Security as Socio‐Technical Practice: Predictive Policing and (Non‐)Automation

Predictive policing is among the most prevalent new technological tools for law enforcement. Understanding how the police produce knowledge about crime and society in technologically mediated ways is important vis‐a‐vis practices of social ordering. In this paper, I suggest to draw on literature from Science and Technology Studies (STS) in order to understand the impact of technology not as analytically isolated artefact, but as embedded in socio‐technical relations that define how it comes to matter in everyday practice. In order to demonstrate what it means to think about technology in socio‐technical terms, I engage the discrepancy between the technical capacities of predictive policing applications and the ways in which they actually become part of police work on a daily basis. Specifically, I investigate how claims about the automation of crime analysis in predictive policing are reconfigured through the interplay of social and technical elements in police work.     

Macroscopical estimation of the post mortem interval (PMI) and exclusion of the forensically relevant resting period--a comparison of data presented in the literature with recent osteological findings

The aim of the present study was to determine to what extent macroscopical parameters mentioned in the literature are suitable for the estimation of the post mortem interval (PMI) and particularly for the exclusion of the forensically relevant resting period for recent bone material. The macroscopical examination of recent bone material with a known PMI showed that only one published parameter (relics of adipocere in the cross section of the compacta) was consistent with our findings for this particular resting period (27-28 years). Other macroscopical parameters presented in the literature were contradictory to the results observed in this study. Among those are the rigidity of bones, the adhesion of soft tissue, the filling of the marrow cavity, and the permeation of the epiphyses with adipocere. Concerning the exclusion of the forensically relevant resting period, a similar result was observed. This study identified some diagnostic findings in bones with a resting period of less than 50 years which according to the literature should only be present after a resting period of more than 50 years. These features included the lack of macroscopical traces of adipocere, degradation of the compacta surface, detachment of the cortical substance, the ability of bone to be broken with bare hands, and superficial usures. Moreover, in one-third of our cases we identified some intra-individual differences not previously described in the literature. In addition to the other results, those intra-individual differences make an estimation of the PMI more difficult. However it should be noted that those published parameters were collected from bone material which was stored in a "relatively arid sand-grit-clay soil of the broken stone layer of Munich". The bones in the present study were stored in acidic and clayey-loamy soil, partly with lateral water flow. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that one should use caution estimating the post mortem interval and excluding the forensically relevant resting period, even when all available results are considered.     

Government Strength, Power Dispersion in Governments and Budget Deficits in OECD-Countries. A Voting Power Approach

We test for the influenceof government strength and dispersion ofpower among the parties of coalitiongovernments on the size of annual debtaccumulation through budget deficits inOECD-countries from 1970 to 1999.Government strength and power dispersion incoalition governments are measured by theBanzhaf index of voting power, respectivelythe standard deviation of Banzhaf indicesof coalition parties. We believe that theseare better-suited proxies than most of whathas been applied so far. Governmentstrength turns out to be insignificant.However, coalitions with equally strongpartners run significantly higher deficitsthan coalitions with one dominating party.     

A cup of coffee in Bishkek: insights into the emerging coffee culture in Kyrgyzstan's capital

ABSTRACT

This study deals with the contemporary dynamics of urban life in Bishkek. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Central Asian societies have experienced widespread political, economic and socio-cultural transformations. In this context, Western or globalized cultural modes and trends influence Kyrgyzstan's social and cultural life. One of these trends is the increasingly popular coffee culture, with its attendant high-grade coffee brands and fancy cafés changing established consumption patterns. This article focuses primarily on cafés as new places of consumption and communication, but it also examines the intentions and strategies of the café pioneers. We reflect on the emergence of coffee and cafés in Bishkek and show how they have integrated in urban life as ‘third places’. Coffee is breaking away from its commonly soluble form and moving toward an expensive lifestyle product, while the new cafés offer a place for communication that has not existed before.     

The Democratic Quality of Institutional Regimes: a Conceptual Framework

Lijphart's spectrum of democracies – recently expanded by Jack Nagel to a sub-majoritarian sphere of pluralitarian systems which use disproportional electoral systems in order to manufacture majority governments from minorities in the electorate – is based on only one dimension: inclusion of preferences. Political scientists in the Lijphartian tradition wrongly assume that inclusion of preferences, which is an input characteristic, automatically leads to responsiveness, which refers to actual policy decisions and hence is an output characteristic. We therefore add 'responsibility' as a second input characteristic and employ it alongside the inclusiveness of institutional regimes. We argue that in representative democracies there exists a trade-off between inclusiveness and responsibility. This trade-off helps us to measure the democratic quality of institutional regimes. The now expanded spectrum of democracies based on these two dimensions shows that majoritarian democracy proper – in which governments represent a majority of individual preferences but not more than necessary – is the best possible combination of the two democratic values.     

Maneuvering with Crime. An Empirical Reconstruction of “Populist” Stances on Youth Crime in German Parliamentary Debates

Recent years have seen a wide discussion of populism in penal policy, which is internationally regarded as a strong drive for establishing punitive tendencies. Generally, “penal populism” is characterized by an extensive consensus across the most influential political parties, a punitive orientation, and the dismissal of scientific or professional expertise. Recent penal policy therefore appears to be a relatively unified practice strongly oriented toward punitive measures that primarily address the public and its perceived need for protection. Because analyses of Anglophone countries are predominant in this discussion, we contrast them with a reconstruction of debates on youth crime in German parliaments from 1970 to 2012. They exhibit a wide variety of populist articulations. Although they imply a strong punitive bias, they also encompass a very heterogeneous rhetoric of penal policy. In conclusion, we argue that penal populism can (and should) be described as a tactical practice, i.e., as political maneuvering employed to negotiate the prospects of punitive and other styles of politics.