Female versus male perpetrated femicide: an exploratory analysis of whether offender gender matters

Femicide, the murder of females (most often at the hands of males), is an understudied area in homicide research. Furthermore, femicide perpetrated by females has been all but ignored. One reason this may be is because of the rarity of homicide victimization perpetrated by females. Rather, most homicide incidents consist of a male offender and a male victim. When a homicide does involve a female, either as a victim or as an offender, the other party implicated is generally a male. The primary goal of the proposed study is to provide an in-depth, albeit exploratory, examination of female-perpetrated femicide. Using homicide data taken from the Dallas Homicide Unit, 403 cases of femicide will be analyzed, with special attention devoted to comparing female-perpetrated femicide incidents (n = 39) against male-perpetrated femicide incidents (n = 364). Specifically, the current study will explore the similarities and differences in sociodemographic characteristics of victims and suspects, offense characteristics, and offense circumstances. Contrary to what was expected, results, at first glance, seem to suggest an overwhelming similarity between femicide suspects and victims, irrespective of gender. However, when the relationship between victim and suspect is considered, distinct differences appear. Implications from these findings as well as limitations and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

The Fiscal Organization of Metropolitan Areas: The Allegheny County Case Reconsidered

Is consolidation of local governments within metropolitan areasdesirable? The "traditional reform approach" advocates greaterconsolidation to promote efficiency and equity. However, recentstudies by the U.S. Advisory Commission on IntergovernmentalRelations (ACIR), relying on a "public choice approach," arguethat formally fragmented systems can produce self-determination,citizen choice, competition, fiscal equivalence, accountability,and representation. This study reassesses the evidence presentedin the ACIR study on Allegheny County. While concurring thattraditional reform efforts are poorly conceptualized, the findingsshow that fiscal disparities among Allegheny County municipalitiespersist and have significantly increased over the past decade.These findings, taken together with those from citizen surveys,challenge the conceptual foundations and policy implicationsof both approaches. F or more than half a century, scholars     

Sexual violence perpetrated against women in India: the role of forensic evidence

ABSTRACT

In response to the upsurge in acts of sexual violence against women in India, Parliament passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013, amending existing statutes and rules of evidence relating to crimes of sexual violence and the practices of forensic professionals in the country. While a step in the right direction, this law paid little attention to forensic evidence in sexual violence cases, which can provide a more objective, scientific account of events, aid in the reconstruction of crimes, and help strengthen cases against perpetrators. The objectives of this article are twofold: to raise awareness for the need for a more prominent role of forensic evidence in sexual violence cases and to recommend ways to establish uniform and comprehensive policies and procedures on the collection and preservation of forensic evidence in order to ensure that cases of sexual violence against women are heard in Indian courts.     

Global Environment Threats and a Divided Northern Community

The EU, Japan, and the US now share many environmental norms, laws, and institutions and cooperate on international environmental matters through numerous bilateral and multilateral channels. They disagree, however, on how to deal with some of the most serious issues facing the global environment and the quality of human life including wide-scale biodiversity loss, climate change, the use of genetically modified (GM) organisms; the trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes, and chemical safety. As these are all issues that require the involvement of developing countries if global environmental protection efforts are to be effective, the discord that exists among the Northern states is of tremendous significance. The US has pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol arguing that the treaty is poorly designed and would be detrimental to the US economy. Japan and the EU have had to try to find a way to bring the treaty into force without the participation of the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and to convince participating countries to meet their targets even though this may put them at a competitive disadvantage. In the case of biodiversity loss, although the US initiated international negotiations on biodiversity preservation, it has refused to join the EU and Japan in ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity. There are also differences between the US, on the one side, and Japan and the EU on the other, regarding the use of GM organisms. This article analyses the reasons for the differences that have emerged among northern states in their international environmental policy positions and what the implications of this northern policy divide are for the effectiveness and legitimacy of international environmental protection efforts.