The dragon breathes fire: Chinese organized crime in New York City

Although it is widely acknowledged that Chinese businesses are victims of extortion by Asian youth gangs, there is no reliable information to examine the patterns and social processes of the problem. This paper explores the structure of extortion and other forms of victimization based on surveys of (N=603) Chinese-owned businesses in three Chinatown neighborhoods in New York City. It focuses on the nature of Chinese crime groups, social contexts of gang extortion, social processes of victimization, and merchants' compliance or resistance to gang demands. Finally, the paper discusses the problems and prospects of Chinese criminality in America.Support for this research was provided by Grant 89-IJ-CX-0021 from the National Institute of Justice. The opinions are those of the authors and do not reflect the policies or views of the U.S. Department of Justice.     

The enhancement of intimacy and the reduction of loneliness among child molesters

The present report describes the component of our treatment program that is aimed at enhancing intimacy skills and reducing loneliness in sexual offenders. The evaluation of this component, although limited in sophistication, offers data that encourages confidence in the value of the treatment component.     

The price of local discretion: Inequalities in welfare spending within texas

Discretion at the local level in the administration of state or federal programs may generate inequalities in spending among the different localities within a state. Among the counties of Texas, inequalities in welfare programs—Aid to Families with Dependent Children and food stamps—prove substantial, mainly because of variations in rates of participation among the counties. While variables that reflect differences in the conditions for eligibility account for a significant part of the variation, various barriers to participation—including political attitudes, access to welfare offices, and local staffing—are also important. The results suggest that centralized regulation must be retained and strengthened if federal welfare programs are to retain some degree of uniformity within each state.     

Agarose gel electrophoresis of human erythrocyte glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (GPT EC 2.6.1.2)

The method of choice to determine erythrocyte glutamate-pyruvic transaminase (GPT) including rare variants was starch gel electrophoresis. Methods using agarose as gel medium were not reported to our knowledge. We present an adapted method using the Tris/maleate buffer system and an agarose of low endosmosis. The common as well as rare variant types of GPT were quickly and reliably separated. In addition, a method for the consecutive determination of esterase D (ESD) and GPT on the same gel using the malic acid buffer system is described.     

Capillary electrophoresis: a new tool in forensic toxicology. Applications and prospects in hair analysis for illicit drugs

Capillary electrophoresis, the modern approach to instrumental electrophoresis, is probably the most rapidly expanding analytical technique that has appeared in recent years. In the hands of forensic toxicologists, capillary electrophoresis (CE) represents a powerful new analytical tool, which has proved suitable for the investigation of illicit drugs in seized preparations and also in complex biological matrices, among which is hair. CE can be applied according to different separation mechanisms, and among those that are toxicologically relevant are capillary zone electrophoresis and micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography, which display different selectivities. For the investigation of hair for drugs of abuse, capillary electrophoresis proved effective, providing simultaneous determinations of different drugs without derivatization, with acceptable sensitivity (typically better than 1 ng of drug per mg of hair). The possibility of carrying out determinations of the same analytes, based on different separation mechanisms (capillary zone electrophoresis and micellar electrokinetic chromatography) with the same instrumentation, simply changing the buffer composition, provides an interesting possibility of ‘internal’ confirmation of the results.     

Are inputs sometimes outcomes? Some thoughts on definition in distributive justice

This paper argues that the central concepts of justice theory (e.g., inputs and outcomes) have not been well defined and that this lack of precision in definition has led to subsequent ostensible inconsistencies in empirical findings. We offer definitions of both inputs and outcomes in a manner that facilitates more formal theoretical formulations and specifies a functional relationship between the two. In addition, the concept of relevance is discussed. This discussion highlights the difference in determinations of what is relevant to an outcome and the moral desirability of the distribution rule producing those outcomes. We suggest that the perception of what is relevant to the production of an outcome and how much it should be weighted is a source of potential conflict and/or disagreement between groups who are allocators or recipients of resource distributions. The potential disjuncture between what is considered relevant and what is considered moral in terms of allocation decisions is a potential source of dissatisfaction and feelings of injustice across groups. The discussion also suggests that it is not simply a difference in rule preference across groups that may lead to negative feelings regarding allocations but even when groups agree on the rule they may not agree on either the factors to be included in the assessment of relevance or on the morality of the distribution resulting from such assessments. Finally we introduce the concept of exchange domain as a mechanism for facilitating theoretical development.     

DIFFERENTIAL CRIMINAL PATTERNS OF NARCOTIC ADDICTS OVER AN ADDICTION CAREER*

In a further study of the addiction-crime relationship, 214 narcotic addicts were classified according to their criminal involvement during a 2-year preaddiction period. The sample was divided into two groups—those who reported involvement in any of 20 categories of criminal activity (N = 108) and those who reported no such activity (N = 106). The criminal behavior and drug-use patterns of the two groups were then compared during subsequent addiction and nonaddiction periods. As expected, the impact of addiction was much more prominent in the low-crime group. The implications of results for rehabilitation strategies are discussed.