Quality of criminal responsibility reports submitted to the Hawaii judiciary

This paper is the third in a series of research reports on quality of forensic mental health evaluations submitted to the Hawaii judiciary. Previous studies examined quality of reports assessing competency to stand trial (CST) and post-acquittal conditional release, in felony defendants undergoing court-ordered examinations. Utilizing a 44-item quality coding instrument, this study examined quality of criminal responsibility reports in a sample of 150 forensic mental health evaluations conducted between 2006 and 2010 by court-appointed panels. Raters attained high levels of agreement in training and quality coding. Similar to the previous studies, overall quality of reports was mediocre, falling below the .80 quality criterion score for report elements, regardless of evaluator professional identification or employment status. Level of agreement between evaluators and judicial sanity determinations was “fair” using Cicchetti's (1994) standards for interpretation of intra-class correlations. Level of agreement was lower than previously published findings for CST reports and better than conditional release reports. Reasons for mediocre report quality and “fair” inter-rater agreement are discussed, including the fact that criminal responsibility evaluations are complex, retrospective in nature, and involve significant degrees of inference. In contrast to CST evaluations, assessment of criminal responsibility involves a mental state at the time of the offense evaluation. Threats to reliability in forensic reports are discussed. Suggestions for improvement of report quality are proffered, including standardization of procedures and report format and use of forensic assessment instruments.     

Managing policy‐making in the local climate governance landscape: The role of network administrative organizations and member cities

Trans‐municipal networks (TMNs) have reshaped the landscape around local government action on global climate policy. Past research has focused on why cities join TMNs and the impact that membership has on local action. This study considers a potential reverse effect: namely, that cities' membership choices position them to influence TMNs' overall priorities. In considering this, we emphasize the role of network administrative organizations (NAOs) and posit that the multiple climate‐related networks, which share members and operate in overlapping geographic and issue spaces, are bound together as part of a meta‐network. We utilize social network analysis and data on membership in four climate‐related TMNs to examine the factors that shape how cities can influence meta‐network priorities. We find that cities with local vulnerabilities tend to be located in network positions that enable them to influence the meta‐network's overall priorities.     

The Fourth Indo-China War

Against the background of twentieth-century military conflict in Asia, the article concentrates on China’s contemporary relationships with outlying states, regions and provinces. Employing a version of Thomas Malthus’s political economy, we argue that population wars are an important, if often disguised, future of modern foreign relations. Through an examination of a various examples but specifically Tibet, Vietnam and Uyghurs in Xinjiang province, the article considers the current prospects of sinicization by demographic means. We conclude by describing ‘red capitalism’ in Asia as a combination of authoritarian states plus economicv success within the framework of a tributary Han civilization.     

Retracted: Russia's foreign policy priorities in the Asia-Pacific region

Nguyen, O. T. H., Aksenov, I., Phan, N. T., & Sakulyeva, T. (2021). Russia's foreign policy priorities in the Asia-Pacific region. Journal of Public Affairs, e2745. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2745 . The above article, published online on 17 August 2021 in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ) has been retracted by agreement between the journal's Editor-in-Chief, Laura Corazza and Shaista Wasiuzzaman and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed following concerns regarding manipulation of the peer review and publishing process. Concerns were originally raised by a third party (1). Further investigation by the publisher has found manipulation of the peer review process, and overlapping text with other publications. The retraction has been agreed because the peer review of the article was compromised and there is unattributed overlap between this article and several other articles (2)(3). Abalkina, A. (2022). Publication and collaboration anomalies in academic papers originating from a paper mill: evidence from a Russia-based paper mill https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.13322 Burdzik, T. (2019). Slowly but Surely: Russia's Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia https://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/columns/asian-kaleidoscope/slowly-but-surely-russia-s-foreign-policy-in-southeast-asia/?sphrase_id=34631795 Rumer, E., Sokolsky, R., Vladicic, A. (2020). Russia in the Asia-Pacific: Less Than Meets the Eye https://carnegieendowment.org/publications/82614     

Developing human resource in research and development: international experiences and implications for Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Human resource is the key driving force of research and development of a nation. Japan and Korea are two examples of how appropriate strategies in developing human resources have been transferred into remarkable achievements in R&D. In recent years, Vietnam has observed significant shift in investment for R&D. Thus, the lessons of Japan and Korea could provide Vietnam with valuable strategies for further development in human resources in R&D, particularly in vision of R&D development, policy flexibility, increased investment on R&D development and human resources, key R&D organization formation and increased international cooperation in S&T.     

The East Asia Security Environment in the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century and the Adjustments in Vietnamese Foreign Policy

International relations are social actions, and their expression is behavior of the states. According to French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, the basis for any social action is habitus and capital (Bourdieu 1982). For Bourdieu, social action is not created in a vacuum but always takes place under certain social conditions. Different social conditions create different spheres that Bourdieu called action fields. The problem is that each field has its own rules, logic and goals. Bourdieu also uses the metaphor of game to explain the concept of field. Like the fields each game has also its own rules and logic. In order to participate in the game players are required to have some knowledge of game, and capacity, skills, and last but not least the interests to play game. The field of the Asia-Pacific region in the beginning of twenty-first century and especially during recent years is one of “center court” of the whole world involving all big players like the US, China, Japan, Russia and India. Their presence with their own behavior and different abilities, interests make this field more interesting, but at the same time more complicated and unpredictable. This article explores the different phases of Vietnam's foreign policy since reform in 1986 and joining ASEAN and adoption of “Resolution No. 8 (section IX) on the Strategy for Fatherland Defence in the New Context” in 1995.     

Freedom in paradise: quality of conditional release reports submitted to the Hawaii judiciary

Annually thousands of insanity acquitees are released from mental hospitals when they are no longer determined to be dangerous. This research examined quality of post-acquittal Conditional Release (CR) reports submitted to the Hawaii Judiciary. Hawaii utilizes a “three panel” system for assessing trial felony competency, criminal responsibility, and conditional release, where typically two psychologists (one Department of Health and one community-based) and one community-based psychiatrist submit independent reports to the Court. One hundred fifty CR reports were rated using a 44-item report quality measure. Interrater reliability trials indicated good to excellent agreement between quality ratings. Overall level of report quality was poor regardless of examiners' professional discipline, employer, or board certification status. Concordance rates for CR opinions were poor. Level of agreement between the judicial determination and majority recommendations was also poor. Reasons for the poor quality and level of agreement are discussed with recommendations for report quality improvement, including standardization of procedures and use of forensic risk assessment instruments.     

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.