Does public criticism Erode trust in the police? The case of Jari Aarnio in the Finnish news media and its effects on the public’s attitudes towards the police

A significant part of the general public’s observations and image concerning the police comes through the mass media. It has been assumed that one factor affecting the level of trust is the way the media handles the police. This article describes the media uproar that arose in Finland in November 2013 about police misconduct, and its effects on the public trust in the police. Two hypotheses were tested in the study: (a) negative publicity always decreases trust, and so, too, in this case; and (b) a change in trust is affected by the public’s independent interpretation of the publicity battle, in which case criticism might also increase trust. The study materials comprise the news coverage concerning the uproar and four opinion surveys collected after it occurred. The first survey was conducted immediately after the press conference of the case in week 48/2013 and the other ones in three-week intervals. The results show that following the uproar, compared to the earlier results of the European Social Survey, trust in the police did not decrease—on the contrary, it increased slightly. Our results suggest that in this case a large part of the audience has taken, to use the term of Stuart Hall, the oppositional position when interpreting negative news about the police.     

When Casey’s blood pressure rose: a case study of intelligence politicization in the United States

This article contributes to the debate on the politicization of intelligence with a case study of a major attempt of politicization that so far largely escaped academic attention: the Special National Intelligence Estimate on the Soviet Union’s role in international terrorism produced by the US Intelligence Community in spring 1981. Despite direct and indirect manipulation by members of President Reagan’s Cabinet, this case differs from those usually discussed in a decisive way – politicization failed. Based on the empirical analysis, a theoretical model of intelligence politicization is introduced that extends Joshua Rovner’s oversell model, which can explain why policymakers demand intelligence support but is insufficient due to its exclusive focus on the consumers of intelligence, by integrating the incentives of intelligence producers and specifying the determinants of whether politicization succeeds or fails.     

When trust matters—a multilevel analysis of the effect of generalized trust on political participation in 25 European democracies

Generalized social trust has been argued to have positive effects for both individuals and society, but despite solid theoretical arguments in favour of different contextual effects, the empirical evidence remains scant. We here examine whether and how the effect of generalized trust on the propensity to become politically active is moderated by the level of generalized trust in society. We inspect two different causal mechanisms: The rainmaker effect, which entails that the effect of generalized trust is weaker at the individual level when there is a high level of generalized trust in society; and the sunmaker effect, which entails that the effect of generalized trust is strengthened by a high level of generalized trust in society. We examine the links for three forms of political participation: voting, institutionalized participation, and non-institutionalized participation. The data come from the fourth round of the European Social Survey from 2008 [European Social Survey. (2008 European Social Survey. (2008). Data file edition 4.0. Norwegian Social Science Data Services, Norway – Data Archive and distributor of ESS data. [Google Scholar]). Data file edition 4.0. Norwegian Social Science Data Services, Norway—Data Archive and distributor of ESS data], and we include 47,489 respondents in 25 democratic countries. The results from a series of multilevel logistic regressions suggest that the effect of generalized trust varies depending on the level of generalized trust in the surrounding community but the causal mechanisms differ for different kinds of political participation.     

Finnish mitochondrial DNA HVS-I and HVS-II population data

We have analyzed the two hypervariable regions HVS-I and HVS-II of 200 Finnish male individuals for forensic purposes. The distribution of the haplotypes within Finland was determined by the geographical knowledge of the donors' maternal ancestors. In our population sample, we identified 135 different mtDNA haplotypes. Different mtDNA sequences were further divided to haplogroups using the EMPOP software. The most common haplogroups were H (40.0%) and U (27.5%). Subgroup U5b, which contains earlier described "Saami motif", consisted majority (65.5%) of the sample in the U haplogroup. Analysis of the mtDNA sequence hypervariable regions I and II showed that the mtDNA diversity within the Finnish population sample was comparable to other European populations and uniformly distributed. This is contrary to the Y-STR "minimal haplotype" diversity, which in Finland is lower than in any of the other European populations studied so far.     

Mitochondrial DNA population data of HVS-I and HVS-II sequences from a northeast German sample

Mitochondrial DNA sequences of the control region's two hypervariable regions HVS-I and HVS-II were determined for 213 unrelated west Eurasian individuals from northeast Germany (Mecklenburg). A total of 174 different mtDNA haplotypes were found, 25 of which were shared by more than 1 individual. The most frequent haplotypes were 263G-309.1C-315.1C, found in seven individuals, 263G-309.1C-309.2C-315.1C, found in six individuals and 263G-315.1C, found in five individuals. These sequences are also the most common haplotypes in other published European data sets. The sequence polymorphisms consisting of 150 polymorphic nucleotide positions were compared with other European databases. The genetic diversity and random match probability were calculated. Our results corroborate certain features which are characteristic for west Eurasian mtDNA population samples.     

Traditional African Religions and Social Conflict

Contrary to popular belief, at first glance, traditional African religions––although they have been de-structured, undermined, and overshadowed in public visibility by Islam and Christianity––are not dead. Like Islam and Christianity, traditional religions have ambiguities in their organization and societal ethical codes, where good and evil and love’s splendor and destructive passions are enmeshed. Traditional religions are alive and well and their worldview still influences African understanding of and insight on Christianity and Islam. As the foundation for a global world vision, it is useful to analyze traditional religions in all their ambiguity for the positivity and negativity that they emulate as well as the general population’s attitude toward the issue of social peace in Africa.     

Predictors of re-offending in German substance-abusers in legal detention: a prospective population-based cohort study

This study aimed to evaluate whether the elapsed time after release to first re-offense is longer for those who complete coerced forensic addiction treatment than for those who fail to complete the treatment. It is also aimed to identify predictors of re-offending for both those who complete such treatments as compared with those who do not. Two hundred and sixty-one patients discharged from five German forensic addiction clinics were investigated on 65 anamnestic, socio-demographic, and therapeutic process variables. One hundred and fifty-one patients were prematurely discharged and returned to prison (group A; time at risk [TAR] = 58.7 months), 110 finished treatment successfully (group B; TAR = 44.2 months). Federal Criminal Register data were used for follow-up. Univariate survival analyses and multivariate stepwise Cox-regression models were computed. Twelve predictors in group A revealed a four-factor model: age at admission to treatment, duration of concurrent prison sentence, number of entries in the criminal register, and attendance at prior substitution programs. The model for group B covered five out of eight predictors: regular working activities before first diagnosis of mental illness, type of main offense, (secondary) traffic offenses, outpatient rehabilitation treatments, and escapes during treatment. Successful completers of forensic addiction treatment are slower to re-offend than non-completers.     

Intervening in domestic violence as a police task: legal reform and policing versus citizens’ perspective

Violence in Western societies has received increased public and legal attention during the past few decades, while simultaneously, evidence of decreased violent behaviour has been identified. A specific type of violence that has undergone changes in visibility and increased legal intervention is domestic violence (DV). Have people become more sensitive to all kinds of violence? In this case, DV would not stand out as a crime demanding increasing police intervention. In this article, the public’s perceptions of the importance of intervening in DV as a police task are analysed. Comparisons with the assessed importance of other types of police tasks are made to evaluate the changes in a broader attitudinal context, and official police statistics are reflected against the trends identified from the survey data. In the results, DV stands out in the comparison of change in the importance of police tasks. The hypothesis of increased cultural sensitivity is not confirmed concerning all types of crimes – or even violent crimes. The results can be understood to support the theory about increased cultural sensitivity concerning an issue previously seen as a private matter rather than a criminal act and police matter – DV.