Islamic courts and corrections

This paper explores Islamic Criminal Law and Procedure. There are some differences among Islamic states but these differences are relatively minor. Muslims are tried in Sharia Courts for offenses found in the Quran. Non‐Muslims can not be held to the same standard (Apostasy). All people are subject to the jurisdiction of Mazalim Courts which handle taxation, traffic, and other administrative functions.

Islamic Law has three major divisions of crime: 1. Hadith Crimes (most serious); 2. Quesa Crimes and Diya (restitution); and 3. Tazir Crimes (least serious).

Islamic Law has many similar “defenses to crime” as the Common Law nations. They use puberty of a juvenile as the age of accountability. Police must obtain a search warrant for property. The punishment philosophies are similar to western views in theory, but they do apply these ideas in much different ways. Many punishments are public and done as a deterrent for others. Islamic judges have more freedom for sentencing options than western judges. They have mandatory sentences for only a few of the most serious Hadith Crimes. Some in the popular media point to the harshness of Islamic Law, and conclude that it must be wrong. They have very low crime rates and few social problems. We conclude that Islamic Law is not wrong, only different.     

Singapore justice

Singapore was brought to the world's attention in the spring of 1994, when it sentenced Michael Fay to six lashes with a cane. Many debated the issues presented by that case and there were many half‐truths released about Singapore and the eighteen year old male from Ohio. This research does not raise the issues of caning or corporal punishment. Rather, the research was done to explore ‘'Justice in Singapore'’ and how its system of justice really operates.

More specifically, this research will focus on this city‐state consisting of many divergent peoples, races, cultures, languages, and its thriving economy. The major part of the research focuses on crime related matters. The research compares U.S. and Singapore crime rates, and has found the overall U.S. rates to be 200% to 380% higher in the 1980s. Violent crime rates for ten years were also compared, and the U.S. rates range from 749% to 1,405% higher than Singapore. The paper also examines the ‘'drug problem'’ in Singapore and its response to it.

The last section of this paper explores why there is generally very strong support for police in Singapore (little corruption and few acts of police brutality). The court structure was also explored and an analysis has been done on how it functions. Lastly, the prison system is examined and its operations are presented. Justice in Singapore works very well, but it is also very different from other nations of the world.     

Predicting motor vehicle crash involvement from a personality measure and a driving knowledge test

Typically, safety‐related driver education programs are aimed at changing knowledge of vehicle operation rules and regulations. However, vehicle crashes are as likely to be related to driver personality variables as they are to the knowledge of vehicle operation and rules and regulations. In a study with 48 licensed drivers, crashes were found to be significantly correlated with conscientiousness, a five‐factor model personality dimension, but not with scores on a driving knowledge test. It would appear that prevention efforts should also be directed at changing conscientiousness‐related behaviors, including an emphasis on goal‐setting, and following rules and regulations.     

When Do Numbers Count? The Differential Impact of the PISA Rating and Ranking on Education Policy in Germany and the US

Why do international comparisons have an impact on some countries while other countries do not respond? This article examines the power of international ratings and rankings (R&R) using the OECD's PISA study and its differential impact on education policymaking as a case study. It argues that international R&R have an impact when two conditions are simultaneously fulfilled: the evaluated topic is framed as crucial in the national discourse, and a substantial gap between national self-perception and the empirical results can be observed. After assessing the media impact of PISA on 21 OECD countries, the theoretical argument is illustrated by an evaluation of the differing reactions of two similarly poorly performing countries: Germany and the US. While the German system of secondary education was strongly affected by the international comparison, beginning with the first PISA study in 2000, and underwent comprehensive changes, the US first responded noticeably in the public and the political discourse only in 2010 to its below-average ranking.     

Recruitment and selection in north carolina: a profile of municipal personnel practices (1)

This study surveys recruitment and selection practices, focusing upon North Carolina municipal governments. Sources and methods of recruitment, qualifications tested for, and criteria and screening methods used are examined. In addition, the effect of city and organizational size as well as that of governmental structure on these personnel practices are studied.

In general, the use of personnel practices is linked to both increased municipal population and the number of public employees. Certain basic techniques (e.g. local advertisement of vacancies, the use of training and education as selection criteria, reference checks, background investigations, and pre-employment interviews) are widespread. However, other personnel techniques associated with objective recruitment and selection (e.g., special recruitment requests to minority, women's, and professional organizations and formal tests) have but limited use. The comparison of job duties with candidate skills along with the use of standard questions as guides for interviews while receiving moderate use merit more.

Clearly, there are a number of techniques that only begin to be used extensively when cities exceed a certain threshold (10,000+ population; 100+ employees). The presence of a city manager (in council-manager municipalities) or a town administrator (in mayor-council municipalities) also appears to foster a more professional approach to personnel management. Throughout this study the presence of a town administrator increased the usage of individual techniques; in a number of instances two-, three-, and even four-fold increases are noted.     

On Necessity as a Defence to Crime: Possibilities, Problems and the Limits of Justification and Excuse

The article reviews recent developments in England in the law of necessity as a defence to crime and calls for its further extension. It argues that the defence of necessity presents the criminal law with difficult questions of competing values and the ordering of harms. English law has taken a nuanced position on the respective roles of the courts and the legislature in the ordering of harms, although the development of the law has been pragmatic rather than coherently theorised. The law has granted necessity some scope as an exculpatory principle in the law of general defences, but it has also respected the primacy of the legislature as the legitimate arbiter of many of the competitions of value that necessity throws up. The recognition of necessity has not been in the form of a single unified defence of that name. Rather it has taken the form of a number of defences, based on a principle of necessity, but with different nomenclature and different rationales. This approach to necessity is defended as right in terms of principle and policy. Any further development of necessity as a general defence should be restricted to two contexts, namely those of emergencies, and of conflicts of duty, where a danger of death or serious injury is present.

Direct amplification of STRs from blood or buccal cell samples

Forensic databasing laboratories routinely analyze blood or buccal cell samples deposited on FTA^® paper. Prior to PCR amplification of the STRs, the FTA^® samples must undergo multi-step sample purification protocols to remove the PCR inhibitors present within the sample and from the FTA^® paper. The multi-step sample purification protocols are laborious, time-consuming and increase the potential for sample cross-contamination.To eliminate the need for DNA purification, we conducted studies to optimize the PCR buffer and thermal cycling parameters to allow for direct amplification of STRs from blood or buccal samples on FTA^® paper. We evaluated the effect of various factors on the DNA profile including: FTA^® disc size, blood sample load variation, and buffer formulation. The new STR assay enables the direct amplification of DNA from single source samples on FTA^® discs without sample purification. The new STR assay improves the workflow by eliminating tedious steps and minimizing sample handling. Furthermore, the new STR assay reduces cost by eliminating the need for purification reagents and expensive robots.     

A century (plus) of parenthood: Changes in living with children, 1880–1990

This paper summarizes the broad foundations of the changing nature of parenthood by examining trends in coresidence with children under age 15. Our study uses data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Samples (IPUMS) to provide a portrait of demographic parenthood in the US over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In describing changes in parenthood over the past 110 years, we distinguish between those living with own children and those living with other children. We focus in particular on changes in gender patterns of coresidential parenthood and changes in the likelihood that divorced men and women live with children. We also examine the impact of the baby boom on parenting. Our findings support a recasting of ongoing discussions of the parental roles of American men and women by shifting the historical demographic focus from biological transitions to the social aspects of parenting.     

Covid-19 and UK Universities

Universities UK (UUK) has suggested that there may be very significant losses to higher education as a consequence of Covid-19. However, losses are likely to be substantially lower than the potential losses estimated by UUK. But the magnitude of losses is very uncertain. The UUK’s proposal to restrict undergraduate enrolment per university to stop institutions poaching students is not in the interests of the most highly regarded universities, or that of students. Some rationalisation of the sector should be the price of further government support. Now is also the time to reconsider how university research is funded.     

Single-party government,Prime Minister psychology,and the diversionary use of force: theory and evidence from the British case

ABSTRACT

This paper develops expectations about the likelihood of diversionary conflict initiation by parliamentary democracies with single-party majoritarian (SPM) governments. While most of the literature on diversion and governmental arrangement claims that SPMs have little incentive and/or limited capacity to execute diversionary gambits, we contend that the structural and environmental impetuses for diversion in such states are in fact largely indeterminate. We posit that the psychological attributes of prime ministers under SPM – in particular, their level of distrust – is the most important predictor of how they view structural and environmental constraints, and thus of whether they will militarily divert from poor economic conditions. Distrustful prime ministers are predisposed to the use of force, will dwell on the costs of economic problems, and fear that co-partisan MPs (especially in the cabinet) have designs on their office. Thus, despite having a legislative majority, these leaders will choose diversionary conflict over economic policy fixes. We conduct a partial test of this hypothesis in the British case from 1945 to 2007, and our analyses provide robust support.