Generational Substance Abuse among Male Sexual Offenders and Paraphilics

This study examines three hypotheses: (1) there is an association of parental and offspring substance abuse for sex offenders and paraphilics; (2) there is a higher occurrence of substance abuse among the parents of sex offenders and paraphilics than seen in the general population; (3) substance abuse among the parents will be associated with a higher frequency of birth and developmental abnormalities, learning disabilities (LD), mental retardation, attertion deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and school learning problems (school dropouts, grade failures, and placement in special education) common in sex offenders and paraphilics. A sample of 1,012 male sex offenders and paraphilics were asked about substance abuse among their parents and about their own birth and developmental abnormalities and school learning problems. Three in five families had a parent who was a substance abuser and there was a significant concordance of parental and offspring substance abuse. Substance abusing parents more often than nonabusing parents had sons with developmental and learning problems on every measure examined. Results suggest that parental substance abuse appears to play a role in the neurodevelopment, associated learning problems, and substance abuse reported in studies of sex offenders and paraphilics and it should be explored as a possible factor in the genesis of sexual disorders.     

Studying Law by Association: Bruno Latour Goes to the Conseil d'État

This essay provides an overview of actor-network theory (ANT) and its potential interest for sociolegal scholars. It focuses on Bruno Latour's 2002 ethnography of La fabrique du droit: une ethnographie du Conseil d'État [The factory of law: an ethnography of the Conseil d'État] (2002b), which provides an analysis of the workings of the French Conseil d'État. The essay seeks to introduce non-French-reading sociolegal researchers to this work and draws out methodological and theoretical implications for research on legal institutions, legal knowledge, and bureaucracies.     

Population pressure and agricultural change in the land‐intensive economy

Boserup's view that population pressure is an important determinant of technical change in agriculture is examined in the context of Sierra Leone. Population density is misleading when used as an indicator of population pressure, at least in conditions where cultivation is mainly of the ‘cut and burn’ type. The ratio of population to labour is suggested as an alternative on the basis of a theoretical definition of the term ‘pressure’, and on the whole it provides a good explanation of the variation in resource use.     

Law and order as a development issue: Land conflicts and the creation of social order in Southern Malawi

Registration of individual title to land in order to create legal security has been the central concern in the rich literature on land and law in Africa. The problem of legal insecurity is approached here from a different angle which has received relatively less attention: dispute settlement. The article results from the observation of land disputes in local political arenas. It portrays a local legal cultural universe in which legal insecurity arises especially from legal situations stressing group consensus. It appears that people who are accused of witchcraft and groups which are said not to belong are particularly vulnerable in such a legal culture. The conclusion argues that this case material reveals connections between law, land and the creation of social order which may throw light on many other situations. It pleads for more attention to be paid to the development of jurisprudence in attempts to create legal security.     

Playing with Information: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in the Russian Press

This article examines how the modern Russian press covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both historically and currently. Since print media are some of the most popular sources of information in Russia, such analysis helps us understand the media's priorities in presenting the conflict to Russian society. The article focuses on the inherently manipulative, albeit hidden, essence and layout of this material, which increases the likelihood of information bias. While the quality of the reporting on this conflict demonstrates the proximity of contemporary Russian media to the interests of the country's ruling powers, it also provides opportunities for the government to influence its audience's comprehension of Middle East politics.     

Personal and Political Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda

The majority of scholarly research on Rwanda currently focuses on determining the causes of and participation in the genocide. In this paper, we explore a variety of questions that have come to the forefront in post-genocide Rwanda. In particular, we are concerned with the prospects for peace and justice in the aftermath of the gross abuses of human rights that occurred and, to that end, we consider the potential uses and limits of restorative justice initiatives in the process of healing and reconciliation in Rwanda. We argue that restorative justice initiatives have moved the country closer toward reconciliation than retributive measures, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. That said, we also suggest that the Rwandan government, despite claims that it seeks to achieve reconciliation, has not shown a serious commitment to healing the wounds that persist between either individual Rwandans or the groups that they comprise. In the end, then, we make a case for the importance of pairing a comprehensive search for justice in Rwanda with a commitment to truth-telling and accountability by the victims and perpetrators of the genocide, as well as by current government officials.     

Plank fence penetration into automobiles-implications for prevention initiatives

The wooden plank fence presents a deadly but unrecognized hazard to motorists. We hypothesize that fence plank injury is prevalent and results in significant morbidity and mortality. Databases of the University of Kentucky's Level I Trauma Center and the Fayette County Coroner were retrospectively analyzed over a 12-year period (1995-2006). One hundred and twenty-eight subjects were involved in vehicle contact with wooden plank fences. One hundred and twenty-three subjects were evaluated at the Emergency Department of our trauma center; 35 (27%) had a patient-plank interaction (PPI). Men (30/35) were more frequently involved (86%), and average age was 32.8 years. Thirty-two (91%) were drivers; 14/35 (40%) died from PPI-related injuries. The most common cause of death was blunt head trauma in 13 of these 14 fatally injured subjects (93%). This study provides new data underscoring the frequency, lethality, and economic consequences of this injury mechanism. Further research is needed to quantify the national prevalence of this problem and develop injury-mitigating strategies pertaining to roadway or fence design.