A wall of treatments: An integrative problem-solving approach to the prevention of stone-throwing in East Jerusalem

Research summary

There is growing evidence that some proactive policing strategies have shown promising results in reducing crime. Most of these strategies are generally applied separately to address specific components of criminal behavior, while the involvement in the crime itself may be caused by different factors. This raises the question of whether an integrative approach that addresses these factors could be an appropriate approach to reduce involvement in the crime. Furthermore, most of these policing strategies have been applied toward regular crime; this leaves us with the question of whether these strategies would show similar results when political offenses are involved as well. Our study focuses on the political offense of stone-throwing in East Jerusalem, usually by Palestinian teenage boys. We applied an integrative approach in one of the Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, which included strategies such as focused deterrence, place-based policing, cognitive behavioral therapy, diversion to nonenforcement tracks, and interventions at the community level. We found a large and significant reduction in the targeted neighborhood compared to similar Palestinian neighborhoods. We have not found evidence of displacement, but rather evidence of significant diffusion of crime-control benefits.

Policy implications

The results of the study suggest that an integrative approach that addresses the risks and needs of minority youth can help reduce their future involvement in political offenses. Furthermore, the implementation of promising strategies in the wider context of policing regular crimes may also be effective in responding to political offenses.     

Networks of Death and Militant Vegetarianism: The Mechanics of Communal Violence in Gujarat

This review essay examines two recently published books that explore communal violence in Gujarat: Ward Berenschot's Riot Politics: Hindu-Muslim Violence and the Indian State and Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi's Pogrom in Gujarat: Hindu Nationalism and Anti-Muslim Violence in India.     

RATIONALIZING PEACE

You cannot simultaneously prevent anct prepare for war. Albert Einstein The paper discusses that a public economics view of why global peace is still not achieved. Using formal public economics theory, the paper highlights the difference between the final product ＂peace＂ and the intermediate public good ＇＇prevention of conflict＂. We argue that nonexistence of the intermediate market is one of the main obstacles for achieving pure peace.     

On Who matters: extending the scope of luck egalitarianism to groups

Abstract

What is the scope of principles of egalitarian justice? This is the question that Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen addresses in Chapter 6 of his Luck Egalitarianism, where he comprehensively considers the different dimensions along which the issue of the scope can be articulated (e.g. with respect to time, to the boundaries of states, etc.). For all the dimensions taken into account he defends a broad understanding of the scope of equality, except for one. He thinks that the principle of luck egalitarianism can only apply to individuals and not to groups. In this paper, we show that Lippert-Rasmussen’s reasons for caring only about inequality between individuals are unsatisfactory, and we provide an argument that justifies extending the application of the luck egalitarian principle also to groups.