Legislative incapacity: the congressional role in environmental policy-making and the case of Superfund

Congress plays a central role in national environmental policy formation but appears ill equipped to set policy priorities and devise integrative legislation. Fragmentation of authority among a multiplicity of committees and subcommittees, especially in the House, contributes to these problems. This pattern is evident in the evolution of Superfund, the national program to clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites. The prolonged process of reauthorization in the 1980s contributed to serious program delay and failed to resolve a number of fundamental questions concerning the national cleanup effort. Institutional reforms could contribute to a more effective congressional role in future environmental policy deliberations.     

RESPONDING TO THE "CALL FOR PAPERS": Participation at A.S.C. Annual Meetings

The purpose of this study is to examine the participation of criminology and criminal justice graduate departments at the 1977-1979 American Society of Criminology meetings. Results show that institutional prestige. not productivity, is the leading predictor of meeting participation. In addition, meeting participation does not appear to be influenced by meeting site. Finally, it is suggested that criminologists focus more attention upon professional activities in order to facilitate our understanding of criminology as a science.     

The investigation of the density of human hair in the forensic medical expert assessment of its similarity

Principally new, simple and objective method for investigation of human hair density is suggested. Hair identity in relation to a concrete person can be confirmed or excluded by statistical processing of the results obtained.     

ASSESSING THE VALIDITY OF OFFICIAL DATA ON ARSON*

Prior research has not examined the validity of Uniform Crime Report (UCR) “reported crime” figures on the offense of arson. The reporting of arson is distinguished from that of other index offenses by the requirement that an investigation occur that establishes that a fire has been purposefully set or attempted; the counting of all arsons regardless of their occurrence with other offenses; the detection and reporting of the offense by noncitizens; and the infrequent existence of exclusive police jurisdiction. Because of these unique characteristics, past approaches to assessing the validity of data on index crimes, such as a comparison with victim reports of crime, are not possible or appropriate. In this study UCR data on arson are compared with data obtained through a national survey (n=683) of fire departments. The comparisons indicate that UCR data are significantly lower than the rate of arson reported by local fire departments both overall and across all regions of the country.