Damage Caps and Civil Litigation: An Empirical Study of Medical Malpractice Litigation in the South

This article looks at the effect that damage caps have on plaintiffs'recovery in medical malpractice litigation, using a unique dataset of litigation in the South, from 1987 to 1999. During thistime, Alabama underwent both the implementation and nullificationof damage-cap laws; neighboring states did not undergo any significantlegal changes. The product of a difference-in-difference approach,the results reveal that the average relative recovery by Alabamaplaintiffs decreased by roughly $20,000 after the Alabama legislatureenacted damage caps and increased by roughly double that amountafter the Alabama Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional.     

Efficient height measurement method of surveillance camera image

As surveillance cameras are increasingly installed, their films are often submitted as evidence of crime, but very scant detailed information such as features and clothes is obtained due to the limited camera performance. Height, however, is relatively not significantly influenced by the camera performance. This paper studied the height measurement method using images from a CCTV. The information on the height was obtained via photogrammetry, including the reference points in the photographed area and the calculation of the relationship between a 3D space and a 2D image through linear and nonlinear calibration. Using this correlation, this paper suggested the height measurement method, which projects a 3D virtual ruler onto the image. This method has been proven to offer more stable values within the range of data convergence than those of other existing methods.     

Comparing Sexuality,Aggressiveness, and Antisocial Behavior of Alleged Juvenile Sexual and Violent Offenders,

Sexual delinquency in juveniles is insufficiently explored in regard to the specificity of offender characteristics. The aim is to investigate relevant areas for juvenile sexual offending in a precourt, pretreatment group. Thirty‐two alleged juvenile sexual offenders (ASO) referred to by police were compared with 32 juvenile nonsexual violent offenders (VNO) on standardized measures of aggressiveness and psychopathology, antisocial behavior, substance use problems, and sexuality. Less externalizing disorders and antisocial behavior were found among the ASOs than among the VNOs. The ASO group was sexually less experienced, had less trust in their relationship abilities, fewer victimization experiences, and reported more sexual deviance, while pornography use and obscene calls were reported less often. Few juvenile sexual offenders had severe problems in the investigated areas. Including groups of offenders before court, treatment or incarceration in research appears crucial to understand the full spectrum of sexual deviance in youth and avoid misguidance due to selection factors.     

Powerlessness,isolation, and future expectations: A gender‐based analysis of Korean inmates

This study explored gender differences in perceptions of powerlessness, isolation, and postprison expectation among inmates in the Republic of Korea. Korean women and girls occupy a social location that is characterized by marginalization from the labor force, emphasis on a restrictive gender ideology through family and school socialization, and dependence on the position of their family of origin or, after marriage, their husband for social standing. Given their social location and the socialization that supports and reproduces the social structure, the researchers hypothesized that compared to men in prison, women inmates would express lower levels of control over their own lives, greater feelings of isolation, and be more cynical about their life chances upon release from prison. Each of these hypotheses were supported at both the aggregate‐ and inmate‐level of analysis. The findings suggest the need for gender specific programming within the prison for women.     

Role orientations of junior British MPs: A test of Searing's categories with emphasis on constituency activities

Based on interviews with 45 junior British MPs in 1995, a factor analysis is used to test the staying power of the role categories found by Donald Searing in his study Westminster's World, based on 1972–73 interviews. Searing's categories Policy Advocate and Ministerial Aspirant are clearly identified by the factor pattern, as are two sub‐types of his Constituency Member: Welfare Officer and Local Promoter. Two additional factors emerged, indicating orientation of some MPs toward Local Media and Local Party. Regression analysis testing behavioural consequences of the role types (identified as independent variables based on factor scores) produced more mixed results than Searing's original tests, including the unexpected finding that MPs who find the Local Party helpful spend more time in their constituencies and in their surgeries with constituents than do Welfare Officers.     

Reconciling Individual and Aggregate Evidence Concerning Partisan Stability: Applying Time-Series Models to Panel Survey Data

Party identification has been studied extensively using bothindividual- and aggregate-level data. This paper attempts toformulate a statistical model that can account for the rangeof empirical generalizations that have emerged from aggregatetime series and panel surveys. Using Monte Carlo simulation,we show that only certain types of data generation processescan account for these empirical regularities. Deciding whichof the remaining types best explains the data means investigatingthe ways in which individual-level partisanship behaves overtime. Partisanship at the aggregate level tends to be highlyautocorrelated, reequilibrating slowly in the wake of each perturbation.Working downward from the analysis of aggregate data, previousresearchers argued that aggregate partisanship is fractionallyintegrated and contended that dynamics at the individual levelare therefore heterogeneous. Using data from three panel surveys,we present the first direct assessment of individual-level dynamics.We also investigate the hypothesis that these dynamics varyamong individuals, a claim that motivates much recent work onfractionally integrated time series. The model that best explainsthe observed characteristics of party identification is onein which individuals respond in similar ways to external shocks,reequilibrate rapidly thereafter, and seldom change their equilibriumlevel of partisan attachment.     

EU perceptions through the FTA lens: main results of interviews among the Korean “elites”

The Korea–EU relations have undergone a substantive change during the last two decades. The bilateral Framework Agreement, which was first signed in 1996 and updated in 2009, has upgraded the bilateral relationship to a considerable extent. The common membership of Korea and the EU to the Asia–Europe Meeting (ASEM) has also expanded and deepened the channels of official contacts between the two parties. Among these factors, the Korea–EU FTA Agreement, which was initialed in October 2009, appears to have the potential to affect the relationship most strongly. The results of elites’ interviews conducted during September 2009–April 2010 largely verifies this in a number of interesting aspects. Especially, most of the Korean elites perceive the Korea–EU FTA as an opportunity to maximize the effects arising from “the expanded markets”, “reduced market risks” and “harmonized European business practices leading to reduced transactions costs”. This also has had substantially positive impact on their perception of the EU’s importance to Korea.     

More women in the Tanzanian legislature: Do numbers matter?

This study examines the changes that followed the rise in the number of female parliamentarians in the Tanzanian legislature and the contextual factors undermining the potential power of the increased number of female MPs. As found in a number of other countries, with more women in parliament, women's interests, concerns and perspective have been better incorporated into parliamentary debates and policy-making in Tanzania. However, the increase in female parliamentary representation challenges the existence of the special-seat system that helped women reach a large minority. The effectiveness of female MPs in Tanzania will improve only with a stronger legislature and a sturdier opposition. If the special-seat system is to remain, a new selection mechanism that allows direct cross-party competition among special-seat candidates should be considered to bring better qualified women into parliament.     

Oligarchic rule and best practice migration management: the political economy origins of labour migration regime of the Philippines

The Philippine labour migration regime has been praised as one of the best examples of government-led migration management in the developing world, with some of the most extensive policies and bureaucratic organisations to manage and protect its citizens working abroad. However, not much knowledge has been accumulated that explains its origins or why it emerged in the Philippines and not in other large-scale migrant-sending countries. Contrary to current explanations that emphasise the economic benefits of labour migration and civil society mobilisation, this paper highlights the migration regime's compatibility with the political economy interests of the country's ruling elites. Bringing together the country's two important political and economic features, oligarchic rule and labour export, this paper suggests that the unique genesis of the Philippines’ migration regime casts doubts on the replicability of the Philippine model in other labour-sending countries as currently pursued by the international development community.