Perceptions of the Regulated Community in Environmental Policy: The View from Below

Discussions in environmental policy often focus on the highest levels of decision making and action while paying scant attention to those individuals on the front lines. Among those frequently overlooked are the individuals at regulated facilities who interact with government regulators on a frequent basis. Interviews with nearly two dozen facility personnel in Virginia yield findings that challenge common perceptions of the relationships between facility personnel and inspectors. In particular, 86 percent of facility personnel, representing a range of regulated facilities from prisons to landfills to dry cleaners, said their interactions with inspectors were positive. Approximately 70 percent of them said that they trust inspectors and provided evidence of trust in their stories. The ramifications of these findings for environmental policy could be potentially significant because facility personnel are presumed to be adversarial, if not outright hostile, and this assumption impacts the design and implementation of environmental regulations.     

Fetishised data: counterterrorism,drone warfare and pilot testimony

Drones now comprise a major part of our culture – primarily as a consequence of the so-called War on Terror and the rise in violent extremism. Yet the available data on what it means to operate a drone (where this can influence wider perceptions on the appropriateness and effectiveness of remote warfare as an act of counterterrorism) is highly contradictory. This article explores a new source of data capable of shedding light on this contested issue: online interviews with current and former pilots discussing their personal experiences. Access to this testimony has the potential to influence cultural understandings of remote warfare, specifically where these stories highlight the severe psychological difficulties pilots can be subject to. In analysing this new data, however, the article questions whether the media typically employed to express pilot testimony comprises an appropriate space in which to publicise and engage with this evidence. It argues that this presentation has caused these personal accounts to become fetishised – to the extent this undermines the cultural, political, and informative value of the data and even reinforces the narratives of remote warfare this testimony frequently seeks to reverse.     

A Powder-free DNA Extraction Workflow for Skeletal Samples

The processing of skeletal material poses several challenges for forensic laboratories. Current methods can be laborious, time-consuming, require dedicated equipment, and are vulnerable to contamination. In this study, various sample mass (1 × 50 mg, 3 × 50 mg, and 1 × 150 mg chip(s)) and incubation times (2, 4, and 16 h) were tested using the PrepFiler^® BTA™ Forensic DNA Extraction Kit to digest whole bone chips in lieu of powdering. The most effective method was then applied to bones and tooth fragments collected from contemporary human cadavers exposed to various environmental conditions using an automated platform. Over a third of the samples tested generated full DNA profiles without having to powder the bone/tooth fragment or further alter the manufacturer's protocol. However, for most samples resulting in incomplete STR profiles due to low amounts of DNA, slightly better results were achieved with powdered tissue. Overall, this work demonstrates the potential use of a faster, nonpowdering DNA extraction method for processing skeletal samples as an effective first-pass screening tool.     

American murder mystery revisited: do housing voucher households cause crime?

This paper reviews the current state of the housing market, particularly in the shadow of the foreclosure crisis, the collapse of the financial system, and persistent unemployment. The authors outline the policy priorities necessary to facilitate the recovery of the housing market in general and to encourage comprehensive revitalization of the hardest hit communities.     

Identity,Insecurity, and Great Power Politics:The Tragedy of German Naval Ambition Before the First World War

Why did Germany pursue naval expansion at the turn of the twentieth century? This question has long puzzled scholars of international security, who consider German naval ambition to be an instance of suboptimal arming—a decision that decreased Germany's overall security and risked the survival of the German state. This article argues that the social desire to be recognized as a world power guided Germany's decision to challenge British naval hegemony. From the beginning of its naval planning, Germany had one clear aim: a powerful fleet of battleships stationed in the North Sea would alter the political relationship with Britain in such a way that it could no longer ignore Germany's claim to world power status. Reconceptualizing Germany's naval ambition as a struggle for recognition elucidates the contradictions at the center of German naval strategy, explaining how the doomed policy could proceed despite its certain failure. The article concludes that the power-maximizing practices of great powers should be seen as an important component of identity construction and an understudied dimension of contemporary security practice.     

When Screams Are Not Released: A Study of Communication and Consent in Acquaintance Rape Situations

This study examines the importance of modes of communication in the context of acquaintance rape, using 96 reported cases of acquaintance rape from a southeastern law enforcement agency. Through the demographic characteristics of each acquaintance rape, as well as the testimonies of the complainants and—in some cases—the accused, this research reveals the way in which victims communicate their responses to these attacks. A typology of modes of communication clearly emerges from these qualitative data. The patterns of communication further underscore the likelihood of passive responses, particularly the complete lack of communication when the victim “freezes.” The implications of such response modes are considered.     

The Fault of (European) Law in (Political and Social) Economic Crisis

It is a commonplace that the discipline of economics has contributed to the current crisis, above all, because economic methodologies are charged with fatally inflating debt risk, such that collapse was the inevitable result. But what might be said of the role of law within this constellation? Much ink has been consumed detailing legal shortcomings within regulatory regimes for the financial services. However, a full accounting has yet to be made of the broader fault which may also be attributed to the premises of modern and increasingly post-national law, especially as they coalesce with a broader abdication of political responsibility for crisis. This contribution begins this accounting, investigating the processes by which law has transformed itself into an economic technology within post-national regimes in its contemporary quest for material legitimacy. Above all, in its idolatry of the factual, law has itself become a power locus—especially within the European Union—that similarly pre-empts the politics within which social and economic stability might be defined and achieved.