Snap Judgment: Implicit Perceptions of a (Political) Court

Do people fundamentally perceive the Supreme Court as a political institution? Despite the central importance of this question to theories of public evaluations of the Court and its decisions, it remains largely unanswered. To this end, we develop a new, implicit measure of political perceptions of the Court. This new measure relies on a categorization task wherein respondents quickly associate political or non-political attributes with the Supreme Court relative to institutions that are high or low in politicization. We find that the public implicitly perceives the Court as less political than Congress (high politicization) and more political than traffic court (low politicization) and that this measure is distinct from self-reported (explicit) perceptions of politicization. Finally, we find that implicit perceptions have a distinct effect on predicting diffuse support for the court and specific support for one of two Court decisions.     

Introduction: the EU,East Asian conflicts,and the norm of integration

The promotion of regional integration is a core objective of the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy and has been seen as part of its attempt to transform international society and to make the world a more peaceful place to live. However, the success of this regionalization strategy has been limited and East Asia has been a particularly problematic case. This introduction raises some fundamental questions by first presenting some basic concepts so that the overall studies of the special issue can be systematically undertaken. The underlying questions are the following: How bleak is the picture with regard to regionalism in East Asia and the roles of the EU? Has the EU had no effect on the development of East Asian regionalism? And what potential does regional integration have in helping the transformation of conflicts in East Asia? In addition to these questions, it also discusses and conceptualizes underlying discourses on regional integration, conflict transformation, and regionalism in East Asia. By doing so, it aims to point out that the East Asia region is changing, the EU does play a role in this, and regionalization cannot be ignored as an institutional context that has the potential to assist conflict transformation, especially if windows of opportunity for such engagement arise in the future.     

The Dredd-Ful Day of Judgement: Judicial Models and the Twilight of the West

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - I am the Law It is hard to imagine two more disparate characters than Judge Joseph Dredd and...     

Sex trafficking in Cambodia: fabricated numbers versus empirical evidence

Large numbers of sex trafficking victims, on the order of 80,000–100,000, have been alleged to exist in Cambodia over the past decade. Empirical results obtained from measuring the numbers of such victims in Cambodia are contrasted with the lack of support for the widely circulated guesstimates of these numbers. Examples of similar fabrications are discussed and followed through some of their early publication history. The methodology of conducting empirical field research in less developed countries is discussed and the origin of the guesstimates is probed in detail. Both the multiple methodologies employed by and the results of a program of empirical research on trafficking numbers in Cambodia conducted from 2002 to 2008 are discussed. These are compared with the results of additional empirical studies, and with the guesstimates. The existence of empirical results creates location knowledge of victims, presenting ethical questions.     

Investigation of Postmortem Absorption and Redistribution After the Application of a Fentanyl Patch

Fentanyl deaths have increased with availability of transdermal patches. Interpretation of postmortem fentanyl levels may be complicated by postmortem redistribution and absorption of fentanyl from a patch. We applied an unused 100‐μg/h fentanyl patch onto the lower abdomen of a decedent with no premortem fentanyl exposure. Ocular fluid, blood, and urine were collected prior to placement, and the decedent was refrigerated for 23 h. Prior to the autopsy, urine, subcutaneous tissue under the patch, and samples from the same anatomic sites were obtained. We observed no fentanyl in any postpatch placement samples (LOD: 0.1 ng/mL for blood and vitreous fluid, 1.0 ng/mL urine, 2.0 ng/g for tissues). Although we observed no postmortem absorption of fentanyl, this was only a single case; therefore, we recommend that patches be removed after receipt of a cadaver before initiation of an autopsy, with the location of removed patch documented.     

Evaluation of Implementation of the Kentucky Court Rules of Procedure and Practice: An Approach to Assessing the Impact of Court Reform Efforts

This article describes a Supreme Court of Kentucky court improvement initiative designed to promote uniformity and improved court practice with an ultimate goal of the improvement of outcomes for children and families through implementation of Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice. Twelve jurisdictions were purposely selected to exhibit a range of family and non‐family court jurisdictions, rural and middle‐sized locations. This article focuses on the results of court case file review related to indicators of due process and timeliness. Implications for court evaluation and reform activities are discussed.