Counterterrorist Legislation and Respect for Civil Liberties: An Inevitable Collision?

The literature on counterterrorist measures often emphasizes the potential harmful effects of such measures on human rights and civil liberties. While recent research has examined the effects of counterterrorist legislation on the violation of physical integrity rights (e.g., torture and extrajudicial killings), no quantitative cross-national study has looked at the consequences for civil liberties. Still, case studies in a variety of countries suggest that counterterrorist legislation indeed leads to various infringements of liberties such as the freedoms of expression, religion, assembly, and movement. We conduct a cross-national time series analysis of counterterrorist legislation and consequent repression of civil liberties for the years 1976–2009. We find that the effects of legislation vary by levels of initial repression. Legislation has a negative effect on respect for civil liberties in countries with moderate levels of repression. However, this effect diminishes in non-repressive countries and reverses in countries with high levels of repression.     

Outspoken Insiders: Political Connections and Citizen Participation in Authoritarian China

Few political systems are completely closed to citizen participation, but in nondemocratic systems and developing democracies, such participation may come with risks. In these contexts where fear and uncertainty may be high, why do some citizens still take action and make complaints to authorities? The resource mobilization model identifies the importance of time, money, and civic skills as resources that are necessary for participation. In this paper, we build on this model and argue that political connections—close personal ties to someone working in government—can also constitute a critical resource, especially in contexts with weak democratic institutions. Using data from both urban and rural China, we find that individuals with political connections are more likely to contact authorities with complaints about government public services, despite the fact that they do not have higher levels of dissatisfaction with public service provision. We conduct various robustness checks, including a sensitivity analysis, and show that this relationship is unlikely to be driven by an incorrect model specification or unobserved confounding variables.     

A General Pricing Model for a Mortgage Insurance Contract Considering the Effects of Multivariate Random Variables on Termination Probabilities and Loss Rate

This article describes the derivation of a general closed-form formula for determining a fair premium for both Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and private mortgage insurance (MI). Our model incorporates the regulations appearing in MI contracts, the changes in economic situations, the termination hazard rates (i.e., prepayment and default), and the loss rate given default. We then give an example to show how one uses our model to calculate an MI premium with FHA regulations by using real mortgage data. Our pricing formula can also be used to calculate the implied default hazard rates given the FHA's current MI. The comparison of this implied rate with the actual rate should help mortgage insurers decide whether the current MI premium should be adjusted. Further analysis shows how sensitive MI premiums are to changes in the model parameters, such as the volatility of the interest rate and the house price appreciation rate. Our pricing formula should make it easier for mortgage insurers to determine fair MI premiums and employ sophisticated risk-management procedures.     

The Role of China’s County-level Research Offices in Policy Adaptation

Journal of Chinese Political Science - Local governments in China have been given a considerable degree of flexibility in policy formulation and are permitted to adapt central policies to meet the...     

Forensic applications of infrared imaging for the detection and recording of latent evidence

We report on a simple method to record infrared (IR) reflected images in a forensic science context. Light sources using ultraviolet light have been used previously in the detection of latent prints, but the use of infrared light has been subjected to less investigation. IR light sources were used to search for latent evidence and the images were captured by either video or using a digital camera with a CCD array sensitive to IR wavelength. Bloodstains invisible to the eye, inks, tire prints, gunshot residue, and charred document on dark background are selected as typical matters that may be identified during a forensic investigation. All the evidence types could be detected and identified using a range of photographic techniques. In this study, a one in eight times dilution of blood could be detected on 10 different samples of black cloth. When using 81 black writing inks, the observation rates were 95%, 88% and 42% for permanent markers, fountain pens and ball-point pens, respectively, on the three kinds of dark cloth. The black particles of gunshot residue scattering around the entrance hole under IR light were still observed at a distance of 60 cm from three different shooting ranges. A requirement of IR reflectivity is that there is a contrast between the latent evidence and the background. In the absence of this contrast no latent image will be detected, which is similar to all light sources. The use of a video camera allows the recording of images either at a scene or in the laboratory. This report highlights and demonstrates the robustness of IR to detect and record the presence of latent evidence.     

Political structure,legislative process,and corruption: comparing Taiwan and South Korea

Taiwan and South Korea have the same constitutional system, approximate economic scale, and similar cultural backgrounds, yet they differ in degree of corruption. What political structures and legislative processes cause this outcome is the major question posed in this paper. The political structure in South Korea is a centralization-of-power model, while that in Taiwan is a separation-of-powers model. This paper proposes that Taiwan and South Korea have different types of corruption and different political structures, and the legislative process in South Korea is more compromising than that in Taiwan. These factors contribute to greater corruption in South Korea than in Taiwan. This study clarifies how particular institutional dynamics reduce or enhance the prospects for democratic governance and help to better understand how political structure and legislative process channel different types of corruption into different degrees of corruption. Studies on the relationship between constitutional structure and corruption have concluded that parliamentarism can help reduce corruption more than presidentialism. This thesis argues that a country with centralized power tends to be less corrupt than a country with separation of powers. If this argument and the rationale behind it hold true for countries with both parliamentary and presidential systems, we can expect that semi-presidential countries with a centralized system are less corrupt than those with a decentralized system, all else being equal. However, by comparing these two semi-presidential countries, we find that South Korea, with its centralized model, was more corrupt than Taiwan, with its decentralized model. This comparative case study provides a counterargument to the conventional wisdom of constitutional structure and governance.     

The Relationship between Homelessness and Behavior Problems among Youth in North Texas: a Brief Report

This study sought to examine the relationship between homelessness and behavior problems among a community-based sample of youth in North Texas. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional, probability sample of households and a targeted sample of homeless families in Dallas, Texas, with children older than 5 years old (N?=?5232). Parents were asked to report five behavior problems on behalf of their children including arrest or trouble with police, academic problems, behavior problems at school, suspension, and suicide attempts. Logistic and negative binomial regression procedures were used to examine the relationship between homelessness and behavior problems. Youth exposed to homelessness were 36% (OR?=?1.63; 95% CI 1.00–1.85) more likely to exhibit any kind of behavior problems than youth who had never experienced homelessness. Homeless youth had 5.51 times the odds of arrest (95% CI 2.60–11.68), 1.74 times the odds of academic problems (95% CI 1.24–2.43), and more than 3 times the odds of suicide attempts (95% CI 1.46, 7.61) than youth who had never been homeless. Homelessness was associated with higher rates of problem behavior, including arrests, academic problems, and suicide attempts. Because homeless youth are commonly enrolled in school and present at health care clinics and emergency departments, clinics and schools may aid in the identification of homeless youth, as well as referral to care. In this way, clinicians may help reduce the burden of behavioral problems that disproportionately affect homeless youth.     

Evaluation of the DNA stability of forensic markers used in betel-quid chewers' oral swab samples and oral cancerous specimens: implications for forensic application

Chewed betel-quid (BQ) residues are often considered vital biological evidence at crime scenes, since the human DNA extracted from the residues is actually from buccal epithelial cells and can be associated with suspects. BQ-chewing is also a risk factor for oral diseases and/or cancers. Archived medical oral-specimens can be used to identify specific individuals under adverse conditions, although STR markers are known to be unstable in various tumor tissues. This study evaluates the DNA stability of forensic marker systems in BQ-chewers' oral epithelial cells, and in archived clinical specimens of oral cancer patients. The genotypes of oral and paired peripheral blood samples in 200 subjects were compared, using the commercialized typing systems of HLA-DQA1, PM (including LDLR, GYPA, HBGG, D7S8, and GC loci), and AmpFlSTR markers (including 9 STR loci and the Amelogenin gene). The 100 healthy BQ-chewers had consistent oral swab and paired blood sample genotypes analyzed withboth DQA1/PM and STR marker systems. In the 100 oral cancer patients, one discordant result at D7S8 was found in the 600DQA1/PM-marker loci, and 25 allelic alterations with expansion or contraction were detected in the 900 STR loci. The findings herein suggest that when cancerous specimens were tested, the HLA-DQA1/PM system with point polymorphism appears more reliable than the STR system with length polymorphism. Our results also indicate that healthy BQ-chewers' oral cotton swabs containing buccal epithelial cells are useful for forensic purposes using the HLA-DQA1, PM, and STR marker systems.