Tax amnesties, justice perceptions, and filing behavior: a simulation study

A simulation study demonstrates the influence of perceived justice of a tax amnesty on subsequent tax compliance. In addition, it investigates how the amnesty is perceived to serve the punishment objectives retribution (i.e., giving offenders what they "deserve") and value restoration (i.e., restoring the values violated by tax evasion). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed the expected positive influence of justice on subsequent tax compliance. However, when the influence of punishment objectives was controlled for, the influence of justice disappeared, while retribution and value restoration showed positive effects on post-amnesty tax compliance.     

Policy learning as complex contagion: how social networks shape organizational beliefs in forest-based climate change mitigation

Policy Sciences - Policy learning can alter the perceptions of both the seriousness and the causes of a policy problem, thus also altering the perceived need to do...     

Spokes in the wheel. European affairs and the parliamentary administration of German Landtage

ABSTRACT

Over the last decades, regional parliaments were considered to play a minor role in European affairs. Not only was the salience of the EU low at the regional level, but politicians elected into these bodies also often lacked vested interests and capacities to become more involved in dealing with complex multi-level questions. After the constitutional strengthening of regional parliaments in EU decision-making, this paper considers one under-researched aspect behind the growing appetite of regional parliaments to become more involved in the scrutiny of EU affairs: the role of unelected parliamentary officials. Based on qualitative interviews in 12 German regional parliaments, the authors highlight how regional parliaments exert control over their governments and what role horizontal administrative networks among parliamentary staff play in the engagement of regional parliaments in EU affairs.     

The provenance of émigrés: the validity of measuring knowledge of places

Establishing the origin of those seeking asylum is essential but difficult as asylum seekers often cannot corroborate their origin claim with documents. The aim of the present study was to assess whether asking knowledge questions, sketch questions and impossible questions are valid methods to determine the veracity of an origin claim. Participants (N?=?105) from Tilburg (truth-tellers), Maastricht (partial liars) and Gothenburg (full liars) were asked to convince an interviewer that they originated from Tilburg. Half of them prepared and half of them did not prepare themselves for the interview. They were asked 10 knowledge questions typically asked to assess the credibility of origin claims, 4 impossible questions and 1 sketch question. Participants from Tilburg answered more questions correctly than participants from Maastricht and Gothenburg. Performance also improved with preparation. Even though the results did provide some support for the validity of assessing claims about origin by asking knowledge questions, the differences between the groups were modest, and it was impossible to correctly identify all truth-tellers and liars. Changing the output modality from verbal answering to sketching contributed to the credibility assessment of origin claims, whereas impossible questions were not discriminatory.     

Duplications of the Y-chromosome specific loci P25 and 92R7 and forensic implications

In the present study, we demonstrate that two commonly used Y-chromosome single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), P25 and 92R7, are paralogous sequence variants (PSVs) originating from segmental duplications and that at least one of the sequence variants in each group of loci is polymorphic. Several methodologies were used in order to detect the SNP alleles and the PSVs of the loci. All results obtained with the various typing techniques supported the conclusion. The allele distributions of the binary markers were analysed in more than 600 males with seven different haplogroups. For P25, the ancestral allele C was found in several samples from different haplogroups. The derived allele A was always present with an additional C variant. Haplogroup P was defined by the derived allele A at the 92R7 locus. However, the ancestral allele G was always associated with an A variant due to the duplication.     

Squalene in hair--a natural reference substance for the improved interpretation of fatty acid ethyl ester concentrations with respect to alcohol misuse

Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) are incorporated into hair mainly from sebum. For this reason, the use of their concentration CFAEE as marker of excessive alcohol consumption is complicated by interindividual differences of the activity of the sebum glands and of elimination by hair care and hair cosmetics. Furthermore, an influence of the investigated hair length due to increasing accumulation from proximal to distal was found. Therefore, it was examined whether these sources of error can be avoided if in addition to CFAEE the relative FAEE concentrations CFAEE/CSQ related to squalene SQ as a natural reference compound were used for interpretation. Sebum contains about 10-20% SQ. A sensitive and reliable method for the determination of SQ in addition to FAEE from the same hair extracts by high performance liquid chromatography with photo diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was developed. The concentrations of ethyl myristate, ethyl palmitate, ethyl oleate, ethyl stearate and squalene were determined and CFAEE/CSQ was calculated for 13 teetotallers, 16 social drinkers, 12 fatalities with excessive alcohol abuse at life time and 9 cases with unclear alcohol anamnesis. CSQ ranged from 0.02 to 1.97 microg/mg (mean 0.67 microg/mg). From the results follows that squalene enables a control of the lipid content of hair and a correction of CFAEE in cases with deviations from the usual lipid content in a similar way as creatinine in urine. Preliminary values of CFAEE/CSQ were suggested for the upper limit for teetotallers (< 0.6 ng/microg) and the lower limit for excessive alcohol abuse (> 1.5 ng/microg). However, the relative concentration CFAEE/CSQ cannot completely replace the absolute concentration CFAEE, and both should regularly be used for an improved interpretation with respect to alcohol abuse.     

On Myth,Considered as a Method for Legal Thought

The textual form of law relates to language and not to narration but to myth. Law's text does not develop in the temporal sequence of past-present-future, but spreads by analogy of concentric circles. If ‘normal’ myth is a folklore of people then the law is a myth retold by lawyers. For the sake of separation of legal myth from mythology as a whole, law creates its own rituals. In post-modern societies the mythologization of law becomes even more important as the boundaries between legal and lay communities are challenged. Classical legal theories cannot deal with this change and Kafka's The Trial is as good a jurisprudence as any other legal theory. This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Dentists' qualifications affect the accuracy of radiographic identification

This study assessed the effects of forensic odontologists' training and experience upon the accuracy of their dental radiographic identifications. Forty participating odontologists with various levels of training and experience completed a Web-based survey of their qualifications and then completed nine Web-based radiographic identification cases. They made their identifications using the American Board of Forensic Odontology Categories and Terminology for Body Identification. The results indicate that odontologists with high levels of training and experience performed significantly more accurately than those with lower levels. We conclude that high levels of training and experience in forensic odontology should be developed, maintained, and required of dentists who participate in a forensic team dealing with challenging identification cases.     

Optimization and validation of a fully automated silica-coated magnetic beads purification technology in forensics

Automated procedures for forensic DNA analyses are essential not only for large-throughput sample preparation, but are also needed to avoid errors during routine sample preparation. The most critical stage in PCR-based forensic analysis is DNA isolation, which should yield as much highly purified DNA as possible. The extraction method used consists of pre-treatment of stains and samples, cell lysis using chaotropic reagents, binding of the DNA to silica-coated magnetic particles, followed by elution of the DNA. Our work focuses mainly on sample preparation, obtaining the maximum possible amount of biological material from forensic samples, and the following cell lysis, to create a simple standardized lysis protocol suitable for nearly all forensic material. After optimization and validation, the M-48 BioRobot((R)) workstation has been used for more than 20,000 routine lab samples. There has been no evidence of cross contamination. Resulting DNA from as small as three nuclear cells yield reliable complete STR amplification profiles. The DNA remains stable after 2 years of storage.