ABSTRACT

The last two decades turned Latin America into one of the most violent regions in the world. While previously, violence in the region has predominantly been associated with state repression and military dictatorships, the “new violence” that emerged since the mid-1990s is predominantly criminal. Related research has been mostly problem-driven, implying that the focus has been on how to improve security governance in the region. The multiple ways in which governance itself is both shaped by as well as contributing to the pervasiveness of this “new violence,” has remained uncharted. This article offers an analytical framework, inspired by the literature on governance, for assessing this issue. To this end, it highlights different modes and instances of governance with, by, and through crime (and violence) in the region. In doing so, the article offers a contextualization for this special issue as well as an overarching analytical framework for the individual contributions.     

从使用武力法看保护的责任理论

保护的责任是21世纪初国际上出现的新理论。将该理论中的军事干涉因素与《联合国宪章》关于使用武力的规定进行比较,观察近10年来国际社会的有关实践,可以认为该理论并未在国际法上改变现行的使用武力法规则,国际社会对该理论中军事干涉问题并未形成共识。现阶段对以军事手段实施保护责任应持谨慎态度。     

“Censorship liberally administered”: Press,U.S. military relations in the Spanish‐American War

This study is a reappraisal of press censorship during the Spanish‐American War of 1898. The accounts of censors and correspondents written during or shortly after the war are compared to answer three questions: How did the censorship system work? What factors caused its effectiveness to vary? How did the press respond? The study argues that the war's most effective censors were the correspondents, who mostly competed for stories that did not pose risks to military security. The conflicting priorities of military and political leaders often blocked the censors, who reviewed newspaper dispatches as much to gain information as to protect secrets.     

Recent life events and subjective well-being of personality disordered forensic outpatients

PurposeThe majority of patients treated at forensic psychiatric outpatient facilities suffer from personality disorders, especially Cluster B disorders. Life events have been shown to influence subjective well-being, severity of psychopathology and delinquent behaviour of patients with different personality disorders. However, the influence of life events on subjective well-being of patients suffering from Cluster B personality disorders has rarely been studied. Following General Strain Theory and the dynamic equilibrium model, we hypothesised that negative life events would negatively influence subjective well-being, and that subjective well-being would change when an instability of life events occurs.MethodsFifty-six adult male forensic psychiatric outpatients were interviewed on their subjective well-being and filled out a self-report life event questionnaire, at three time-points, with an interval of three months. Life events were categorized along two dimensions: positive / negative and controllable / uncontrollable.ResultsPatients had a stable pattern of positive, negative controllable and uncontrollable life events. Positive controllable events did not have a stable pattern. Results indicated that only negative controllable events correlated negatively with subjective well-being. Furthermore, positive and positive controllable events correlated with a positive change in subjective well-being and uncontrollable events correlated negatively with this change.ConclusionsForensic psychiatric outpatients seem to experience a relatively stable ‘load’ of stressful life events, that does not influence change in subjective well-being. We did not find unequivocal support for General Strain Theory. In line with the dynamic equilibrium model, forensic outpatients seemed less used to positive controllable life events, which influenced positive change in subjective well-being. In outpatient forensic treatment, attempts to limit negative life events together with enhancing behaviour which results in positive events should be targeted. This might result in better lives for patients and in reduced criminal behaviour.     

The impact of culture on acceptance of soft drugs across Europe

Purpose

This paper applies Welzel and Inglehart's new human development/modernization theory to explain variation of tolerance in soft drug taking. It hypothesizes that tolerance of illegal drugs is linked to the human development and strength of a general cultural axis of nations: survivalism vs. self-expressionism.

Methods

Data are from the fourth wave of the World Values Surveys and from the United Nations’ Human Development Report 2001. Using Hierarchical Generalized Linear Regression (HGLM), this study examines variation of tolerance in soft drugs in 30 European nations with 38,719 respondents.

Results

Results support the hypothesis that residents from nations with higher levels of human development and with higher self-expressionist scores are more tolerant of soft drug use than residents in nations with lower human development levels and lower self-expressionist scores.

Conclusions

Our findings point to the troublesome relationship between cosmopolitan culture characteristic of liberal democracy and soft drug tolerance. As liberal democracy empowers ordinary people with civil and political rights, it also nurtures the growth of human freedom, making it evident in the mass liberty aspiration of self-expressionism and self-management.     

Editor's Note

An evaluation approach that is collaborative and elicitive may well serve as a catalyst for transforming relationships of power, standing in stark contrast to more conventional and staid evaluation practices that are technical in nature and actuarial in intent. Election of an orientation is the most decisive and strategic choice that is made in approaching evaluation and articulating value imperatives in fieldwork, coloring as it surely does the pragmatic stages of evaluation and good practice for the peacebuilder.     

Project USA: American competitiveness and what must be done to restore it

The United States today faces a loss of influence as a world power, a reduction in American independence as a policymaker, and a decline in the standard of living on which Americans have come to depend. History teaches that nations weaker and less productive than the United States can rise to become economic powerhouses and rapidly increase their standards of living. History also teaches that nations failing to recognize their fundamental problems will inevitably decline. American politicians must face what is abundantly clear: the United States is losing ground and must act quickly to reverse its course. This White Paper outlines what must be done. Information about the nation's current status must be analyzed and communicated. Incentives to improve the level of competence in government must be provided and maintained. The emphasis of government policy must be changed to reflect broad economic and technological interests as opposed to special interests. Savings must be encouraged and increased. Infrastructure must be improved Tax laws must be modified to help bring these changes about. Economic and technological issues must be elevated to the importance they require. American thinking must reflect the new realities: that the age of leadership through military power is over, that the requirements for success in the world of the 1990s and beyond require a sound and growing economy that is internationally competitive. The US can accomplish these goals only through foundation-shaking, comprehensive, fundamental changealong the lines we propose herein.This paper is the executive summary (with minor editing modifications) of a white paper that is available from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management.     

国际碳排放权交易及其对我国的启示

全球气候变化对各国产生了一系列的影响,碳排放权已成为新兴的交易客体,国际碳排放权的产生与发展,既为我国带来机遇,也使我国面临挑战。我国碳排放权交易市场尚处于起步阶段,建立与完善我国碳排放市场机制显得尤为重要与迫切。因此,我们应当借鉴国际碳排放权交易的经验,从法律、政策、信息透明度、政府职能等方面进行改进。     

Gender dynamics in youth gangs: A comparison of males' and females' accounts

Based on interviews with 58 gang members in St. Louis, this paper compares males' and females' perspectives on the gender dynamics in street gangs. Feminist scholars have long criticized traditional gang scholarship for its reliance on male gang members to gain information about young women. We suggest that it is useful to revisit what male gang members say about gender dynamics in youth gangs because these accounts provide insights into the normative features of these groups. Research has consistently shown that gangs are largely male-dominated in structure, status hierarchies, and activities. Research in other male-dominated settings—for instance, fraternities, athletics, and the military—has shown the importance of examining peer and organizational dynamics in shaping the treatment of women. We argue that insights into young men's accounts of gender provide important information for understanding more clearly the milieu in which young women in gangs must negotiate.