Social perceptions on genomics in four Latin American countries. Ethical-legal implications]

The authors analyze under an ethical and legal perspective the consequences and anxieties generated by the human genome project in the population of four Latin American countries: Argentine, Chile, México and Perú, through bibliographical analysis and interviews done to biomedical researches, lawyers and legislators, students and lay civilians.     

Civil and criminal sanctions against blackmail: an economic analysis

The rationale behind the legal prohibition of blackmail and its effects have worried lawyers, economists and philosophers. The paper tries to offer a new perspective on the issue by introducing a simple game-theoretic model of the blackmail interaction under three alternative legal regimes: blackmail as a legally enforceable contract, blackmail as a voidable contract, and criminal blackmail. We show that the first two are substantially equivalent, and are unable to prevent a successful blackmail equilibrium outcome. Making blackmail a crime can instead alter this result for some parameters of the model.We also explore the justification for criminalizing blackmail and find it, in line with previous Law and Economics literature on blackmail (Ginsburg and Shechtman (1993), Coase (1988)), in the correction (albeit incomplete) of misaligned incentives to acquire information and the revelation and no revelation outcomes involved in the blackmail transaction. This justification could be undermined by the advantages of what seems to be a superior legal regime in terms of efficiency: no legal regulation of blackmail. This hands-off system can also destabilize, in a one-shot interaction, the successful blackmail outcome. In plausible dynamic interactions, however, it fails to do so and, in fact, its effects actually resemble those of blackmail as an enforceable contract. This result might explain why most legal systems stick to the criminalization of blackmail.     

All Votes are Equal? Significant Legislation and Party Competition in the Danish Folketing

In nearly all studies on legislative party competition, all votes are treated equally. It is argued in this article that the cooperation between parties varies substantively depending on the type of legislation analysed. However, establishing a measure of the relative significance of votes has challenged legislative studies for decades. A novel measure for legislative significance is therefore proposed: length of debate. Using parliamentary votes from 23 legislative periods in the Danish parliament from 1953 to 2003 and debate length as measurement for bill significance, analyses are presented that focus on between‐party voting patterns on significant and non‐significant legislation and the presence, extent and features of legislative cartels is discussed. The results suggest that looking only at significant legislation reveals more clearly the legislative cartels within the legislature. These findings challenge the traditional assumption of treating parliamentary votes equally, and they allow for a better understanding of legislative cartels in the Folketing.     

Old and New Forms of Civic Engagement

Maxwell A. Cameron, Eric Hershberg, and Kenneth E. Sharpe, eds., New Institutions for Participatory Democracy in Latin America: Voice and Consequence. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Tables, figures, bibliography, index, 263 pp.; hardcover $100, paperback $30. Jean‐Paul Faguet, Decentralization and Popular Democracy: Governance from Below in Bolivia. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2012. Maps, tables, figures, bibliography, index, 372 pp.; hardcover $85, paperback $35, e‐book $35. Sharon F. Lean, Civil Society and Electoral Accountability in Latin America. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Tables, figures, bibliography, index, 197 pp.; hardcover $95; ebook. Eduardo Silva, ed., Transnational Activism and National Movements in Latin America: Bridging the Divide. New York: Routledge, 2013. Tables, figures, bibliography, index, 212 pp.; hardcover $140, paperback $42.95. Guillermo Trejo, Popular Movements in Autocracies: Religion, Repression, and Indigenous Collective Action in Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Maps, tables, figures, bibliography, index, 339 pp.; hardcover $109.99, paperback $27.99, e‐book $22.     

Sex Classification Using the Three‐Dimensional Tibia Form or Shape Including Population Specificity Approach

The aims of this study were to enable geometric morphometric sex classification using tibial proximal and distal sexual dimorphism and to evaluate the secular trend of tibial shape/form from the early 20th century to the present day. The study samples consisted of 61 adult tibias from an early 20th‐century Czech population and 57 three‐dimensional tibias from a 21st‐century population. Discriminant function analysis with cross‐validation was carried out to assess the accuracy of sex classification. Shape analysis revealed significant sex differences in both tibial extremities of the 21st‐century sample and in the proximal tibia of the 20th‐century population. Sex‐based divergence varied between the analyzed samples, raising the issues of population specificity and diachronic change. Classification using tibial form was more successful than using tibial shape. The highest values of correct assignment (91.80% and 88.52%) were found using the form from the early 20th Czech population.     

Paradoxes of Family Immigration Policy: Separation,Reorganization, and Reunification of Families under Current Immigration Laws

It is increasingly recognized that immigration laws affect immigrants' integration. Most recently there has been growing attention to how immigration enforcement affects families through forced separations caused by deportations and long‐term family separations across national borders stemming from unauthorized entry to the United States. However, beyond enforcement, there has been little systematic account of how other provisions of immigration law contribute to family separations. In this article we examine how four key provisions in immigration law, far from creating conditions for immigrant families to reunite, contribute to keeping families apart. As such, these provisions shape, in fundamental ways, the structure and composition of immigrant families. Relying on data from the American Community Survey and ethnographic interviews in Phoenix, Arizona, we find evidence consistent with the premise that immigration laws affect the formation, composition, and structure of immigrant families with potential long‐term consequences.     

The Effect of Image Quality and Forensic Expertise in Facial Image Comparisons

Images of perpetrators in surveillance video footage are often used as evidence in court. In this study, identification accuracy was compared for forensic experts and untrained persons in facial image comparisons as well as the impact of image quality. Participants viewed thirty image pairs and were asked to rate the level of support garnered from their observations for concluding whether or not the two images showed the same person. Forensic experts reached their conclusions with significantly fewer errors than did untrained participants. They were also better than novices at determining when two high‐quality images depicted the same person. Notably, lower image quality led to more careful conclusions by experts, but not for untrained participants. In summary, the untrained participants had more false negatives and false positives than experts, which in the latter case could lead to a higher risk of an innocent person being convicted for an untrained witness.