Better Left Unsaid? The Role of Agency in Queer Criminological Research

In this article, I review the scant literature on gay men’s involvement in violence, gangs, and crime, which characterizes gay men as having little opportunity for agency. In discussing the popular culture, academic, and political reasons why this population has been neglected from study, I identify existing stereotypes that have shaped representations of gay men. I challenge our societal and disciplinary assumptions by presenting examples from my interview-based and partially ethnographic study of 53 gay gang- and crime-involved men, who both respond to and actively resist stereotypes about them. I also critically reflect on whether a continued lack of attention to queer populations in the criminological and related literatures is desirable today, but conclude the article by providing suggestions for scholars looking to conduct research with LGBT populations, especially within criminology and criminal justice.     

Paradoxical correlates of a facilitative parenting programme in prison—counter-productive intervention or first signs of responsible parenthood?

Parenting programmes are rarely part of prisoners' rehabilitation, and evaluations of such programmes are lacking.     

Gender equality in Germany: Comparing policy change across domains

Focusing on the past 25 years in three central arenas of political, social, and civil rights, this article engages in the current debate over policy change and the direction of German politics by analysing the issue of gender equality. Combining T.H. Marshall's concept of citizenship and Hall's analysis of policy change, I obtain a two-level framework that differentiates between policy changes and categorises reform in Germany in three different domains. The case studies are: quotas in political representation (political citizenship), women and reconciliation policy (social citizenship), and anti-discrimination policies (civil citizenship). Comparing policy change across domains demonstrates that change in these three arenas has occurred to different degrees and for different reasons; electoral competition has fostered policy change in representation, while the male-breadwinner model has slowed down reform for reconciliation of family and employment. A conservative affirmative action regime stands in opposition to individual anti-discrimination and limits potential change. This comparison across domains defines the dependent variable ‘policy change’ in a more nuanced way, helping to pinpoint and differentiate specific areas of reform.     

Cash or Combat? America’s Asian Alliances During the War in Afghanistan

Abstract

A basic trade-off in military cooperation exists: States must respond to the dominant ally’s demands and act as a reliable partner while simultaneously making a decision that is acceptable to domestic audiences. We argue that compensatory burden-sharing strategies are imperfect but dependable solutions to manage foreign policy decisions at the domestic and alliance levels. Our theoretical expectations are tested using the US-Japan and US-Republic of Korea alliances and, in particular, the contribution of each country to the war in Afghanistan. We find that foreign aid commitments to third parties are made as a form of compensation when alliance expectations are substantial, but the secondary ally's ability to contribute militarily is highly constrained. Foreign aid has therefore served as an alliance management tool.     

Identification of a Carbonized Body Using Implanted Surgical Plates: The Importance of Computed Tomography

In addition to clinical examination, forensic odontologists can use diagnostic imaging as an auxiliary method for identification. This paper reports a case where forensic odontologists from the Afrânio Peixoto Legal Medicine Institute in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) positively identified a carbonized and partially calcined body using oral and maxillofacial imaging. The cadaver showed several metallic plates fixed with metallic screws on bones of the neurocranium and viscerocranium. Family members provided spiral computed tomography scans of the skull and a panoramic radiograph that were acquired after an accident that required surgical procedures. Comparative analysis between the clinical exam and the maxillofacial images demonstrated complete coincidence, confirming the victim's identity. Dactyloscopy, which is the most commonly used method of identification, was not possible because of the body carbonization. Thus, diagnostic imaging, especially computed tomography, was essential for elucidation of this case.     

Estimation of age at death based on quantitation of the 4977-bp deletion of human mitochondrial DNA in skeletal muscle

The 4977-bp deletion in human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is known to accumulate in various tissues with age. Since this deletion in mtDNA correlates closest with age in muscle tissue, iliopsoas muscle tissue was taken at autopsy from 50 persons aged 24-97 years to determine whether age at death can be estimated based on the amount of the 4977-bp deletion in skeletal muscle. Total DNA (nuclear and mtDNA) was extracted from 100 mg tissue and the 4977-bp deletion quantified using a kinetic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by visualization of the products on silver stained polyacrylamide gels. The amount of the 4977-bp deletion of mtDNA ranged from 0.00049% to 0.14% depending on age, with a correlation coefficient of r = 0.83 (P = 0.0001). In forensic practice this method can aid in the estimation of age at death with a relatively wide confidence interval, thus enabling a discrimination between young and elderly persons in the identification of human remains based solely on skeletal muscle.     

International regimes and environmental policy integration: introducing the special issue

Pressure is mounting for states to become better at integrating its environmental policies into sector policy, a challenge often referred to as environmental policy integration (EPI). Policy research on EPI has grown to become a distinct and substantial field of study at the national and EU levels, where political commitment and interest in the topic have been large. In the study of international regimes, EPI analytical concepts have so far not been applied although the EPI quest is at least as important and critical at this level. This special issue addresses this gap, by combining these two sets of literature and examining various aspects of EPI in international regimes, its manifestations and its challenges. This introductory paper introduces key conceptual discussions underlying the development of this special issue, distils and discusses some of the key findings and messages from the four ensuing research articles and presents directions for future research. It finds that many EPI challenges and institutional barriers are strongly accentuated at international levels of governance, but also that similarities with the national level suggest that closer interactions between the two fields of study are warranted. At both levels, the EPI “game” is full of inherent tensions and goal conflicts, institutional constraints abound, and cognitive interactions and learning processes appear as key mechanisms to advance EPI. Suggestions for how to enhance EPI in international regimes are still tentative, and analysis beyond international relations and regime theory is needed to capture potential institutional innovations for advancing EPI.     

How are Argentina and Chile facing shared biodiversity loss?

Biodiversity loss remains one of the most pressing issues for global governance. This situation can be seen in Argentina and Chile through the effects of biodiversity loss caused by the introduction and expansion of beavers in Southern Patagonia. This case is interesting because, despite the Beagle conflict (i.e., the border dispute) between these countries some decades ago, nowadays Argentina and Chile are facing shared environmental problems and both are actively seeking solutions. The main question in this paper is, how did Argentina and Chile search for a solution to shared environmental problems caused by the expansion of beavers in Southern Patagonia? This paper tackles this question and presents the results of the conducted qualitative research. The results indicate that, in order to understand what Argentina and Chile are doing to achieve a solution to their shared environmental problems, research cannot be exclusively focus on domestic affairs. Instead, this issue requires taking into account how international dimensions influenced domestic policies. As this paper argues, in Argentina and Chile, international cooperation is a method of influencing biodiversity governance through funds granted by international organizations and international expert recommendations.     

Bioinformatics Approach to Assess the Biogeographical Patterns of Soil Communities: The Utility for Soil Provenance,

Soil DNA profiling has potential as a forensic tool to establish a link between soil collected at a crime scene and soil recovered from a suspect. However, a quantitative measure is needed to investigate the spatial/temporal variability across multiple scales prior to their application in forensic science. In this study, soil DNA profiles across Miami‐Dade, FL, were generated using length heterogeneity PCR to target four taxa. The objectives of this study were to (i) assess the biogeographical patterns of soils to determine whether soil biota is spatially correlated with geographic location and (ii) evaluate five machine learning algorithms for their predictive ability to recognize biotic patterns which could accurately classify soils at different spatial scales regardless of seasonal collection. Results demonstrate that soil communities have unique patterns and are spatially autocorrelated. Bioinformatic algorithms could accurately classify soils across all scales with Random Forest significantly outperforming all other algorithms regardless of spatial level.     

Seen but Not Heard? Parallels and Dissonances in the Treatment of Rape Narratives across the Asylum and Criminal Justice Contexts

A significant proportion of women seeking refugee status in the United Kingdom will claim to have been raped in their country of origin. Even where this is not the sole basis of an asylum claim, it may be relevant to its determination. While criminal justice responses to rape have been the subject of extensive academic criticism and legislative reform, the processes of disclosure and credibility assessment in the asylum context have received little attention. This article explores possible parallels and dissonances in the treatment of rape across the asylum and criminal justice contexts, drawing in particular on the findings of a 2007 pilot study. It considers how problems such as the underreporting of rape, the inability of the victim to 'tell the story' in her own words, a hostile adjudicative environment, and the tendency to regard factors such as late disclosure, narrative inconsistency, and calm demeanour with suspicion – may be replicated and compounded in asylum cases. It also acknowledges the complex intersection of race, gender, culture, and nationality in this context.