Building collective action at crime hot spots: Findings from a randomized field experiment

Journal of Experimental Criminology - The study examined whether Assets Coming Together (ACT), a policing intervention directed at increasing collective action and collective efficacy at crime hot...     

Liquid chromatography/photodiode array detection for determination of strychnine in blood: a fatal case report

An original liquid chromatography method with photodiode-array detection (DAD) is presented for the determination of strychnine in blood. This sensitive method allows the use of only 0.1 ml of sample. The strychnine was isolated from blood using a liquid-liquid extraction procedure and chloroquine as an internal standard. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification were 0.06 and 0.5 mg/l, respectively. The recovery was 94% and the coefficients of variation (CV) ranged from 5.9 to 10.8%. A fatal case of strychnine poisoning is presented, with a lethal blood concentration of 25 mg/l.     

Development and Initial Findings of an Implementation Process Measure for Child Welfare System Change

This article describes a new measure designed to examine the process of implementation of child welfare systems change. The measure was developed to document the status of the interventions and strategies that are being implemented and the drivers that are being installed to achieve sustainable changes in systems. The measure was used in a Children's Bureau-supported national effort to assess the ongoing implementation of 24 systems-change projects in child welfare jurisdictions across the country. The article describes the process for measure development, method of administration and data collection, and quantitative and qualitative findings.     

One Woman’s View of the Early Chinese Communist Movement: The Autobiography of Mme. Zhang Guotao

Abstract

Wei Baqun, leader of the influential Donglan Peasant Movement in southern China in the 1920s and 1930s, was attacked by his Nationalist enemies as a real and dangerous Communist long before he joined the Chinese Communist Party. Meanwhile, some of his Communist comrades were reluctant to admit him into the Party or to recognize him as a genuine Communist even after he joined the Communist Party. But after his death, they all began to promote him as a perfect Communist. Through an analysis of Wei Baqun’s life and revolution, this article shows how controversial and conflicting perceptions of the political identity of a political leader could exert strong influence on the political career of the leader and on local and national politics in revolutionary China. The article also attempts to explain why the confusion and controversy over Wei Baqun’s identity dissipated after his death.     

A Panacea for all Times? The German Stability Culture as Strategic Political Resource

The German Stability Culture is frequently pointed to in the literature as the source of the country’s low inflation policies and, at the European Union level, the design of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). In Germany, the term was regularly wielded by central bankers and Christian Democrat (CDU–CSU) politicians to legitimise the move to EMU in the face of a large majority of public opinion opposed – and subsequent EU-level policy developments – particularly in the context of the eurozone debt crisis that erupted in 2009. An ordered probit analysis is used to demonstrate the depth of the German Stability Culture, showing support for low inflation cuts across all party and ideological lines. Despite this ubiquity, the term has been wielded with regularity only by the centre-right Christian Democrats and is strongly associated with this party. A strategic constructivist analysis is employed to explain this uneven but persistent usage in German domestic politics.     

Party Selection of Officials in Contemporary China

This study considers how, in the absence of elections for national office, authoritarian ruling parties create organizational channels for selecting officials. Through a case study of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), I examine the selection problem facing the ruling party. Within the CCP, special training academies, also known as party schools, serve as a pipeline to higher party and government posts. An examination of selection patterns for these schools reveals that there exists a mix of political and professional factors which determine invitation to a party school training program, suggesting the coexistence of patronage and meritocratic processes in promotion for higher office. Empirical analysis of these selection processes takes three parts. Individual-level characteristics, such as party membership, frequency of interaction with superiors, and educational background, are significant predictors of selection for a party school program. Second, to control for selection bias, I employ a matching procedure and find that the “treatment” of enrollment in a party school training program significantly increases the likelihood that an individual will be promoted to a higher rank in comparison to those without party school training experience. Third, additional tests indicate that these schools serve a screening function for the party, thus providing an organizational means for CCP leaders to manage who enters the highest ranks of political leadership. In this sense, the training process itself serves an informational function for party authorities, beyond the ritual these organizations are long thought to embody.     

Wordsworth and the old men

In the 1830s the poet William Wordsworth bought government annuities on the lives of old men from the Lake District and elsewhere. This episode is recounted for the light which it throws on the history of the government's life annuity business in the early nineteenth century. An account of this business is given, and an explanation offered for the fact that the government suffered heavy losses at the hands of life assurance companies and other speculators, including Wordsworth and the banker friend who led him into the investment. Wordsworth's financial dealings are also considered from the perspective of a literary historian, for the insights which they afford into Wordsworth's understanding of a poet's public and private responsibilities.     

Greenland criminal justice: The adaptation of western law

The conflict which many indigenous peoples experience with Westernized systems of law has precipitated a search for alternative models of criminal justice. While the process of colonization has most often resulted in the destruction of traditional practices of social control, in Greenland an attempt was made to adapt Western law to the indigenous culture. The Greenlandic justice system has several unique attributes which have attracted the attention of indigenous peoples and governments worldwide. This article traces the origins, development and evolution of the Greenlandic Criminal Code and criminal justice system, the factors which influenced its development, and the extent to which the objectives of the architects of the systems have been met. The discussion provides key insights into the potential and limitations of adapting Western law to indigenous cultures.