Institutional Collective Action During COVID-19: Lessons in Local Economic Development

At this point, little is known about local government responses to the economic crisis caused by COVID-19. This crisis is happening on Main Streets around the nation. This article examines how some local governments are taking collective action in partnership with other governments as well as with organizations at the local and regional levels. What is unique is that collective action is rare as it relates to traditional economic development practices, yet it is occurring and leading to offerings of multi-institutional grants and low-interest loans. However, some newer supply- and demand-side actions are the result of a lack of resources and need for expediency. Practitioners can learn about the collaborative economic development actions that governments are taking and how these partnerships can stabilize their local economies.     

Distorting Fundamental Norms of International Law to Resurrect the Soviet Union: The International Law Context of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Netherlands International Law Review - Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which commenced on 24 February 2022 represented just the latest, albeit most devastating, intervention in a neighbouring...     

Storm‐Related Postmortem Damage to Skeletal Remains

In April 2011, human skeletons were exposed to heavy storms at the outdoor Anthropology Research Facility (ARF) in Knoxville, Tennessee. Of the approximate 125 skeletons at the ARF in April 2011, 30 donations exhibited postmortem damage that could be attributed to the storms. At least 20 of the affected donations exhibit postmortem damage clearly associated with hailstones due to the oval shape and similar small size of the defects observed. The irregular shape and larger size of other defects may be a product of other falling objects (e.g., tree branches) associated with the storms. Storm‐related damage was observed throughout the skeleton, with the most commonly damaged skeletal elements being the scapula and ilium, but more robust elements (i.e., femora and tibiae) also displayed characteristic features of hailstone damage. Thus, hailstone damage should be considered when forensic practitioners observe unusual postmortem damage in skeletal remains recovered from the outdoor context.     

Transnational Exchange of Forensic DNA: Viability,Legitimacy, and Acceptability

Forensic DNA profiling and databasing have become increasingly significant resources for criminal investigations in many jurisdictions. More recently, there have been attempts to recruit these technologies into the policing of cross-border organized crime, migration and terrorism. We examined the trajectory of one such attempt, the establishment and operationalisation of the Prüm Treaty within the European Union. We describe the way in which early technological considerations underlying DNA profile exchange, managed within law enforcement bureaucracies, have given way to a concern with broader societal issues and the necessity for a multifaceted scrutiny of this particular technolegal innovation. Central to this issue is the hybrid nature of exchange arrangements created as a result of the European Council Decision on Prüm (2008). The Prüm Treaty departs from the increasingly normalized framework for criminal justice cooperation, and at the same time, does not facilitate DNA exchange within a more traditional multinational instrument. We consider the significance and implications of the political decisions behind Prüm, as well as the consequences for the development of transnational DNA exchange in terms of three key issues: technical and scientific challenges (viability); legal challenges (legitimacy); and ethical and socioeconomic challenges (acceptability). Unless the Prüm structure is reformed, an important and promising initiative may remain encumbered with unresolved problems of legitimacy and acceptability. A lack of direct democratic involvement of many member states precluded the creation of consensus on issues such as privacy, data protection and due process issues, upon which legal and political regimes could then act.     

Shifting perspectives: a confirmatory factor analysis of the working alliance inventory (short form) with high-risk violent offenders

The Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) is the most widely used measure of the therapeutic alliance. However, previous studies of the factor structure of the WAI have obtained disparate results. This study examined ratings from three rater perspectives (therapists, clients, and observers) in a rehabilitation program for high-risk violent prisoners with high PCL-psychopathy scores. The authors used confirmatory factor analysis with a short version of the WAI and examined one-, two-, and three-factor models. It was hypothesized that the context and client characteristics could alter the factor structure of the ratings. However, no differences were found in factor structure by perspective; the results from all rater perspectives suggested that a two-factor structure was the best fit for the data. Thus, we concluded that therapists, observers, and prisoners all saw the goals and task aspects of the therapeutic alliance as distinct from the bond component.     

Justification, perception of severity and harm, and criminalization of wife abuse in the Palestinian society

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of Palestinian adults toward different dimensions of wife abuse. A cross-sectional survey, using a combination of self-administered questionnaires and interviews, was conducted among a systematic random sample of 624 adult Palestinian men and women from the West Bank and Gaza Strip (18 years or older). Study results indicated a strong tendency to justify wife beating in different situations, such as when the wife is perceived as having an affair with another man or as physically attacking her husband. Participants considered the following acts of husband's violence against wife as most severe: using a weapon (86%), having sex with the wife against her will (67%), and hitting her with his fist (57%). The majority of participants thought that wife beating should be considered a crime (82.3%). Traditional marital role expectations was the main significant predictor for all of the study criterion variables. Gender, place of residence, age, and marital status were significant predictors of some of the criterion variables.     

Evaluation of Stature Estimation from the Database for Forensic Anthropology*†

Abstract: Trotter and Gleser’s ( 1 - 3 ) stature equations, conventionally used to estimate stature, are not appropriate to use in the modern forensic context. In this study, stature is assessed with a modern (birth years after 1944) American sample (N = 242) derived from the National Institute of Justice Database for Forensic Anthropology in the United States and the Forensic Anthropology Databank. New stature formulae have been calculated using forensic stature (FSTAT) and a combined dataset of forensic, cadaver, and measured statures referred to as Any Stature (ASTAT). The new FSTAT‐based equations had an improved accuracy in Blacks with little improvement over Ousley’s ( 4 ) equations for Whites. ASTAT‐based equations performed equal to those of FSTAT equations and may be more appropriate, because they reflect both the variation in reported statures and in cadaver statures. It is essential to use not only equations based on forensic statures, but also equations based on modern samples.     

Reanalysis of Korean War Anthropological Records to Support the Resolution of Cold Cases

Re‐investigation of previously unidentified remains from the Korean War has yielded 55 new identifications, each with corresponding records of prior anthropological analyses. This study compares biological assessments for age at death, stature, and ancestry across (i) anthropological analyses from the 1950s, (ii) recent anthropological analyses of those same sets of remains, and (iii) the reported antemortem biological information for the identified individual. A comparison of long bone measurements from both the 1950s and during reanalysis is also presented. These comparisons demonstrate commonalities and continuing patterns of errors that are useful in refining both research on Korean War cold case records and forensic anthropological analyses performed using methods developed from the 1950s identifications.