CRIME AND PERSONALITY REVISITED

The present study explored the effects of MMPI response sets on relatonships between crime and personality in self-report studies. The MMPI-168 and a 21-item delinquent behavior questionnaire were administered to 1680 high school students. The Psychopathic Deviate, Schizophrenia, and Hypomania scales of the MMPI-168 were correlated with delinquent behaviors, with and without control for the L, F, and K scales of the MMPI-168, considered separately and simultaneously. Controlling for F eliminated some relationships and significantly diminished the magnitude of others, while control for L and K had no significant effect. Studies of this nature that fail to control for the F type of response set may produee largely illusory results.     

Military First Doctrine Is Behind North Korea Adventurism

The recurrent crises emanating from North Korea, and the response to them, is testing US‐China relations and drawing the new boundaries of power in East Asia. The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the former South Korean national security advisor address this development.     

Actuarial risk assessment and recidivism in a sample of UK intellectually disabled sexual offenders

Abstract

This study examines the effectiveness of three risk assessment instruments: Static-99, Risk Matrix 2000 (RM2000) and the Rapid Risk of Sex Offender Recidivism (RRASOR), in predicting sexual recidivism among 27 intellectually disabled sex offenders. The overall sexual offence reconviction rate was 30%, while non-recidivists remained offence-free over 76 months of follow-up. Static-99 presented as performing as well as guided clinical judgements in mainstream population studies [area under the curve (AUC)=0.64] exceeding the performance of RM2000 (AUC=0.58) in predicting sexual recidivism. However, the results were not statistically significant. In contrast to previous findings, the RRASOR presented the worst level of prediction (AUC=0.42). These results highlight the need to investigate further with larger sample sizes and in conjunction with more dynamic measures of risk. Proposed relevant factors are discussed in detail.     

Zur Anwendung zwingenden Gemeinschaftsrechts in der aktuellen Rechtsprechung des BVerwG zum Artenschutz nach der “Kleinen Novelle” des Bundesnaturschutzgesetzes

Zusammenfassung  Nachdem die “Kleine Novelle” des Bundesnaturschutzgesetzes für Unsicherheit bei der Anwendung der neuen Reglungen gesorgt hat, enthalten die ersten Entscheidungen der h?chstrichterlichen Rechtsprechung eine hohe aktuelle Brisanz. Der Beitrag geht auf die aktuelle Rechtsprechung des BVerwG zum Artenschutz bei Infrastrukturvorhaben unter dem Aspekt des Gemeinschaftsrechts ein. Behandelt werden die Einschr?nkung des St?rungsverbots, “vorgezogene Ausgleichsma?nahmen”, die Prüfung des Ausnahmetatbestands nach vollendeten Tatsachen, die Zulassung von Ausnahmen bei ungünstigem Erhaltungszustand der Art, das Auseinanderfallen von Entscheidungs- und Beurteilungszeitpunkt sowie die Berücksichtigung von Kosten bei Alternativen.     

Manifestos and elections in Ghana's Fourth Republic

Debate continues over the factors that influence electoral outcomes or voter behaviour and alignment in elections all over the world. Several factors have been noted, including the manifestos of political parties. In spite of the potential influence of the party manifesto, several comparative and empirical studies on elections in Ghana have paid little or no attention to manifestos in determining the electoral outcomes of political parties in the Fourth Republic.This paper makes a contribution to the debate by examining how manifestos have influenced the electoral chances of the two main political parties which have been in and out of government in Ghana since the inception of the Fourth Republic, namely, the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party. Analysis covers the five elections held in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. Specifically, it discusses not only the ability of the manifestos to shape policy debate but also to some extent, influence electoral outcomes. The paper concludes with some lessons learned.