Establishing forensic search methodologies and geophysical surveying for the detection of clandestine graves in coastal beach environments

A 2010 UK police search for a clandestine burial highlighted the need for more information and quantitative data to aid coastal beach searches. This study aimed to address this by establishing relevant forensic search methodologies to aid the search for clandestine coastal burial sites, using the North West English coastline as a search area. A set of parameters were established, including criteria such as tidal range, proximity to vehicular access points and distance from inhabited areas, which may inform forensic searches by prioritising likely locations of clandestine burials. Three prioritised coastal locations were subsequently identified: (1) coastal dunes at Formby, (2) coastal dunes and (3) beach foreshore at Southport, all sites part of the Liverpool City Region in the United Kingdom. At all locations, simulated clandestine graves were hand-dug by spades into which a naked adult-sized, metal-jointed fiberglass mannequin was buried at 0.5 m below ground level. Trial geophysical surveys were then undertaken with the aim of identifying the optimal geophysical instrumentation and technique to deploy in such environments. GPR data showed 450 MHz frequency antennae to be optimal, with significantly poor data obtained from the foreshore area due to saline seawater. Electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility surveys were successful in coastal environments in target detection (albeit not in non-vegetated sand dunes), with resistivity fixed-offset configurations deemed optimal. The latter survey successes may be due to the recent disturbed 'grave' rather than the target, which itself is of interest in terms of identifying the most recent clandestine burials.     

Correlates of Substantiated Emotional Maltreatment in the Second Canadian Incidence Study

The objective of this study was to determine the correlates of substantiated psychological maltreatment (PMT) in Canada on functions of maltreatment characteristics, child profile, household profile, and child protection services interventions. This study is based on a secondary analysis of data collected in the second Canadian Incidence Study. PMT investigations were categorized into six groups: emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and other maltreatment as single form, and these same three groups when they co-occurred with another form of maltreatment. Six logistic regressions, comparing all pairs of groups, were carried out. Cases of PMT (single form) were more chronic and associated with greater adverse emotional impact than other forms of maltreatment. Mothers of psychologically maltreated children had more mental health issues. Emotional neglect cases were more complex (e.g., substance abuse, mental health, and social housing). The three co-occurrent groups present more negative factors but more risk factors are observed when PMT are also observed (e.g., emotional harm, alcohol abuse, housing problems, chronicity, and referral to other services).     

Brexit and Strand Three of the 1998 Agreement: The Three Faces of East-West

Under Strand Three of the 1998 Belfast ‘Good Friday’ Agreement, institutions were set up to promote the ‘harmonious and mutually beneficial development’ of the ‘totality of relationships’ between the peoples and governments of Ireland and the UK, including its devolved administrations and Crown Dependencies. According to the text of the 1998 Agreement this ‘east-west’ dimension was to have two elements with corresponding institutions: an intergovernmental one reflected in the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIC) and an interjurisdictional one reflected in the British-Irish Council (BIC). These Strand Three institutions were designed to provide fora for, respectively, intergovernmental cooperation on ‘non-devolved Northern Ireland matters’ in the case of the BIIC and information exchange and cooperation ‘on matters of mutual interest within the competence of the relevant Administrations’ in the case of the BIC. Nowhere in the 1998 Agreement text is the concept of ‘east-west’ used to refer to relations between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Yet, in the wake of Brexit, and in the midst of controversy over the implications of the Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland, relations between Great Britain and Northern Ireland (GB–NI) have been newly framed as ‘east-west’. The creation of this new discursive face of ‘east-west’ relations marks an important, but little discussed, impact of Brexit on the political and constitutional landscape of the UK and Ireland. Against this backdrop, this article considers the impacts of Brexit, and the Protocol, on three faces of ‘east-west’ relations—the BIIC, the BIC and, newly, GB–NI—and discusses their implications for the future of Strand 3 institutions and the ‘totality of relationships’ they represent.     

Constituent Communication Through Telephone Town Halls: A Field Experiment Involving Members of Congress

Telephone town halls are an increasingly prevalent method for members of Congress (MCs) to communicate with constituents, even while garnering popular criticism for failing to facilitate engagement and accountability. Yet scholars have paid little attention to the events and their effects, and even less to how they might be improved. To remedy this problem, we report on a field experiment in which four MCs joined their constituents in telephone town halls. Overall, participation in an event improved constituents’ evaluations of the format in general, and of the MC in particular. Furthermore, we studied how these events might be improved by evaluating a reform—a single‐topic focus with predistributed briefing materials—designed to enhance deliberative interaction. This reform enhanced effects on opinions of the format without significantly altering effects on attitudes toward the MC. Our results suggest that telephone town halls hold promise for constituents, officeholders, and democratic practice.     

Mother–infant separations in prison. A systematic attachment-focused policy review

Abstract

Mothers in prison separated from their young children are an overlooked group. Attachment theory could provide a useful model to underpin interventions and better support women affected by separation from their infants. Current policy draws on a limited body of evidence and research has developed considerably since its first design. This review systematically searched all relevant UK prison policy and government documents with regards to mother and child separation in prison and analysed the extent to which these documents draw on attachment theory. Following initial searches, 58 documents were thematically analysed. Attachment was implicitly referred to in most documents but only explicitly mentioned in four. Global themes identified included ‘separation as trauma’. However, document groups varied in focusing either on the mother or the child and there were no joint perspectives. Developing and researching specific attachment-informed interventions might be one way forward as would further attachment-based research in this area.     

Introduction: the Political Consequences of Non-state Social Welfare in the Global South

Throughout the Global South, diverse non-state actors have historically played critical roles in enabling populations to meet their basic needs, whether by providing or mediating access to social benefits and programs. To date, little research explores non-state social welfare, particularly in the Global South, and existing studies tend to focus on technical and administrative concerns while neglecting the potential political ramifications. This introductory essay aims to conceptualize and theorize the politics of non-state social welfare. We highlight three dimensions of the political consequences of non-state social welfare, including the implications for state capacity, equity of access to social welfare, and experiences of citizenship. Based on this framework as well as the findings of the empirical contributions to the special issue, the essay concludes that non-state provision may pose more political challenges than proponents recognize, but its effects are ultimately contingent on the types of relationships between state and non-state providers.     

Organised Criminals as “Agents of Obligation”: The Case of Ireland

Relying on Brown's (2005a, b) thesis that contemporary shifts in penal policy are best understood as a reprisal of colonial rationality, so that offenders become “non-citizens” or “agents of obligation”, this article argues, firstly, that this framework (with certain important refinements and extensions) finds support in developments in Irish criminal justice policy aimed at offenders suspected of involvement in “organised crime”. These offenders have found themselves reconstituted as “agents of obligation” with duties to furnish information about their property and movements, report to the police concerning their location and, importantly, refrain from criminal activity or face extraordinary sanctions. Secondly, it is submitted that this draconian approach to the control of organised crime is built on false premises; specifically the idea that “organised crime” as such exists and is best controlled through restrictions on the freedom of key groups or “core nominals”.     

Breaking gridlock: the determinants of health policy change in Congress

Prior to the 2010 health care reforms, scholars often commented that health policy making in Congress was mired in political gridlock, that reforms were far more likely to fail than to succeed, and that the path forward was unclear. In light of recent events, new narratives are being advanced. In formulating these assessments, scholars of health politics tend to analyze individual major reform proposals to determine why they succeeded or failed and what lessons could be drawn for the future. Taking a different approach, we examine all health policies proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1973 and 2002. We analyze these bills' fates and the effectiveness of their sponsors in guiding these proposals through Congress. Setting these proposed policies against a baseline of policy advancements in other areas, we demonstrate that health policy making has indeed been far more gridlocked than policy making in most other areas. We then isolate some of the causes of this gridlock, as well as some of the conditions that have helped to bring about health policy change.     

Age, Retirement and the Employment Contract

This essay examines the contractual analysis of retirement andthe potential influence of past judicial approaches in the newera of statutory prohibition on age discrimination.