Australia's National Integrity Systems: Introducing a New Blueprint

Australia is sometimes regarded as having well‐developed systems for protecting and promoting public integrity. Nevertheless the functioning of modern integrity systems is not particularly well understood, in Australia or internationally, and to be complacent about their state of health is obviously to court danger. In this introduction Frank Costigan, who as a royal commissioner in the 1980s pioneered new strategies for exposing institutional corruption and organized crime, introduces the results of the Australian National Integrity System Assessment — a collaborative Australian Research Council project seeking better ways of mapping and evaluating the institutions and processes dedicated nationally to ensuring integrity and accountability. The result is a new blueprint for key reforms and continual improvement in Australia's integrity systems over coming years.     

Minority Interest Nation: The Changing Contours of Reporting Scotland on BBC and STV

Scotland's media has traditionally provided one of the central aspects of Scottish distinctiveness, autonomy and identity. This has often historically been viewed unproblematically and uncritically, but in recent times, the selective discourses of the mainstream media have come under increasing scrutiny and challenge, particularly in the recent independence referendum. This article examines the changing output of BBC and STV, considering in detail the evening news and current affairs programmes of both channels, and charting how they have evolved in media content and output. It also examines wider output and representation by BBC and STV, and concludes by addressing the evolving political and media environment.     

AFTER REAGAN'S DEREGULATION: STATE-FEDERAL CONFLICT OVER ENERGY POLICY

President Reagan's New Federalism has promised to redistribute the political power within the fcdcral system through a concerted program of deregulation and decentralization. Through such an approach, the Administration holds that intergovernmental policy making will reap the benefits of increased cooperation, efficiency, and effectiveness. This paper examines Reagan's New Federalism in energy policy, finding a continued presence of state-federal conflict in intergovernmental implementation decisions. This conflict emerges as the President's priorities of deregula- tion and decentralization often combat one another. This analysis, then, suggests that New Federalism's emphasis on deregulation, rather than decentralization, carries the greatest weight in explaining the politics on intergovernmental energy policy implementation in the 1980s.     

Restorative Justice, Shame and Forgiveness

Restorative conferencing is a new style of criminal justice intervention which is being increasingly used in Britain, especially as a method of delivering police cautions to youth offenders.Is is currently the subject of a lively debate, focusing on its effectiveness as a method of crime reduction, its benefits tovictims, its feasibility in modern society, its effect upon procedural rights of arrestees, and the danger of it becoming a degradation ceremony. This paper seeks to extend the debate to include less obvious, but equally important, issues. The paper focuses on the processes of reintegrative shaming which, inspired by the work of John Braithwaite, are at the core of restorative conferencing. It places these processes in broader historical and cultural contexts, such as the re-emergence ofshame sanctions in the USA, the attack on the notion ofshame launched by cultural radicals, and the changes which have occurred historically in our emotional response to offenders.Three sets of questions emerge: What is the political –as distinct from penal – meaning of the practice of shaming offenders? How does the practice affect the progressive cultural aim of fuller realization of the individual? At what point doesforgiveness become less of a virtue, more of a vice?     

Methods for ensuring the highest DNA concentration and yield in future and retrospective trace DNA extracts

In forensic laboratories, increased extraction efficiency of trace evidence is paramount because analytical success is intrinsically dependent on the quantity of DNA recovered. Moreover, highly concentrated nucleic acids are vital for effective downstream analysis and high quality results. This study investigated the efficiency of extraction with the Qiagen® QIAamp® DNA Investigator kit, and explored improvements to the methodology that would maximise the recovery of low concentration forensic samples. Controlled amounts of starting cellular material were used to mimic trace (or low level) DNA deposits prior to DNA extraction with the Investigator kit. Addition of the provided carrier RNA along with conducting two successive elutions of 50 µL improved the net recovery of DNA to 95%. Concentration with centrifugal filters post-extraction were able to concentrate DNA but a large net loss was observed. For the concentration of historic, retrospectively extracted DNA, centrifugal methods are able to concentrate DNA extracts previously too dilute for analysis. These concentrated volumes, however are small, allowing for minimal downstream analysis attempts before the sample is exhausted.     

Inequality,democracy and taxation: Lessons from the post-communist transition

Using data for the period 1989 – 2002, we examine the determinants of income inequality in post-communist economies. We find a strong positive association between equality and tax collection but note that this relationship is significantly stronger under authoritarian regimes than under democracies. We also discover that countries introducing sustainable democratic institutions early are characterised by lower inequality. We also confirm that education fosters equality and find that larger countries are prone to higher levels of inequality.