Expressions of Distrust: Third-Party Voting and Cynicism in Government

Voter distrust of the national government is an ongoing theoretical concern for scholars who study voting behavior in the United States. Previous research demonstrates that distrustful voters are less likely to vote for major party candidates than their more trusting counterparts. Using the American National Election Survey, we explore the relationship between citizen distrust and voting for three major third-party challengers (Wallace, Anderson, and Perot) and the use of trust levels as predictors of third- party voting. We find citizen trust levels are significant and strong predictors of third-party voting, independent of other common explanatory variables of vote choice. We also find trust levels are stable over time, and we find little evidence to support the argument that trust levels measure trust of incumbent political figures.     

Hybrid law and human rights – banning and behaviour orders in the appeal courts

The desire of the New Labour Government to be seen as responsive to popular concerns and moral panics over hooliganism and anti-social behaviour is resulting in the increased use of legislative responses that bridge criminal and civil law. Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and Football Banning Orders are two key examples of this ‘Hybrid Law’, imposed as a response to criminal conduct, supported by criminal law sanctions, but operating under a civil law procedure providing fewer protections for defendants. These hybrid orders have the power to severely restrict the freedom of individuals who have not been found guilty of any criminal offence, and have been challenged in two important cases under Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The decisions of the Appeal Courts that the purpose of the orders is merely preventative rather than punitive, and can therefore be justifiably imposed under a civil law procedure, is controversial and indicates an unwillingness to use the powers of the Human Rights Act to challenge such legislation and protect the fundamental human rights of defendants.Dr Geoff Pearson is Lecturer in Law, Management School, University of Liverpool     

The ‘Cross+check’ system: Integrating profiling approaches for police and security investigations

It is an investigative truism that “information is the lifeblood of an investigation.” Yet in many investigations police and security personnel fail to fully utilize the diverse range of different types of information readily available to them which can add significant value to an investigation. In effect, potentially useful information simply falls between the cracks in an investigation. In serious, complex and/or high profile crimes and security type terrorism threats, the risks of missing such informational gaps and cracks pose a very real and present danger. To address this “falling between the cracks” informational phenomenon the current author devised and developed a deliberate low-tech ‘Cross-Check’ system that the average investigator can be trained in to use on a daily basis without the need for expensive or sophisticated equipment. The C+C system teaches an investigator to think in a logically grounded and creatively systematic manner using different types of information about a crime or security problem. The core of the C+C system is its ability to bring together and focus on the interrelationships between four qualitatively different levels of information. The goal of the C+C system is to generate and then prioritize the investigative leads that logically flow out of systematically ‘cross+checking’ informational interrelationships in order not only to plan and manage an overall investigative strategy but also to develop leads into evidence. This paper presents the theoretical, conceptual, and operational frameworks of the C+C system as a knowledge management tool in relation to the integration of several police and security profiling approaches as well as illustrating its practical application with a case example of an arson investigation.     

More on the soviets and ultra

Roy Godson, Ernest R. May, and Gary Schmitt, US Intelligence at the Crossroads: Agendas for Reform, (Washington and London: Brassey's, 1995). Pp.315, no index. $25.95 £20.95. ISBN 0–02–881122–4.

Roy Godson, Dirty Tricks or Trump Cards: US Covert Action and Counter‐intelligence (Washington and London: Brassey's, 1995). Pp.337, biblio. index. $24.95 £21.95. ISBN 0–02–881036–8.     

Freezing skeletal muscle tissue does not affect its decomposition in soil: Evidence from temporal changes in tissue mass,microbial activity and soil chemistry based on excised samples

The study of decaying organisms and death assemblages is referred to as forensic taphonomy, or more simply the study of graves. This field is dominated by the fields of entomology, anthropology and archaeology. Forensic taphonomy also includes the study of the ecology and chemistry of the burial environment. Studies in forensic taphonomy often require the use of analogues for human cadavers or their component parts. These might include animal cadavers or skeletal muscle tissue. However, sufficient supplies of cadavers or analogues may require periodic freezing of test material prior to experimental inhumation in the soil. This study was carried out to ascertain the effect of freezing on skeletal muscle tissue prior to inhumation and decomposition in a soil environment under controlled laboratory conditions. Changes in soil chemistry were also measured. In order to test the impact of freezing, skeletal muscle tissue (Sus scrofa) was frozen (?20 °C) or refrigerated (4 °C). Portions of skeletal muscle tissue (～1.5 g) were interred in microcosms (72 mm diameter × 120 mm height) containing sieved (2 mm) soil (sand) adjusted to 50% water holding capacity. The experiment had three treatments: control with no skeletal muscle tissue, microcosms containing frozen skeletal muscle tissue and those containing refrigerated tissue. The microcosms were destructively harvested at sequential periods of 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 23, 30 and 37 days after interment of skeletal muscle tissue. These harvests were replicated 6 times for each treatment. Microbial activity (carbon dioxide respiration) was monitored throughout the experiment. At harvest the skeletal muscle tissue was removed and the detritosphere soil was sampled for chemical analysis. Freezing was found to have no significant impact on decomposition or soil chemistry compared to unfrozen samples in the current study using skeletal muscle tissue. However, the interment of skeletal muscle tissue had a significant impact on the microbial activity (carbon dioxide respiration) and chemistry of the surrounding soil including: pH, electroconductivity, ammonium, nitrate, phosphate and potassium. This is the first laboratory controlled study to measure changes in inorganic chemistry in soil associated with the decomposition of skeletal muscle tissue in combination with microbial activity.