Risk assessment in offenders with mental disorders: relative efficacy of personal demographic, criminal history, and clinical variables

Following the meta-analysis by Bonta, Law, and Hanson, (1998) this study examined the ability of personal demographic, criminal history, and clinical variables to predict reoffending in offenders in the United Kingdom who had mental disorders. The efficacy of each variable in predicting rate of general reoffending and violent reoffending was investigated. Age on admission, number of days hospitalized, and number of previous offenses were the most effective variables in predicting re-offending, with number of previous offenses being the strongest predictor. Clinical diagnosis was not predictive of reoffending when the variance attributable to these other predictors was controlled for. None of the variables were able to discriminate between general offenders and violent offenders indicating that the same variables predict both types of reoffending. The results showed that reconviction in offenders with mental disorders can be predicted using the same criminogenic variables that are predictive in offenders without mental disorders.     

Fresh challenges faced on the ground by the Kingdom of the Sky: A quest for peace,harmony and stability

This article argues that Lesotho’s landlocked position, which inhibits trade and results in enclaves of the poor, not only leads to its dependency on South Africa, but also contributes to its instability. It points out that destabilisation remains a problem in spite of Lesotho having served as an excellent model of peaceful transfer of power in a strengthened democratic arena under its 1993 Constitution, as the country had just celebrated 20 years of relative peace. However, despite the 1991 Windhoek Declaration military coups, violence, violation of both human rights and human security continue to contribute to instability in Lesotho, requiring the frequent intervention of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and especially so following the attempted coup in 2014. Lesotho’s Coalition government, which is a prime-ministerial form of government, is discussed in some detail in this article. The role of peacekeeping forces is also examined. The article recommends demilitarisation as the only practical, viable and long term solution to the problem of recurring coups in this country. The authors conclude that a sustained campaign against corrupt activities by government, though laudable, has somewhat surprisingly served to weaken the foundation of the Coalition in Lesotho.     

Are ethics promulgations self-defeating?

Alan Wertheimer argues that promulgating some ethical standards of international clinical research may be self-defeating: the intended purpose of these standards is to promote the interests of subjects and communities in LMICs, while the outcome of promulgation could be to undermine these very same interests. If enforced, such standards would increase the costs of performing beneficial research in LMICs, potentially diverting opportunities to participate in this research away from those who have no other access to the care participation allows. I argue that these standards are really intended as deontological constraints protecting subjects from being exploited by research sponsors. First, I show that Wertheimer begs the question against this deontological interpretation of ethics promulgations, rejecting it on non-deontological grounds. I go on to show that non-exploitation is an important goal on its own, sometimes independent from—and sometimes even outweighing—the goal of promoting the interests of subjects and communities in LMICs. I conclude by suggesting that those who criticize the promulgation of non-exploitation on the grounds that exploitative practices help those badly off might do best to reconsider the background assumption that sponsors in wealthier countries have no pre-existing obligation to promote the interests of the world''s poor.     

Rural industry and uneven development: The significance of gender in the Irish Linen industry

From the middle of the eighteenth century, the Irish linen industry grew on the basis of unequal relations of exchange between spinning and weaving households. This regional division of labour in turn depended on unequal relations of production between women and men within rural industrial households. The ‘proto‐industrialisation’ thesis has tended to obscure this process by focussing on the household as a bounded entity, and by failing to recognise the significance of inequalities within the household production unit. Once gender relations are made central to the thesis, it can be expanded to explain regional differences in rural industrialisation and deindustrialisation.     

Surveying the Foundations: Article 80 TFEU and the Common European Asylum System

The Treaty of Lisbon introduced Article 80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) which states that the European Union’s asylum policy will be based on the principles of solidarity and the fair-sharing of responsibility. However, no guidance is given as to the nature and content of these principles. This contribution seeks to explore the relationship between these two concepts and to assess the extent and nature of their presence within the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). This contribution begins with an outline of the CEAS and presents its newly-codified foundation, Article 80 TFEU. This reveals that the CEAS may be considered a solidarity mechanism, but that the essential uncertainty as to the meaning of Article 80 is problematic when attempting to gauge the success of the CEAS as an expression of solidarity. The second part considers methods for allocating responsibilities for refugee status determination and protection between states, demonstrating that fair-sharing is both more widely accepted as the basis for solidarity and less problematic than the most common alternative—allocation according to states’ voluntary assumptions of responsibility. The final part explores expressions of fair-sharing within the CEAS and considers its limited success and numerous flaws.