Examining the prevalence and correlates of a ‘senior citizen discount’ in US federal courts

Few studies focus on age as a factor influencing judicial decision-making, in spite of the widespread use of age as a control variable. Although the limited research to have done so is inconsistent, most scholars agree that age may be race- and/or gender-graded in a manner that produces more severe sentences for certain race–gender–age combinations, especially for young males who are Black or Latino. Less consensus exists with regard to whether older defendants are granted more leniency in the sentencing process and, if so, if the effects of older age are also race- and/or gender-graded. The present study examines this question by examining data from the United States Sentencing Commission. The data presented reveal three noteworthy findings. First, a ‘senior citizen discount’ exists insofar as judges afford more leniency in sentencing to older offenders than their younger counterparts. Second, compared to older males, older females were treated with greater leniency by judges. Finally, whereas Latinos 60 and over were treated with greater severity at the stage of incarceration compared to similarly situated Whites, Blacks received shorter sentence lengths on average. These results are analyzed within the framework of the focal concerns perspective.     

Real interest rate persistence in South Africa: evidence and implications

The real interest rate is a very important variable in the transmission of monetary policy. It features in vast majority of financial and macroeconomic models. Though the theoretical importance of the real interest rate has generated a sizable literature that examines its long-run properties, surprisingly, there does not exist any study that delves into this issue for South Africa. Given this, using quarterly data (1960:Q2-2010:Q4) for South Africa, our paper endeavors to analyze the long-run properties of the ex post real rate by using tests of unit root, cointegration, fractional integration and structural breaks. In addition, we also analyze whether monetary shocks contribute to fluctuations in the real interest rate based on test of structural breaks of the rate of inflation, as well as, Bayesian change point analysis. Based on the tests conducted, we conclude that the South African EPPR can be best viewed as a very persistent but ultimately mean-reverting process. Also, the persistence in the real interest rate can be tentatively considered as a monetary phenomenon.     

A Safer Method for Body Restoration Following Autopsy

Restoration of autopsy incisions can result in inadvertent needle stick injury to the prosector, which can be difficult to prevent even with the use of personal protective equipment such as Kevlar cut resistant gloves. We present a new technique for closure of autopsy incisions using a commonly available commercial hardware tool, a hole punch with a lever enhanced action, combined with blunt probe sewing, which results in an esthetic and leak‐proof means of restoring cadavers. This technique is especially useful in cases which may pose blood‐borne infection risks to the prosector.     

Explaining the under-performance of the anti-human-trafficking campaign: experience from the United States and Europe

The American and the global campaigns against the trafficking of humans for labor and for sexual exploitation have had more than a decade of time and millions of dollars of support in an effort to suppress trafficking and protect its victims. Four of the six articles in this issue explore the reasons why the campaign in the United States has not had more instrumental success with respect to its prosecution goals. The number of cases brought and convictions obtained are fewer than what might be expected. Most of the cases brought involve sex trafficking. The less than impressive record of enforcement against human trafficking appears to be another example of how even very popular law reforms and crusades can be cooled out by the social realities of the criminal justice system. Sex trafficking cases are difficult to make because the victims are difficult to work with, juries are unsympathetic, and the police, prosecutors, judges have their own priorities. The article on the attempt to eliminate sex trafficking by switching to a policy of regulating prostitution rather than treating it as a crime indicates that policy change did not succeed. An attempt to create an index for assessing the implementation of anti-trafficking programs was successful.     

Do bone elasticity and postmortem interval affect forensic fractographic analyses?

Forensic fractographic features of bone reliably establish crack propagation in perimortem injuries. We investigated if similar fracture surface features characterize postmortem fractures. Experimentally induced peri- and postmortem fractures were used to assess if fractographic features vary as bone elasticity decreases during the postmortem interval (PMI). Thirty-seven unembalmed, defleshed human femoral shafts from males and females aged 33–81 years were fractured at varying PMIs with a drop test frame using a three-point bending setup and recorded with a high-speed camera. Vital statistics, cause of death, PMI length, temperature, humidity, collagen percentage, water loss, fracture energy, and fractography scores were recorded for each sample. Results showed that fractographic features associated with perimortem fractures were expressed in PMIs up to 40,600 accumulated degree hours (ADH), or 60 warm weather days. Hackle was the most consistently expressed feature, occurring in all fractures regardless of ADH. The most variable characteristics were wake features (78.4%) and arrest ridges (70.3%). Collagen percentage did not correlate strongly with ADH (r = −0.04, p = 0.81); however, there was a strong significant correlation between ADH and water loss (r = 0.74, p < 0.001). Multinomial logistic regression showed no association between fractographic feature expression and ADH or collagen percentage. In conclusion, forensic fractographic features reliably determine initiation and directionality of crack propagation in experimentally induced PMIs up to 40,600 ADH, demonstrating the utility of this method into the recent postmortem interval. This expression of reliable fractographic features throughout the early PMI intimates these characteristics may not be useful standalone features for discerning peri- versus postmortem fractures.     

Italian population data on two new short tandem repeat loci: D2S1338 and Penta E

A population study on two new short tandem repeat (STR) loci D2S1338 (a tetranucleotide repeat) and Penta E (a pentanucleotide repeat) was performed on 208 unrelated Italian Caucasians. The DNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and separation and detection of the amplified STR fragments were carried out by use of a PE/ABD PRISM 377 DNA Sequencer 377 automated system (Applied Biosystems Division/Perkin-Elmer). Both loci meet Hardy-Weinberg expectations. There is no evidence for departures from expectations between the two loci. The combined Probability of Discrimination and Probability of Exclusion for the two STR loci are 0.999155 and 0.944925, respectively. The results demonstrate that these two regions can be useful for differentiating among individuals, particularly in concert with other STR loci.     

Genetic variation at nine STR loci in populations from the Philippines and Thailand living in Taiwan

In order to apply a set of nine STR loci and the amelogenin locus in forensic testing, we have performed a population study on individuals from the Philippines and Thailand living in Taiwan (273 Philippine and 146 Thai individuals were typed by commercially available kits and an automated sequencer). A total of 73 alleles for all systems for both populations could be observed in these two populations. No new intermediate fragments were found. Allele frequencies showed no deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The mean exclusion power (MEP) ranged from 0.327 (TPOX) to 0.706 (FGA), the discriminating power (DP) ranged from 0.790 (TPOX) to 0.963 (FGA) for Philippinos, MEP ranged from 0.247 (TPOX) to 0.723 (FGA), DP ranged from 0.761 (TPOX) to 0.968 (FGA) for Thais, the combined MEP is > 0.9988 and the combined DP is > 0.9999999993 for both Philippinos and Thais.     

Analysis of breath alcohol with a multisensor array: instrumental setup, characterization and evaluation

The purpose of this work was to evaluate if it was possible to measure the alcohol concentration in breath by a multisensor array, i.e. an electronic nose. The most important aspects were to clarify technical advantages and disadvantages and if the technique is at all suitable for forensic breath alcohol analysis. Even though the system set-up was far from optimal it is clear that it was possible to quantify breath alcohol with a best-case root mean square error = 16.8 mol ppm ethanol (= 0.037 mg/l). However, the method needs significant development especially of the sensor devices. The sensor array was composed of ten metal oxide silicon field effect transistors (MOSFET) with various catalytic gates and one infrared-based CO2 sensor. The system was evaluated by monitoring the breath ethanol concentration of five test persons after intake of alcohol. Gas chromatography was used in parallel to measure the actual breath alcohol concentration. Different data evaluation techniques applied were projection to latent structure (PLS) and artificial neural networks (ANN).     

The Reform of Skill Formation in Russia: Regional Responses

Abstract

Effective systems of vocational education are crucial to economic and social development. However, the coordination of labour market demand and the supply of skill requires either well-functioning labour market institutions or institutionally embedded strategic partnerships among government, labour and employers. In particular, the transplantation of German-style dual education methods to a different environment poses significant institutional dilemmas. Russia presents a useful case for examining the conditions under which such arrangements can be established. Based on a series of interviews in six Russian regions and a set of case histories, we seek to draw testable hypotheses that can be applied to other settings.