Factors affecting simulated jurors' decisions in capital cases

Abstract

Previous psycho-legal research has claimed that the process of selecting death-qualified jurors for capital cases creates conviction-prone juries. The studies on which these claims are based have employed simulation methodologies to examine the relationship between subjects' death-penalty attitudes and verdict decisions, as well as the effect of the death-qualifying voir dire itself. Despite admitted weaknesses of simulations in general, this method was employed in the present research so that conceptual comparisons to past findings could be drawn. Two experiments were designed to examine the issue of death-qualification and biased juries in a context of other potentially highly influential factors, namely, the strength of evidence and the degree of heinousness. Our results failed to find any of the relationships between death-penalty attitudes and verdict decisions that would be predicted from past research. Instead, the subjects' decisions were influenced, virtually exclusively, by the strength of the evidence presented in the case, as is legally prescribed. In the light of these findings, the discussion focused on the questions of reliability and external validity of simulation research, the potential problems caused by method-specific factors in determining the outcome of such methodology, the attitude-behavior link, and the danger of premature and un-warranted application to the legal system of findings from simulations.     

Methodological Clarity or the Substantial Purity of Law? Notes on the Discussion between Kelsen and Pitamic

Leonid Pitamic was convinced that law could not be understood and explored by a single method aiming at a pure object of enquiry. He argued that it was necessary to employ other methods besides the normative one (especially the sociological and axiological methods), which, however, should not be confounded. Methodological syncretism can be avoided by clearly distinguishing between different aspects of law and by allowing the methods to support each other. By following this guideline, and by arguing according to a clear method, we can also open up a space for dialogue and for the juxtaposition of contrasting points of view.     

On Political Terror during the Soviet Expansion into Lithuania, 1918–1919

This article deals with a noticeable anomaly of Bolshevik expansion in Lithuania during 1918–1919: the refusal of the Soviet authorities to resort to terror to subdue the local population in order to export the world revolution. The author argues that the Soviets avoided political terror in Lithuania because they did not treat the Lithuanians as a nation capable of sustaining their own state. In fact, anti-Bolshevik forces employed more terror than the Bolsheviks in their attempt to drive out the Reds and uproot Lithuanian support for the Communist regime. The Lithuanian left-wing government of Mykolas Sle?evi?ius sought to contain its radicalized military and to preserve a soft-handed relationship with the local Bolshevik government.     

Comparing urban renewal in Barcelona and Seoul—urban management in conditions of competition among global cities

Cities have become increasingly autonomous economic and political actors which actively respond to the pressures and opportunities of globalisation. Consequently, the urban management of any particular city is often based on the assumption that the city can improve its position against rival cities by efficiently managing its strategic resources and promoting its presumed advantages. Though such an approach to urban management may help cities to improve their global competitiveness and the quality of their residents’ everyday life, it can sometimes result in negative consequences at the local level, thus actually narrowing the development prospects of the cities in the end. This article discusses urban management against the backdrop of the competitive urban policy in Barcelona and Seoul, and compares the local consequences of urban renewal in both cities. Based on a comparison of the two cases of urban renewal, 22@ Activity District in Barcelona and the Cheonggyecheon restoration in Seoul, this article argues that, in conditions of competition among global cities, even very different approaches to urban management and urban renewal may result in similar consequences at the local level.     

Yu-Rock in the 1980s: Between Urban and Rural

Two main myths constitute the founding basis of popular Polish ethnic nationalism: first, that Poland-Lithuania was an early Poland, and second, that the partitioning powers at all times unwaveringly pursued policies of Germanization and Russification. In the former case, the myth appropriates a common past today shared by Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine. In the latter case, Polonization is written out of the picture entirely, as also are variations and changes in the polices of Germanization and Russification. Taken together, the two myths to a large degree obscure (and even falsify) the past, making comprehension of it difficult, if not impossible. This article seeks to disentangle the knots of anachronisms that underlie the Polish national master narrative, in order to present a clearer picture of the interplay between the policies of Germanization, Polonization, and Russification as they unfolded in the lands of the partitioned Poland-Lithuania during the long nineteenth century.     

State budget support to local government

The principle of self-government is essentially a new phenomena in the Czech Republic. Under the previous regime, almost everything was ruled by the central government. At the present time, the major constraint to local budget reform is primarily from the local authorities’ lack of experience. While on one hand, this gives the Czech Republic a challenge to avoid some of the mistakes made in several developed countries, it is, on the other hand, difficult to make estimates of the possible responses to any change. Next to the lack of experience, there is a strong feeling both at the local and the central levels of government that the self-government bodies should have almost no regulation from the central government. The current opinion is that their control should be left only to the respective electorate. There is also the belief that self-government units should become increasing financed by tax revenues derived from within their own area. An additional complication is the lack of common non-governmental institutions (different associations and others) which usually smooth the the relationship between local and central governments. The changes in the Czech Republic are not yet complete. After the changes in the legal framework, the complete reform of the tax and social systems were to follow. While the essentials of tax reform were introduced in January 1993, the changes in the social systems are still under consideration. In spite of the relatively short history of having true local authorities functioning in the Czech Republic, the establishment of an additional level of government is being proposed. This issue is reopening some already closed matters and will bring a change to the whole system. As in many other countries, the division of responsibilities between different levels of government will probably continue to be discussed until the end of time.     

Development of a real-time PCR assay to control the illegal trade of meat from protected capercaillie species (Tetrao urogallus)

A rapid and highly species-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay has been developed for the detection of capercaillie DNA (Tetrao urogallus) in meat and meat mixtures. The method combines the use of capercaillie-specific primers, that amplify a 142bp fragment of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene, and a positive control primer pair that amplifies a 141bp fragment of the nuclear 18S rRNA gene from eukaryotic DNA. SYBR(?) Green dye or TaqMan(?) fluorogenic probes were used to monitor the amplification of the target genes. Results obtained with the use of TaqMan(?) probes as detection platform increased the specificity of the real-time PCR assay in comparison with the results obtained using SYBR(?) Green. The proposed real-time PCR assay represents a rapid and straightforward method for the accurate identification of capercaillie that could be used by law enforcement agencies as a tool for the control of poaching and illegal trade of meat from this protected species.