Book reviews

Reckless Legislation: How Lawmakers Ignore the Constitution by Michael A. Bamberger. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000. Pp.ix + 233. $32 hb ISBN 0 8135 2732 5.

An Accidental MP by Martin Bell. London: Viking, 2000. Pp.230 £16.99 hb ISBN 0 670 89231 9.

Politico's Guide to Parliament by Susan Child. London: Politico Publishing, 1999. Pp.vi + 461 £25 hb ISBN 1 902301 23 4.

The European Parliament by Richard Corbett, Francis Jacobs and Michael Shackleton. London: John Harper, 4th edn, 2000. £37.50 hb ISBN 0 953 62782 9; £14.95 pb ISBN 0 953 62781 0.

The C‐Span Revolution by Stephen Frantzich and John Sullivan. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. Pp.xiv + 433. $14.95 pb ISBN 0 8061 3130 6.

Pivotal Politics: A Theory of U.S. Lawmaking by Keith Krehbiel. Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Pp.xvi + 258. £39.55 hb ISBN 0 226 45271 9; £13.50 pb ISBN 0 226 45272 7.

Legislative Enterpreneurship in the U.S. House of Representatives by Gregory Wawro. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, 2000. Pp.xiv+193. $39.50 hb ISBN 0 472 11153 1.     

European health regulations and Brazil nuts: Implications for biodiversity conservation and sustainable rural livelihoods in the Amazon

Abstract

The Brazil nut industry comports with the principal objectives of European policy on development co‐operation (poverty reduction linked with environmental protection) and forest conservation (maintaining forest cover). However, European Regulation 1525–98 EC, which decreases acceptable levels of aflatoxins in Brazil nuts to 4 parts per billion, may cause a crash in the Brazil nut trade. Thus, European policies on food quality, development co‐operation and forest conservation are likely to operate a cross‐purposes. Brazil nut producer countries have questioned the legal basis of the Regulation in terms of scientific justification for the stricter limits on aflatoxin content and lack of conformity with international standards set by Codex Alimentarius. The EC has countered by invoking the precautionary principle. This article documents the debate in the context of the World Trade Organisation's Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement and discusses the implications for the relationship between agendas of trade, environment and sustainable development.     

The (im)possibility of development studies

Abstract

Development studies is commonly understood to be committed both to a principle of difference (the Third World is different, hence the need for a separate field of studies) and a principle of similarity (it is the job of development policy to make ‘them’ more like ‘us’). This double commitment has led to important challenges to the intellectual standing of the discipline and/or its object of study, development. This paper begins by reviewing five theorems which pronounce the impossibility of development studies. It then offers a more sympathetic account of the field. While recognizing the urgent need for development studies to be critical and at times oppositional, the paper suggests that an allied commitment to public policy-making can be taken as a sign of maturity. Development, and development studies, should be understood as sets of social practices, or technologies of rule, the organization and effects of which need to be (and in key respects are) contested and subjected to political and scholarly review.     

Central‐city and suburban migration patterns: Is a turnaround on the horizon?

Abstract

The huge population losses that characterized many older, larger U.S. cities during the 1960s and 1970s slowed and in some cases ceased during the 1980s and early 1990s. Periodic media reports of neighborhood turnarounds, commercial revitalization, and improvements in housing and the quality of life in selected inner‐city subareas have been taken as signs that central cities are retaining middle‐class residents and even attracting some back from the suburbs.

Analysis of metropolitan household migration patterns based on the U.S. Census Bureau's 1980 and 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples and more recent Current Population Surveys shows that the dominant trend in residential movement among most population subgroups is still toward the suburbs. While not discounting reports of central‐city neighborhood turnarounds and selective demographic revitalization, our findings imply that those improvements are limited and that a widespread back‐to‐the‐city movement is not likely in the foreseeable future.     

Distress Tolerance and Intimate Partner Violence among Men in Substance Use Treatment

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is overrepresented among men in substance use treatment. Individuals who relapse following substance use treatment report greater IPV perpetration relative to individuals who remain remitted. In addition, distress tolerance has been shown to be an important treatment target in substance use treatment, with distress tolerance predicting relapse following treatment. However, we are unaware of any research that has examined the relationship between distress tolerance and IPV among men in substance use treatment, which may hold important treatment implications. The current study therefore examined this relationship in a sample of men in substance use treatment (N = 138). Results demonstrated that distress tolerance was negatively associated with physical and psychological IPV perpetration. After controlling for age and substance use and problems, distress tolerance remained associated with psychological, but not physical, IPV perpetration. These findings suggest that distress tolerance may be an important component of treatments for IPV, particularly for psychological aggression. Substance use treatment programs that target distress tolerance may concurrently reduce the risk for relapse to substance use and IPV perpetration.     

Use of a solid absorbent and an accelerant detection canine for the detection of ignitable liquids burned in a structure fire

ABSTRACT: Ignitable Liquid Absorbent^™ (ILA), a commercial solid absorbent intended to assist fire scene investigators in sample location and collection, has been field tested in three separate room fires. The ability of the ILA to detect and absorb different amounts of gasoline, odorless paint thinner, and camp fuel on two different substrates after a full-scale burn was assessed against results from an accelerant detection canine and laboratory analysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The canine correctly alerted on most of the panels that contained an ignitable liquid after the fire, while the ILA indicator dye failed to indicate in the presence of gasoline and camp fuel. GC-MS results for ignitable liquid residue from each panel and from the ILA showed that ILA absorbed odorless paint thinner and camp fuel from most of the test panels, but failed to absorb gasoline from the panels on which gasoline was confirmed to be present.     

Quality assurance testing of an explosives trace analysis laboratory--further improvements

The Forensic Explosives Laboratory (FEL) operates within the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) which is part of the UK Government Ministry of Defence (MOD). The FEL provides support and advice to the Home Office and UK police forces on matters relating to the criminal misuse of explosives. During 1989 the FEL established a weekly quality assurance testing regime in its explosives trace analysis laboratory. The purpose of the regime is to prevent the accumulation of explosives traces within the laboratory at levels that could, if other precautions failed, result in the contamination of samples and controls. Designated areas within the laboratory are swabbed using cotton wool swabs moistened with ethanol water mixture, in equal amounts. The swabs are then extracted, cleaned up and analyzed using Gas Chromatographs with Thermal Energy Analyzer detectors. This paper follows on from a previous published paper describing the regime and summarizing subsequent results from approximately 6 years of tests. Lessons learned and improvements made over the period are also discussed. Monitoring samples taken from surfaces within the trace laboratories and trace vehicle examination bay have, with few exceptions, revealed only low levels of contamination, predominantly of RDX. Analysis of the control swabs, processed alongside the monitoring swabs, has demonstrated that in this environment the risk of forensic sample contamination, assuming all the relevant anti-contamination procedures have been followed, is so small that it is considered to be negligible. The monitoring regime has also been valuable in assessing the process of continuous improvement, allowing sources of contamination transfer into the trace areas to be identified and eliminated.     

The recovery of illicit drugs from oral fluid sampling devices

Testing for drugs in oral fluid is a convenient procedure for determining recent drug use. A number of issues are still to be resolved and this paper investigates the effects of storage systems on drug stability and recovery using three different collection devices supplied by Cozart, Immunalysis and Microgenics (third party). Drugs were analysed using a range of immunoassay systems followed by MS confirmation and quantitation. The reproducibility of the weight of specimen collected was excellent (CV<10%) for the three collection devices tested. Of the three systems studied, only the Cozart product gave acceptable recovery of THC from drug-spiked oral fluid. A combination of Cozart, Immunalysis and Diagnostix immunoassays with the Cozart collection system gave the most sensitive and discriminating screening assays for the drugs studied, namely THC, benzodiazepines, methamphetamine and morphine. Storage at either 5 degrees C or room temperature had no significant effect on drug recoveries.     

Cost-benefit analysis of reducing crime through electronic monitoring of parolees and probationers

Objective

The objective of this study was to estimate the benefits and costs of using electronic monitoring (EM) and home detention to reduce crime committed by parolees and probationers.

Method

Data from a national survey of state prison inmates was adjusted and used to estimate the number of crimes that would have been committed by all parolees and probationers over the course of one year in the absence of EM and home detention. The data were analyzed in combination with existing analyses of the effectiveness and costs of EM and home detention and the economic costs of crime to estimate the benefit-cost ratio of nationwide implementation of EM and home detention with all parolees and probationers.

Results

EM plus home detention could avert an estimated 781,383 crimes every year. The social value of the annual reduction in crime is $481.1 billion. Society would gain $12.70 for every dollar expended on the proposed intervention.

Conclusion

EM plus home detention could be an effective deterrent to crime and could have enormous social benefits, especially if it is applied early and saves what would otherwise be habitual offenders from a life of crime.