Logical evaluation of evidence when a person is suspected of committing two separate offences.

We consider the problem of drawing inferences within a legal framework when a person is a suspect for two separate offences. Although we are primarily concerned with scientific evidence the issue inevitably arises as to how that evidence interacts with other, non-scientific evidence. We show that, in this particular context, the evidence can be conveniently classified into three categories that concern, respectively: the first crime only; the second crime only; and evidence that relates to similarities between the two crimes. Two case examples are considered and we consider DNA, fibres and eyewitness evidence. These are viewed from the perspective of a prosecutor who has to decide whether or not to charge a suspect with one or both crimes. Graphical sensivity analyses are presented which have features that are not intuitively obvious.     

The Political Economy of Intellectual Property Protection: The Case of Software

The end of the twentieth century was marked by a sea change in global governance in the realm of intellectual property rights (IPRs). Whereas countries historically retained substantial autonomy with regard to what they defined as intellectual "property" and the rights granted to the owners of intellectual property, the 1990s witnessed the establishment of new global obligations regarding national practices. This paper focuses on the case of software "piracy" to assess the mechanisms by which the new global obligations for the treatment of IPRs are transmitted from the international to the national levels. We first consider a set of national-level factors that many scholars have shown to be important determinants of IPR policy. We then supplement the standard emphasis on domestic factors with an analysis of new transnational factors: countries' multilateral obligations under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and bilateral pressures from the United States to increase the protection of IPRs. Population-averaged panel data models are used to assess the effects of these national and transnational determinants on levels of software piracy in 80 countries from 1994 to 2002. Our results indicate that membership in the WTO and bilateral pressures from the United States—particularly pressures that offer reciprocal concessions—lead to substantial increases in levels of protection in rich and poor countries. There is, in short, a new international political economy of intellectual property.     

Language disorders in disruptive behavior disordered homicidal youth.

Eight homicidal youths were assessed for language disorders and psychiatric diagnoses using a battery of standardized language tests and the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents. Both language disorders and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III-R psychiatric diagnoses were present in all subjects.     

Where and When to Spank: A Comparison Between U.S. and Japanese College Students

Although physical punishment has been studied for decades, there are gaps in the literature regarding frequently used form, context, and cross cultural differences. A comparison was made using 227 college students in the United States and Japan, who were presented with four scenarios and surveyed regarding attitudes toward physical punishment, perceptions of appropriate discipline methods, and past experience with physical punishment. Japanese and U.S. respondents reported similar personal experience with physical punishment (Japanese 86%, U.S. 91%). However, U.S. respondents reported a higher likelihood of being hit with an object than did Japanese respondents. For U.S. respondents, the bottom and the hand were the top two sites on the body used for physical punishment, whereas the head and the face were the top two places for the Japanese sample. Unlike U.S. respondents, type of child misbehavior was found to have an impact on Japanese respondents’ views on the appropriate discipline method.     

In Pursuit of the Public Interest

What does the injunction “serve the public interest” really mean for public managers, and why is it important? By way of an answer, this analysis systematizes different perspectives on the public interest and offers a multifaceted formulation of the public manager’s duty. It is a process involving the exploration of two concerns—democracy and mutuality—in the current time frame and two others—sustainability and legacy—in the future time frame.     

Reinvigorating publicly funded medicare in Ontario: new public policy and public administration techniques

Abstract: In the increasingly complex and “horizontal” environment of Canadian governmental decision‐making, the ability of governments to advance a major new policy initiative can be compromised or impeded by the often cumbersome systems evolved to ensure both due diligence and a comprehensive approach. In Ontario, the urgent and multi‐faceted health care reform agenda has been implemented using a new set of policy‐development and program‐implementation techniques. This paper summarizes those reforms. In doing so, it outlines the degree to which the reform agenda has been implemented using techniques and processes that have been grafted onto or even short circuited existing decision‐making systems. The paper also draws conclusions about the potential utility of the Ontario experience both for health care reform and for developing new mechanisms to implement challenging, time‐limited reform agendas within parliamentary systems of government with politically neutral civil services. Sommaire: Dans le contexte de plus en plus complexe et “horizontal” de la prise de décisions gouvernementale au Canada, l'aptitude des gouvernements à promouvoir une nouvelle initiative politique majeure peut être compromise ou entravée par la lourdeur des systèmes élaborés pour assurer une diligence raisonnable et une approche exhaustive. En Ontario, le programme de réforme des soins de santé, urgent et polyvalent, a été mis en œuvre grâce à un nouvel ensemble de techniques d‘élaboration de politiques et de mise en œuvre de programmes. Le présent article résume ces réformes. Ce faisant, il souligne comment le programme de réforme a été mis en œuvre grâce à des techniques et processus qui ont été greffés, ou qui ont même court‐circuité les systèmes de prise de décisions existants. L'article tire aussi des conclusions sur l'utilité possible de l'expérience de l'Ontario en ce qui concerne la réforme des soins de santé mais aussi la mise au point de nouveaux mécanismes pour exécuter des programmes de réforme difficiles, à délai déterminé, au sein de systèmes parlementaires de gouvernement avec des fonctions civiles politiquement neutres.     

The referral decision scale with mentally disordered inmates

Correctional facilities are increasingly burdened with mentally disordered offenders and are faced with the formidable task of effectively screening inmates for major mental disorders and suicide potential. Teplin and Swartz (1989) developed the Referral Decision Scale (RDS) as a rapid screen for schizophrenia and major mood disorders in jail populations. However, more recent research by Hart, Roesch, Corrado, and Cox (1993) has called into question the effectiveness of the RDS. In this study, we examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the RDS with the Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia—Change Version (SADS-C) and the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) on a sample of 108 mentally disordered inmates. The RDS provided moderate evidence of convergent validity but failed to demonstrate acceptable discriminant validity, because of high intercorrelations on RDS subscales (heterotrait-monomethod coefficients). In comparison, the SADS-C yielded similar evidence of convergent validity and excellent discriminant validity.The authors would like to thank the Research Opportunities Program, University of North Texas for its grant support and Captain James Moore for his active cooperation.Tarrant County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services.