How long does it take? An exploration of the time between case assignment and a detective’s first investigative activity

Citizens and victims perceive the criminal justice system to be protracted. Blame for lengthy delays has disproportionately fallen on detective work. To that end, these analyses explore how long it took 184 detectives to work index crimes. Data suggest that more serious crimes, cases with a known suspect, and offenses that did not result in an arrest are most likely to be investigated and worked more promptly by detectives. Detectives, however, continue to exercise a great deal of discretion in if and when cases are worked once they are assigned. These findings are discussed as they relate to police performance indicators, the allocation of departmental resources, issues of crime control, and citizen satisfaction with the police.     

Fair Trade-Organic Coffee Cooperatives,Migration, and Secondary Schooling in Southern Mexico

We explore three trends in rural southern Mexico (Fair Trade coffee, migration, and conditional cash transfers) that could explain the rapid rise in education from 1995–2005 using survey data from 845 coffee farming households in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. Results from a household fixed-effects model show that household participation in a Fair Trade-organic cooperative contributed to about a 0.7 year increase in schooling for girls. US migration opportunities appear to have even stronger positive impacts on schooling for females. Although participation in Fair Trade-organic cooperatives appears also to have increased male schooling, increased migration opportunities have had an indeterminate effect for males.     

The central provident fund scheme in Singapore: Challenges and reform

The article explains the features and evolution of the Central Provident Fund (CPF) scheme in Singapore and the reforms it has undergone in the face of recent challenges. At its inception, it was designed as an exclusively state managed savings scheme to meet the retirement needs of its members. Over the years, it has been gradually liberalised, allowing account holders to use their savings for additional purposes. In recent years two key challenges have arisen. One has been the problems arising out of liberalisation itself, which has left too many CPF members with insufficient savings for their retirement as a result of mistaken or imprudent choices in committing their savings to the additional options available. In response, the Singapore government has tempered or reversed the process of liberalisation, imposing or maintaining constraints on the use of CPF savings so as to ensure sufficient savings to meet retirement needs. The second challenge is the need to restructure the Singapore economy in the face of regional and global competition so as to sustain the profitability of the business sector and enhance employability of the older workers. The response of the government has been to allow the CPF contribution rates of employers to be adjusted and the CPF salary ceiling to be lowered so as to reduce business costs and increase the chances of employment of older workers. However, using the CPF scheme as a macroeconomic tool by reducing employers’ contribution rates may lead to less scope for CPF members to accumulate sufficient savings for their retirement. This would mean that the response to the second challenge would be at odds with the response to the first challenge.     

Terrorism: An Identity Theory Perspective

The present article outlines the role of personal, social, and cultural identity in religiously and ethnically motivated terrorism. It is proposed that terrorism represents the confluence of a cultural identity strongly based in collectivism and in fundamentalist adherence to religious or cultural principles, a social identity based in sharp contrasts between one's own group and groups perceived as threats, and a foreclosed and authoritarian sense of personal identity or, less often, a diffused and aimless personal identity. Examples from religious-extremist and ethnic conflicts in which terrorism has been employed are used to illustrate the tenets advanced here. Recommendations for addressing and preventing the threat of terrorism are discussed.     

I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends: Leveraging Campaign Resources to Maximize Congressional Power

Central to the study of Congress is the study of relationships among members. Electoral collaboration is a function of a member's position in the broader congressional power network. It allows members to leverage their campaign resources to achieve the four classic goals of members of Congress: reelection, making good public policy, obtaining power within the institution, and having one's party in the majority. Using nearly 3.2 million FEC records from 2010 to 2016, we explore the dynamics that influence electoral collaboration. We find members are most likely to collaborate electorally with other members from the same state, party, and committee, and the most electorally vulnerable. Further, party leaders share most frequently with the rank and file. These findings build upon our expanding understanding of congressional collaboration, the networks members of Congress form, and the congressional power structure members operate within.     

A proposed exception to the AIDS confidentiality laws for psychiatric patients

The authors offer psychotherapists a proposed exception to strict acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related confidentiality laws. The proposal is based on previously established exceptions to the psychotherapist-patient privilege. The recommended breach of confidentiality applies only to cases that meet all of the following criteria: (1) A patient knows that he or she has a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive blood test and has been informed of AIDS-related safety precautions, (2) the HIV-positive patient has a mental disorder, and (3) it is reasonable to believe that the mental disorder has significantly impaired or may significantly impair the patient's ability and behavior to follow AIDS-related safety precautions.     

Opening Remarks at the 3^rd Conference of the UN-NGO-IRENE/Asia-Pacific on ＂Sustainable Development and Green Olympics＂

Dear Representatives of the Civil Society,
Dear Co-ordinators of the UN-NGO-IRENE,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am grateful for this opportunity to address to the third conference of UN-NGO-IRENE/ ASIA- PACIFIC in Beijing, and I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to your work, and extend my greetings to all participants.