An integrated technique for the analysis of skin bite marks

The high number of murder, rape, and child abuse cases in South Africa has led to increased numbers of bite mark cases being heard in high courts. Objective analysis to match perpetrators to bite marks at crime scenes must be able to withstand vigorous cross-examination to be of value in conviction of perpetrators. An analysis technique is described in four stages, namely determination of the mark to be a human bite mark, pattern association analysis, metric analysis and comparison with the population data, and illustrated by a real case study. New and accepted techniques are combined to determine the likelihood ratio of guilt expressed as one of a range of conclusions described in the paper. Each stage of the analysis adds to the confirmation (or rejection) of concordance between the dental features present on the victim and the dentition of the suspect. The results illustrate identification to a high degree of certainty.     

Gender awareness,symptom expressions and Irish mental health-care provision

Irish mental health policy and care provision is criticised for being gender-neutral despite gender being present in almost every aspect of illness; from risk to protection; symptom interpretation; diagnosing, ideology and knowledge of illnesses. The aim of this paper was to present the views of Irish service users and providers in relation to symptom expressions, gender awareness and care provision. A qualitative social realist design was used using Layder's (1998) adaptive theory and social domains theory. In-depth interviews (n = 54) with 26 service users and 28 service providers were conducted within one mental health service in Ireland. Dominant societal expectations for men and women are described in response to symptom expressions that reflect ‘categorical’ and ‘performative’ understandings of gender. A return of interest to symptoms-based research and practice from a gendered perspective is argued for.     

Consequences of an Anti-Corruption Experiment for Local Government Performance in Brazil

Decentralization reforms, implemented to improve efficiency and service provision, pose a challenge for federal governments that would like to ensure that federal resources are used appropriately by local governments. To overcome this challenge, some federal governments have implemented costly oversight programs aimed at improving municipal governance. For instance, in 2003, the Brazilian federal government introduced a randomized auditing program with the goal of improving municipal performance by exposing episodes of corruption and mismanagement. Yet, we know little about whether these types of programs actually lead to improvements in local outcomes, especially in terms of service delivery. We argue that audits provide opportunities for learning that should improve performance outcomes. To test this argument, we examine municipal performance in over 5,000 Brazilian municipalities from 2001 to 2012. We utilize the random assignment of audits and estimate difference-in-differences regressions. We find that audited municipalities experience greater improvements in performance overall compared to unaudited municipalities, though the effect size is modest. We also find evidence that the auditing program indirectly improves municipal performance. These results indicate that top-down oversight programs, such as the Brazilian one, are useful not only for improving transparency and accountability, but also for the provision of public services as well.     

Contingent Borders, Ambiguous Ethics: Migrants in (International) Political Theory

The article engages a critical analysis of liberal theory in the context of transnational migration. Normative arguments provided by liberal-cosmopolitan and liberal-communitarian authors are contrasted. While sympathetic to such approaches, we argue that traditional liberal theory has attempted to downplay the contingency and resultant ambiguity of many of its moral precepts. Historically contingent borders underpin neat universal categories like "citizen" and "refugee," which fail to reflect the diverse and contested experiences of migration. But such ambiguities need not undermine liberal approaches. Indeed, a proper engagement with the problematic and uncertain realities of migration can provide a spur to a more thoroughgoing ethical praxis. We draw on the philosophical pragmatism of Richard Rorty to outline an approach to migration that remains open to the contingent construction of terms like "migrant,""refugee," and "asylum-seeker." By extending Rorty's concept of sentimental education, we provide an imaginative and politically challenging set of agendas for the ethics of migration.     

Power, Morality, and Foreign Policy

Despite the vast amounts of rhetoric one hears in the United States on the role of morality in international politics, the nation lacks a coherent position on the appropriate application of morality to foreign policy. History reflects two prominent and contrasting views on the subject. The first is that morality is irrelevant to national foreign policy; the second applies common principles of individual morality—compassion, generosity, forgiveness, benevolence, and tolerance—to interactions between states. Though elements of each are evident in the Bush administration's foreign policy, the limits on them restrict the efficacy of either. As the application of morality to foreign policy becomes both more necessary and more difficult, prudence and decency—more than self-righteousness or power—should provide the primary inspiration for American foreign policy.     

Spanning Organizational Boundaries in Emergency Management

Multiagency emergency management coordination requires stakeholders to span organizational boundaries and facilitate collaboration among other agencies within temporary supraorganizations. Multiagency coordination is important in emergency management as disasters often require the collaboration of multiple agencies into temporary supraorganizations. However, little is known about the boundary spanning activities that influence this collaboration. Based on 39 semistructured interviews with senior emergency management practitioners spanning organizational boundaries, this paper proposes a typology of boundary spanning activities for emergency management. Embracing these activities may address some of the challenges associated with the collaboration of multiple agencies in a disaster.     

Bridging the gap: An attempt to reconcile strategic planning and very local community-based planning in rural England

This paper reviews briefly the emergence of holistic governance at the strategic and very local levels in rural England before reporting a programme of action research designed to address the need to develop an effective ‘bridge’ between planning activity at those two levels. Attention is focused particularly upon the recent wave of parish and market town plans on the one hand and local strategic partnerships and community strategies on the other. Taking cognisance of relevant contextual literature relating to representative and participative democracy and to top-down and bottom-up planning, it draws conclusions about the challenge of developing a synergistic relationship between strategic and very local planning and about the prospects for reconciling some of the tensions pointed up in those theoretical debates.