Population pressure and agricultural change in the land‐intensive economy

Boserup's view that population pressure is an important determinant of technical change in agriculture is examined in the context of Sierra Leone. Population density is misleading when used as an indicator of population pressure, at least in conditions where cultivation is mainly of the ‘cut and burn’ type. The ratio of population to labour is suggested as an alternative on the basis of a theoretical definition of the term ‘pressure’, and on the whole it provides a good explanation of the variation in resource use.     

Law and order as a development issue: Land conflicts and the creation of social order in Southern Malawi

Registration of individual title to land in order to create legal security has been the central concern in the rich literature on land and law in Africa. The problem of legal insecurity is approached here from a different angle which has received relatively less attention: dispute settlement. The article results from the observation of land disputes in local political arenas. It portrays a local legal cultural universe in which legal insecurity arises especially from legal situations stressing group consensus. It appears that people who are accused of witchcraft and groups which are said not to belong are particularly vulnerable in such a legal culture. The conclusion argues that this case material reveals connections between law, land and the creation of social order which may throw light on many other situations. It pleads for more attention to be paid to the development of jurisprudence in attempts to create legal security.     

Personal and Political Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda

The majority of scholarly research on Rwanda currently focuses on determining the causes of and participation in the genocide. In this paper, we explore a variety of questions that have come to the forefront in post-genocide Rwanda. In particular, we are concerned with the prospects for peace and justice in the aftermath of the gross abuses of human rights that occurred and, to that end, we consider the potential uses and limits of restorative justice initiatives in the process of healing and reconciliation in Rwanda. We argue that restorative justice initiatives have moved the country closer toward reconciliation than retributive measures, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. That said, we also suggest that the Rwandan government, despite claims that it seeks to achieve reconciliation, has not shown a serious commitment to healing the wounds that persist between either individual Rwandans or the groups that they comprise. In the end, then, we make a case for the importance of pairing a comprehensive search for justice in Rwanda with a commitment to truth-telling and accountability by the victims and perpetrators of the genocide, as well as by current government officials.     

Plank fence penetration into automobiles-implications for prevention initiatives

The wooden plank fence presents a deadly but unrecognized hazard to motorists. We hypothesize that fence plank injury is prevalent and results in significant morbidity and mortality. Databases of the University of Kentucky's Level I Trauma Center and the Fayette County Coroner were retrospectively analyzed over a 12-year period (1995-2006). One hundred and twenty-eight subjects were involved in vehicle contact with wooden plank fences. One hundred and twenty-three subjects were evaluated at the Emergency Department of our trauma center; 35 (27%) had a patient-plank interaction (PPI). Men (30/35) were more frequently involved (86%), and average age was 32.8 years. Thirty-two (91%) were drivers; 14/35 (40%) died from PPI-related injuries. The most common cause of death was blunt head trauma in 13 of these 14 fatally injured subjects (93%). This study provides new data underscoring the frequency, lethality, and economic consequences of this injury mechanism. Further research is needed to quantify the national prevalence of this problem and develop injury-mitigating strategies pertaining to roadway or fence design.     

Assessing the trends,scale and nature of economic cybercrimes: overview and Issues

Trends in police-recorded and (where they exist) household survey-measured cybercrimes for economic gain are reviewed in a range of developed countries – Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the US - and their implications for criminal policy are considered. The datasets indicate a substantial rise in online fraud – though one that is lower than the rise in online shopping and other ‘routine activity’ indicators - but it is not obvious whether this is just displacement for the fall in household and automobile property crime, nor how much overlap there is between the offenders and past ‘offline’ offenders. Nor do the data indicate whether the frauds result from insiders or outsiders, or are collusive. The direct and indirect costs of cyberfrauds are examined, and it is concluded that there is no satisfactory basis for the larger estimates of cost, but it is undeniable that those costs are large enough to merit concern. There remains a problem of what metrics are appropriate for judging the threat and harm from cybercrimes, and their impact on national and human security. There is not a sharp division between these larger national security issues and cyber attacks on banks, businesses, and the spear phishing of individuals with important knowledge of system vulnerabilities in the public or the private sector. Rather there is a punctuated continuum in the interplay between private, corporate governmental and wider social risks.     

Pecunia non olet: Cleansing the money-launderers from the Temple

This article analyses the development of police-bank relationships, principally in the UK but also elsewhere, within the context of the control of money laundering. It argues that we have moved from a situation of national control over bank secrecy to an emerging New International Order in which most, though not all, countries are pressurised into taking greater measures to reduce bank secrecy where crime is suspected. In Europe, particularly, banks are being turned into an arm of the state by being required to keep detailed records and to inform police where they suspect — or even where they ought to suspect — that moneys banked are the proceeds of crime. The article concludes with discussion of the limitations on this process generated by political economy factors.     

The identification of stolen paintings using comparison of various marks

Several oil paintings, suspected of being stolen, were found in the possession of an art dealer in Tel-Aviv, Israel. The authors were asked to determine if these paintings were the stolen ones, based on photographs, stretchers, and frames submitted by the alleged owners in France. A physical match was found between two of the questioned paintings and two stretchers. Another painting was identified as being previously affixed to the original frame by several nails. The fourth painting was identified as being the one photographed by the alleged owner. This identification was done by comparing micro-topography marks revealed by the illumination conditions of that photograph and of the questioned painting.     

Legitimating beliefs: Sources and indicators

The more a government is effective and fair, the more legitimacy that government is likely to attain, and the more it will possess the potential to elicit compliance without excessive monitoring or punitive action. We explore this proposition using contemporary survey data from sub‐Saharan Africa. In particular, we are interested in the conditions that promote popular legitimating beliefs that provide support for governments that are attempting to serve their entire populations competently and in a manner that is relatively impartial and equitable. This article provides empirical support for a long hypothesized link between the extent of government effectiveness, procedural justice, and citizens' willingness to defer to governmental tax authority. The sample, drawn from a continuum of developing societies in Africa, allows us to analyze the impact of variations in government effectiveness and citizen perceptions of fairness on the sense of obligation to comply with the tax authorities, our indicator for legitimating beliefs.     

Photographic comparison of surface topography as a viable solution when physical match is challenging

Physical matching methods are a family of well‐known methods that are utilized in order to determine whether two pieces of a tearable/breakable material used to be one object. When performing physical match of polymers, it is sometimes difficult to reach an unambiguous conclusion. This is due to various reasons. One is when the tear/fracture resides in an inaccessible or hidden‐from‐view region of the piece. Another is when the shape of the tear/fracture at the object's tear/fracture line is insufficient for deducing a complete match. Third is deficiency of material along this line. These are examples of processes where the line is affected so drastically, so that a match renders impossible. Specifically, when addressing elastic materials, the tear/fracture line may even be squashed. This may also be a reason for difficulty in performing a physical match. In this paper, a method is proposed where a match is alternatively achieved by means of photographic comparison of marks on the surface topography of the pieces‐in‐question. Comparisons of pairs of torn pieces of silicon rubber were made. The procedure involved photography of the surface topography the pieces. Then, the photographs were horizontally mirror‐flipped. Lastly, a comparison was made between two photographs: a photograph of one piece and a mirror‐flipped photograph of the opposite piece. The results show that after comparing the pieces to one another, only one unique pair turned out to be positively matched. Using the proposed method, not only the comparison is done by a more informative method (comparing to physical match), it is also more convenient, faster, less expensive, and technically simpler.