The deliveries cannot stop: Ecological (dis) advantages and socio-spatial safety tactics against predatory crimes among Brazilian couriers

In this article we discuss the reactions and responses of Brazilian motorcycle couriers (motoboys) to the risk of predatory crimes. We show that they work two simultaneous and overlapping “shifts”: the first involves carrying out their professional responsibilities, and the second, reducing the opportunities for victimization presented by those responsibilities. We analyse the socio-spatial tactics they adopt with a view to optimising security. These involve restricting their interactions and negotiations with neighbours and customers, as well as with criminals to guarantee that the deliveries are made and also to manage the various risks associated with working in different ecological areas. We explore the effect of these tactics on their activities, on labour relations and on attitudes to their customers in the delivery business. It concludes that both negotiation types point towards a process of expanding interactions, creating alternative distribution networks and seeking methods of protection against risks that cannot be overcome simply by the couriers protecting themselves.     

Institutional impact of criminal networks in Colombia and Mexico

This paper explores the effects of criminal networks involved in corruption and drug trafficking on democratic formal institutions in Colombia and Mexico. The theoretical framework is sustained in the concepts of State Capture (StC) and Co-opted State Reconfiguration (CStR). Three illicit networks are analyzed: (i) The Familia Michoacana in Mexico, (ii) the Autodefensas Campesinas del Casanare (ACC) in Colombia and (iii) the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC). These cases are analyzed throughout the Social Network Analysis (SNA) in order to identify (i) the hub and (ii) the structural bridge of each network. A methodological variation referenced as Social Network Analysis for Institutional Diagnosis (SNAID) is also applied, in order to analyze the institutional scope of processes of StC and CStR. Conclusions and explorative venues regarding the application of SNA and SNAID as a diagnosis tool are presented.     

Analysis of active ricin and castor bean proteins in a ricin preparation, castor bean extract, and surface swabs from a public health investigation

In late February 2008, law enforcement officials in Las Vegas, Nevada, discovered in a hotel room, a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook, suspected castor beans and a "white powder" thought to be a preparation of ricin. Ricin is a deadly toxin from the seed of the castor bean plant (Ricinus communis). The United States regulates the possession, use, and transfer of ricin and it is the only substance considered a warfare agent in both the Chemical and the Biological Weapons Conventions. Six samples obtained from the hotel room were analyzed by laboratories at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention using a panel of biological and mass spectrometric assays. The biological assays (real time-PCR, time resolved fluorescence and cytotoxicity) provided presumptive evidence of active ricin in each of the samples. This initial screen was followed by an in-depth analysis using a novel, state-of-the-art mass spectrometry-based ricin functional assay and high sensitivity tandem mass spectrometry for protein identification. Mass spectrometric analysis positively identified ricin and confirmed that in each of the samples it was enzymatically active. The tandem mass spectrometry analysis used here is the most selective method available to detect ricin toxin. In each sample, ricin was unequivocally identified along with other R. communis plant proteins, including the highly homologous protein RCA120. Although database searches using tandem mass spectra acquired from the samples indicated that additional controlled substances were not present in these samples, the mass spectrometric results did provide extensive detail about the sample contents. To the best of our knowledge following a review of the available literature, this report describes the most detailed analysis of a white powder for a public health or forensic investigation involving ricin.     

Extending the “voting with the feet” proposition: the impact of local economic development actions on immigration across Mexican municipalities

Tiebout's “voting with the feet” proposition directs attention to the role of local authorities in delivering public services, and the implications of their decisions in people's choice of place of residence. Similarly, the bottom-up approach to economic development places a relevant role of local governments in promoting higher standards of living. By considering the latter, the former can be extended as citizens can choose a jurisdiction not only on the basis of a combination of taxes and public services but a broader mix of public goods. This paper analyses the effects of the fundamental features of the bottom-up or local economic development (LED) approach on population mobility among Mexican municipalities. This study finds significant evidence of a positive impact of LED elements on immigration during the period between 1990 and 2005.     

Environmental conditions associated with shark attacks against humans: a case report about territoriality

This article describes the autopsy findings of a victim of a shark attack that took place off the coast of Pernambuco, Brazil. The victim was rescued and immediately taken to a nearby hospital but did not survive, even though the lapse of time between the attack and verification of death did not exceed 15 minutes. The presence of a single, large, contused and incised, semiarched wound with a serrated aspect was decisive in elucidating the event. Thus, this study discusses aspects related to the aggressor species, to the autopsy, to the type of wound, and to the causes that have led to a significant increase in this type of event in the area. It was concluded that the lesion was produced while the victim was still alive and that it was the cause of death.     

Bureaucratic incentives, path dependence, and foreign aid: An empirical institutional analysis of irrigation in the Philippines

At least 25 developing countries are embarking on irrigation governance reforms to address the persistent problem of poor irrigation performance. Some scholars suggest that the patterns of construction, deterioration, rehabilitation, and modernization commonly found among irrigation agencies in these countries are rational because of the time inconsistency problem of information. I argue instead, using panel data from the Philippines, that the problem of poor performance is linked to inherent incentive problems faced by public bureaucracies, how these incentives became entrenched in the path dependence of irrigation development, and how these were reinforced by incentives embedded in irrigation aid, particularly by the moral hazard problem and the fungibility of irrigation aid.     

Selling Sustainable Development and Shortchanging Social Ecology in Costa Rican Forest Policy

Costa Ricans have worked hard to weave the norms and principles of sustainable development into their nation's environmental policies, especially with respect to natural renewable resources, such as the forest. As a result, the nation is known as a leader in innovative environmental initiatives. But sustainable development is a complex, evolving concept. This paper analyzes how the emphasis on biodiversity conservation during the 1990s and early 2000s has, rhetoric notwithstanding, neglected the social equality, or livelihood, component of sustainable development. This trend stands in sharp contrast to earlier periods, when decisionmakers crafted policies and institutions that supported social ecology. The article concludes with a few observations on building political will to revive the grassroots development component of sustainable development.     

Temporal Influences of Family Structure and Family Risk Factors on Drug Use Initiation in a Multiethnic Sample of Adolescent Boys

This study examines the effects of family structure and family environments on the initiation of illicit drug use among a sample of U.S.- and foreign-born Hispanic/Latino, African American, and White non-Hispanic adolescent boys (N = 3413). Bivariate and multivariate analyses with longitudinal data, three years, were used to assess transitional/temporal influences of family variables on the initiation of illicit drug use. Findings revealed large differences in family structure among the three race/ethnic groups. African American adolescents report the lowest incidence of illicit drug use initiation, and the weakest effects of family structure and environment on substance use. Cumulative effects of family risk factors were strongly associated with increased probabilities of illicit drug use initiation, but there were temporal as well as race/ethnic variations on these effects. Deteriorating changes in family environments were stronger predictors of the initiation of drug use among Hispanic immigrants than nonimmigrants, and family socioeconomic status was a predictor for immigrant Hispanics only. The relationship between family structure and drug use initiation varied in the context of temporal indicators of family environments, and the accumulation of family risk factors was a stronger predictor of illicit drug initiation than family structure.     

Y chromosome microsatellite genetic variation in two Native American populations from Argentina: Population stratification and mutation data

Two Native American populations from North and northwest regions of Argentina (Toba and Colla) were analyzed for 17 Y chromosome short tandem repeat loci (Y-STRs), namely, DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635 and GATA H4.1. Over 357 allele transfers, two one-step mutations could be detected at DYS456 and GATA H4.1 loci. A new 16.1 ‘micro-variant’ allele was observed for DYS385, characterized by an insertion at the fifth GAAA repeat. We also observed two alleles at the DYS448 locus in three samples (two from Toba and one from Colla). A total of 34 and 16 different haplotypes were detected for Toba and Colla, respectively, the former with a haplotype diversity value of 0.9769 ± 0.01, whereas 0.9497 ± 0.02 for the latter. Significant population differences were observed between Colla and Toba, at least in part, due to a more prevalent European input in the Colla. In agreement with this observation is the fact that the genetic distances between Colla and Iberian populations are lower than those observed between Iberian and any other Native American population. The results of multiscaling dimensional analysis and genetic distances (Rst) among Native American population samples also reflect this fact. The data show the existence of clear population stratification in the Argentina, a fact that should be taken into account in forensic casework.     

The ‘Butner Study’ Redux: A Report of the Incidence of Hands-on Child Victimization by Child Pornography Offenders

This study compared two groups of child pornography offenders participating in a voluntary treatment program: men whose known sexual offense history at the time of judicial sentencing involved the possession, receipt, or distribution of child abuse images, but did not include any “hands-on” sexual abuse; and men convicted of similar offenses who had documented histories of hands-on sexual offending against at least one child victim. The goal was to determine whether the former group of offenders were “merely” collectors of child pornography at little risk for engaging in hands-on sexual offenses, or if they were contact sex offenders whose criminal sexual behavior involving children, with the exception of Internet crimes, went undetected. Our findings show that the Internet offenders in our sample were significantly more likely than not to have sexually abused a child via a hands-on act. They also indicate that the offenders who abused children were likely to have offended against multiple victims, and that the incidence of “crossover” by gender and age is high.