Gun Availability and Robbery Rates: A Panel Study of Large U.S. Cities, 1974–1978

This paper examines the hypothesis that crime rates and the availability of firearms form a "vicious circle," so that increases in one lead to increases in the other. Two waves of panel data are used to estimate the relationship between rates of robbery and the relative availability of guns in a sample of large U.S. cities. The results indicate that total robbery rates and gun availability had no influence on each other, but that weapons choice in robbery and gun availability did form a mutually reinforcing cycle. Some implications of these findings are considered.     

论广东街面“两抢一盗”犯罪的精确打击

严厉打击街面“两抢一盗”犯罪活动,是当前公安中心工作的重要任务之一。通过提高侦查人员的综合素质,加强对“两抢一盗”犯罪情报信息研判,精确获取街面“两抢一盗”犯罪证据,实施精确打击,是“专项整治”遏制“两抢一盗”犯罪的需要,是提高办案质量和对犯罪人员的打击处理率的重要保证,是公安机关打击街面“两抢一盗”犯罪这场战役是否取得成效的重要标准,也是我们当前加强街面“两抢一盗”犯罪案件侦查工作问题研究所面临的一个重要课题。     

This is What a Police State Looks Like: Sousveillance, Direct Action and the Anti-corporate Globalization Movement

Activists across the globe have increasingly incorporated digital communication technologies into their repertoire of direct action tactics to challenge state and corporate power. Examining the anti-corporate globalization protests at the September 2009 Group of Twenty (G-20) meetings in Pittsburgh, this paper explores how activists used sousveillance and counter-surveillance as direct action tactics to make excessive force by police more visible to the public. Collaborative endeavors such as the G-20 Resistance Project, the Tin Can Comms Collective and independent media centers provided activists with the necessary tactical and strategic communication networks to coordinate direct actions during the G-20 protests. Through the use of surveillance technologies widely available to the public such as video cameras, cell phones and the internet, activists created an environment of permanent visibility in which the behaviors of police were subjected to public scrutiny. The images captured by anti-globalization activists raises a salient question: Is this what a police state looks like?     

抢劫罪与敲诈勒索罪之界分:基于被害人的处分自由

根据对被害人法益支配自由的不同侵扰方式,财产犯罪的各个罪名存在不同的构成要件结构。抢劫罪属于彻底压制被害人法益支配自由,敲诈勒索罪属于利用被害人法益支配自由的瑕疵。两罪构成要件结构的关键差异,在于被害人有无财产处分。财产处分自由包括反抗有用和应能反抗的双重含义。首先是指被害人的妥协和配合是行为人取财的必要条件。其次,不配合和不妥协的代价没有超出被害人的承受范围。承受范围的规范性确定,应当考虑刑法家长主义对自我决定权的制约关系,应当根据行为是否足以剥夺理性一般人的处分自由区分两罪的着手,应当根据特定被害人是否实际丧失处分自由认定两罪的既遂。无论是暴力标准,还是交付/取得的外部形象,抑或着眼于时空特征的两个当场,都是对处分自由在经验层面的总结和归纳,是证明是否存在处分自由的客观素材。以暴力程度的轻重相举来论证两罪竞合,忽略了作为构成要件要素背景的构成要件结构,存在方法论上的疑问。     

抢劫罪既遂与未遂区分标准新探

如何区分抢劫罪的既遂与未遂,历来存在争议,尤其是1997年刑法典实施后,针对八种加重抢劫情节是否存在未遂问题,刑法理论更是聚讼不一。抢劫罪既遂与未遂的争议应立足于法益保护,立法者制定任何一条罪刑规范都有其欲意要保护的法益,只有当这一保护的法益受到侵害时,才成立犯罪既遂。据此,普通抢劫罪和加重抢劫罪除抢劫数额巨大、多次抢劫外,抢劫罪既遂与未遂的区分应以被害人是否失去对财物的控制为判断标准。     

The Politics of Adoption: Child Rights in the Brazilian Setting

This paper, centered on adoption policy in Brazil, asks to what extent the open–ended principles apparent in international child rights accords, filtered down through different national laws, adjust to local realities. Ethnographic data on child circulation practices in urban favelas is compared with specific clauses in the 1990 Brazilian Children's Code, as well as with adoption policies in North America, to question the code's way of legislating which children can be placed for adoption, on what terms they should be placed, and who has the power to place them.     

Forensic Facial Approximation: Study of the Nose in Brazilian Subjects

Forensic facial approximation is an auxiliary method for human identification and allows facial recognition. The midface, that includes the nose, is vital for the recognition of a familiar face. The purpose of this study was to set hard tissue parameters to estimate nasal width, to test the method to estimate nasal width of Brazilians, and to analyze the relationship between nasal profile and facial type. A total of 246 computed tomography scans (183 females and 63 males) of adults were analyzed in Horos. Bone tissue measurements and facial type classification were performed on the skull scan. Nasal profile morphology was accessed through the tool 3D surface rendering. There was a difference around 3 mm from real to predicted nose through the method to estimate nasal width in Brazilians. So, the method may be used in forensic practice. Straight nose was associated with long face type.     

Dutch Cases on Torture Committed in Afghanistan: The Relevance of the Distinction between Internal and International Armed Conflict

On 14 October 2005, The Hague District Court sentenced two Afghanasylum seekers for their role in torture in Afghanistan in the1980s. The Court determined that the conflict in Afghanistanbetween 1978 and 1992 had been non-international in character.In a previous issue of this Journal, Mettraux questioned theneed to distinguish between internal and international armedconflict. This comment argues that the preoccupation of thecourt with the nature of the conflict was understandable andnecessary.     

Forensic Evidence and Criminal Investigations: The Impact of Ballistics Information on the Investigation of Violent Crime in Nine Cities,

We explore the impact of information from ballistics imaging hit reports on the investigation into violent crimes. Ballistics imaging hits link two crimes involving the same firearm by forensically matching tool marks on the fired bullets or cartridge cases. Interview data collected from detectives who received a hit report were used to explore the relationship between the presence of a hit report and outcomes in 65 gun‐related violent crime investigations in nine U.S. police agencies. Findings indicate hit reports rarely contribute to identification, arrest, charging, or sentencing of suspects, because of delays in producing hit reports. On average, hit reports were completed 181.4 days after the focal crime. This delay forces investigations to proceed without the benefit of information from ballistics analysis. Additionally, hit reports rarely contained detailed information that was immediately useful to investigators. Instead, hit reports required additional research by the investigator to unlock useful information.     

Agenda Power,Executive Decree Authority,and the Mixed Results of Reform in the Brazilian Congress

This article examines how institutional change in the use of extraordinary legislation affects delegation of power and unilateral action in new democracies. From 1988 to 2001, Brazilian presidents were able to reissue decrees indefinitely and thus had substantial legislative power. In 2001, Congress amended the constitution so as to restrict the president to a single reissue of each lapsed decree. This reform has had mixed results: although it ended the practice of infinite reissues, it induced Presidents Cardoso and Lula to use more decrees than previous executives had. Presidential agenda power, rather than being reduced, has been sharpened. By analyzing patterns of presidential initiatives from 1995 to 2005, we demonstrate the mixed results of this constitutional reform.     

Technology Competitiveness in Emerging Markets: The Case of the Brazilian Polymer Industry

The Brazilian polymer industry (plastics, rubbers, fibers, adhesives, paints, and varnishes) is the fastest growing segment of the Petrochemical Chain. Since the polymer industry is characterized as science based, the capacity to create technology is vital for its long-range survival in the market. This paper analyzes how Brazilian polymer firms maintain their technological competitiveness, explains the main modes of technology transfer, and evaluates the degree of technological dependence of this industry. The methodology consisted of a database built with data from the Brazilian Patent Office. To confirm the findings, interviews were conducted with staff members from seven Brazilian polymer firms. The data base analysis and the interviews reveal that, in spite of the fact that Research and Development (R&D) and technological innovation have a fundamental role in their competitiveness, the firms are technologically dependent upon foreign suppliers.     

Brazilian population data on the polymerase chain reaction-based loci LDLR,GYPA, HBGG,D7S8, and Gc

Gene and genotype frequencies in relation to the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), glycophorin A (GYPA), hemoglobin G gammaglobin (HBGG), D7S8, and group specific component (Gc) loci were determined in a sample of 344 unrelated individuals (250 whites and 94 mulattoes) living in the city of S?o Paulo, Brazil. DNA was extracted from 5 mL of peripheral blood obtained from each of the 344 volunteers by the salting-out procedure. Polymerase chain reaction and reverse dot-blot analysis were performed with the Amplitype PM PCR Amplification and Typing Kit (Polymarker Multiplex; Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) under conditions recommended by the manufacturer. Estimated allele frequencies in the white sample were in the usual range of that of other United States and European population groups. In any case, genotype distributions for these loci did not deviate significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium proportions. Only 1 marginally significant (0.01 < P < 0.05) association, between loci HBGG and Gc, was detected in our mulatto sample out of a total of 20 possible pairwise comparisons of the 5 loci for both data sets. Allele frequencies were significantly different (P < 0.001) at the HBGG and Gc loci when the white and mulatto samples were compared. Biologic relationship exclusion probabilities (test powers) were calculated for the data. A Brazilian database has thus been established for the loci LDLR, GYPA, HBGG, D7S8, and Gc, 5 polymerase chain reaction-based loci systems that have been shown to be a useful tool for biologic relationship identification and exclusion.     

Fair is Fine, but More is Better: Limits to Inequity Aversion in the Domestic Dog

Research with domestic dogs provides a unique approach for exploring the evolution of fairness and justice. Not only are dogs descended from highly social canids; they have also been bred for cooperative tasks with humans. Dogs act cooperatively in social play and are skilled on other social cognitive tasks. It is reasonable to ask whether dogs behave in ways similar to primates in other social contexts. In particular, do dogs perceive and respond to unfairness or injustice, a skill potentially borne of long-term affiliation with and selection by humans? Using a revised test of inequity aversion which looks at advantageous and disadvantageous inequity, the current research investigated the behavior of 38 domestic dogs. Subject dogs and a control dog approached two trainers in turn: one who rewarded them equally for sitting on command and one who rewarded them unequally??either over-rewarding or under-rewarding the control dog. After familiarization with the trainers, subjects chose which trainer to approach by themselves. Subjects preferred the over-rewarding trainer over the fair trainer; they had no preference between the under-rewarding and the fair trainer. Further analyses found that length of ownership, subjects?? age, and cooperative work experience reversed the approach preference, predicting preference for the fair trainer??though breed did not. These results suggest that the precursory sensitivity, which dogs showed to iniquitous outcomes in prior research, does not extend to both advantageous and disadvantageous inequity and does not hold when the subject is continually rewarded. Dogs selected a trainer who had treated them ??unfairly,?? yet who presented a potentially greater opportunity for future rewards. When the stakes were high, dogs showed a greater sensitivity to the quantity of a reward than to the fairness of a reward.