The 1st Annual Awards for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights

The 1st Annual Awards for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights were awarded to the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and to Dr. Wan Yanhai, a Chinese physician and activist. The international attention and media coverage of the awards was heightened by the fact that the Chinese government had detained Dr. Wan for disclosing information about unsanitary blood collection practices in Henan province. An international outcry led to Dr. Wan's release on 20 September 2002.     

Populations, practices, and problems in forensic psychiatric facilities.

This is a study of the public facilities to which mentally disordered offenders are committed or transferred so that they may be securely confined while simultaneously participating in programs designed for treatment of their mental disorders. The study focuses principally on the nature and characteristics of these facilities: their patient populations, staff, security conditions, treatment programs, and operational programs. We identified and surveyed 231 facilities. The information from the survey, legal research, and site visits to 11 programs has been integrated and used to address four major issues: the types of facilities mentally disordered offenders are institutionalized in for treatment of their mental disorders; the legal, diagnostic, and demographic characteristics of the residents of these facilities; the forms of treatment and levels of staffing available in these facilities; and the common problems faced by facility administrators with respect to facility management, treatment, and release decisions.     

An Insider–Outsider Theory of Popular Tolerance for Corrupt Politicians

This article addresses the puzzle of electoral support for corrupt politicians in emerging democracies by examining citizens’ varying attitudes toward political corruption. We make an important theoretical distinction between perceptions of and tolerance for corruption, and argue that these different attitudes vary across individuals depending on whether they are political insiders or outsiders. We test our theory using Afrobarometer survey data from 18 sub‐Saharan African countries and find that individuals included within clientelistic networks simultaneously perceive corruption as ubiquitous and are more tolerant of malfeasance. Meanwhile, those individuals with partisan or ethnic ties to the incumbent are less likely to consider corruption as widespread. Finally, we explore whether variation in attitudes toward corruption influences citizens’ voting behavior, and find that insiders are less likely to “vote the rascals out.”     

One-Year Follow-Up of Suicidal Adolescents: Parental History of Mental Health Problems and Time to Post-Hospitalization Attempt

This longitudinal study of recently hospitalized suicidal youth examined parental mental health history in addition to several indices of adolescent functioning as risk factors for time-to-suicide attempt over a 1-year period. Participants were 352 adolescents (253 girls, 99 boys; ages 13–17 years) who participated in self-report and interview assessments within 1 week of hospitalization and 6 weeks, 3, 6, and 12 months post-hospitalization. Multivariable proportional hazards regression modeled time-to-suicide attempt. Results indicate that adolescents were almost twice as likely to make a suicide attempt if they had at least one biological parent with mental health problems. Risk was also increased for adolescents with baseline histories of multiple previous suicide attempts, more severe suicidal ideation and more severe functional impairment. Findings suggest the need to consider the family system when intervening with suicidal youth.     

Seed struggles and food sovereignty in northern Malawi

In this paper I use seeds in Malawi as both an analytical lens and an empirical focus of study to examine how food sovereignty is threatened or enhanced in a particular location and time. I argue that while food sovereignty was eroded for smallholders through neoliberal reforms to the agricultural system, community and kin practices help to maintain food sovereignty. The intersection of gender and class dynamics, combined with state policies, however, works to undermine food sovereignty for particular groups in northern Malawi. Historical processes of exclusion, dispossession and exploitation changed the division of labour and reduced time and land for diverse farming systems. State policies reduced knowledge and availability of preferred local varieties. While peasants, particularly women, have considerable knowledge of seed varieties, and seeds continue to be exchanged in agrarian communities, young women, tenant farmers, food insecure younger couples and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-affected families are particularly vulnerable to reduced food sovereignty, in part due to gender inequalities, unequal land distribution and social stigma. New efforts to strengthen food sovereignty need to build on community and kin relations, while addressing social inequalities. Understanding the struggles and relations linked to seeds helps us to understand ways in which food sovereignty is undermined or strengthened.