Practice-based insights in developing and implementing a sport-based programme for girls

Parivartan Plus is a structured sports mentoring programme for girls, implemented in a Mumbai slum where social expectations around gender-appropriate behaviour and good parenting restricts girls’ mobility and visibility in public spaces. This article presents practice-based learning from developing and implementing programme theory to empower girls in achieving changes in their everyday social interactions at home and beyond. Gender and social norms theory were combined with local practical wisdom to turn main implementation challenges into opportunities. The article reflects on the strategies that gave visibility to, and achieved community endorsement for, the erosion of restrictive gender norms while ensuring community safety.     

Certification – An Overview

Delinquents are better managed in the juvenile court, though the adult system may be necessary for the few cases in which juvenile facilities and jurisdictional time remaining cannot adequately protect the public.     

Community–based policing in Ontario: lessons from the Halton Regional Police Service

Abstract: Community policing represents a fundamental shift in police–services management and has replaced the military model as the dominant service–delivery model in Western countries. But this so–called “community policing” model has faced some fundamental problems in implementation, both internal and external. This article examines some of the more striking internal challenges faced by a Canadian example of community–based policing (cbp) – one that is base2 in a fairly “generic,” or unexceptional, crime region, the region of Halton in Ontario, where cbp has been implemented on a comprehensive basis over the past fifteen years. As one of the earliest regions to institute cbp in Canada, the history of the Halton organization can provide some valuable lessons as to “how” the implementation should work. Sommaire: La prestation communautaire des services policiers représente un change–ment fondamental dans la gestion de ces services, car elle a remplacé le modéle mili–taire en tant que schéma de fonctionnement de la police dans les pays occidentaux. Ce modéle communautaire « a cependant connu des problèmes fondamentaux lors de sa mise, en ?euvre, sur les plans tant interne qu'exteme. Cet article examine certains principaux défis internes auxquels doit faire face I'action policière communautaire canadienne, dans une région assez typique en ce qui concerne la criminalité, dire la région de Halton, en Ontario, où ces methodes d'application de la loi ont eté mises en oeuvre en détail au cours des 15 dernières annés. L'une des premières régions à adopter le système communautaire de prestation des services policiers au Canada, Halton permet de tirer certaines leqons très utiles sur la mise en oeuvre de ce système.     

Development and validation of the AmpFlSTR MiniFiler PCR Amplification Kit: a MiniSTR multiplex for the analysis of degraded and/or PCR inhibited DNA

DNA typing of degraded DNA samples can be a challenging task when using the current commercially available multiplex short tandem repeat (STR) analysis kits. However, the ability to type degraded DNA specimens improves by redesigning current STR marker amplicons such that smaller sized polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products are generated. In an effort to increase the amount of information derived from these types of DNA samples, the AmpFlSTR MiniFiler PCR Amplification Kit has been developed. The kit contains reagents for the amplification of eight miniSTRs which are the largest sized loci in the AmpFlSTR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit (D7S820, D13S317, D16S539, D21S11, D2S1338, D18S51, CSF1PO, and FGA). Five of these STR loci (D16S539, D21S11, D2S1338, D18S51, and FGA) also are some of the largest loci in the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus kit. This informative nine-locus multiplex, which includes the gender-identification locus Amelogenin, has been validated according to the FBI/National Standards and SWGDAM guidelines. Our results demonstrate significant performance improvements in models of DNA degradation, PCR inhibition, and nonprobative samples when compared to the AmpFlSTR Identifiler and SGM Plus kits. These data support that the MiniFiler kit will increase the likelihood of obtaining additional STR information from forensic samples in situations in which standard STR chemistries fail to produce complete profiles.     

Judicial Decisionmaking and the Use of Panels in the Canadian Supreme Court and the South African Appellate Division

Research on the U.S. Supreme Court suggests that judges' decisions are influenced by their policy preferences. Moreover, judges behave strategically to facilitate outcomes that conform as close as possible to those preferences. We seek to generalize this assertion to judicial actors in two very diverse social systems: Canada in the post-Charter years and apartheid-era South Africa. Specifically, we analyze the use of panel assignments by the chief justices in both countries. We find that chief justices do behave strategically. Chief justices in both countries do not assign judges to panels randomly but rather are influenced by the tenure and ideology of the sitting judges and the issues presented in the case.