Punishment's Legal Templates: A Theory of Formal Penal Change

The well‐known gap between law on the books and law in action often casts doubt on the significance of changes to law on the books. For example, the rise and fall of penal technologies have long been considered significant indicators of penal change in socio‐historical analyses of punishment. Recent research, however, has challenged the significance of apparently large‐scale penal change of this kind. This article clarifies the significance of penal technologies' rise and fall by offering an alternative account of formal penal change, introducing the analytical concept of “legal templates,” structural models of legal activity (e.g., punishment) available for authorization and replication across multiple jurisdictions. Analyzing punishment's templates explains how new penal technologies can be important harbingers of change, even when they fail to revolutionize penal practice and are not caused by a widespread ideological shift. This article locates the significance of punishment's legal templates in their constitutive power—their ability, over the long term, to shape cognitive‐cultural expectations about what punishment is or should be. This power appears only when the template is widely adopted by a plurality of jurisdictions, thereby becoming institutionalized. Ultimately, these institutionalized templates define the scope of future punishment.     

Are Overlapping Local Governments Competing With Each Other When Issuing Debt?

Local public services are produced through various overlapping jurisdictions. This study examines how the issuance of municipal general obligation bonds is affected by the tax policies of overlapping local governments. The findings challenge the hypothesis that the shared tax base would be overused in a common-pool resource scenario. Instead, the empirical results show that the issuance of general obligation bonds is more likely in jurisdictions where counties and school districts make more intensive use of the property tax. These findings highlight the importance of the signals local governments receive from their overlapping neighbors regarding voters’ demand for additional public spending.     

Dealigned or Still Salient? Religious-Secular Divisions in Chilean Presidential Elections

With countries like Chile facing secularisation, some research predicts religious-secular cleavages will ‘dealign’, while other research suggests these cleavages will persist so long as religious-secular divisions are reflected among presidential candidates. Using surveys of first-round voting intentions in the five most recent presidential elections in Chile, the analysis shows that religious-secular divisions in voting appear when candidates are divided clearly along religious-secular lines (and not when divisions among candidates are blurred). These findings suggest researchers need to account for the impact candidates' positions have on the appearance of religious-secular divisions before declaring that dealignment has occurred.     

In- and out-flows of elements in bones embedded in reference soils

Possible exchanges of elements between bone and the surrounding soil after being embedded underground for 2 years were estimated. Bone pieces were samples from human vertebrae without any treatments after resection. Sixteen elements were determined by atomic emission mass spectrometry. These were divided into three types; Type I, an in-flow in which elements increased, as in Fe, Al and Ba; type II, a balanced decrease in which changes were found in S, Mg and Zn; and type III, an out-flow in which elements, such as Ca and P, entered into bones from embedded soils. These exchanges depended on the varying nature of soils and also on the time underground. The exchanges were progressed in duration of the time after burial. Data obtained are possible references to judge the time-lapse after burial of bones in relating to characters of soils embedded, and to identify proper bone elements from containment elements.     

First, do no harm: the use of covert video surveillance to detect Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy--an unethical means of "preventing" child abuse

Since it was first identified in 1977, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy has uniquely affected the way in which the medical and legal communities deal with the issue of child abuse. Inherent in the medical response to the disease are issues of suspicion, investigation, identification, confrontation, and, of course, the health of an innocent child. Given the deceptive dynamics of this disease, however, denial and disbelief naturally overshadow every action taken by medical professionals in pursuing these issues. Fortunately, as medical knowledge about the dynamics of the disease continues to develop, medical professionals become more willing and better able to identify the disease and focus their response on the safety of the child. The greatest problem in prosecuting Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy is that judges and juries remain unwilling to accept the reality of the disease. Consequently, in an effort to confirm medical suspicions and quell legal doubts, the medical community has resorted to covert video surveillance of the abuse while it is being perpetrated in the hospital. In this Article, Flannery argues that this response is an unnecessary and unethical, means of preventing Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and protecting the child. Flannery supports the approach taken by the Family Court of New York in addressing Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy cases. The Family Court of New York recognizes the unique dynamics of this bizarre disorder, and, therefore, considers all cumulative circumstantial evidence in a Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy case, comparing the facts of the subject case to the commonly accepted features of confirmed cases. Part of the circumstantial evidence that should be considered, Flannery argues, is the dissipation of the child's condition upon temporary separation from the alleged perpetrating parent. As is done by the Flannery Court of New York, a res ipsa loquitur standard should then be applied, and an appropriate disposition for the child should be determined. By employing this standard, the court may confirm suspicions of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy while avoiding the unnecessary harm to the child inherent in the covert video surveillance of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.