How much should we trust crime statistics? A comparison between EU and US

We discuss measurement issues in crime rates in a cross-country comparative perspective. We show that while homicide and general crime rates follow quite similar patterns in the US this is not always the case in Europe. We provide an explanation of the observed patterns based on the use of fire harms.     

Behind the GDP: some remarks on the shadow economy in Mediterranean countries

It is common knowledge that in the past decades the focus on the shadow economy (SE) has increased and the range in the estimated size of this phenomenon is very divergent. The comprehensive coverage of economic production is important in order to ensure good quality of national accounts and exhaustive estimates of the gross domestic product. The purpose of this paper is to approach the SE by means of the latent variable method and the structural equation model–partial least squares and to explore similar behaviors in terms of the obtained results, by analyzing the subsamples of the countries under observation. Political measures need to be implemented carefully to counter the effects of the SE and policy-makers should have to adopt economic policy practices to drive the SE into the formal economy, particularly in less-developed countries.     

Medvedev's Russia and the Social Dimension

In recent years Russia has, thanks to the action of President Putin, witnessed a significant strengthening politically and economically. After years of crisis, this has finally ensured a condition of stability functional to the compromise that has arisen between the regime and society. The election of a new president, Medvedev, in March 2008, marks the beginning of a development phase that will be no less fraught with unknowns than the previous period and destined to create new challenges for the authorities, especially as concerns the social question, long kept on the margins of official policy. The operational plan for the social dimension envisaging a series of interventions aimed at solving the relative problems represents a commitment that could turn out to be crucial for the country's future.     

The success of Afghan NGOs

During the 1990s, and as part of a broader drive towards the “Afghanisation” of humanitarian assistance in Pakistan, Afghan NGOs became key implementing agencies supporting refugee-related and reconstruction activities in Afghanistan. This paper provides a detailed account of their emergence and consolidation, with a twofold objective. First, it complements and contributes to recent studies on Afghan NGOs and Afghan civil society, by providing historical insights on their trajectory. Second, it assesses such trajectory as a way of engaging with broader discussions on the role of NGOs within humanitarian operations.

Le succès des ONG afghanes

Durant les années 1990, et dans le cadre d'une initiative plus générale vers l’« afghanisation » de l'assistance humanitaire au Pakistan, les ONG afghanes sont devenues des agences clés de mise en ?uvre soutenant des activités de reconstruction et d'aide aux réfugiés en Afghanistan. Cet article propose un compte rendu détaillé de leur apparition et de leur consolidation, dans un double objectif. En premier lieu il complète et contribue à des études récentes sur les ONG afghanes et la société civile afghane, en donnant un aperçu historique de leur trajectoire. En second lieu, il évalue cette trajectoire dans le but de prendre part à des discussions plus larges sur le rôle des ONG dans les opérations humanitaires.

El éxito de las ong afganas

Como parte de un esfuerzo dirigido a “afganizar” la asistencia humanitaria en Pakistán durante los años noventa, las ong afganas se volvieron agencias operativas clave para el apoyo de actividades vinculadas a los refugiados y a la reconstrucción en Afganistán. El presente artículo proporciona una historia detallada de su aparición y de su consolidación y tiene dos objetivos. En primer lugar, complementar y contribuir a los estudios recientes respecto a las ong afganas y a la sociedad civil afgana, esclareciendo su trayectoria histórica. En segundo lugar, realizar una valoración de dicha trayectoria como una manera de participar en el debate más amplio en torno al rol jugado por las ong en el ámbito de las operaciones humanitarias.

O sucesso de ONGs afegãs

Durante a década de 1990, como parte de uma orientação mais geral para a “Afeganização” da assistência humanitária no Paquistão, ONGs afegãs tornaram-se agências implementadoras cruciais que apoiam atividades relacionadas a refugiados e à reconstrução no Afeganistão. Este artigo oferece um relato detalhado sobre o seu surgimento e consolidação, com um duplo objetivo. Primeiramente, ele complementa e contribui para estudos recentes sobre ONGs afegãs e a sociedade civil afegã, fornecendo informações históricas sobre sua trajetória. Em segundo lugar, ele avalia tal trajetória como forma de engajamento com discussões mais gerais sobre o papel de ONGs dentro de operações humanitárias.     

The first initiatives

The Greek election of May 2012 failed to produce a government, resulting in repeat elections six weeks later. This shock outcome was a symptom of a broader delegitimation of the national political system. Over the past decade Eurobarometer data show a much more extensive loss of confidence in political institutions in Greece than in the European Union as a whole. In a first phase, rising political discontent was managed within the traditional political framework through alternation in power between the two major parties. In contrast, the second phase, following the outbreak of the Greek sovereign debt crisis, led to the dramatic fragmentation of the party system and changed the mode of government formation. This process is not reversible and entails serious democratic dangers.     

Privacy by design and anonymisation techniques in action: Case study of Match technology

Privacy by Design is now enjoying widespread acceptance. The EU has recently expressly included it as one of the key principles in the revised data protection legal framework. But how does Privacy by design and data anonymisation work in practise? In this article the authors address this question from a practical point of view by analysing a case study on EU Financial Intelligence Units (“FIUs”) using the Ma³tch technology as additional feature to the existing exchange of information via FIU.NET decentralised computer network. They present, analyse, and evaluate Ma³tch technology from the perspective of personal data protection. The authors conclude that Ma³tch technology can be seen as a valuable example of Privacy by Design. It achieves data anonymisation and enhances data minimisation and data security, which are the fundamental elements of Privacy by Design. Therefore, it may not only improve the exchange of information among FIUs and allow for the data processing to be in line with applicable data protection requirements, but it may also substantially contribute to the protection of privacy of related data subjects. At the same time, the case study clearly shows that Privacy by Design needs to be supported and complemented by appropriate organisational and technical procedures to assure that the technology solutions devised to protect privacy would in fact do so.     

Special Issue “The Reasonable Interpreter. Perspectives on Legal and Non-Legal Semiotics”. Introduction

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

Ecological Validity of the Inventory of Problems-29 (IOP-29): an Italian Study of Court-Ordered,Psychological Injury Evaluations Using the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS) as Criterion Variable

The Inventory of Problems-29 (IOP-29; Viglione, Giromini, & Landis, Journal of Personality Assessment, 99(5), 534–544, 2017) is a 29-item, recently published, self-administered test aimed at assessing the credibility of various symptom presentations. Although available research strongly supports the use of this symptom validity test in malingering-related contexts, to date, only few studies have analyzed data from real-life forensic evaluations. To fill this gap and explore ecological and convergent validity, the current study analyzed data from 74 court-ordered evaluations aimed at establishing the possible presence of psychological injury. Such evaluations are high-stakes situations in which exaggeration or malingering occur relatively often. We used a research-supported and popular symptom validity test, i.e., the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS; Smith & Burger, Journal of the American Academy on Psychiatry and Law, 25:180–183, 1997), as our criterion variable. The IOP-29 produced excellent area under the curve (AUC) values of .98 with a recommended SIMS total score cutoff (≥ 17) and .99 when eliminating too-close-to-classify cases (Rogers & Bender, 2018) and very large Cohen’s d effect sizes of 2.98 and 3.59, respectively. Crucially, when implementing established cut scores from previous research, the IOP-29 yielded very high specificity and sensitivity rates, and the predictions from the two tests were strikingly similar. Taken together, these findings support the strong convergent validity of the IOP-29 and its utility in applied clinical and forensic settings.     

Surviving the suicides of significant others: a case study

Psychological pain has been reported to be major contributing factor for completed suicide, and classical suicidology based its wisdom on this construct. In this paper we report the case of a patient whose family experienced a high number of suicides apparently due to an escalation of psychological pain in the family members after the successive suicides. We also briefly discuss the problem of helping survivors after the suicide of loved one.