Criminality and Armed Groups: A Comparative Study of FARC and Paramilitary Groups in Colombia

Terrorist groups and armed insurgents regularly exploit illicit markets to launder money, traffic illegal goods, and purchase arms. In such an environment, the line between armed political organizations and criminal groups appears to break down. However, through a comparative study of paramilitary groups and Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—FARC) in Colombia, this article finds that group goals, the political environment, and membership strongly influence the types of criminal activities a given armed groups undertakes. Thus, the membership and political agenda of sub-state armed groups not only distinguishes them from criminal groups—organized for and motivated by economic gain—but also shapes their criminal behavior.     

Arab Americans’ Opinion on Counterterrorism Measures: The Impact of Race,Ethnicity, and Religion

While domestic and international terrorism have become the focal concern of the U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, little is known about Arab Americans’ attitudes toward counterterrorism policies that center on aggressive law enforcement practices. Using survey data collected from 810 Arab Americans, this study reported the general pattern of support for antiterrorism measures, including surveillance, stop and search, and detention, and examined the effects of race, ethnicity, and religion on measures targeting the U.S. citizens generally and Arab Americans specifically. The results revealed that the majority of Arab Americans showed weak to modest support for aggressive law enforcement practice, especially those targeting Arab Americans. Arab Americans’ attitudes toward antiterrorism measures were significantly related to their ethnic identities and religion with those who identified themselves as Arab Americans and Muslim showing less favorable attitudes toward counterterrorism measures. Arab Americans’ confidence in the federal government was also found to be positively associated with support for antiterrorism practices. Implications for research and policy are discussed.     

Chinese influence,U.S. linkages,or neither? Comparing regime changes in Myanmar and Thailand

This study examines the potential influence of foreign linkages on regime outcomes by comparing Myanmar and Thailand. Linkages with the West are supposed to facilitate democratization, whereas those with autocracies usually promote regime survival. This study focuses on Myanmar and Thailand’s linkages with the U.S. and China, which at first sight seem to demonstrate the hypothesized effects. Myanmar gradually liberalized while strengthening its Western linkages, whereas Thailand experienced democratic breakdown amid a shift in alignment from the U.S. to China. However, in-depth analysis suggests that the influence of foreign linkages on domestic political change was minimal and that the relationship may very well be endogenous. The findings of this study call for a more careful theorization and handling of the external factors in studies of regime change and highlight the importance of simultaneously analyzing democratic and autocratic linkages.     

Ethnic and religious variations in the reporting of racist victimization in Britain: 2000 and 2008/2009

The role of victimization in the generation of ethnic inequalities is increasingly acknowledged yet its impact on the lives of people with different religious affiliations remains underexplored. This is despite evidence of the importance of religion for forms of group identification and social mobilization. An exploration of the particular impact of religion as a focus for experiences of victimization may be particularly pertinent given the increasingly negative treatment of Muslim people since the riots in Britain of 2001, the terrorist incidents of 2001, 2004 and 2005 and the political and military responses to them. Cross-sectional analyses of data collected in 2000 and 2008/2009 explore whether there is evidence that the ethnic/religious patterning of reports of different forms of victimization have varied over time, after adjusting for the impact of age, gender, migration and socioeconomic differences between the groups. In 2000 Muslim people with different ethnic backgrounds were less likely, but by 2008/2009 were more likely, to report experiences of victimization than Caribbean Christians. However, the ethnic/religious patterning of perceptions of Britain as a ‘racist society’ were more consistent over time. This may suggest that, despite their increased exposure to victimization over the period, Muslim people in the United Kingdom have yet to experience the racialization characteristic of the treatment of Caribbean Christians, which requires a more prolonged exposure to racist negative attitudes. But this may be only a matter of time. The persistent expectation of poor treatment described by Caribbean Christians is testament to the difficulties of addressing these negative perceptions once racialized identities are embedded. Immediate action must be taken to prevent this occurring among other ethnic/religious minorities.     

Genetic polymorphism at three STR loci--CSF1PO, HUMTHO1 and TPOX, and the AMP-FLP locus D1S80 for the Chinese population in Hong Kong

Allele frequencies for three STR loci, namely, CSF1PO, HUMTHO1 and TPOX, and the AMP-FLP locus D1S80 were obtained from a sample of 351 unrelated Chinese in Hong Kong.     

Forced oral opening for cadavers with rigor mortis: two approaches for the myotomy on the temporal muscles

Forensic dentistry plays an essential role in personal identification procedures. An adequate interincisal space of cadavers with rigor mortis is required to obtain detailed dental findings. We have developed intraoral and two directional approaches, for myotomy of the temporal muscles. The intraoral approach, in which the temporalis was dissected with scissors inserted via an intraoral incision, was adopted for elderly cadavers, females and emaciated or exhausted bodies, and had a merit of no incision on the face. The two directional approach, in which myotomy was performed with thread-wire saw from behind and with scissors via the intraoral incision, was designed for male muscular youths. Both approaches were effective to obtain a desired degree of an interincisal opening without facial damage.     

Allele frequencies for nine STR loci in Beijing Chinese

Allele frequencies for nine STR loci namely, D3S1358, HUMvWA, HUMFIBRA/FGA, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317 and D7S820 were obtained from a sample of 198 unrelated Chinese in Beijing, China.     

Cytochrome b gene for species identification of the conservation animals

A partial DNA sequence of cytochrome b gene was used to identify the remains of endangered animals and species endemic to Taiwan. The conservation of animals species included in this study were: the formosan gem-faced civets, leopard cats, tigers, clouded leopards, lion, formosan muntjacs, formosan sika deers, formosan sambars, formosan serows, water buffalo, formosan pangolins and formosan macaques. The control species used included domestic cats, domestic dogs, domestic sheeps, domestic cattles, domestic pigs and humans. Heteroplasmy was detected in the formosan macaque, domestic pig and domestic cats. The frequencies of heteroplasmy in these animals were about 0.25% (1 in 402bp). Sequences were aligned by Pileup program of GCG computer package, and the phylogenetic tree was constructed by the neighbor-joining method. The results of sequence comparison showed that the percentage range of sequence diversity in the same species was from 0.25 to 2.74%, and that between the different species was from 5.97 to 34.83%. The results of phylogenetic analysis showed that the genetic distance between the different species was from 6.33 to 40.59. Animals of the same species, both the endangered animal species and domestic animals, were clustered together in the neighbor-joining tree. Three unknown samples of animal remains were identified by this system. The partial sequence of cytochrome b gene adopted in this study proved to be usable for animal identification.