Policy-makers’ perceptions on their sex offender laws: the good,the bad,and the ugly

The views and attitudes that lawmakers have about sexual offenders and sexual victimization can be influential in criminal lawmaking. And given the popularity of sex offender laws, policy-makers are central players in how state justice systems respond to sex crimes. Therefore, state-level policy-makers from across the country, who sponsored and passed at least one sex offender law in their state, (n?=?61) were interviewed about sex offenders and sex crimes. Policy-makers believe sex offender laws are too broad. The laws extend to nonviolent offenses, low-risk offenders, and thus dilute the law enforcement potency of sex offender registries. Policy-makers view existing sex offender laws as necessary to enhance public safety and as proof that lawmakers are responding to the needs and concerns of the public. Sex offender laws were also discussed as a source of political capital; a way to help ensure reelection. The sexual victimization of children and the media’s coverage of sex crimes were instrumental in these state-level policy-makers’ decisions to sponsor sex offender laws. Policy and research recommendations are offered.     

Zukunftsfähige Agrarlandschaften in Deutschland – Ziele und Anforderungen aus ökologischer, ökonomischer und rechtlicher Sicht

Natur und Recht - Die global steigenden Treibhausgase verändern in zunehmenden Maße auch in Deutschland die klimatischen Verhältnisse. Betroffen sind insbesondere hiesige...     

Exploring political personalities: The micro-foundation of local policy innovation in China

This article argues that policymakers' individual attributes influence their willingness to engage in policy innovation, and that this influence is responsive to, but not determined by, changes in the institutional structure. We derive these findings by employing principal component analysis of original data from surveys of local policymakers in China, to inductively locate different personalities. We find statistically significant personalities that influence a willingness to innovate, and that this influence is responsive to changes such as heightened risk. In addition to parsing the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations on policy innovation, we further find that the traditional risk-acceptant policy-entrepreneur personality does not explain innovation well.     

Is marijuana really a gateway drug? A nationally representative test of the marijuana gateway hypothesis using a propensity score matching design

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Marijuana use has been proposed to serve as a “gateway” that increases the likelihood that users will engage in subsequent use of harder and more...     

Understanding the factors that affect the severity of juvenile stranger sex offenses: the effect of victim characteristics and number of suspects

Understanding factors that affect the severity of a juvenile-stranger sexual assault has implications for crime prevention, and potentially, the assessment and treatment of juvenile sex offenders. This study investigated how victim characteristics and the number of suspects affected the use of physical violence and weapons and the occurrence of penetration in 495 allegations of sexual assault committed by juveniles against strangers. Statistically significant interactions between victim age and gender were found for occurrence of penetration and use of violence. Differences in offense characteristics were also found between offenses with varying victim-suspect age differences. When comparing the rate of penetration in the presence and absence of violence, little change was observed for lone suspects. However, the rate of penetration increased significantly for groups in the presence of physical violence, suggesting that violence in this context may be more expressive than instrumental. Theoretical explanations and practical implications are considered.     

The Importance of Political Context for Understanding Civic Engagement: A Longitudinal Analysis

We contend that political context is important to consider when analyzing social capital and that context has an important but neglected impact on understanding the consequences of civic activity. Our focus is on the influence of rural, local leadership in two Minnesota communities and policies that these elites have developed to bring Internet connectivity to their citizens. One city developed a community electronic network and the other opted for an individualistic, entrepreneurial approach to information technology. Using a quasi-experimental research design and four-wave panel data, we find that elite policy approaches interact with civic activity to predict technology use among citizens, even long after the policies’ initial implementation. In the city with a community network, residents who are integrated into civic life are able to harness these political resources to become more technologically sophisticated.

Persons with intellectual disabilities in the criminal justice system: review of issues

Although the vast majority of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) are law-abiding citizens, there is a small percentage with offending behaviour that is considered antisocial, socially inappropriate, or defined as illegal. It has long been recognised that individuals with ID or mental-health needs who break the law should be dealt with differently from the general population. There have been an increasing number of empirical studies in this area; however, these have been plagued by various definitional and methodological issues. Prevalence estimates of offenders with ID are complicated by diagnostic variations and inconsistencies in the criminal justice process. International studies have shown a large range, from 2% to 40%, depending on methodological approaches. The following review will highlight the salient issues including prevalence of offending, characteristics of offenders, vulnerabilities within the legal system, assessment, and a brief overview of intervention and treatment approaches.     

A content analysis of fingerprint literature for educational curricula

Forensic science is being required to justify and elucidate its scientific foundations. One way of doing this is through academic curricula. For many native forensic sciences, these curricula do not exist. A content analysis of nine major books in fingerprints was conducted to develop a structure for curricula in that field. The results of this study can be used to organize course content and serve as a model for other disciplines with published materials but no coherent or standard curricula.     

Wild Justice Redux: What We Know About Social Justice in Animals and Why It Matters

Social justice in animals is beginning to attract interest in a broad range of academic disciplines. Justice is an important area of study because it may help explain social dynamics among individuals living in tightly-knit groups, as well as social interactions among individuals who only occasionally meet. In this paper, we provide an overview of what is currently known about social justice in animals and offer an agenda for further research. We provide working definitions of key terms, outline some central research questions, and explore some of the challenges of studying social justice in animals, as well as the promise of the work we're proposing. Finally, we suggest why continued research into animal cognition and social behavior has significant ethical implications for our treatment of nonhuman animals.     

‘Good soldiers are made,not born’⊥: the dangers of medicalizing ability in the military use of genetics

Advances in genetic and genomic science are of particular interest to the United States military. Responding to Maxwell J. Mehlman''s and Tracy Yeheng Li''s article Ethical, Legal, Social, and Policy Issues in the Use of Genomic Technology by the U.S. Military, this Commentary explores the social consequences of medicalizing what it means to be a good soldier. It begins by reviewing the well-documented consequences of medicalization in the contexts of the eugenics movement and modern genetic and genomic science. It then applies that analysis to the military use of genetics and genomics, focusing on the ways in which genetic or genomic accounts of military ability could entrench existing gender and racial disparities.