Sustainable use of wildlife: The role of private contracts as a conservation tool

Abstract

This paper focuses on the ability of local communities to make effective use of private legal tools as a means of assuring sustainable wildlife use. Using recent legal developments in Kenya as a case study, the paper examines a series of contracts entered into between local communities in the Samburu District and tour operators wishing to bring wildlife “photo safaris”; onto Samburu lands. These contracts, typically referred to as “Eco‐tourism contracts,”; are designed simply to allow tour operators to lead tour groups through community property without trespass. The authors argue that to achieve their true potential, these contracts must be treated, in essence, as “wildlife easements,”; or “eco‐easements,”; that can become publicly‐recorded mutual conservation commitments, and as such must incorporate conservation principles with a focus on environmental impact and wildlife management. Moreover, these contracts must be linked both conceptually and financially to the communities’ governance structure and to its broader conservation efforts.     

Afghans have their memories: A reflection on the recent experience of assistance in Afghanistan

As the international community re-engages in Afghanistan, there is an opportunity to make good on commitments to the Afghan people in a principled and transparent manner. But Afghanistan comes with a history, and unless this history is understood and taken into account, both the political process and reconstruction are likely to end in failure. This article looks at the legacy of the way in which the donors and aid organisations operated in the past, and the manner in which they dealt with both the Mujaheddin and Taliban administrations. It examines how, in a period characterised by progressive hardening of political positions, accompanied by increasing aid conditionality, efforts to achieve greater coherence between political and aid strategies and to establish 'principled' positions often led to conflict and contradictions and at times seemed to undermine the impartiality of the international community. It then explores the extent to which the present pace and nature of international support for political and reconstruction activities are enabling--or not--the emergence of an administration in Kabul that has domestic legitimacy and can effectively manage reconstruction.     

Frustration: The mold of judicial philosophy

Abstract

The Framers understood the Constitution to be the fundamental expression of the rule of law over against the arbitrary, intemperate, and unjust “rule of men” that all too frequently existed in the political world, unfortunately both democratic as well as monarchical. Accordingly, the rule of law requires a well functioning political and legal system that includes legislative checks and balances, the separation of power between the President and Congress, an independent judiciary, federalism, etc. What happens when this “Madisonian” constitutional system, designed to express “the deliberate sense of the community,” runs into a Judicial branch that, in effect, claims we live under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what we say it is. Must the Judiciary itself be subject to the rule of law, and the decisions of a constitutional majority, or does their “independence” extend to being independent of the constraints of the rule of law and, thus, decent majority rule? How did the original John Marshall Court answer these questions, and what light do the leading cases and controversies shed on the relationship between the Marshall Court and the Madisonian System? Are we facing a situation of Marshall v. Madison?     

Women in IPV Treatment for Abusers and Women in IPV Survivor Groups: Different or Two Sides of the Same Coin?

The Calgary Counselling Centre offers therapy groups for both women whose partners abuse them, “You’re Not Alone” (YNA) and women who abuse partners, “Responsible Choices for Women” (RCW). The study examines 262 group members (157 RCW & 105 YNA), comparing their demographics and scores on measures of physical and non-physical partner abuse, and mental health symptoms. At pretest, women in YNA reported significantly more problematic depression, anxiety, general distress and trauma symptoms than women in the RCW program. Nevertheless, the factorial repeated measures analysis of variance on pretest/posttest data from 177 women found statistically significant improvements on all four outcomes measures for women in both groups, although women in the YNA survivor groups made the most improvements on depression, stress and general distress. Clinical implications are described.     

Predicting Recidivism Amongst Sexual Offenders: A Multi-site Study of Static-2002

The predictive accuracy of Static-2002 (Hanson & Thornton, Notes on the development of Static-2002 (Corrections Research User Report No. 2003-01), 2003) was examined in eight samples of sexual offenders (five Canadian, one U.S., one U.K., one Danish; total sample of 3,034). Static-2002 showed moderate ability to rank order the risk for sexual, violent and general (any) recidivism (AUCs of .68, .71, and .70, respectively), and was more accurate than Static-99. These findings support the use of Static-2002 in applied assessments. There were substantial differences across samples, however, in the observed sexual recidivism rates. These differences present new challenges to evaluators wishing to use actuarial risk scores to estimate absolute recidivism rates.     

Maintaining the Legal Status of People with Intellectual Disabilities as Parents: The ADA and the CRPD

People with intellectual disabilities face proceedings to terminate their parental rights with disturbing regularity, with protecting the interests of offspring the primary justification. Although protecting children from harm is surely critical, these termination proceedings involve problematic assumptions about how fitness to parent is understood, how parenting is legally constructed, and what nondiscrimination requires for parents with intellectual disabilities. Using Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a model, it suggests two alternatives to the all‐or‐nothing termination processes in place today that might better realize the enjoyment of legal capacity as parents on an equal basis with others for people with intellectual disabilities: limited terminations analogous to limited guardianships and supported parenting along the lines of supported decision making proposed in the CRPD.     

Evaluation of a restorative justice-based,community-based program for people who have offended sexually: participant impact

Community Justice Initiatives, Kitchener, Canada, offers a Restorative Justice program called Revive to people impacted by sexual harm, including men who have offended sexually. This volunteer-led program treats participants with compassion while holding them accountable for sexual harm perpetrated. Program goals include reducing isolation, promoting self-awareness, and fostering healing. Based on restorative justice principles, positive community reintegration and reduction of further sexual offending are the ultimate goals of the program.

We evaluated information from a questionnaire administered at intake, after the 7-week phase, and again after participation in the peer-support group. Participants responded quantitatively about the impact of Revive on six sexual offense-related outcomes statements (e.g., gaining understanding of their triggers, understanding why they sexually offended). They also indicated the impact of Revive on psychosocial dimensions such as stigma perception and social support. Qualitative questions further elucidated the experience of Revive participation. Findings suggest that Revive has an impact on self-understanding of why they sexually offended, victim empathy, as well as stress reduction and increased self-esteem. We conclude that the restorative justice framework is a very hopeful, positive one and that the Revive program is effective at enacting restorative justice-based principles.     

Good guys, bad guys: transnational corporations, rational choice theory and power crime

While its scope and scale can be exaggerated, the power transnational corporations (TNCs) exert in the contemporary world is considerable. This is often at the expense of states, or at least is exercised in a way that can undermine states. Some interactions between corporations and states or their officers constitute prime examples of power crime. A blatant form is where corporations either offer or else agree to pay bribes to state officials in order to secure a major contract. This capacity to corrupt state officials via large scale bribes gives corporations significant potential power. This article begins by citing allegations of active corruption of state officials by TNCs, as well as counter-examples (i.e. where TNCs have taken a stand against rent-seeking officials). It then argues that active corruption by corporations constitutes a major dimension of power crime, and seeks to explain apparently contradictory behaviours by TNCs, relating these to rational choice theories and neo-liberalism. It is argued that recent changes in corporate governance and behaviour have made rational-choice models and simplistic neo-liberalism either questionable or redundant. Bu at the same time, globalisation and its stable mate neo-liberalism encourage improper behaviour–various forms of power crime-by corporations.     

Longitudinal Bi-directional Relationships Between Sleep and Youth Substance Use

Despite the known deficits in sleep that occur during adolescence and the high prevalence of substance use behaviors among this group, relatively little research has explored how sleep and substance use may be causally related. The purpose of this study was to explore the longitudinal bi-directional relationships between sleep duration, sleep patterns and youth substance use behaviors. Participants included 704 mostly white (86.4?%) youth, 51?% female, with a baseline mean age of 14.7?years. Self-reported substance use behaviors included past month alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. Sleep measures included sleep duration on weekends and weekdays, total sleep, weekend oversleep, and weekend sleep delay. Cross-lagged structural equation models, accounting for clustering at the school level, were run to determine the longitudinal association between sleep and substance use adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics, pubertal status, body mass index z-score, and depressive symptoms. Cigarette use and weekend sleep were bi-directionally related as were marijuana use and total sleep. No other bi-directional associations were identified. However, alcohol use predicted shorter weekend oversleep and marijuana use predicted increased weekend sleep and weekend oversleep. Sleep patterns and duration also predicted adolescents' cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use. Sleep, both patterns and duration, and substance use among youth are intertwined. Future research is needed to explore these bi-directional relationships, as well as other important contextual factors that may moderate these associations.