Latent Fingermark Aging Patterns (Part II): Color Contrast Between Ridges and Furrows as One Indicator of Degradation

Currently, no established methodology exists to determine degradation patterns of latent fingermarks by visual means. This article is the second in a series of reports exploring quantifiable degradation‐related parameters, which focuses on color contrast changes between fingermark ridges and furrows over time. Experiment variables included type of secretion (eccrine and sebaceous), substrate (glass and plastic), and exposure to natural light (dark, shade, and direct light). Fingermarks were sequentially visualized with titanium dioxide powder and photographed. Image histogram profiles were evaluated and combined with statistical analysis of color data values. Results indicate that sebaceous depositions on glass were generally less degraded by the effect of environmental conditions compared with those on plastic. In addition, aging in darkness was not always the best condition for preservation, and direct exposure to light seemed to inhibit visual degradation under certain conditions. Overall, the technique provided sufficient sensitivity to discern degradation patterns of fingermarks.     

Corporate Mobility and Company Law

Globalisation has given commercial parties more freedom to choose the company law system that best suits their private needs. The growing range of techniques to facilitate choice between systems of company law reshapes the mandatory/enabling debate in countries where corporate mobility is a relatively new business phenomenon and where the past focus has mostly been on degrees of flexibility within domestic law. This article examines relocations, both out of and into the UK, as a source of learning on market preferences with respect to company law and on vulnerabilities. It considers the wider policy implications for the development of company law of more freedom of choice between company law systems. It concludes with a call to explore the potential for more optionality within company law to counter the rise of choice between systems of company law.     

Schauer on Coercion,Acceptance, and Schizophrenia

This article provides a comment on The Force of Law (Schauer 2015), which is Schauer's new and illuminating contribution to the place of law in our societies and in our lives. It constitutes a strong defence of the importance of coercion in law. First, I consider cases where the law is not able to motivate human behaviour adequately, in order to show that legal coercion is not always justified. Second, I examine the Rawlsian distinction between the ideal and the nonideal theory and its application to the theory of law. Third, I tentatively argue that coercion has no place in ideal theory, but a core place in nonideal theory. In this way, it may be plausible to reconstruct the motivation to accept the law, at least when the law is normatively justified.     

The testosterone/cortisol ratio moderates the proneness to anger expression in antisocial and borderline intimate partner violence perpetrators

Several studies have provided evidence that antisocial, borderline and narcissistic personality traits of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators significantly increase proneness to violence. In addition, an imbalance between testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) levels has been observed in this population, making individuals prone to violence. We aimed to establish whether IPV perpetrators differ in personality traits, T/C ratio and anger expression from controls, and also to examine the moderating role of the T/C ratio in the relationship between personality traits and anger expression. The sample consisted of 16 IPV perpetrators and 20 controls. T/C ratio was obtained as the quotient between salivary T and C levels. Anger expression and personality traits were measured with STAXI-2 and MCMI-III, respectively. Our results indicate that IPV perpetrators have higher antisocial, borderline and narcissistic personality traits and anger expression than controls. Nonetheless, they did not differ in basal T/C ratio. Finally, only in IPV perpetrators there was a positive relationship between these variables, the T/C ratio playing a moderating role in the relationship of antisocial and borderline traits with anger expression. In IPV perpetrators the T/C ratio may explain why certain personality traits are associated with high risk of becoming violent.     

Green Activist Criminology and the Epistemologies of the South

Since its inception, green criminology has attempted to highlight instances of environmental degradation and destruction, as well as examine and analyse the causes thereof and contemplate the responses thereto. Efforts to reduce environmental crime and curb environmental harm, more generally, have not gone unimpeded, however. Activists around the world are being killed in record numbers trying to defend their land and protect the environment. In this article, I consider the role of socially engaged scholars who reject the idea or ideology of ‘neutral scientists’ in light of the risks faced by environmental defenders. As such, this article replies to the claims that activism and the production of knowledge must be clearly separated. To do so, this article draws upon examples from Latin America to underscore the importance of an ‘activist criminology’ (Belknap in Criminology 53(1):1–22. doi: 10.1111/1745-9125.12063, 2015) attuned to environmental harms and injustices perpetrated on those seeking to prevent the despoliation of the Earth.     

Aging in rural areas of Spain: the influence of demography on care strategies

In the rural areas of Spain the aging population trend is particularly acute, and these regions are also characterized by high sex ratios. These are the demographic consequences of an intense rural exodus that started in 1950. This paper addresses the strategies that families from these areas have put in place to guarantee care for the elderly in these limited demographic contexts. It quantifies the demographic change from 1910 to 2010 and analyzes current mechanisms for organizing social care. The methodology includes semi-structured interviews and secondary information obtained from censuses. The results show the emergence of new care strategies, the diversification of social agents involved in care, and the transformation of traditional gender relations. All these changes are conceptualized as social adaptation strategies that increase resilience in rural areas.     

Understanding America's Hesitant Steps Toward Financial Capitalism: Politics, the Depression, and the Separation of Commercial and Investment Banking

Few would disagree that the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 is thecontinental divide in American financial and banking history. Bydisallowing banks from getting involved in the investment bankingindustry, this Act imposed an institutional change that shaped howfinancial institutions conduct their business, even today in itsdecline. Conventional wisdom has it that the Act was enacted tocorrect the ``deficient'' financial system that existed during theperiod. In this paper we investigate whether this assertion can beempirically verified by analyzing the Senate vote on a predecessorof this Act (which included the clause separating commercialbanking from investment banking activities). Using multinomiallogits, we examine what may have motivated senators to vote for itspassage. The econometric evidence indicates that the Senate votewas significantly influenced by important interest groups(including national banks as well as manufacturing sectorinterests), despite the large populist outcry for financial marketreforms at the onset of the Depression.     

Measuring Party Identification: Britain, Canada, and the United States

The article proposes an empirically based reflection on how to measure party identification cross nationally, using data from the 1997 Canadian Election Study, the 1997 British Election Study, and the 1996 American National Election Study. These studies included both traditional national questions and a new common one, which allows for an assessment of the effects of question wording on the distribution and correlates of party identification. We show that the distribution of party identification is strongly affected by question wording and that the relationship between party identification and variables such as party and leader ratings, and voting behavior does not quite conform to theoretical expectations. We point out problems in the wording of party identification questions and propose an alternative formulation.     

Global Connections: ‘A Tool for Active Citizenship’

As a result of globalisation and changing technologies, young people are increasingly required to engage with the broader world beyond their local and national communities. This raises significant questions about the ways and spaces in which young people will need to engage as active citizens, and the new tools and resources that young people will need to equip them for their futures. The Global Connections Program has been developed to address these identified needs. It is a youth-led global learning initiative which aims to provide an opportunity for connection and learning among young people in Australia and Indonesia. This article explores Plan's youth-led approach to global learning, with a focus on the implementation and evaluation findings of the Global Connections Program, as well as the challenges faced thus far.     

Taking Others into Account: Self‐Interest and Fairness in Majority Decision Making

Research on the formal properties of democratic aggregation mechanisms has a long tradition in political science. Recent theoretical developments, however, show that in the discussion of normative contents of democratic decisions, the actual shape of preferences deserves just as much attention. However, our knowledge about the concrete motivations of individual behavior in democratic decisions is incomplete. Using laboratory experiments, this article examines the existence of social preferences in majority decisions. Contrary to earlier experiments of committee decision making, we develop a design that controls for the conditions of communication and the level of information between subjects. This allows us to comparatively test the predictive power of several theories. We find strong evidence that self‐interest and fairness motivate human behavior in majority decisions.