A cross-sectional study on expression of anger and factors associated with criminal recidivism in prisoners with prior offences

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine demographical characteristics leading to crime recidivism and define anger levels and anger expression manners for those who re-commit crime. METHOD: All the literate inmates in Izmit Closed Penitentiary were included in this cross-sectional study. The prisoners were asked to respond to State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory. Their socio-demographic data were collected and a questionnaire was given to them to determine their state of imprisonment, sentence, nature of the crime in which they were involved, their criminal history, their relationship with inmates and prison staff and substance and alcohol use. RESULTS: Of the 438 prisoners, 302 (68.9%) responded to the questionnaires. Crime recidivism among the study cohort was observed to be 37.4%. Mean trait anger, anger out and anger in scores were significantly higher in prisoners with criminal recidivism in comparison with those who did not have prior criminal records. However, mean anger control scores for prisoners with or without criminal recidivism were similar. Unemployment, education level completed at secondary school or below, having committed a crime under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, having been involved in prison fights, having resisted police officers, caused damage in their vicinity when angry and violent crimes were all found to be possible causes of criminal recidivism. Educational level completed at secondary school or below, getting into fights with other prisoners, unemployment and resisting police officers were determined to be the strongest indicators to predict criminal recidivism when all variables were considered according to a logistic regression model. CONCLUSION: It can be proposed that those who have problems with officials or hostile towards others constitute a risk group for criminal recidivism. If prisoners with criminal recidivism can be helped to identify and control their anger, their risk of committing a new crime can be minimised.     

Turkish population data on nine short tandem repeat loci: HumCSF1PO,HumTHO1, HumTPOX,HumFES/FPS,HumF13B,HumVWA, D3S1358, D7S820, D16S539

Allele and genotype frequencies for the nine loci, HumCSF1PO, HumTHO1, HumTPOX, HumFES/FPS, HumF13B, HumVWA, D3S1358, D7S820 and D16S539 were determined using Silver STR III System on 223-598 unrelated Turkish individuals from different regions of the country.     

Estimation of stature from body parts

Anthropometric technique commonly used by anthropologists and adopted by medical scientists has been employed to estimate body size for over a hundred years. With the increasing frequency of mass disasters, the identification of an isolated lower extremity and the stature of the person it belonged to has created problems for the investigation of the identity of some of the victims. In spite of a need for such a study, there is a lack of systematic studies to identify fragmented and dismembered human remains. The purpose of the paper is to analyze anthropometric relationships between dimensions of the lower extremity and body height. Analysis is based on a sample of middle class male (N=203) and female (N=108) adult Turks residing in Istanbul. The participants are mostly students and staff members of a medical school, and military personnel. Measurements taken are stature, trochanteric height, thigh length, lower leg length, leg length, and foot height, breadth, and length. Of the five variables entered into the regression analysis, all but foot breadth participate in the analysis with leg length as the first and followed by thigh and foot lengths, and finally foot height in males (R(2)). There were also individually calculated formulae for some of these measurements which provided smaller R(2)-values. Student's t-test to assess if there was any intraobserver error in measurements take by individual anthropometrist did not show such any statistically significant difference. In conclusion, the study suggested that estimation of a living height can be made possible using various dimensions of the lower extremity. One must consider differences between populations in order to apply functions as such to others.     

Reading a bureaucratic career backwards: how did Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha become the Inspector-General of Rumelia?

When Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha (1855–1918) was appointed as the Inspector General for the Rumelian Provinces (Vilâyât-? Selâse Umûm Müfetti?i) in November 1902, his eligibility for such a position was questioned by some of his contemporaries. This article aims to reconstruct and understand the path that led this statesman, from the very beginning of his career, towards the inspectorate during the time of Sultan Abdulhamid II (r. 1876–1909). Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha began his bureaucratic life in Midilli (Lesbos Island) in 1874, and he was very fortunate to encounter Nam?k Kemal and become his protégé. Apart from his early career, he mainly served in the southern Anatolian and Syrian regions of the empire, and later in Yemen. However, these regions were afflicted with similar problems, a fact that helped Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha evolve into a ‘crisis management expert’. The experiences he gained at each post opened the door for the next one, thus transforming him into a prominent statesman of the Hamidian administration and ultimately enabling him to reach the inspectorate of Rumelia.     

Youth participation in local politics: city councils and youth assemblies in Turkey

The focus of this study is political participation of youth in local politics in Turkey. Since local politics includes elements from both macro politics and mundane affairs, it proves to be a fertile ground to analyse how youth experience politics. Youth participation in local politics became an important issue in Turkey with the Agenda 21. The Agenda 21 that was launched with the UN Rio Summit was transferred to Turkey in the form of Local Agenda 21 leading to the establishment of city councils and youth assemblies under the umbrella of the councils. We treat city councils and youth assemblies as ‘a lost opportunity’ for now, and we ask why the youth cannot be integrated into local politics, despite the fact that they are willing to participate. Based on the interviews conducted with the members of assemblies, we try to understand the factors that lead to young people’s engagement in political life.     

Independence and accountability of independent regulatory agencies: the case of Turkey

For a long time, governments have delegated their regulatory powers to independent regulatory agencies (IRAs). The aim is to reduce transaction costs and to ensure a credible commitment in the regulatory institutional structure. This paper discusses transition to IRAs in Turkey in terms of independence and accountability. To this aim, we firstly analyze the institutional foundations of transition to IRAs in Turkey from a political economy perspective and then measure their formal independence levels. We find that the pragmatic policies of the incumbent government regarding IRAs negatively influence their independence. This injures the credibility of regulatory commitment and increases the political transaction costs of regulatory process in Turkey.