Blurring the Distinction Between Empirical and Normative Legitimacy? A Methodological Commentary on ‘Police Legitimacy and Citizen Cooperation in China’

Asian Journal of Criminology - In a fascinating study into the nature of police legitimacy in Southern China, Sun et al. (2018) present evidence that what researchers have previously been treated...     

Female arsonists: a clinical study

This paper is a detailed study of a sample of 15 female arsonists. A review of the literature suggests that arson is seen more frequently in males with female firesetters usually comprising 10 to 18% of the samples of firesetters studied. As a result, female arsonists have been studied less often, and only a few authors have reported on their clinical features. This retrospective study demonstrates that female arsonists do not fall in any particular age group and are mostly either single or separated. Some psychosexual aspects of their behavior also appear to be clinically relevant. In contrast to previous studies, they were more often diagnosed as personality disordered and an association with suicidal behavior was found. Their motivations for the firesetting behavior were also considered. Finally, this paper compares some demographic, clinical, and other differences between male and female arsonists. The study also suggests that poor impulse control may be a prerequisite to this type of criminal behavior. The identification of psychopathic traits in the arsonist has important medico-legal implications.     

Blame,Responsibility, and the Tea Party in the 2010 Midterm Elections

There is a general consensus both in the news media and scholarly research that 2010 was a highly nationalized election year. Reports have indicated that anti-Obama sentiment, the Democrats’ legislative agenda, the economy, and the Tea Party were all factors contributing to Democratic losses in the congressional elections. In this paper, we use data from 2010 Cooperative Congressional Election Study to examine the individual-level dynamics that contributed to the heightened nationalization of the 2010 congressional elections. Our analysis shows that Tea Party support and the attribution of blame and responsibility by voters are essential to understanding the 2010 election outcome, beyond what we would expect from a simple referendum model of midterm elections. Not surprisingly, Tea Party supporters blamed Democrats for the state of national affairs, disapproved of the Democrats’ policy agenda, and overwhelmingly supported Republican candidates in the congressional elections. However, our analysis shows that not all voters who supported Republican candidates were driven by high levels of opposition to President Obama and the Democrats. Another key group of voters blamed both Democrats and Republicans for the nation’s problems but ultimately held Democrats responsible in the voting booth by supporting Republican congressional candidates.     

The healing philosopher: John Locke's medical ethics

This article examines a heretofore unexplored facet of John Locke's philosophy. Locke was a medical doctor and he also wrote about medical issues that are controversial today. Despite this, Locke's medical ethics has yet to be studied. An analysis of Locke's education and his teachers and colleagues in the medical profession, of the 17th century Hippocratic Oath, and of the reaction to the last recorded outbreak of the bubonic plague in London, shines some light on the subject of Locke's medical ethics. The study of Locke's medical ethics confirms that he was a deontologist who opposed all suicide and abortion through much of pregnancy.     

Clinton,the courts,and social policy

He is author of numerous articles and Enforcing the Fourth Amendment: A Jurisprudential History;and coeditor (with Peter W. Schramm) of American Political Parties and Constitutional Government;and the forthcoming Separation of Powers and Good Government.     

More history "lite" in modern American bioethics

This article revisits a disconcerting phenomenon. The history of prominent 17th and 18th century moral theorists who exhibited disapproval of all forms of suicide is well known. Nevertheless, there are many bioethicists who continue to claim that either these moral theorists never actually opposed suicide, or that they never believed in the inalienable right to life and liberty that is an important basis for secular moral opposition to assisted suicide. These erroneous claims evince an improper historical methodology. They originate from the bioethicists' inaccurate quotation of the moral theorists and also from the bioethicists' unwillingness to understand the moral theorists in their relevant historical context. The author concludes that this attempt to obfuscate the true history of 17th and 18th century moral theory may also be removing a line of inquiry from originalist constitutional analysis that Federal Courts have a duty to engage in.     

Motives for Using Facebook, Patterns of Facebook Activities, and Late Adolescents’ Social Adjustment to College

Previous studies have confirmed that Facebook, the leading social networking site among young people, facilitates social connections among college students, but the specific activities and motives that foster social adjustment remain unclear. This study examined associations between patterns of Facebook activity, motives for using Facebook, and late adolescents’ social adjustment to the college environment. Anonymous self-report survey data from 193 mostly European American students (M age = 20.32; 54 % female) attending a major Midwestern university indicated that motives and activity patterns were associated directly with social adjustment, but the association between one activity, status updating, and social adjustment also was moderated by the motive of relationship maintenance. Findings provide a more comprehensive portrait of how Facebook use may foster or inhibit social adjustment in college.