Assessing the Impact of the United Nations War Crimes Commission on the Principle of Complementarity and Fair Trial Standards

This article looks at the work of the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC), and its influence on the development of international criminal law. It examines the role the UNWCC played in prosecuting war criminals, and notes the similarities between the UNWCC’s mission and the current structure and role of the International Criminal Court, particularly its focus on the principle of complementarity. The article reviews fair trial standards at the time of the national trials, and provides that many of them are present in current international human rights instruments. Still, the author submits that many trial records are still inaccessible and, as a result, there is not enough evidence to fully analyze the Commission’s efficiency in providing for a fair and impartial trial.     

What liberals should tolerate internationally

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on what liberal states should tolerate outside their borders. This requires definitions of `liberalism,´ `toleration,´ and `state.´ In the first section of this paper, I briefly indicate how I use those and other terms necessary to the discussion and introduce the normative principle I take liberals to be committed to. In the second section, I continue clearing the path for the rest of my discussion. In the rest of the paper, I draw conclusions about what liberals should tolerate outside their state that I believe follow from the proffered definitions and principles. I limit myself to interference aimed at providing humanitarian aid, but do so in a way that is meant to provide resources for thinking about other sorts of interventions. In the third section, I consider humanitarian interventions done with the permission of the other state and will point toward a toleration-based view; here we are really talking about non-toleration of suffering. In the fourth section, I consider humanitarian interventions done without the permission of the other state; here we are talking about non-toleration of a state that harms its residents. I consider an objection in section five.     

O,The Roast Beef of Old England! Brexit and Gastronationalism

‘Gastronationalism’ is the idea that there are distinctive and authentic national food cultures that are threatened by the forces of globalisation. It is a myth: there are no unique or authentically distinctive national culinary cultures. But the idea of gastronationalism is a powerful one that can have important political effects, as Brexit shows. In this article, I chart the rise of British food with regard to Britain’s historical relationship with Europe and the EU. I consider how different understandings of British food culture—one more nativist, one more cosmopolitan—have played a symbolic role in the debate on Brexit, before considering the broader relationship between contemporary populist nationalism and gastronationalism.     

The state must compete: Optimal pricing of legal cannabis

We examine the socially optimal pricing strategy for the legal cannabis industry that faces significant competition from an illicit market. We explore the impact of different preferences for legal and illicit cannabis using a constant elasticity of substitution utility function. We find that under a range of policy objectives and other circumstances, the socially optimal pricing strategy is for the legal market price to be dramatically lower than the illicit market price. This contradicts the approach taken across Canada in the year since legalization. These findings suggest that governments should adopt policies to reduce the price of legal cannabis.     

Predicting fear of crime: personality outperforms prior victimisation

Reported levels of crime continue to fall, but fear of crime remains a significant social problem. Previous studies have identified several factors that predict fear of crime (e.g. age and gender), however, it is not obvious how this information can be used to help distinguish between individuals in larger groups. Personality is predictive of other lifestyle outcomes yet its relationship with fear of crime remains unknown. We examined personality correlates of fear of crime alongside other well-established predictors. A total of 301 participants completed the HEXACO-PI-R personality scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. Higher levels of emotionality (r = .37) and lower levels of honesty-humility (r = ?.18) correlated with increased levels of crime-related fear; however, prior victimisation did not improve a subsequent model. While elucidating the relationship between fear of crime and personality, our results also raise additional questions concerning the measurement of crime-related fear in the general population.     

A Comparative Analysis of Foiled and Completed Mass Shootings

American Journal of Criminal Justice - This study provides a comparative analysis of foiled and completed mass shootings in the United States between 2000 and 2019. Specifically, this work...     

Factor Structure and Reliability of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales for Incarcerated Female Substance Abusers

Incarcerated women with a history of substance abuse often experience intimate partner violence (IPV), both as victims and as perpetrators. The issues surrounding partner violence and substance abuse are complex, and accurate assessment of this population's experience is critical to ensure proper treatment planning and program development. One of the most common instruments with which to measure IPV is the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS). Unfortunately, very little published data exist on the revised version of the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2), and no data could be located in the literature using this scale with incarcerated women. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the underlying factor structure and reliability of the CTS2 for 359 incarcerated women who had voluntarily participated in a 1–year long substance abuse treatment program. Item analysis revealed a high level of reliability for the overall scale as well as for the individual subscales. Additionally, results from the confirmatory multiple group factor analysis support the 5 underlying subscales, and taken together indicate that the scale is acceptable to use with this population.     

Victimization and Relational Aggression in Adolescent Romantic Relationships: The Influence of Parental and Peer Behaviors, and Individual Adjustment

Consistent with the view that adolescent relationships are established in the context of important characteristics of their social networks, we examined the effects of adolescents’ experiences of parenting (psychological control and positive monitoring) and of peer aggression and victimization, on their self reports of dating victimization and aggression. We also examined the effects of individual differences in emotional and behavioral problems. We used questionnaire data from a population-based sample of youth 12–18 years old who were in dating relationships (n = 149). Parental monitoring emerged as a protective factor in reducing both dating victimization and relational aggression. Our findings also point to a significant transfer of aggression in peer relationships to relational aggression in dating relationships.