Connecting the dots…: information sharing by post-secondary educational institutions under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Misunderstanding of privacy laws and regulations impedes appropriate information sharing by post-secondary educational institutions under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (‘FERPA’). Post-Virginia Tech regulatory amendments allow institutions to ‘connect the dots’ regarding a student's behavior and to be proactive in problem resolution. The article encourages university officials to re-examine FERPA, to eliminate restrictive information sharing barriers not required by the law or regulations, to educate faculty and staff on the scope of student information dissemination and offers a clear and concise policy and process to help fill this crucial gap in campus crisis action planning documents.     

Multiplex PCR electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS): Application to forensic mitochondrial DNA examinations

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) examinations play an important role in criminal investigations, identification of victims of mass disasters, and association of unidentified remains with family members. Typically, HV1 and HV2 are amplified via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by fluorescent sequencing. While this method produces the highest level of resolution, it is labor intensive and unable to distinguish components of a mixture. Previously, an electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) method was described to determine the base composition profile of enzymatically digested PCR amplified fragments derived from the HV1 and HV2 regions. Advantages of ESI-MS compared to sequencing include speed of analysis, automation, and increased sensitivity, while retaining a high degree of resolution. Here, we report the next generation of this method in which a base composition profile is determined from 24 overlapping PCR reactions. Because ESI-MS provides the relative abundance of each component present, this method allows for the quantitative typing of mixtures. This ESI-MS method does not rely on a priori knowledge of variable sites, allowing the capture of private mutations and individual-specific variation. Due to the multiplex design, automation, speed of analysis, and ability to interrogate mixtures, this method provides a powerful and rapid tool for forensic mtDNA examinations.     

When is a wife not a wife? Some observations on the immigration experiences of South Asian women in West Yorkshire

This article uses black feminist analysis to explore the ways in which the racialized stereotypical image of the passive South Asian woman has informed the categorizing of this group of minority ethnic women within the system of British immigration control. Such stereotypes have led to a very specific category of 'South Asian woman' being regarded as a legitimate immigration applicant: namely that of the traditional South Asian wife dutifully going to live in the country in which her husband is settled. Using interview data from a study of South Asian women's immigration experiences, this article assesses the extent to which South Asian women entering the system of British immigration control actually fit this racialized category of 'wife'. It is also shown that those wives who sponsor a husband to come to the UK, and therefore do not fit the immigration service's assumptions of the South Asian wife, face even more difficulties, due to gender and racial discrimination within the system of British immigration control.     

Partisan Effects of Legislative Term Limits

Term limits remain a popular policy reform and have generated a great deal of scholarship as a result. Although many predicted that term limits would benefit the Republican party, the literature finds no marked partisan effects, possibly because termed‐out legislators have largely been replaced by copartisans. This article demonstrates that term limits have indeed had partisan effects—just not on electoral outcomes. Term limits have caused a significant reallocation of institutional power from Democrats to Republicans (as measured by contributions from access‐oriented interest groups), in large part because they have removed more senior Democrats than Republicans. The partisan effects of term limits therefore point to the institutional value of seniority.     

Varieties of Capitalism and the Euro Crisis

This article examines the role played by varieties of capitalism in the euro crisis, considering the origins of the crisis, its progression, and the response to it. Deficiencies in the institutional arrangements governing the single currency are linked to economic doctrines of the 1990s. The roots of the crisis are linked to institutional asymmetries between political economies. Northern European economies equipped to operate export-led growth models suitable for success within a monetary union are joined to southern economies whose demand-led growth models were difficult to operate successfully without the capacity to devalue. The response to a tripartite crisis of confidence, debt, and growth is explained in terms of the interaction of institutions, interests, and ideas, and its importance for the future of European integration is explored.     

The Importance of Establishing Reliability and Validity of Assessment Instruments for Mental Health Problems: an Example from Somali Children and Adolescents Living in Three Refugee Camps in Ethiopia

Assessing mental health problems cross-culturally for children exposed to war and violence presents a number of unique challenges. One of the most important issues is the lack of validated symptom measures to assess these problems. The present study sought to evaluate the psychometric properties of two measures to assess mental health problems: the Achenbach Youth Self-Report and the Child Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale. We conducted a validity study in three refugee camps in Eastern Ethiopia in the outskirts of Jijiga, the capital of the Somali region. A total of 147 child and caregiver pairs were assessed, and scores obtained were submitted to rigorous psychometric evaluation. Excellent internal consistency reliability was obtained for symptom measures for children and their caregivers. Validation of study instruments based on local case definitions was obtained for the caregivers but not consistently for the children. Sensitivity and specificity of study measures were generally low, indicating that these scales would not perform adequately as screening instruments. Combined test–retest and inter-rater reliability was low for all scales. This study illustrates the need for validation and testing of existing measures cross-culturally. Methodological implications for future cross-cultural research studies in low- and middle-income countries are discussed.     

The genie in the bottle: The international regulation of genetically modified organisms

Abstract

This paper describes the circumstances surrounding charges laid against a retail vendor of Traditional Asian Medicinals under Canada's Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRI‐ITA). The vendor was charged with selling a product containing species listed as Appendix I under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).     

An introduction to the special issue on ‘counterfeiting’

This paper provides an introduction to the articles and report excerpts included in the special issue of Trends in Organized Crime on ‘Counterfeiting’. The aim of this special issue is to add to the relatively sparse literature currently available that addresses this expansive and complex criminological phenomenon. In particular, the special issue draws together empirical research findings and theoretical accounts on the organization of the counterfeit trade across a broad spectrum of goods, and highlights a number of issues associated with researching counterfeiting.     

Class Jurisprudes: Free Labor Ideology and For‐Profit Penal Labor in Gilded Age Courts

For‐profit penal servitude flourished in Gilded Age America. Prisoners produced consumer goods inside factory‐penitentiaries for private enterprise. Regulations protecting free labor encountered litigation by businesses invested in carceral capitalism. Judges who defended “liberty of contract,” maintained “state neutrality,” and condemned “class legislation” exhibited a different approach when evaluating labeling laws. Such statutes were seemingly consonant with the free labor ideology that dominated appellate benches—they remediated markets distorted by state‐created privileges. Yet courts routinely struck them down. This article argues that judges were motivated by a class‐infused framework structuring interpretation of facts and aliening lower‐class Americans. Judges perceived workingmen who sought remedial assistance as seeking class legislation; they saw prison inmates and products as ordinary workers and goods, not as captive manpower and state‐subsidized wares. Jurisprudence bent and bowed from judges’ values and associations. This article thus reintroduces the explanatory power of class to the Lochner era through judicial subjectivity.