Juries Don't Make Legal Decisions! And Other Problems: A Critique of Hastie et al. on Punitive Damages

Hastie, Schkade, and Payne (1998) published a simulation experiment intended to study the performance of jurors and juries regarding verdicts on whether punitive damages should be allowed. They concluded that juries were not very competent and discussed the legal policy implications of this conclusion. I identify a fatal conceptual flaw that renders the study irrelevant to legal policy: The jurors were asked to decide law, a decision that is the responsibility of the trial judge, not the jury. I also identify a number of misstatements and unsupported assertions in the article.     

Can epidemiological studies assist in the evaluation of community treatment orders? - The experience of Western Australia and Nova Scotia

Epidemiological studies using administrative databases have several advantages over other methodologies in studying the effectiveness of compulsory community treatment such as community treatment orders (CTOs). We compared patients placed on CTOs in Western Australia with controls drawn from both within the jurisdiction and from another without this measure (Nova Scotia). Although in different countries, the mental health services in both jurisdictions share common characteristics. Notably, we were able to control for forensic history in our comparison within Western Australia. We analysed predictors of admission and number of bed-days using multiple, logistic or Cox regression as appropriate. Of the 274 subjects placed on a CTO, we were able to find controls for up to 96% (n=265). CTO placement was not associated with reduced admissions or mean bed-days, although there was a threshold effect with a reduced risk of inpatient stays exceeding 100 days. Outpatient contacts were significantly greater for the CTO group. However, we do not know whether the intensity of treatment, or its compulsory nature, effected outcome.     

Calculating and Believing: Ideological Norms in the Cradle of Utility Maximization

An individualist approach to political phenomena is not necessarily an economic approach. We can assume that beliefs and commitments as well as selfishness motivate individuals. Ideology provides a basis for individual choice for policy makers and for citizens and is as much a micro-foundation as narrow “self-interest.” Employing a “least-likely” case approach this paper shows that we can find legitimacy and norm-sensitive behavior in the cradle of utility maximization, the firm. In this paper I will lay out some puzzles found in the general areas of business, politics, and policy-making and show how the particular piece of behavior can be understood within the logic of ideological frameworks and the normative acceptability or legitimacy of actions. The purpose is more an “analytical narrative” than a systematic empirical investigation. It suggests the critical importance of examining the normative as well as the self-interest foundation of behavior. To that end, the empirical context of the discussion is provided by business social responsibility, by business participation in elections, by a snapshot of an ideologically driven political career, and by an antibusiness policy decision. The narrative moves from the generosity of business corporations, to foreign-owned corporations' political activity decisions in the host country, to Mrs. Thatcher and the median voter, and finally to the decision to abolish the slave trade.     

The rapid analysis of heroin drug seizures using micellar electrokinetic chromatography with short-end injection

A simple and rapid method for the analysis of heroin seizures by micellar electrokinetic chromatography with short-end injection is described. Separations were performed using an uncoated fused silica capillary, 50 cm x 50 microm I.D. x 360 microm O.D. with an effective separation length of 8 cm. The system was run at 25 degrees C with an applied negative voltage of -25 kilovolts. Injection of each sample was for 2 s at -50 mbar. UV detection was employed with the wavelength set at 210 nm. The background electrolyte consisted of 85:15 (water:acetonitrile, v/v) containing final concentrations of 25 mM SDS and 15 mM sodium borate, pH 9.5. Samples and standards were prepared in 0.1% v/v acetic acid and diluted in the run buffer containing 1 mg/ml of N,N-dimethyl-5-methoxytryptamine as an internal standard. Under these conditions a text mixture containing caffeine, paracetamol, morphine, codeine, heroin, and acetylcodeine was resolved within 1.5 min. The method was used to determine the concentration of heroin in heroin seizure samples, and the results were in good agreement with those obtained by a validated gas chromatographic method.     

A: Reviews: general

TWO INDIAN TRAVELLERS: EAST AFRICA 1902–1906. Edited by Cynthia Salvadori with Judy Aldrick. Mombasa, Friends of Fort Jesus, 1997. x + 242 pp. K. Shs 900.00 (pb).

THE HERITAGE OF OMAN; A CELEBRATION IN PHOTOGRAPHS. By Pauline Sheldon (with photographs by Ozzie Newcombe). Reading, Garnet Publishing Limited, 1995. 160 pp. £30.00

COMRADES AND ENEMIES. ARAB AND JEWISH WORKERS IN PALESTINE, 1906–1948. By Zachary Lockman. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1996. xvi + 440 pp., one map. £48.00 (cloth), £19.95 (pb).

PAN‐TURKISM. FROM IRREDENTISM TO COOPERATION. By Jacob M. Landau. London, Hurst, 1995. 275 pp. £14.95.

THE HORN OF AFRICA: POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. By Peter Woodward. (International Library of African Studies, 6.) London, I. B. Tauris, 1996. ix + 226 pp., one map. £39.50.

POLITICS AND ISLAM IN CONTEMPORARY SUDAN. By Abdel Salam Sidahmed. Richmond, Curzon Press, 1997. xiv + 249 pp., £40.00

SYRIA AND IRAN: MIDDLE POWERS IN A PENETRATED REGIONAL SYSTEM. By Anoushiravan Ehteshami and Raymond A. Hinnebusch. London and New York, Routledge, 1997. ix + 238 pp., £40.00

WARS, INTERNAL CONFLICTS AND POLITICAL ORDER: A JEWISH DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST. (SUNY series in Israel Studies) By Gad Barzilai. New York, SUNY Press, 1996. 301 pp.

OIL AND ISLAM, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES. By Oystein Noreng. (The PETRO Research Series in Petroleum Economics and Politics, Research Council of Norway.) Chichester, John Wiley, 1997. 342 pp.

DER WEG DER ALEVITEN (BEKTASCHITEN): MENSCHENLIEBER, TOLERANZ, FRIEDEN UND FREUNDSCHAFT. By Ali Duran Gülçiçk. Cologne, Ethnographica Anatolica, 1996. 229 pp. 15DM.

THE DECLINE OF EASTERN CHRISTIANITY UNDER ISLAM, FROM JIHAD TO DHIMMITUDE. By Bat Ye'or. London, Associated University Presses, 1996. 522 pp., illustrations.

ISLAM AND HUMAN IDEOLOGY. By Samih Atef El‐Zein. Translated, with an Introduction and Notes by Elsayed M. H. Omran. Preparation and Presentation by Nabih Sidani and Issam Ghandour. London, Kegan Paul International, 1996. xxv + 375 pp. £45.

ISLAMIC LEGAL INTERPRETATION: MUFTIS AND THEIR FATWAS. Edited by M. K. Masud, B. Messick and D. Powers. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1996. 431 pp.

SUHRAWARDI AND THE SCHOOL OF ILLUMINATION. By Mehdi Amin Razavi. (Curzon Sufi Series.) Richmond, Curzon Press, 1997. 192 pp., £35 (hb), £14.99 (pb).

RUZBIHAN BAQLI: MYSTICISM AND THE RHETORIC OF SAINTHOOD IN PERSIAN SUFISM. By Carl W. Ernst. Richmond, Curzon Press, 1996. xxvi + 181 pp., two charts, two appendices, indexes and glossary. £12.99 (pb).

ARABISCHE PRIVATBRIEFE DES 9. BIS 15. JAHRHUNDERTS AUS DER ÖSTERREICHISCHEN NATIONALBIBLIOTHEK IN WIEN. By Werner Diem. (Documenta Arabica Antiqua 2.) Wiesbaden Harrassowitz, 1996. 288 pp. (Textband), 52 plates (Tafelband). 178 DM.

ARABISCHE AMTLICHE BRIEFE DES 10. BIS 16. JAHRHUNDERTS AUS DER ÖSTERREICHISCHEN NATIONALBIBLIOTHEK IN WIEN. By Werner Diem. (Documenta Arabica Antiqua 3.) Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1996. 411 pp. (Textband), 80 plates (Tafelband). 192 DM.

99 BEEKASHI‐WITZE/BEKTA?? FIKRASI: Deutsch‐Türkisch. By Ali Duran Gülçiçek and Rüdiger Benninghaus. Cologne, Ethnographica Anatolica, 1996. 212 pp.