A latent structure analysis of delinquency

This paper uses latent structure analysis to develop a construct of delinquency based on a set of frequently used indicators of illegal behavior. Other methods, such as Guttman scaling and factor analytic procedures, are briefly reviewed as similar attempts to identify manifest (observed) variables that may act as indicators of a latent (unobserved or unobservable) variable, delinquency. The basic mathematical properties of the latent structure model employed in this paper are presented and then applied to a set of six self-report measures. The issue of external validity is also examined in a comparative analysis of an additive scale of delinquency and the latent class measure of delinquency. The latent class measure provides a considerable increase in the magnitude of association with such commonly studied correlates as attachment, peer delinquency, and instrumental attitudes toward the law.     

Environment Rights versus Environmental Wrongs: Forum over Substance?

Beginning with the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, there have been a number of international proclamations of a human right to a clean environment, both implicit and explicit. The highpoint of this movement towards an internationally recognized substantive right to a clean environment came with the 1992 Rio Declaration. This movement has continued forward in regional and specialized regimes – for example with respect to water and indigenous rights. There has also been a parallel move towards recognition of what can be considered procedural rights, which require public access to information, participation in decision making, and access to justice in environmental matters. This article argues that further development and use of these procedural rights will not only provide opportunities to protect environmental rights, but can also further the development of a substantive right to a clean environment.     

The impact of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment

Correctional staff are the heart and soul of any correctional facility. While there was a significant body of research on the impact of the work environment on correctional staff, this study sought to expand that knowledge by examining the effects of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Multivariate models were estimated. Both forms of organizational justice had negative effects on job stress and organizational commitment; however, only procedural justice, but not distributive justice, had a significant impact on job satisfaction.     

Death from Hypothermia during a Training Course under “Extreme Conditions”: Related to Two Cases

Death from hypothermia following exhaustion or from various complicated pathologies is no longer a frequent cause of death among combat troops. During a training course under “extreme conditions” in the French Alps, two young African officers died. Confronted with these two clinically confirmed cases of hypothermia, the unknown anatomopathological and biological specificities associated with death from hypothermia were highlighted. In these typical and clinically confirmed cases of death from subacute exhaustion hypothermia, none of the signs revealed by the autopsy were specific. Although some recent publications have addressed the utility of postmortem biochemical markers when establishing a diagnosis, with no anamnesis, with no knowledge or analysis of the circumstances of death, and without an in situ examination of the body, it appears difficult, if not impossible, to confirm that death was caused by hypothermia.     

Obscuring sexual crime: examining media representations of sexual violence in Megan’s law

Sexual violence remains a pervasive and persistent social problem. In 1996, Congress enacted Megan’s Law, dictating mandatory community notification and potential civil commitment for those deemed by the State to be dangerous sexual offenders. In 2013, Megan’s Law continues to influence the treatment of sexual offenders under law and the social construction of a highly publicized, yet statistically rare, sexual crime – the rape and murder of a young female child by a depraved male stranger. This influence highlights the extent to which this personalized crime bill shapes the social construction of sexual violence in terms of sex and gender systems. This paper examines how sex and gender shape media discourses of the sexual offender and victim that are mobilized in the legislative debate on Megan’s Law. Drawing on theoretical ideas from cultural studies and feminist legal scholarship, we employ discourse analysis to analyze the legislative debate on Megan’s Law. We find that high-profile media images of sex offenders and victims are relied on to construct a singular image of sexual violence, whereby a child is victimized by an adult sexual predator. These images draw on traditional, conservative notions of gender and sexuality.     

Blast Injury and the Human Skeleton: An Important Emerging Aspect of Conflict‐Related Trauma

Recent decades have seen an accelerating trend in warfare whereby a growing proportion of conflict‐related deaths have been caused by explosions. Analysis of blast injury features little in anthropological literature. We present a review of clinical literature that includes prevalence of injury to anatomical regions and potential indicators of blast injury which can be used by forensic anthropologists. This includes high prevalence of extremity (22.8–91.2%) and facial (19.6–40%) injury in combat contexts, lower limb fractures (19–74.3%) in suicide bombing, traumatic amputation (3–43%) and diffuse fracture patterns in terrorist bombings. Potential indicators of blast trauma include blowout fractures in sinus cavities from blast overpressure, transverse mandibular fractures, and visceral surface rib fractures. Ability to recognize blast trauma and distinguish it in the skeleton is of importance in investigations and judicial proceedings relating to war crimes, terrorism, and human rights violations and likely to become increasingly crucial to forensic anthropology knowledge.     

Acute Aortic Dissection Diagnosed after Embalming: Macroscopic and Microscopic Findings

A 58‐year‐old man died suddenly in Madagascar and poisoning was suspected. The body was embalmed after death and the general state of preservation was good. We found a major aortic dissection with a large false lumen from the aortic root to the common iliac arteries and a hemopericardium with formalinized blood clot. The intimal tear was on the ascending aorta, and an intramural hemorrhage was noted at the right coronary artery, attesting to a retrograde dissection. Microscopic studies confirmed aortic dissection with extensive intramural hemorrhage and also confirmed the retrograde dissection to the right coronary artery with a reduction of 90% of the true lumen. Classically, aortic dissection occurs in individuals with hypertension and individuals with genetic disorders of collagen formation. The diagnosis is often first established at the postmortem examination. Aortic dissection is therefore dealt with largely in necropsy studies. The usual cause of death is rupture into the pericardial sac. One case of bloodless dissection has been reported but the sudden death was explained by acute myocardial ischemia secondary to dissection of the left coronary artery. In our case, we found major hemopericardium and also intramural hemorrhage at the right coronary artery. We were able to make the diagnosis of aortic dissection and exclude the suspicion of homicide 15 days after death and after embalming.     

The Flypaper Effect: Do Political Institutions Affect Danish Local Governments’ Response to Intergovernmental Grants?

Abstract

Despite a large number of empirical studies on the flypaper effect, it remains disputed whether the effect exists and to what extent it is asymmetrical. The flypaper effect suggests that intergovernmental grants tend to result in higher increases in public expenditures than a similar increase in citizens’ private income would have led to. An asymmetrical effect exists when the fiscal response differs depending on whether grants are increased or decreased. By considering political institutions that moderate the effect of intergovernmental grants, this article offers a theoretical explanation that accounts for the mixed empirical evidence. The local response to intergovernmental grants is tested using a reform of the Danish intergovernmental grant scheme in 2007. In line with the expectation, the article finds a strong asymmetrical effect, but more surprisingly, this effect is found both when subnational budget institutions are centralised and when they are fragmented.