Identity,Ideology, and Malleability

Roel Meijer's edited volume fills massive gaps in the Western literature on Salafism, presenting a highly nuanced account of a diverse and internally divided religious identity movement while avoiding the opposing pitfalls of apologetics and polemics. Aside from the diversity of the movement, a key theme throughout the volume is the persistent malleability of Salafi ideology, which has major implications for states, social policy, and international security. The unavoidable conclusion seems to be that even “quietist” strands cannot be considered reliably quietist. Those who seek to better understand the tensions within Salafism, the relationship between this movement and states around the world, and how Salafism stands in relation to various forms of aggressive, violent contention would be well-advised to refer to this volume.     

Locating Al Qaeda's Center of Gravity: The Role of Middle Managers

This article claims that the ongoing debate about the structure and dynamics of Al Qaeda has failed to appreciate the importance of an organizational layer that is situated between the top leadership and the grass-roots. Rather than being “leaderless,” it is the group's middle management that holds Al Qaeda together. In Clausewitzian terms, Al Qaeda's middle managers represent a center of gravity—a “hub of … power and movement”—that facilitates the grass-roots’ integration into the organization and provides the top leadership with the global reach it needs in order to carry out its terrorist campaign, especially in Europe and North America. They are, in other words, the connective tissue that makes Al Qaeda work. The article substantiates this hypothesis by providing a number of case studies of Al Qaeda middle managers, which illustrate the critical role they have played in integrating the grass-roots with the top leadership. The policy implications are both obvious and important. If neither the top leadership nor the grass-roots alone can provide Al Qaeda with strategic momentum, it will be essential to identify and neutralize the middle managers, and—in doing so—“cause the network to collapse on itself.”     

When do Economic Perceptions Matter for Party Approval?

Do economic perceptions influence partisan preferences or vice versa? We argue that the direction of influence between government approval and economic perceptions is conditional on the state of the economy. Under conditions of economic crisis, when economic signals are relatively unambiguous, perceptions of the economy can be expected to exogenously influence government approval but this is not found when the economy is experiencing a more typical pattern of moderate growth and economic signals are more mixed. We test these arguments using British election panel surveys covering electoral cycles of moderate economic growth (1997–2001) and dramatic and negative disruption (2005–2010). We examine the most commonly employed measures of retrospective economic perceptions and estimate a range of models using structural equations modelling. We demonstrate that when the economy is performing extremely badly economic perceptions have an exogenous effect on government approval and provide a means of electoral accountability, but this is not the case in under more normal circumstances.     

A biomechanical reconstruction of a wound caused by a glass shard--a case report

During the course of a criminal trial, an investigating pathologist is commonly asked how much force was required to produce an injury. This subjective opinion is based on the pathologist's previous experience of dealing with wounds inflicted with similar weapons. However, in the case of stab wounds inflicted by broken glass, it is unlikely that two glass fragments would be physically similar. In the case studied, two theories were examined: that a wound resulted from a thrown glass fragment or that it had been caused as a stab injury by the glass held in the bare hand. The investigation involved quantifying the energy required for human tissue penetration, comparison of sharpness, a biomechanical analysis of throwing actions and testing of the hypothesis that if the glass shard were used as a stabbing implement it would result in a cut to the hand.The investigation utilised a scientific methodology that reduced the need for speculative (though informed) opinion from the pathologist by producing quantitative results.     

Mug Shot Exposure Effects: Does Size Matter?

This research tested whether mug book size moderates mug shot exposure effects. Witnesses to a simulated theft searched either a small, a large, or no mug book, followed by a perpetrator-absent lineup containing a critical foil from the mug book. Contrary to predictions of a transference effect, critical foil lineup identifications did not differ across conditions. To test for a commitment effect, only participants who selected the critical foil in the mug book were considered; there was evidence of a commitment effect in the large mug book condition. Finally, there were more lineup-correct rejections in the large mug book condition; this was explained in terms of the criterion for making mug book choices carrying over to lineup choices.

Justifying Inequality: A Cross-Temporal Investigation of U.S. Income Disparities and Just-World Beliefs from 1973 to 2006

This cross-temporal meta-analysis examined 6,120 American college students’ scores on the Belief in a Just World Scale (BJW; Rubin and Peplau, J Soc Issues 31(3):65–90, 1975) across the last three and a half decades. Drawing on models of belief threat, we examined whether the causal relationship between perceived injustice and increases in BJW could extend from the laboratory to society by using macro-economic injustice trends to predict changes in BJW across these decades. Specifically, we hypothesized that perceptions of inequality, operationalized as rising income disparities, would result in a greater need to justify this inequality and that this would be evidenced by increased commitment to just world beliefs over time. Consistent with this prediction, BJW scores increased significantly over time and this increase was positively related to increasing income disparities in society. Income inequality remained a significant predictor of BJW scores even after controlling for additional factors of general income and political ideology. Implications of increasing just world beliefs are discussed in terms of psychological and policy outcomes.     

Perpetration of intimate partner aggression by men and women in the Philippines: prevalence and associated factors

This study uses data from the 2002 Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey to examine the prevalence of and factors associated with intimate partner violence perpetration by husbands and wives in Cebu, Philippines. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify the factors associated with wife-only, husband-only, and reciprocal perpetration. About 26% of women reported that either they or their partner perpetrated at least one physically aggressive act during the past year, whereas 22% reported sexual coercion by their husband during their relationship. The most common reason cited for hurting the partner was his or her alcohol use, partner nagging, the wife fighting back, and jealousy. In the regression analysis, the wife's alcohol use and violence between the wife's parents were predictors of all three perpetrator groups. The importance of regular church attendance and husband control and dominance varied for the groups. Research and prevention implications are discussed.     

Sequential lineup presentation: Patterns and policy

Sequential lineups were offered as an alternative to the traditional simultaneous lineup. Sequential lineups reduce incorrect lineup selections; however, the accompanying loss of correct identifications has resulted in controversy regarding adoption of the technique. We discuss the procedure and research relevant to (1) the pattern of results found using sequential versus simultaneous lineups; (2) reasons (theory) for differences in witness responses; (3) two methodological issues; and (4) implications for policy decisions regarding the adoption of sequential lineups.     

The South African National Credit Act fails to protect homeowners against various interest rates hikes

Where a credit provider makes a proper financial assessment and finds that the low-income consumer will be able to satisfy in a timely manner all the obligations under all the credit agreements to which the consumer is a party he will in all probability conclude the credit agreement with the consumer. Obviously the affordability assessment made by the credit provider will depend on the prevailing interest rates at the time. There has been several interest rate hikes since June 2006 to December 2008 in South Africa that has had a detrimental impact on low-income home owners. Due to the various interest rate hikes and the prevailing high interest rates many consumers have lost their mortgaged homes. The South African National Credit Act of 2005 has failed to take into its purview cases such as these, and as a consequence there is no sort of consumer protection available for the low-income group who become over-indebted, because of the constant rising interest rates on their mortgage loans.     

Editorial

Criminal Law and Philosophy -