Asian transnational organized crime and its impact on the United States: Developing a transnational crime research agenda

Undertaken on behalf of the National Institute of Justice between July 2003 and August 2004, the research goals of this study were to (a) determine high priority areas for research on Asian transnational organized crime (TOC); (b) assess the impact of Asian TOC on the United States; (3) identify relevant data and information sources in Asia; and (4) identify potential collaborative research partners and institutions in Asia. The aim was thus not to examine in detail the organized crime situation in this region, but rather to lay the foundation for a research agenda and strategy that would accomplish that purpose. In seeking to achieve this aim, the researchers used a variety of techniques as part of an overall exploratory methodology. They included four months of interviews (andfield observations) with experts in eight Asian sites, including law enforcement officials, policymakers, and scholars, as well as American officials in each site. Meetings were also held with Asian crime experts in the United States. Interviews and site visits were supplemented with surveys and analyses done by local Asian researchers, an analysis of U.S. indictments, and the review of a large volume of literature. The sites covered by this research are China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia. The major findings are first, that there is little consensus among the Asian authorities on just wliat their main organized crime problems are. Whereas the Asian authorities give higher priority to traditional organized crimes, e.g., gambling, extortion, prostitution, etc., the American authorities focus more on transnational crimes. Consistent with this view, Asian authorities do not see much linkage between the local or regional crime groups about which they are most concerned, and transnational organized crime. Next, contrary to the views and expectations of some American authorities, the commonly expressed view among the respondents in this study is that there is no collaboration or linkage between transnational organized crime groups and terrorists. Finally, the transnational organized crime networks operating in the region are said to be highly specialized, with any overlapping of criminal activities occurring mostly at the level of transportation of goods or people. It is recommended that future collaborative research efforts focus on trafficking in women and children, human smuggling, and drug production and trafficking. These are likely to continue to have the most impact upon the United States and upon U.S. interests in the region. It is further recommended that these research efforts be both bi-lateral (principally with China) and multi-lateral in nature. A wide variety of potentially willing research partners are identified and their strengths and weaknesses are assessed. Finally, a specific strategy for accomplishing the research agenda is proposed. Support for this research was provided by TDL# 1700-215 from the National Institute of Justice. The opinions are those of the authors and do not reflect the policies or views of the National Institute of Justice.     

State-owned enterprises,state capitalism and social distribution in Singapore

State-owned enterprises and sovereign wealth funds have ‘insured’ Singapore's domestic economy against financial crisis and restructuring interventions from multilateral institutions, engendered elite cohesion and political stability, binding middle class employees to the political system. This essay analyses paths by which the Singapore government established state-owned enterprises and transformed them into global enterprises. It also examines how sovereign wealth funds contribute to government social expenditure without increasing taxes. Such redistribution through state capitalism resonates with the People's Action Partys social democratic origins, inviting comparisons with contemporary developments in Chinese state-capitalism.     

Attribution and the Illegality Defence

In Jetivia SA v Bilta (UK) Ltd (in liquidation) all seven judges of the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal by holding that the illegality defence could not be raised as a defence against the claim made by the company because the wrongdoing of the directors and shareholder cannot be attributed to the company. Although all the judges unanimously agreed on the outcome of the case, their reasoning concerning the approach to attribution and the different circumstances under which attribution should or should not take place differed. Further, the Supreme Court was divided on the issue of the correct approach to the illegality defence.     

To Behave Like a Liar: Nonverbal Cues to Deception in an Asian Sample

The detection of deception is an essential yet challenging component of investigative interviewing. Behavioural cues to deception in particular, have long been used in investigative interviewing contexts to determine decisions of suspect veracity and deceit. Nevertheless, deception research amongst non-American or European populations has yet to fully explore the effectiveness of such non-verbal observations. This study may be the first to examine truth-lie behaviours involving South-East Asian participants. In this study conducted in Singapore, 68 participants completed either a mock criminal task or a non-criminal task, before encountering an investigative interviewing scenario in which they had to lie or tell the truth to the interviewer. The results showed that liars displayed significantly more head movements and less hand/finger movements, as well as reported more feelings of guilt, than truth-tellers. Implications for investigator training and criminal investigative procedures are discussed.     

Stability studies of ALD-52 and its homologue 1P-LSD

With the emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) over the years, the substances detected on stamps (also known as blotter papers) have also evolved from the traditional drug—lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to the multiple variants of lysergamides such as ALD-52 and 1P-LSD. The analysis of such blotter papers is usually done by solvent extraction followed by identification using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). This study has shown that hydrolysis to form LSD was observed in GC-MS analysis when ALD-52 was extracted with methanol. The extraction of ALD-52 using other solvents such as acetonitrile, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, ethyl acetate, and acetone, followed by GC-MS analysis, was investigated. It is shown that alcoholic solvents such as methanol and ethanol will result in the conversion of ALD-52 to LSD during GC-MS analysis, whereas the sterically hindered isopropyl alcohol will prevent this conversion. Investigation also shows that the hydrolysis of ALD-52 to LSD occurs at the GC injector port. It was also observed that the degree of hydrolysis was more pronounced at a lower concentration (0.1 mg/mL). The study was extended to a close analog—1P-LSD, and the results showed that 1P-LSD similarly hydrolyzes to LSD. However, 1P-LSD was observed to be more stable than ALD-52 due to steric hindrance because of the propanoyl group.     

Mental Health Treatment Experiences and Expectations in Foster Care: A Qualitative Investigation

This study explores perspectives on mental health treatment experiences and expectations for youth in foster care and their foster parents. In-depth interviews were conducted and identified for major themes: (1) the dual stigma of foster care and mental health care; (2) the lack of engagement in mental health therapy; (3) trust issues with the therapist and other individuals; and (4) the desire to integrate mental health services with primary care services. These results have implications for mental health service delivery and suggest opportunities to improve mental health treatment through an integrated care approach.     

Of ‘Landmark’ or ‘Leading’ Cases: Salomon's Challenge

This article seeks to question the two dominant conceptions of ‘landmark’ or ‘leading’ cases in English legal scholarship, using the House of Lords decision in Salomon v. Salomon Co Ltd. – the most famous case in corporate law – as a case study. It argues that neither the first dominant conception of ‘leading’ or ‘landmark’ cases, characterized by the analysis of the intrinsic merits of a case, nor the second, which looks at the historical contexts in which cases were decided, appears sufficient by itself to determine whether a case is landmark or canonical. Rather, we have to look at how the canonicity of a case is constructed by subsequent courts. The article seeks to advance the debate concerning the formation of landmark cases and aims to challenge certain prevailing views on the canonicity of corporate law's arguably most significant case.     

CHANS-Law: preventing the next pandemic through the integration of social and environmental law

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - Zoonotic viruses have sacrificed hundreds of millions of people throughout human history. There are currently 1.7 million...     

Privatization in developing countries: ideal and reality

In both developed and developing countries, governments finance, produce, and distribute various goods and services. In recent years, the range of goods provided by government has extended widely, covering many goods which do not meet the purist's definition of “public” goods. As the size of the public sector has increased steadily there has been a growing concern about the effectiveness of the public sector's performance as producer. Critics of this rapid growth argue that the public provision of certain goods is inefficient and have proposed that the private sector replace many current public sector activities, that is, that services be privatized. Since Ronald Reagan took office greater privatization efforts have been pursued in the United States. Paralleling this trend has been a strong endorsement by international and bilateral donor agencies for heavier reliance on the private sector in developing countries.

However, the political, institutional, and economic environments of developing nations are markedly different from those of developed countries. It is not clear that the theories and empirical evidence purported to justify privatization in developed countries are applicable to developing countries.

In this paper we present a study of privatization using the case of Honduras. We examine the policy shift from “direct administration” to “contracting out” for three construction activities: urban upgrading for housing projects, rural primary schools, and rural roads. The purpose of our study is threefold. First, we test key hypotheses pertaining to the effectiveness of privatization, focusing on three aspects: cost, time, and quality. Second, we identify major factors which affect the performance of this privatization approach. Third, we document the impact of privatization as it influences the political and institutional settings of Honduras. Our main finding is that contracting out in Honduras has not led to the common expectations of its proponents because of institutional barriers and limited competitiveness in the market. These findings suggest that privatization can not produce goods and services efficiently without substantial reform in the market and regulatory procedures. Policy makers also need to consider carefully multiple objectives at the national level in making decisions about privatization.