Home and away

Conclusion Overall the thrust of the Children’s Bill is welcomed, however the opportunity to revise legislation, in operation for nearly a century, is unique and will set the tone for the first thirty years of the new millennium. Given this unique opportunity and the growing strength of the Irish culture and economy it is a pity that the radical stance adopted at the diversion stage is not carried throughout the Bill to present a more progressive future for the children of Ireland.     

Color Separation in Forensic Image Processing Using Interactive Differential Evolution

Color separation is an image processing technique that has often been used in forensic applications to differentiate among variant colors and to remove unwanted image interference. This process can reveal important information such as covered text or fingerprints in forensic investigation procedures. However, several limitations prevent users from selecting the appropriate parameters pertaining to the desired and undesired colors. This study proposes the hybridization of an interactive differential evolution (IDE) and a color separation technique that no longer requires users to guess required control parameters. The IDE algorithm optimizes these parameters in an interactive manner by utilizing human visual judgment to uncover desired objects. A comprehensive experimental verification has been conducted on various sample test images, including heavily obscured texts, texts with subtle color variations, and fingerprint smudges. The advantage of IDE is apparent as it effectively optimizes the color separation parameters at a level indiscernible to the naked eyes.     

The Impact of Victim Demographics on Case Outcomes in Delinquency Proceedings: An Empirical Test

While the impact of the defendant's sex and race on processing decisions is well researched, less is known about the impact of the victim's sex and race on juvenile court decision making. Using data from the juvenile court in St. Louis, Missouri, this study explores direct and interactive effects of the victim's sex and race on outcome decisions for juvenile offenders. Findings suggest that legal differences account for most of the observed differences in detention, commitment and adjudication among the sample studied.     

Institutionalized Evaluation and Intergovernmental Relations: The Case of Coastal Zone Management

The enactment of national environmental management programswas prompted, in large part, by the perceived failure of stateand local government officials to deal adequately with pollutioncontrol and resource management problems. Paradoxically, theimplementation of several important environmental managementprograms relies heavily on these same state and local officials.Congress has sought to resolve this paradox by requiring federalevaluation of state and local environmental planning and managementactivities. Many of these evaluations are little more than routinefiscal audits. However one agency, the Office of Coastal ZoneManagement, has sought to develop a systematic evaluation processfocusing on all aspects of state coastal zone programs. Theseevaluative efforts have led to intergovernmental tensions, mostnotably with regard to the purposes and methods of evaluation,the appropriate roles of federal and state officials, and theresources available for evaluation. In spite of these tensions,there is broad agreement about the value of the evaluation processand its potential applicability in other contexts.     

KENT V. UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT JUVENILE CASE

As we went to press the decision was issued. Because of its significance the Journal will treat the case in two phases. The article that follows concerns itself with the facts and issues presented; the next issue will interpret the decision. This is the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has passed on the legality of juvenile court procedures.     

Anti-SLAPP Legislation and Environmental Protection in the USA: An Overview of Direct and Indirect Effects

Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) protections lead to changes in the dynamic and complex interactions between private citizens, environmental regulators and polluting entities. Direct impacts are legally significant, but if our interest is in environmental and enforcement outcomes, indirect effects are likely to be more important. Changes in perceived legal and regulatory threats impact the choices of many parties who are never involved in an actual SLAPP suit. This paper describes the expected direction and type of interactions when anti-SLAPP protections are enacted and discuss the conclusions that follow from research to date.     

On the relationship between cognitive abilities and life-course-persistent offending among a sample of African Americans: A longitudinal test of Moffitt's hypothesis

Prior criminological research showed that cognitive abilities were related to delinquent and criminal activity, primarily within adolescent samples. Moffitt's developmental taxonomy anticipates that cognitive abilities will relate to criminal activity differently throughout the population of offenders, mattering more for life-course-persistent than adolescence-limited offenders. Unfortunately, prior research had not examined in great detail the long-term influence of cognitive abilities on criminal activity from birth to adulthood nor had research explored this issue within an African American sample. In this study, data from the Philadelphia portion of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (NCPP) were used to examine the long-term effect of cognitive abilities on criminal activity from birth to adulthood.