Racial differences in speeding patterns: Exploring the differential offending hypothesis

Purpose

Disproportionate minority contact during traffic stops has been a consistent source of commentary and study in recent years. While various theoretical perspectives have been employed to explain these empirical findings, the differential offending hypotheses has been largely ignored as a viable alternative explanation. Building on existing empirical evidence regarding criminal offending patterns and driving patterns, we examined the veracity of this explanation using data from an observational study of urban driving behavior.

Methods

Data were collected using an observational methodology in an urban environment. These data were then used to estimate various regression models and test the differential offending hypothesis.

Results

Analytic models indicated that Black drivers speed more frequently and engage in more severe speeding compared to White drivers, net of controls.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that citizen risk for specific police behavior is partially attributable to differential behavior prior to the encounter. These results mirror the findings of previous research in other geographic locations using different methodologies; thus, contributing to the conclusion that understanding officer decision-making and behavior requires consideration of other factors beyond a citizen's race.     

The tussle with trust: Trust in the news media ecology

This article offers a conceptual exploration of the changing notion of trust and distrust in today's news media ecology. Central is the question whether the relationship between the traditional media actors, media organisations, journalists and news users, can be increasingly characterised by distrust. Do we really notice a decline in trust in the news media? And moreover, are these feelings of distrust grounded? In order to answer these questions, we look at the changing economic, technological and societal context and how this might explain the strained relationship between these actors. We find that to a large extent the goals of the media actors diverge or even conflict. Mutually bridging these goals is difficult as they boil down to ideological and normative choices. This requires us to reconsider our ways of looking at trust. Therefore, this article's central argument is that a trusted relationship between the media actors is unlikely to result from a definitive settlement between the actor's conflicting goals. Rather, maintaining a trusted relationship is likely to become a matter of constant renegotiation. For this renegotiation to succeed, transparency and integrity are key. We find inspiration in the recent work of Solove (2001), Nissenbaum (2004) and Mansell (2008, forthcoming) to take a different, more contextual approach towards the notion of trust. As regards the relationship between news organisations and users, we suggest these norms should be negotiated in a balanced and transparent way, giving users an equal say in the process. The relationship between journalists and news users should be guided by a mutual interest in truth telling, whereby users are not only merely seen as consumers, but also as potential contributors to news stories. Policy makers in turn should act as facilitators of such spaces of renegotiation.     

Defamation in cyberspace: A Japanese perspective

The aim of this paper is two-fold: first, to introduce how Japanese law and its jurisprudence have dealt with the case of on-line defamation, which is arguably one of the most acute problems in modern society, and second, to critically examine the efficacy of such an approach. The recent decision of the Supreme Court in on-line defamation (as oppose to off-line defamation) will be introduced as an exemplar of the way Japanese law and its jurisprudence have dealt with such an acute problem. A first step will be to provide, by way of background, a brief overview of how defamation in a conventional sense has been treated by the Japanese legal system. The second step will be to outline how the Japanese jurisdiction has dealt with on-line defamation, that is to say, to what extent the Japanese court regulates on-line defamatory comments made by the ordinary people. A third step will be to examine the efficacy of such an approach, and the final step will be to examine whether the UK court can learn a lesson from the Japanese jurisdiction. The author will draw upon Japanese jurisprudence, in order to consider whether a valuable lesson might be offered to the UK jurisdiction.     

Corporate social responsibility as new challenge for the IT industry

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a relevant topic for enterprises offering products and services on a global scale. International organizations provide for guidelines and private associations publish codes of conduct requiring businesses to integrate social, environmental and ethical aspects, human rights as well as consumer concerns into their operations. Not at least the EU is promoting CSR through an Agenda for Action 2011–14. The implementation of CSR is a multidimensional ethical process and gains particular importance for the IT industry which by its nature is global. Therefore, IT enterprises are invited to conduct a CSR assessment, to develop a CSR strategy and to implement CSR commitments. These tasks are to be done by introducing specific CSR processes and compliance measures for risk assessment and risk mitigation.     

The Cyprus and other EU court rulings on data retention: The Directive as a privacy bomb

This paper discusses the controversy surrounding the Data Retention Directive with an emphasis on the 2011 decision of the Cyprus Supreme Court which has annulled several district court orders that allowed the police access to telecommunications data relating to certain persons relevant to criminal investigations. The annulment has been on the ground that the legal provisions upon which the orders have been issued are unconstitutional. It will suggest that the decision does not entail a direct rejection of the EU Data Retention Directive and that in any event, Cyprus is not a Member State resisting the particular measure. This is because the legal provisions are deemed unconstitutional, though part of the law that has transposed the relevant Directive into national law are provisions that go beyond what the EU legislator intended to regulate through that Directive. Still, the particular Directive sits rather uneasily within the ‘human rights’ regime, in particular the one governing the individual right of privacy.     

Data protection in cloud computing – The Swedish perspective

This article describes and analyses three recent decisions by the Swedish Data Inspection Board (Datainspektionen) directly focused on cloud computing. All three decisions were published on 28 September 2011 as part of a supervisory project seeking to clarify what demands the Data Protection Act places on organisations utilising cloud computing. As such, and due to the fact that similar concerns arise in the three matters, there is considerable overlap between the three decisions. Indeed, large parts of text are identical in the three decisions. To avoid repetition, I discuss the first decision in most detail, and limit the discussion of overlapping issues in the context of the other two decisions.     

High road in regulating online child pornography in South Africa

Online child pornography is a repulsive reality which cannot be ignored; the biggest child pornography manufacturing ring in South African history was cracked with the arrest of eight family members. There are more than 116 000 Internet searches daily for child pornography. Pornography is no longer confined to consenting adults, children are not only being exposed to pornographic material but are increasingly being used as victims of child pornography. In South Africa, the Internet and Cell phone Pornography Bill tabled in 2010 aims to make it illegal for Internet and mobile phone service providers to distribute pornography or permit it to be distributed. The objective of the Bill is to protect children from child pornography and women from the indignity of being seen as objects of pornography. This paper takes as its focal point the continuing crisis which centres on the conceptual framework, the existing legislation regulating online child pornography and measures to curb infringement.     

Unmanned aircraft systems: Surveillance,ethics and privacy in civil applications

This paper examines how the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) for surveillance in civil applications impacts upon privacy and other civil liberties. It argues that, despite the heterogeneity of these systems, the same “usual suspects” – the poor, people of colour and anti-government protesters – are targeted by UAS deployments. It discusses how current privacy-related legislation in the US, UK and European Union might apply to UASs. We find that current regulatory mechanisms do not adequately address privacy and civil liberties concerns because UASs are complex, multimodal surveillance systems that integrate a range of technologies and capabilities. The paper argues for a combination of top-down, legislated requirements and bottom-up impact assessments to adequately address privacy and civil liberties.     

Can Europe Fill the Void in U.S. Military Leadership?

This article lays out the case for why Washington's European allies are incapable, both now and in the foreseeable future, of replacing American military leadership. Despite recent substantial force contributions in Iraq and Afghanistan and small-scale interventions in Africa, European military capabilities are limited, declining, and unlikely to rebound, regardless of whether the United States is in strategic retreat. As a result, the United States faces a bleak choice: not whether to trade American global leadership for an equally benevolent European world order, but whether to give up its mantle of leadership and thereby create a void that may be filled by unfriendly, if not overtly hostile, actors.     

Agricola: A Man for Our Times

Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40-93 AD) is a man for our times. Facing the capriciousness of imperial power, he, a successful provincial Roman governor, chose to withdraw from public administration. Yet, by protecting his family, Agricola did not shirk politics. On the contrary, he retreated to the founding cell of any polity, the family, which buttresses and at the same time limits the state. By doing so, Agricola reached greatness despite living under bad emperors.