Book reviews

Indonesia. By J. D. Legge. Prentice‐Hall, New Jersey, 1965. Pp. iii, 184. 40/‐

Pre‐capitalist Economic Formations. By Karl Marx. With an introduction by Eric Hobsbawm. Trans, by Jack Cohen. Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1964. Pp. 153. 25/‐.

Economic Survey of Latin America, 1962. Organization of American States. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1964. Pp. 425. 68/‐     

Neighborhood Social Ties and Shared Expectations for Informal Social Control: Do They Influence Informal Social Control Actions?

Objectives

Social disorganization states that neighborhood social ties and shared expectations for informal social control are necessary for the exercise of informal social control actions. Yet this association is largely assumed rather than empirically examined in the literature. This paper examines the relationship between neighborhood social ties, shared expectations for informal social control and actual parochial and public informal social control actions taken by residents in response to big neighborhood problems.

Methods

Using multi-level logistic regression models, we integrate Australian Bureau of Statistics census data with the Australian Community Capacity Study survey data of 1310 residents reporting 2614 significant neighborhood problems across 148 neighborhoods to examine specific informal social control actions taken by residents when faced with neighborhood problems.

Results

We do not find a relationship between shared expectations for informal social control and residents’ informal social control actions. Individual social ties, however, do lead to an increase in informal social control actions in response to ‘big’ neighborhood problems. Residents with strong ties are more likely to engage in public and parochial informal social control actions than those individuals who lack social ties. Yet individuals living in neighborhoods with high levels of social ties are only moderately more likely to engage in parochial informal social control action than those living in areas where these ties are not present. Shared expectations for informal social control are not associated with the likelihood that residents engage in informal social control actions when faced with a significant neighborhood problem.

Conclusion

Neighborhood social ties and shared expectations for informal social control are not unilaterally necessary for the exercise of informal social control actions. Our results challenge contemporary articulations of social disorganization theory that assume that the availability of neighborhood social ties or expectations for action are associated with residents actually doing something to exercise of informal social control.

     

Contested views of expertise in children’s care and permanence proceedings

In this article, we consider different perspectives on who is best able to provide relevant and helpful expertise in public law cases where the long-term care of children is under consideration. Opinions vary and sometimes conflict on the respective importance of legal, child development, and lay understandings. These opinions relate to views on rights, appropriate procedures, decision-making processes, and the effects of decisions on children. Firstly, we summarise literature relevant to the knowledge and skills of three key groups of decision-makers within the Scottish child care system: legal professionals, child care professionals and lay decision-makers, and outline literature about guardians ad litem and their counterparts. We then discuss issues of expertise emerging from a study exploring the reasons for, and impact of, the appointment of safeguarders (who, in Scotland, perform a similar role to guardians). We conclude that there may be an increasing tendency for disagreement and a lack of clarity about who brings the most relevant and helpful expertise to hearings; this may have negative effects for children.     

Ideas of Transgression and Buddhist Monks

It is implicit in a western understanding of law that law is a series of generalisations, which are universal and which aim to promote social community. At the same time ‘law’ is expected to operate in a territory (rather than for specific people or castes) where it applies, and to apply to a community of rights-bearing subjects. Such a view of law may have reflected part of the values of the European Enlightenment where law was seen as a rational science and where religion has been seen as excluded from law. An alternative route in the study of law is to study ‘transgressions’. The literature on ‘transgression’ suggests transgressions form an amorphous category and a proper examination of them is not closed by the normal taxonomy between the studies of ‘law as obedience’ versus ‘laws as violation’. In one sense transgressions are part of the rule, yet a separate category in their own right. I use the concept of ‘transgression’ to attempt to describe the legal significance of ‘violations’ in the rules of the Buddhist monks (Vinaya). I conclude that a proper consideration of the role of sexual desire in the Vinaya allows me to show that ‘violations were accepted within an institutional framework, that ‘violators’ were not excluded from the order of monks and that sexual experience could be seen as an alternative, if controversial, path of spiritual development.     

A New Digital Method for the Objective Comparison of Frontal Sinuses for Identification*

Abstract: Use of the frontal sinuses for identification requires an objective method of comparison to meet Daubert standards. Christensen’s application of Elliptical Fourier Analysis and Likelihood Ratios seems to be a viable solution for this problem. The proposed method draws upon this work and attempts to simplify its application. Variation between pairs of digitized sinus tracings was quantified by summing the difference between corresponding measurements taken from a fixed origin to the outer edge of the sinus outlines using Adobe Photoshop^® CS2. Same‐skull and different‐skull pairs were used to develop reference distributions from which the probability of unknown pairs coming from the same or a different individual was estimated. Error rates of 0% were achieved. Resulting correlation coefficients demonstrated inter‐rater and test–retest reliability. Further refinement of the reference distributions and more rigorous testing of error rates should make this technique applicable to casework.     

Age Discrimination, Redundancy Payments and Length of Service

This note discusses three cases which have considered objective justification for the apparent contradiction between rewarding age and length of service in redundancy payments and the need not to discriminate on the grounds of age. It considers the relevance of cases from the European Court of Justice about whether there can be a general exception to the need to justify using the criterion of length of service, or seniority, in equal pay cases.     

Does Participation Lead to Ongoing Infrastructure Maintenance? Evidence from Caribbean Landslide Mitigation Projects

Donor-funded infrastructure projects may focus on construction and neglect longer-term sustainability. Engaging local communities has been proposed as way of inducing ongoing maintenance by facilitating coordination and a sense of ownership, but there is little evidence on its effectiveness in practice. We analyse data from inspections of 103 landslide hazard mitigation drains in Saint Lucia several years after construction. We conclude that community participation at the beginning of the project, by accessing local knowledge, is associated with improved construction quality, but appears to have no impact on subsequent maintenance, suggesting that contractual provision for maintenance may be required.