Realities and mythologies of rape

He is author of Capitalism and the Welfare State; Clients and Constituents;and co-author of The Enabling State: Modern Welfare Capitalism in America;and Protecting Young Children from Sexual Abuse: Does Preschool Training Work?     

BUREAUCRATIC POLITICS AND THE DEMISE OF THE COMMONWEALTH TERTIARY EDUCATION COMMISSION

Abstract: In the early 1980s the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission functioned as a relatively independent, self-directed policy arena within the commonwealth bureaucracy. Policy outputs tended to be consistent and coherent over time. During the last three or four years, however, a number of federal departments succeeded in gaining control over aspects of tertiary education policy. This development was due partly to a changed economic environment which encouraged the growth of cross-sectoral programs, and partly to administrative reforms introduced by the Hawke government which fostered increased interdepartmental competition. The outcome was the fragmentation of the tertiary education policy process. The removal of CTEC and the creation of the Department of Employment, Education and Training is an attempt to reimpose a greater degree of coordination and integration upon tertiary education policy procedures.     

COMMUNITY COUNCILS IN SCOTLAND: SOME LESSONS FOR NEW SOUTH WALES LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The concept of "community councils" is one which has gained increasing prominence in Scottish local government during the last few years. Their main function is simply to advise local councillors on the views of the local community. Our basic contention is that the local government system in New South Wales (and, probably, other states) could benefit from studying the Scottish experience.     

Rapid determination of carbohydrates in heroin drug seizures using capillary electrophoresis with short-end injection

A simple and rapid method for the analysis of carbohydrates in heroin samples by capillary electrophoresis utilizing a borate complexation method is described. Separations were performed using an uncoated fused silica capillary, 50 cm x 50 micro I.D. x 360 microm O.D. with an effective separation length of 9 cm. The system was run at 60 degrees C with an applied voltage of -8 kilovolts. Injection of each sample was for 1 sec at -50 mbar. UV detection was employed with the wavelength set at 195 nm. The background electrolyte consisted of 65 mM borate, pH 12.0. Samples and standards were prepared in the run buffer containing 2 mg/mL of mannose as an internal standard. Under these conditions a test mixture containing glucose, sucrose, lactose, mannitol and mannose as an internal standard was resolved within 5 min. The method was used to determine the concentration of carbohydrates in heroin seizure samples and synthetic heroin samples. The results were in good agreement with the reported values.     

Optimal Pricing of Court Services

Litigants are generally charged for using court services. The charges involved are usually set to achieve a combination of efficiency, equity and funding goals. This paper presents a simple model, based on regulated monopoly pricing, to address the question of how these charges should be set. We find that fixed fees generally form part of the optimal charging package, despite concerns about their regressive nature. Per-unit fees will also be used though they may be set below cost; in this case, a trade-off emerges and the fixed fee is used to achieve funding goals. Our model is a useful one for developing extensions from the nonlinear pricing literature.JEL K40, L50     

The New Forest Suicide Prevention Initiative (NFSPI)

A retrospective suicide study revealed that the Forestry Commission car parks in the New Forest in southern England were a previously unrecognized magnet for nonlocal suicides, attracting as high a proportion of "visitors" (35/43 in 1993-97) as among suicides who jumped from the cliffs at the infamous Beachy Head (39/48 in 1993-97). Over 95% of the car park suicides died from car exhaust gas poisoning. A multiagency initiative aimed to reduce the number of suicides in the 140 New Forest car parks where restricting access was impossible, and environmental issues paramount. Signs displaying the Samaritans' national telephone number were erected in the 26 car parks in which 50% of the car park suicides had occurred. Numbers, location, and residence of all car park deaths were monitored for 3 years. Corresponding changes in other forest registration districts were also monitored. During the 3-year intervention period the number of car park suicides fell significantly from 10/year, 1988-1997, to 3.3/year. The average annual total number of suicides in the New Forest registration district also decreased. No significant changes were found in comparable forest districts. The number of suicides in the New Forest car parks remained low during the 2 years following the evaluation.     

Comparison of presumptive blood test kits including hexagon OBTI

Four presumptive blood tests, Hexagon OBTI, Hemastix(R), Leucomalachite green (LMG), and Kastle-Meyer (KM) were compared for their sensitivity in the identification of dried bloodstains. Stains of varying blood dilutions were subjected to each presumptive test and the results compared. The Hexagon OBTI buffer volume was also reduced to ascertain whether this increased the sensitivity of the kit. The study found that Hemastix(R) was the most sensitive test for trace blood detection. Only with the reduced buffer volume was the Hexagon OBTI kit as sensitive as the LMG and KM tests. However, the Hexagon OBTI kit has the advantage of being a primate specific blood detection kit. This study also investigated whether the OBTI buffer within the kit could be utilized for DNA profiling after presumptive testing. The results show that DNA profiles can be obtained from the Hexagon OBTI kit buffer directly.