Correlates of crime in Taiwan

Taiwan is known for rapid economic growth, but in 1988, the government ended 40 years of martial law, resulting in greater political and social freedoms. This paper explores the influence of economic, social, and political structures on crime in the Republic of China on Taiwan. A time series analysis examines the structural correlates of crime in Taiwan from 1964 to 1990. Both total crime and burglary/larceny rates are regressed on seven independent variables derived from various theoretical perspectives. The results support Hagan's power-control and Christie's crime-industry perspectives for total crime, while measures assessing lack of economic means and the economic deprivation were significant for burglary/larceny.     

Perceived crime seriousness: Consensus and disparity

In this article, the statistical technique for setting up the consensus of perceived crime seriousness in previous studies is critically reviewed. The conventional method, when applied to a data set of crime seriousness, is found to have exaggerated the consensus because, by using a more appropriate model, which assumes perfect agreement in crime severity between subgroups, the consensus is reduced unanimously. By breaking down the population by gender, age, and educational level, sociodemographic differentials in crime seriousness are set up. The disparity is then further examined in details by paired comparisons between a target crime with fourteen other crimes. The three factors are all found to be important in affecting perceived crime seriousness. This conclusion is different from that of previous studies. The scaling method is found to be responsible for the difference. As the Thurstone method used in this study is more responsive and can produce more discriminating results, it is recommended for future research in crime severity. Finally, the implications of the findings on some important issues, like the appropriateness of legal penalty and the construction of a crime index, are discussed.     

Family Policy Past As Prologue: Jimmy Carter,the White House Conference on Families,and the Mobilization of the New Christian Right1

The White House Conference on Families both exemplified the contested nature of “family policy” since the late nineteenth century and inaugurated the latest phase in the venerable invocation of “family values” as a tactic for political mobilization. In 1976 presidential candidate Jimmy Carter proposed a White House Conference on the American Family in order to shore up support among cultural conservatives, especially Roman Catholics. Four years later, after much debate within the Carter administration as well as in the country at large about what constituted a legitimate family, three sessions of a White House Conference on Families were held. Cultural moderates, feminists, gays rights activists, devout Catholics, and evangelical Protestants disagreed vehemently about policies ranging from legalized abortion to family leave. Following a long though little known tradition, women were especially active among grassroots conservatives. Ultimately conservatives mobilized much more effectively than their liberal and moderate opponents, and they quickly made restoration of family values an effective wedge issue for the new Christian right and the Republican party. In many ways, the debate over family policy in the early 21st century still echoes that of the 1970s—or the 1930s or the 1910s.     

D18S872基因座在汉、维、蒙古、回族群体中的遗传多态性研究及其应用

目的　调查D18S872基因座在成都汉族 ,新疆维族和蒙古族 ,甘肃回族 4个民族中的遗传多态性 ,获得群体遗传学基本数据。　方法　等位基因分型标准物制备采用分子克隆技术 ,样本基因分型采用PCR和PAG垂直电泳技术、银染显色方法。　结果　获得D18S872基因座等位基因分型标准物及该基因座在 4个群体中的遗传学数据。　结论　结果表明D18S872基因座在法医学个人识别和亲子鉴定中有一定的应用价值。     

The use of genomic "dactyloscopy" for the diagnosis of monozygotic twins

Possibilities of gene identification expertise for the solution of problem on mono- or dizygotic origin of twins were demonstrated. It was shown that DNA printing method makes it possible to differentiate mono- and dizygotic twins in complicated cases.