An attributional examination of retributive versus utilitarian philosophies of punishment

Two basic goals of punishment—retribution and utility—and the means to those goals, including isolation, rehabilitation, and the creation of fear, were first examined. The objectives of punishment were then related to attributions regarding the cause of a transgression. It was documented that punishment goals are mediated by the expectancies and affects that are elicited by causal beliefs. It also was argued that the purposes of punishment are more state-like than trait-like, for they change as a function of the reason for a transgression. Data from three laboratory experiments, as well as a field study regarding reactions to O. J. Simpson for his alleged crimes, were presented in support of the above beliefs. In addition, the morality of retribution versus utilitarianism was discussed in the context of the caning of Michael Fay in Singapore. It is suggested that rehabilitation may be the most moral of the punishment means.     

An unsuspected arsenic poisoning murder disclosed by forensic autopsy

An unsuspected case of homicidal arsenic poisoning, clinically thought to be a primary hematopoietic disorder, was uncovered by an expanded toxicologic screen which is performed in all medical examiner's cases in which the decedent displays gastrointestinal symptoms prior to death. Arsenic concentrations were: blood, 7.2 mg/liter; liver, 15 mg/kg; and kidney, 6 mg/kg.     

“Who Does What” in Ontario: The process of provincial-municipal disentanglement

Abstract: Since the election of the Mike Harris Conservative government in 1995, Ontario has been the site of some of the most turbulent provincial-local relations ever experienced in a Canadian province. The province's agenda has included restructuring and realigning the responsibilities and resources of municipal governments and asserting control over the financing and governance of Ontario's education system. The sheer size of this agenda and the interconnections between its two main elements have made the quest to simplify or disentangle provincial-local relations impossible to achieve. This article documents events as the Conservatives moved from their “Common Sense Revolution” election manifesto to develop and implement a plan for disentanglement of provincial and local government services. It also identifies themes and potential lessons that emerge for government agenda setting and intergovernmental relations. Sommaire: Depuis que le gouvernment conservateur de Mike Harris fut élu au pouvoir en 1995, 1'Ontario a été aux prises avec des relations provinciales-locales qui sont parmi les plus turbulentes qu'une province canadienne n'ait jamais subies. La province a entrepris de restructurer et réaligner les responsabilités et les ressources des gouvernements municipaux et d'établir son contrôle sur le financement et la gérance du système d'éducation de l'Ontario. L'envergure même de cet agenda et les liens qui relient ses deux principaux éléments ont rendu impossible l'idée de simplifier ou de démêler les relations provinciales-locales. Cet article examine le déroulement des événements, lorsque les Conservateurs, partant de leur déclaration électorale concemant la eAvolution du bon sens, ont élaborté et mis en oeuvre un plan visant à démêler les services gouvemementaux provinciaux et locaux. II définit également des thèmes et des lecons qui pourraient être utiles lorsqu'un gouvernement veut formuler un plan d'action, ou lorsqu'il s'agit de relations intergouvernementales.     

Reviews

Neil Harding, Lenin's Political Thought, Vol. 2 Theory and Practice in the Socialist Revolution. London: Macmillan, 1981. ix + 387 pp. £15.00.

David Lane, Leninism, A Sociological Interpretation. Cambridge: C.U.P., 1981. x + 150 pp. £13.50 and £4.50.

Christel Lane, The Rites of Rulers. Ritual in Industrial Society—The Soviet Case. Cambridge University Press, 1981. 308 pp. £20.00, £6.95 paperback.

Alastair McAuley, Women's Work and Wages in the USSR. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1981. xi + 228 pp. £18.00, $37.50.

Marie Lavigne (ed.), Travail et Monnaie en systemesocialiste. Paris: Economica, 1981. 310 pp.

Robert Campbell, Soviet Energy Technologies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. x + 268 pp. $22.50, £13.50.

Alfred Zauberman, Topics in Trade Coordination of Planned Economies. London and Basingstoke; The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1980. 108 pp. £15.00.

Helen Desfosses (ed.), Soviet Population Policy: Conflicts and Constraints. New York: Pergamon Press, 1981. xx + 210 pp. $24.50

Judith Pallot and Denis J. B. Shaw, Planning in the Soviet Union. London: Croom Helm, 1981. 303 pp. £16.95 (boards).

Peter Hruby, Fools and Heroes: The Changing Role of Communist Intellectuals in Czechoslovakia. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1980. xx + 265 pp. $32.00 & $18.75, £14.00 & £8.50.

Jiri Musil, Urbanization in Socialist Countries. White Plains, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 1980 and London: Croom Helm, 1981. xii + 188 pp. £10.50.

Timothy J. Colton, Commisars, Commanders, and Civilian Authority: The Structure of Soviet Military Politics. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979. viii + 365 pp. £15.00.