Direct Democracy and its Critics: Support for Direct Democracy and ‘Stealth’ Democracy in Finland

In this article support for direct democracy and for stealth democracy in Finland is analysed. Stealth democracy represents a step towards a democracy in which there would be even less citizen involvement than in the representative form of today's democracy. The authors found that both options gained significant support among the Finnish electorate. Additionally, they found that it is mostly the same variables that contribute to the probability of citizens being supporters of either direct democracy or stealth democracy. It is the people with less education, who do not know much about politics and who feel that the current system does not respond to citizens' needs, that want change. The direction of change appears to be a matter of secondary interest. Political ideology affects which of the two options respondents favour. Right-wing citizens are more likely to favour stealth democracy. Citizens leaning to the left are more interested in direct democracy.     

Recidivism is related to psychopathy (PCL-R) in a group of men convicted of homicide

It is well known that psychopaths are a group with high risk for criminality. Despite that, researchers and clinicians have not yet agreed on a general cause of psychopathy. However Raine [Raine, A. (2002). Biosocial studies of antisocial and violent behavior in children and adults: A review. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 311-326.] advocated a biosocial model of violent behaviour where the greatest risk for criminal behaviour occurred when both heredity and environmental risk factors (e.g., social class, childhood history) were present. In this follow-up study, 35 men convicted of homicide were assessed retrospectively for psychopathy according to the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Information on personal history, as well as from legal documents and records of offences committed by the subjects was also obtained. Fourteen of the 35 men were classified as psychopaths. Two men, both rated as psychopaths, had criminal parents. Twenty-seven of the men had a social relationship with their victim, and eleven out of these were rated as psychopaths. There was no difference in PCL-R scores between those who had a social relationship with their victim and those who did not. The psychopaths relapsed more frequently than the nonpsychopaths into criminality after their prison term. This result confirms previous research indicating that psychopathy is a risk factor for recidivism. It is, therefore, very important that psychopaths get the best possible treatment, aftercare, and supervision.     

Biological maturation and social development: A longitudinal study of some adjustment processes from mid-adolescence to adulthood

The role of biological maturity in behaviors in adolescence which most often are considered as negative by adults was investigated for a normal group of girls. In mid-adolescence early matured girls were found to play truant, smoke hashish, get drunk, pilfer, ignore parents' prohibitions, considerably more often than did late maturing girls. These differences between biological age groups were mediated by the association with older peer groups and they leveled out in late adolescence. Data on alcohol consumption and crime at adult age showed little association with biological maturation. A hypothesis was tested suggesting that early biological maturation may have negative long-term consequences within the education domain. In accord with this assumption, a considerably smaller percentage of girls among the early maturers had a theoretical education above the obligatory nine-year compulsory schooling than among the late maturing girls. The association between biological maturation and adult education was significant also after controlling for standard predictors of education, such as the girls' intelligence and the social status of the home. The requirement of conducting longitudinal studies when investigating issues connected with maturation was strongly emphasized.The research presented here was supported by funds to D. Magnusson from the Swedish Terecentenary Foundation and the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research.Received Ph.D. from the University of Stockholm. Current research interest is development.Received Ph.D. from University of Stockholm. Current research interest is development.Received Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley. Current research interest is Social psychology.     

Russian defense spending after 2010: the interplay of personal,domestic, and foreign policy interests

Since 2010, Russia’s defense spending has seen an average annual real growth of 10%, causing a profound shift in the composition of government expenditure. This article examines the formal and informal processes through which Russia’s level of defense spending is determined and identifies personal, domestic, and foreign policy interests behind the rise in defense expenditures. Drawing on a combination of elite interviews and document and news analyses, I argue that domestic political and socioeconomic factors are at least as important as geopolitical and security ones in explaining Russia’s decision to push defense to the forefront of the political agenda. The findings suggest that high levels of defense spending may be politically sustainable in Russia, at least in the medium term, even though it comes at the cost of other public goods.     

Psychopathy (PCL-R) as a Predictor of Violent Recidivism Among Criminal Offenders with Schizophrenia

Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) was used to test the hypothesis that psychopathy predicts violent recidivism in a cohort subjected to forensic psychiatric investigation and consisting of male violent offenders with schizophrenia (N = 202). Psychopathy was assessed with retrospective file-based ratings. Mean follow-up time after detainment was 51 months. Twenty-two percent of the offenders had a PCL-R score 26 (cutoff), and the base rate for violent recidivism (reconvictions) during follow-up was 21%. Survival analysis revealed that psychopathy was strongly associated to violent recidivism (log-rank = 17.71, df = 1, p < 0.0001). The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) of PCL-R total score to predict violent recidivism varied between different time frames from .64 to .75. Cox regression analyses revealed that other potential risk factors could not equally well or better explain violent recidivism in the cohort than psychopathy as measured by PCL-R.     

Experimental blowgun injuries, ballistic aspects of modern blowguns

Slender thin arrows blown through modern blowguns can cause serious injuries. In this paper we present some data regarding the terminal ballistics of such an arrow when blown by a young male who had no previous experience with the weapon. The penetration depth into wood was similar to that of an arrow fired from a pistol-crossbow. Further, the blowgun arrow could pass through more than 7 mm of porcine bone. The velocities at a distance of 2 m from the blowgun of three different types of arrows having weights of 1-1.6 g and diameters between 1 and 5 mm were between 22 and 32 m/s, giving an energy of 0.3 to 0.6 J. When blown from a blowgun, these slender modern arrows can thus penetrate human skin and even the cranial bone of a child and cause serious injury.