A Green Criminological Exploration of Illegal Wildlife Trade in Vietnam

Illegal wildlife trade is a pervasive and destructive crime that is contributing to biodiversity loss and species extinction around the globe. This is particularly true in Vietnam where, it is proposed, the convergence of four factors creates the conditions for the illegal wildlife trade to flourish. The human-centered approach to Vietnam’s diverse ecosystem, historic consumption of wildlife, rapidly developing economy, and embryonic environmental legislation has resulted in the continued degradation of a unique and important environment. Furthermore, until recently criminological research of such green crimes has either been lacking or equally human-centered. This article details the nature and extent of wildlife trafficking in Vietnam and introduces to this context an expanded notion of harm, including the environment and other species, of a green criminological perspective to this exploration. The aim is that, by proposing a new framework in which to evaluate the illegal wildlife trade and other green crimes in Vietnam, new and innovative strategies addressing the convergent factors might be developed that will aid in stopping the illegal wildlife trade and other green crimes.     

David Marr's ‘Vietnamese anticolonialism’

Abstract

Because of its legendary resistance against the United States and its struggle for national salvation, Vietnam has entered into the consciousness of progressive mankind and has begun to attract the attention of foreign historians. In the United States, the war of aggression waged by the U.S. government has been costly in lives and property and has seriously weakened the country in all aspects, leading to the increasing opposition among the American people to the war. While protesting against the policy of the U.S. government of continuing and widening its aggression in Vietnam, for the purpose of defending America's honor and to fight for their democratic rights and economic livelihood, the American people from all walks of life have been building a friendly relationship with the Vietnamese people. Because of this reason, the American people would like to have a better understanding of the land and people of Vietnam, past and present. However, in the United States “the study of Vietnamese anti-colonial movements has been largely the preserve of the political scientist, the practicing journalist, and the intelligence specialist.” Since nearly all of these people have conducted their research according to strict political guidelines from the White House and the Pentagon, they have ignored the historical truth in an effort to justify present-day American neo-colonialism. Despite these limitations, Marr's Vietnamese Anticolonialism is one of the first historical studies published in the United States which makes a larger contribution to America's understanding of the Vietnamese struggle for freedom and independence, and thereby shows that the present U.S. war of aggression is doomed to failure.     

Visiting Marriages and Remote Parenting: Changing Strategies of Rural–Urban Migrants to Hanoi,Vietnam

Despite the ongoing centrality of marriage and reproduction in Vietnam, family and spousal separation is an increasing reality for many poor rural–urban migrants. We offer a social relational analysis of reproduction to explore how migrant men and women in their peak child-bearing and child-rearing years negotiate conjugal strategies and expectations. Labour migration for these poor men and women involves high costs for family relations, social identities and emotional experiences which are strongly patterned by gender. This social relational analysis of reproduction deepens analyses of changing marriage relations and studies of internal labour migration.     

Do Survey Spot-Check and Threat Improve Data Quality? Evidence from a Field Experiment

In this study, we examine the effect of interview observation on data quality of a large-scale individual survey in Vietnam. External spot-check teams were sent to randomly selected enumeration areas to attend and observe survey training courses and field interviews of interviewers. We find that interviewers have a lower number of item non-responses in collected data when being observed by the spot-check teams. The effect of a spot-check of field interviews appears to be higher than the effect of a spot-check of training courses. However, we do not find a significant effect of a spot-check threat: informing interviewers of a possible spot-check without actually visiting does not reduce item non-responses.     

The Relationship Between Use of Specific Services,Parental Problems,and Reunification With Children Placed in Foster Care

Research studies have found that for parents with children in foster care, use of problem-targeted services increases the likelihood of reunification. However, available research focuses almost entirely on substance abusing mothers, and rarely considers parents' use of parenting classes and counseling, services that are commonly ordered for most reunifying parents. This study examined the effects of parents' use of specific services on reunification. Findings suggest that in addition to parents' use of problem-targeted services, use or compliance with parenting classes and counseling services is also heavily weighted in reunification decision-making. Further research is needed to identify factors associated with service use and advance our understanding of the effectiveness of reunification services.     

Law and Precariousness in an Authoritarian State: The Case of Illegal House Construction in Vietnam

While sociolegal research in authoritarian regimes has examined the cultural and regulatory factors accounting for why and how people bypass, manipulate, or resist the law, little attention has been paid to an important double-edged effect of law in legitimating and sanctioning subversive or illegal behavior. Through an examination of illegal house construction in peri-urban Vietnam, this study fills this gap by drawing attention to the relationship between law and precariousness. Precariousness influences individuals’ perceptions of and behavior toward the law; at the same time, however, law creates and reinforces precariousness, a condition of vulnerability and uncertainty subject to the local state's discretion and compassion.     

STR melting curve analysis as a genetic screening tool for crime scene samples

In this proof-of-concept study, high-resolution melt curve (HRMC) analysis was investigated as a postquantification screening tool to discriminate human CSF1PO and THO1 genotypes amplified with mini-STR primers in the presence of SYBR Green or LCGreen Plus dyes. A total of 12 CSF1PO and 11 HUMTHO1 genotypes were analyzed on the LightScanner HR96 and LS-32 systems and were correctly differentiated based upon their respective melt profiles. Short STR amplicon melt curves were affected by repeat number, and single-source and mixed DNA samples were additionally differentiated by the formation of heteroduplexes. Melting curves were shown to be unique and reproducible from DNA quantities ranging from 20 to 0.4 ng and distinguished identical from nonidentical genotypes from DNA derived from different biological fluids and compromised samples. Thus, a method is described which can assess both the quantity and the possible probative value of samples without full genotyping.