An unusual case of high-voltage electrocution of a truck driver due to inadvertent contact of the truck with an overhead wire

Electrocution deaths are mostly accidental. However, reconstruction of events in unusual electrocution death is challenging. This article reports an accidental death due to electrocution in a highly unusual circumstance, in which a truck driver reversing his vehicle was electrocuted when his truck inadvertently touched an overhead high-voltage wire. The electric injury marks were present over the sole of the right foot. The scene investigation revealed that the high-voltage wire was loose and was below the level of the prescribed height. The truck was passing over an elevated area made up of dirt and stone. The interior of the cabin of the truck revealed a few non-insulated metallic areas over the floor of the truck, between the accelerator and the brake, which were attributed as the sources of entry of electricity into the body. The electric injury marks were different than those usually seen in high-voltage electrocution as there was an intermediate object (truck) involved, and the contact period between the truck and the electric wire was minimal. This fatality was attributed to the non-proper insulation of the interior of the truck, the negligent driving of the truck driver over the elevated surface, and the loose high-voltage wire without proper maintenance.     

Representation or abdication? How citizens use institutions to help delegation succeed

Abstract. Modern democracy requires delegation. One problem with delegation is that principals and agents often have conflicting interests. A second problem is that principals lack information about their agents. Many scholars conclude that these problems cause delegation to become abdication. We reject this conclusion and introduce a theory of delegation that supports a different conclusion. The theory clarifies when interest conflicts and information problems do (and do not) turn delegation into abdication. We conclude by arguing that remedies for common delegation problems can be embedded in the design of electoral, legislative, and bureaucratic institutions. The culmination of our efforts is a simple, but general, statement about when citizens and legislators can (and cannot) control their agents.     

Emotional labor and employee outcomes: A meta-analysis

While there is agreement among scholars that people-work requires emotional labor, there is still some uncertainty about the consequences of emotional labor for employees. This article conducts a random-effects meta-analysis including 545 correlations across 175 primary studies to explore the relationship between emotional labor, burnout, and job satisfaction. The meta-analysis suggests that emotional labor can be both harmful and beneficial to employees, depending on the emotional labor strategy used, that is, surface acting or deep acting. In addition, the meta-regression shows that effect sizes between emotional labor and employee outcomes (i.e., burnout and job satisfaction) differ in collectivist and individualist cultures. The article concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for research and practice.     

The Invisible Hand: Financial Pressures and Organisational Convergence in Multilateral Development Banks

This paper investigates how the unique financial model of multilateral development banks – dependent largely on issuing bonds in private capital markets to raise lending resources – came about in the early history of three different MDBs, and how this in turn shaped their operational characteristics. Historical research demonstrates that the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and Andean Development Corporation (CAF) converged on organisational and operational arrangements very different to what their founders had intended, and much closer to one another, as a direct result of the need to secure sufficient resources to function as viable development lenders. The findings indicate that in the absence of governments willing or able to provide significant financing out of their budgets, MDBs tend to converge towards a single organisational model in order to maintain access to international capital markets. All three MDBs examined here modified their lending and financial policies in unexpected ways and, in the case of the IADB and CAF, even restructured their original membership, specifically for the purpose of securing adequate financial resources.     

A Life Table Approach to Estimating Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System

Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in the U.S. juvenile justice system persists despite substantial efforts to reduce it. The juvenile justice system is comprised of a series of interconnected stages, yet few studies to-date use methods to measure DMC that take the cascading nature of the decision-making process into account. Our study addresses this gap by applying life table analysis to identify the cumulative nature of DMC across multiple stages of the juvenile justice system using data from 2008 to 2010 in Georgia that include white, black, and Hispanic/Latino youth. We then compare these state-level results to life tables from a national sample of black youth and a subnational sample of Hispanic/Latino youth. Our findings show that arrest/referral accounts for the greatest proportion of total system-wide DMC for black youth, but most of the total DMC for Hispanic/Latino youth results from later stages.     

Loyalty,Justice, and Rights: Royce and Police Ethics in Twenty-First-Century America

The killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and others have instigated widespread debate concerning the ethics and politics of police behavior toward young black men in America. In this article, I show how Josiah Royce’s philosophy of loyalty provides a useful theoretical framework for diagnosing and working to overcome strained relations between police and black citizens in the United States. I begin by establishing the relevance of Royce’s thought to the realm of police ethics. Then, I argue that Royce’s notion of loyalty to loyalty is a useful and powerful lens through which we can examine the practice of police discretion, particularly as it comes to bear on racial profiling and use of force. I conclude by offering what I regard as Roycean recommendations aimed at ameliorating the fractured relationship between police and blacks in America today.     

Probation/Parole Officer Psychological Well-Being: the Impact of Supervising Persons with Mental Health Needs

Although supervising persons with mental illness can pose special challenges for community parole/probation officers (PPOs), few studies have investigated whether the number of supervisees on an officer’s caseload increases risk for poor mental health for PPOs and whether this link is due to emotional exhaustion. Using statewide survey data from 798 PPOs, we examine whether the number of supervisees on an officer’s caseload with mental health problems is associated with depressive symptoms reported the PPOs and whether this relationship is mediated by emotional exhaustion. In addition, we evaluate the potential mitigating role of both mental health services received by supervisees and officer training in mental health in the relationship between the number of supervisees on an officer’s caseload with mental health problems and emotional exhaustion experienced by PPOs. Findings reveal that PPOs with more supervisees on their caseload report significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms and that this relationship is completely explained away by emotional exhaustion. Neither mental health services received by supervisees nor officer training in mental health mitigated the link between the number of supervisees on an officer’s caseload with mental health problems and officer emotional exhaustion. This study underscores the importance of the psychological well-being of those on parole/probation for the emotional and mental health of the officers who supervise them.     

The growth of female employment in Brazilian manufacturing industry in the 1970s

Female employment grew very rapidly in Brazilian manufacturing industry in the 1970s. Contrary to the predictions of some writers, women have not been marginalised from the industrial labour force as a result of dependent development. Among various hypotheses advanced in the literature to explain the sharp rise in female employment, the scarcity of male labour resulting from rapid economic growth is found to be the most convincing. This hypothesis is supplemented by a discussion of both the factors which made large numbers of women available for industrial work and the types of women that found employment in industry in the decade.