Determinants of prisoners’ perceived need for care in association with criminal recidivism

This study explored determinants of perceived need for care among male inmates of general prison wards in Amsterdam (N = 208) with a normative need for care. Also, it assessed the relation between perceived need for care and criminal recidivism. Normative need for care was defined as having a mental health problem, assessed with the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen, or being substance dependent. Perceived need for care was defined as a subjective problem experience and a wish to receive care. Mental health and/or addiction problems were highly prevalent (68%). Of those inmates, only 29% had a perceived need for care. Age and borderline personality disorder were associated with perceived need for care, prior care utilization intermediated these associations. No direct relation between perceived need for care and criminal recidivism was observed. All inmates should be well screened and the benefits of mental health care should be promoted.     

Community hierarchy of needs and policing models: toward a new theory of police organizational behavior

This study explains the influences of environmental variables on the emergence of varying policing models. It empirically tests a new perspective on the influences of community variations to police organizational behaviours and practices among local police departments in the U.S. Using the U.S. Census, the Uniform Crime Reports and the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics data, the study tests a perspective suggesting that community hierarchy of needs influences the degree level of the implementation of different models of policing, particularly community policing. The study presents constructs to operationalize hierarchy of needs. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships of hierarchy of needs, organizational factors, and other control variables to police departments’ pursuit of different policing models. Findings suggest that community hierarchy of needs and organizational factors significantly constrain the departments’ implementation of policing models. Lower hierarchy of needs tends to be associated with pursuit of traditional policing while a community with higher level needs tend to pursue community policing. Similarly, organizational complexities influence the implementation of different policing models.     

Pakistan-China Friendly Relations Are Deep Rooted

On the eve of the 60th anniversary celebrations of the establishment of Pakistan-China Diplomatic Relations,a special function was jointly organized in March by     

60 Golden Years of Pak-China Relations

Since establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in May 1951,China and Pakistan have developed an all-season friendship which is based on equality,brotherhood and overall cooperation.In the past 60 years,the two countries have carried out multi-dimensional cooperation in varied fields.Despite unstable international situation,the China-Pakistan friendship remained strong and vibrant.This is only because both the countries enjoy high respect and trust over each other.Recent years have witne...     

Unusual sources of Sn in GSR. An experimental study by SEM and IBA

Gunshot Residue (GSR) produced by the discharge of a firearm often provides very useful information in criminal investigations in cases involving the use of firearms. Scanning Electron Microscopy equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer (SEM-EDS) is typically used worldwide to visualize micrometric particles constituting GSR and to analyse their elemental composition. The 2017 ASTM Standard guide for gunshot residue analysis by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy specifies that “Particles classified as characteristic of GSR will have one of the following elemental compositions: Lead, antimony, barium; Lead, barium, calcium, silicon, tin”. For the first time, the presence of an additional element, such as Sn, plays a key role in ASTM particle classification. It is known that some ammunitions, used for pistols, revolvers and rifles, contain tin foil discs for sealing the primer mixture into the cup, resulting in GSR particles containing Sn. The authors faced some cases in which Sn was unexpectedly found in GSR particles from a 0.22 Long Rifle derringer and from some 12 gauge shotguns. No tin foil discs are used in rimfire ammunitions and there is no published evidence of tin foil discs in shotshell ammunitions. Following a “case by case” approach, experimental research has been carried out to explain how Sn can be present in GSR particles when the last discharged cartridge also does not contain any Sn either in components and in the explosive charges.Moreover, the use of Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) showed the capability to overcome overlap ambiguity of Sb and Sn peaks in the X-ray spectra, being a possible key issue in real shooting cases if Sn quantities are below the lower limit of SEM detection, especially when Sb is also present.     

Estimating Sex Using Metric Analysis of the Scapula by Postmortem Computed Tomography

Postmortem computed tomography (CT) has been extensively used in the last decade for identification purposes and in various anthropologic studies. Postmortem CT measurements of scapulae, analyzed using logistic discriminant function developed in this study, showed 94.5% accuracy in estimating sex. Data analyzed using the Dabbs and Moore‐Jansen (2010) discriminant function and the discriminant function generated in this study provided nearly identical results with disagreement in only one case. Height and weight were not statically significant in sex prediction. The results of this study show that data obtained from volume rendered postmortem CT images can be considered reliable and treated as a practical option to standard anthropological methods, especially in mass fatalities as a rapid triage tool for sex determination.     

On the structure of business incubators: de-coupling issues and the mis-alignment of managerial incentives

Business incubators are structurally complex and have resisted any major change to their internal structure, replicating throughout the world in large numbers, and delivering value through numerous models. A question, thus arises, what specific structural properties of incubators facilitate the organizational form’s replication and performance in a range of institutional contexts? In order to shed light on this question, an exploratory-inductive approach is adopted; and, utilizing the tools of organization theory, the internal environment of the business incubator is de-coded. This draws attention to attributes of the hybrid incubator-form’s internal structural properties that have not been discussed in the past, including de-coupling issues and the mis-alignment of managerial incentives with the actual role of incubating. These properties, rather than impacting incubators’ status, award incubators with ceremonial value and help their managements avoid close inspections of performance. This in turn, it is proposed, has allowed for their rapid replication in a variety of socio- cultural, economic and institutional contexts.     

Negative governmentality through fundamental rights: The far side of the European Convention on Human Rights

This essay analyses those statements that mention legal norms in negative terms. Specifically, it analyses those statements that define a legal system by mentioning how legal protection does not work and where legal protection ends, and those statements that identify what rights‐holders do not have to with their legally protected free capacities. This essay argues that these statements address a systemic question. It calls such a dynamic as negative governmentality. The argument proceeds in four steps. It introduces the concept of negative governmentality by arguing that the idea of freedom requires both the positive affirmation of moral agency and the constraining of moral agency (Section 2 ). It then explores how rights constitute freedom by limiting rights or making exceptions to them (Section 3 ). Later, it analyses how rights‐based norms prevent abuse of rights by holders of rights (Section 4 ). Finally, it sees how rights‐based norms constrain the legal guarantor of rights, i.e., a state (Section 5 ). The essay concludes by mentioning the importance of negative governmentality (Section 6 ).     

Countries start to explain how their climate contributions are fair: more rigour needed

In the lead-up to the Paris Agreement, every country was invited to submit an intended nationally determined contribution (INDC), and indicate how it is fair. We analyse how countries have explained the equity of mitigation and adaptation in 163 INDCs, providing a bottom-up analysis of equity to complement a literature that has focused on top-down allocations. While no single indicator of equity was used by all INDCs, a menu of quantified indicators or tiered approaches could provide bounded flexibility across different national circumstances. The most common equity indicator used in mitigation INDCs is the country’s ‘small share’ of global emissions, followed by per capita emissions. The emissions of individual ‘small share’ INDCs add up to 24% of annual global emissions when using a consistent data set. Per capita emissions are used across a range of countries with low (0.5) to high (25 t CO₂–eq per capita) values for that indicator. Adaptation is included in 89% of INDCs, of which more than half quantify impacts in some manner, and two-thirds use vulnerability as an equity argument. Broadly, we find that most claims to equity are either unsubstantiated or drawn from analysis by in-country experts. Only two INDCs refer to independent evidence, and none consider the consequences of their approach when applied to all countries. Given that the aggregate effect of INDCs will not be sufficient to keep global temperature increase well below 2 °C, and even less to keep temperature below a 1.5 °C rise, the INDCs have distributional implications. More rigorous information is needed to assess relative fair shares, which could be provided officially in future nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Absent improved information, it is likely that researchers and civil society will continue to assess informally what could be considered fair. A hybrid approach to equity—combining bottom-up assessment and top-down allocation—would be consistent with the hybrid architecture of the Paris Agreement, which comprises bottom-up elements such as NDCs and top-down elements such as global goals. Improved information on equity in NDCs will be an important input to the global stocktake ‘in the light of equity’.