Law Enforcement Measures Research Articles

Patient-Centered Medical Homes Offer a Model for Better, Cheaper Health Care

nated from wild nonhuman primate and rodent species, including baboon, chimpanzee, mangabey, guenon, green monkey, cane rat, and rat. Pathogen screening identified retroviruses (4 SFV strains), herpesviruses (cytomegalovirus and lymphocryptovirus), or both in 12 nonhuman primate tissue samples. “Because most emerging infectious diseases of humans are originating in animals, it is of concern that even in this small number of samples from a limited number of animal species, it was possible to identify retroviruses and herpesviruses of potential concern for human populations,” said Gerald Keusch, MD, who was not involved with the research. Keusch, a professor of medicine and international health at Boston University, cochaired the 2009 surveillance and response report with Pappaioanou. None of the samples contained SIV or STLV, which have adapted to humans and spread as HIV and human T-lymphotropic virus (which is capable of causing leukemia, lymphoma, and neurologic disease), respectively; however, SIV and STLV are often present in specimens at bushmeat markets and in hunted nonhuman primates. None of the rodent samples carried viruses: all were negative for leptospira, anthrax, herpesviruses, filoviruses, paramyxoviruses, coronaviruses, flaviviruses, and orthopoxviruses. Broader surveillance is needed to expand the study’s findings, which only begin to paint a picture of the potential risks of imported wildlife products and do not address live wildlife. “We need more and smarter surveillance of the wildlife trade, more control over what is being transported across national boundaries, more and stricter law enforcement measures to stop individuals involved in the business, and better and more meaningful ways to inform the public about the inherent dangers in a believable manner,” said Keusch. “In terms of global spread of infectious diseases, wildlife may be the mosquitoes of the 21st century: effective, elusive, and damned hard to stop.”

Terror(izing) the Muslim Veil

The September 11th terrorist attacks transformed the meaning of the Muslim headscarf. No longer is the crux of the debate whether the “veil” is used to oppress women by controlling their sexuality, and by extension, their personal freedoms and life choices. Rather, a Muslim headscarf “marks” her as a representative of the suspicious, inherently violent, and forever foreign “Terrorist other” in our midst. In the post-9/11 era, Muslim women donning a headscarf find themselves trapped at the intersection of bias against Islam, the racialized Muslim, and women. In contrast to their male counterparts, Muslim women face unique forms of discrimination not adequately addressed by Muslim civil rights advocacy organizations, women’s rights organizations, or civil liberties advocates. Amidst pervasive suspicion of Islam, continuing sexism, and bias against her particular race group, the Muslim woman is both a visible target and a silent victim. Whether guilty by association through her marriage to a presumably terrorist husband, or an active accomplice in secret plots to terrorize Americans, the covered Muslim woman is rarely perceived as an individual capable of developing her own beliefs and protestations. Instead, she is a mere extension of her familial relationships with actual or prospective male terrorists. As national security prerogatives filter perceptions of Muslims through the prism of terrorism, the Muslim “veil” has become a symbol of terror. This critical shift results in palpable adverse consequences to a Muslim woman’s freedom of religion, freedom of individual expression, and safety interests.The shift in meaning of the Muslim headscarf is due in large part to a recasting of Islam as a political ideology as opposed to a religion. Once this definitional shift occurs, acts that would otherwise qualify as actionable religious discrimination are accepted as legitimate, facially neutral national security law enforcement measures or protected political activity by private actors. The recasting serves as the basis for calls to deny Muslims of rights otherwise protected under the law. The shift in symbolism of the headscarf results in two notable outcomes. First and foremost, Muslim women continue to be objectified within a larger conflict of ideas between predominantly male decision makers. Heated national security debates about the emergence of “homegrown terrorism,” now code for domestic Muslim terrorists, focus primarily on persecuting or defending male suspects. Sparse attention is paid to the impact of the post-9/11 national security era on Muslim women, and specifically those that wear the headscarf. Irrespective of their place of origin or the color of their skin, the headscarf “marks” Muslim women as sympathetic to the enemy, presumptively disloyal to this country, and forever foreign. Second, any meaningful discourse surrounding a woman’s right to wear a headscarf in America cannot be disconnected from the racial subtext of the “Terrorist other” associated with the Muslim headscarf. Thus the label “Muslim” is both a religious and racial identifier. The shift in symbolism of the “veil” from subjugation to terrorism causes palpable discrimination against Muslim women. She now must worry about her and her families’ physical safety, her ability to obtain employment, and the government’s harsh prosecutorial tactics. That is in addition to the deprivation of her individual expressive and religious freedom rights.Accordingly, this essay examines the implications of the shift in symbolism interpretation of the Muslim head scarf in America from gender subjugation to terror(ism). Specifically, this essay argues that the Muslim woman is a casualty of the post-9/11 “war on terror” in ways different than Muslim men. She is trapped in the crosshairs of national security conflicts that profoundly affect her life but have yet to be adequately addressed by advocacy groups focused solely on defending Muslims, women’s rights, or civil liberties post-9/11.

THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION ON LABOR TURNOVER: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM TAIWAN

This paper investigates the effects of employment protection legislation on the rates of hiring, separation, worker flows, job reallocation, and churning flows for the case of Taiwan. Our empirical identification takes advantage of a reform created by Taiwan's enactment of Labor Standards Law, which has substantially increased the costs of firing, and the implementation of the law's enforcement measures. Moreover, our identification also exploits the fact that the stringency of the law's provisions and the intensity of the law's enforcement vary with establishment size. On the basis of the monthly data at the establishment level for the period 1983–1995, we find that Taiwan's Labor Standards Law and its enforcement measures have dampened labor turnover for medium‐sized and large establishments, while that of small establishments was not affected. (JEL J65, J63, J88)

Evaluating the Relationship Between Law Enforcement and School Security Measures and Violent Crime in Schools

School crime is a vital concern, not only for students and faculty, but for administrators, policy makers, criminal justice personnel, and concerned citizens. Efforts to reduce crime and violence at schools have led many schools to adopt preventative strategies aimed at reducing actual crime and fear of crime. These measures include partnering with local police departments and implementing school resource officers, installing video cameras and closed circuit television systems, utilizing weapon-detection systems (e.g., metal detectors), and blocking/restricting access to school facilities with entry-control devices (e.g., electronic key cards). Recognizing these efforts and the limitations of prior research investigating school crime and safety measures, the current study examined the relationship between law enforcement (public or private) and school security measures on the incidence of violence and serious violence in schools using a nationally representative sample. Several key findings emerged. In pa...

Determinants of Motor Vehicle Fatalities: A Kansas Case Study

This paper analyzes the determinants of motor vehicle fatalities in Kansas. The objectives of the study include the following: * Conduct a literature review of motor vehicle safety studies. * Formulate a theoretical model of the determinants of motor vehicle fatalities. * Estimate the statistical significance of the various determinants. * Compare the empirical results of the study to other recent state studies of motor vehicle fatalities. The unemployment rate had the expected inverse relationship to fatalities but was statistically significant in only two of seven estimated models. Alcohol consumption and the speed limit on rural interstate highways had the expected positive relationship to fatalities. Other variables that were statistically significant included Kansas seat belt law dummy, the proportion of young and old drivers to the rest of the Kansas population, and the ratio of rural to urban driving. The study measured the effect of three measures of highway safety law enforcement on fatalities: Kansas police per 10,000 population, Kansas police per 100 miles of road, and Kansas per capita expenditure for police protection. All three had the expected negative sign and were highly significant.

Using the fatal injury surveillance system and surveys to monitor motorcyclist deaths and helmet use in Cali (Colombia), 1996–2009

IntroductionIn Cali, motorcycles are an important means of transportation and an increasing cause of injuries. The purpose was to examine deaths among motorcyclists over the period 1993 to 2009 and...

Karamoja with the Rest of 'The Rest of Uganda'

The setting of abstract impossible goals turns the means by which these goals are to be achieved into ends (Illich 1973: 40). In a paper on development interventions in Karamoja, presented at a large conference on African pastoralism, the author draws attention to the tendency of focusing on 'technical' targets, defined in abstract, with little connection to the production systems and the societies of producers on the ground. Examples of this kind of 'system-blind' approach discussed in the paper include the prevention of bush burning in order to fight soil erosion, the construction of dams and valley-tanks in order to increase production, as well as initiatives for the control of animal disease, and for disarmament. In each case, the author examines the long-term effects of interventions showing how, once integrated into the actual (but ignored) context of production and social dynamics on the ground, the 'solution' in principle resulted in even bigger problems in practice. System-blind cessation of burning lowered the nutritional value of dry-season grazing, while favouring bush encroachment and the spreading of ticks and tsetse flies. System-blind water development resulted in large-scale soil erosion and the dramatic disappearance of perennial grasses, as well as social unrest as the stocking rates supported by the expansion of accessible dry-season rangelands at the periphery of Karamoja became unsustainable for the (unexpanded) central belt during the wet season. System-blind control of epizootics triggered even more unsustainable herd growth rates (as well as top-down destocking measures unmatched by existing marketing infrastructure). With droughts, crops failed as expected, but now in the areas where the annual grasses had replaced the perennials, exceptionally large stock numbers were left without fodder. As the introduction of dysfunctional relationships in the production and livelihood systems at the regional level triggered abnormal outbursts of violence, system-blind law-enforcement measures were focusing on disarmament and punishment, exacerbating and expanding, rather than reducing, the reasons that had triggered the increase in violence in the first place. That paper was published almost forty years ago (Baker 1975). In fact, Baker writes about development measures pursued in Uganda under the British administration including water development in Karamoja with dams and valley-tanks, a modernization idea from 1938, (1) the successful fight against the East Coast Fever, 'the great drought of the early 1950s' and those of 1961 and 1965-66 (ibid. 199), the outburst of raiding in the 1960s (740 recorded deaths in 1966 alone), and disarmament by ceding 'spears' (ibid. 190; 199). There is even mention of climate change (ibid. 196). Writing in the 1970s, Baker uses a language of 'balance' that was soon to be questioned, (2) but the main point to draw from his analysis is methodological: as the foundation and precondition to any development programme in the rangelands, it is necessary to understand the pastoral production system 'as a working model' (ibid. 201) rather than dismissing it in principle as what needs to be replaced. Remarkably, the same idea is now stated upfront in the Policy Framework for Pastoralism recently adopted by the African Union (AU): 'Many past attempts to support pastoral development failed to recognize the strengths of pastoralism' (AU 2010: 3). Read today, Baker's analysis begs the question of to what extent this legacy of system-blind pastoral development was embedded in relevant infrastructure, institutions, and expertise in Uganda, and therefore was inevitably transmitted to the regimes that followed independence and so continue to play a role in present-day development approaches regarding Karamoja. Policy interventions and strategies, especially resource management policies, have affected pastoral systems in Uganda for almost a century. …

Schätzung der Ausgaben der öffentlichen Hand durch den Konsum illegaler Drogen in Deutschland

A scientifically based overview of public expenditures related to illicit drugs was lacking for Germany. The aim of the present project is to carry out for the first time a comprehensive estimation of direct (labelled and non-labelled) expenditures of the government and the social insurance funds related to the use of illicit drugs in Germany for the year 2006. Depending on the respective financing bodies, different ways of data collection were required. Data on drug-related expenditure were searched in publically available budget documents and statistical reports; moreover written requests were sent to the relevant public authorities. Information on the expenditures of social insurance funds was collected through standardised questionnaires, which were sent to the Statutory Pension Insurance Scheme (Rentenversicherung Bund) and the 40 biggest statutory health insurance companies. The collected data were extrapolated for the total statutory health insurance. All in all, on the government side an amount of 3.7-4.6 billion Euro spent on the task of tackling illicit drugs (i. e., for prevention, intervention and law enforcement measures) was identified. The expenditures of the pension funds related to illegal drug use amount to 171.7 million Euro. For the statutory health insurances a total expenditure of 1.4 billion Euro was estimated. The aim of the project - a first estimation of the public expenditures concerning illicit drugs in Germany - has been achieved. Nevertheless, there remains some degree of uncertainty regarding the overall result because of the heterogeneous data quality. The approximation of the amount of public expenditures concerning illegal drug use still gives no information about adequate spending or actual benefits. However, it provides the indispensable basis for such an assessment and contributes to a more objective discussion.

Long-term environmental impact of coral mining at the Wakatobi marine park, Indonesia

Coral mining for use as construction material is a major cause of reef degradation in several coastal nations. We studied the long-term impact of coral mining at the Wakatobi marine park, Indonesia, where a substantial mining event was undertaken two decades ago in order to supply building material for a jetty. The mined area shows significant differences in reef viability compared to a control reef 1000 m away: the percentage of dead coral in the substrate, the percentage of live coral coverage, the species richness and abundance of hard corals are all greatly reduced. For the most part, soft corals and other (non-coral) invertebrates do not show significant differences in richness, abundance or diversity, but their species composition differs greatly: the control site abounds giant clams, whereas these are absent at the mined site; instead, the dominant species there is Strombus, an algae-grazing gastropod associated with stressed reefs. We conclude that the mined reef flat failed to recover from the severe mining event, despite being un-mined for over 20 years. Our results demonstrate that without effective management and enforcement, coral mining may cause a long-term, destructive impact on the coral reef ecosystem. We propose the following management steps: first, law enforcement measures must become more stringent; second, alternative income sources such as aquaculture, ecotourism, or even land-based alternatives need to be actively promoted and financed; third, alternative building materials such as landrock and concrete should become more accessible and affordable; and fourth, education and awareness regarding both the MPA regulations and the environmental impact of coral mining have to be strengthened.

The cocaine and heroin markets in the era of globalisation and drug reduction policies

Background Despite the large volume of public effort devoted to restrain drug supply and the growing attention given to drug demand reduction policies, the use of cocaine and heroin remains steady. Furthermore, retail drug prices have fallen significantly in Europe and the US. This puzzling evidence leads us to develop a model aiming at systematically analysing illicit drug markets. Methods We model the markets of cocaine and heroin from production to the final retail markets. One novelty of the analysis consists in characterising the retail market as a monopolistic competitive one. Then, upper level dealers have some market power in the retail market. This allows them to charge a markup and to earn extra profits. These extra profits attract newcomers so that profits tend to fall over time. Results Theoretical model was used to analyse the effect of supply containment policies on the retail market, the producer market and the export–import business. This introduces the discussion of the impact of demand reduction policies on the high level traffickers’ profit. Finally, globalisation enters in the model. Conclusions Law enforcement measures increase the risk premia received by the lower and higher level traffickers. Consequently, trafficking intermediation margins tend to increase. However, globalisation has the opposite effect. It lowers intermediation margins and, then, pushes retail prices down, thereby stimulating consumption. In doing so, globalisation offsets the effects of supply containment policies. Finally, we discuss how the effectiveness of supply containment policies can be enhanced by combining them with demand reduction policies.

Da privação da dignidade social à privação da liberdade individual

O presente artigo discute o modo como os adolescentes significam suas práticas de vida e se subjetivam a partir dos contextos da família, da justiça e da medida sócio-educativa de internação, em decorrência de ato infracional cometido. Intenta, assim, questionar a forma como a sociedade e as instituições envolvidas têm tratado a questão. Para tanto, foram realizadas entrevistas com adolescentes considerados autores de atos infracionais que cumpriam a medida de internação na cidade de Porto Alegre, e foi feita a leitura e analisados os conteúdos dos respectivos processos judiciais de execução.

The recent dramatic decline in road mortality in France: how drivers' attitudes towards road traffic safety changed between 2001 and 2004 in the GAZEL cohort

A very significant decline in the number of road casualties has been observed recently in France, concomitantly with a dramatic increase in law enforcement. The aim of this study was (i) to assess changes in attitudes about road traffic accident (RTA) prevention initiatives in France from 2001 to 2004 and (ii) to identify factors associated with an increase in positive attitudes towards RTA prevention initiatives. In 2001 and 2004, 9216 participants reported their attitudes towards traffic safety using the same self-administered Driving Behaviour and Road Safety Questionnaire. Sociodemographic, psychological and behavioural data were also available. The mean change in scores analysis showed that support for relaxing existing regulations decreased significantly during this period, while support for heightened enforcement and stricter regulations showed some decrease but remained high overall, especially concerning blood alcohol content and speed controls. Multivariate analyses suggest that highly educated drivers changed their attitudes towards road safety regulations more than other categories. Our results suggest that increased traffic law enforcement measures led to increasing support for current restrictions. Even if support for additional traffic law enforcement began to wane slightly in 2004, a large part of our population remained in favour of strengthening law enforcement related to speeding and drunk driving.

The Electronic Part Supply Chain and Risks of Counterfeit Parts in Defense Applications

The DoD is concerned about having trusted sources for manufacturing leading-edge new microchips. It is just as important, if not more so, to maintain high quality standards and traceability of all microchips, including legacy chips, which form the backbone of our fighting and defensive hardware in all the services. The business models for brokers are not compatible with the need for a trusted supply chain for national security applications. Not all brokers are unscrupulous or offer substandard or counterfeit parts. However, it is impossible for the DoD to make an a priori judgment of the parts bought through brokers. It is too risky to include brokers in the supply chain. Some recommendations follow to ensure that trusted supply chains are available for policy decisions of the DoD: 1) The DoD and DoD contractors must buy direct from manufacturers or authorized distributors only. 2) Rules need to be implemented that force the DKSP to only list manufacturers and distributors who exhibit proper authorizations and certifications. 3) Action must be taken to insure government agencies and contractors buy certified parts from certified suppliers for quality, traceability, and safety reasons. 4) All requirements must be removed that demand part purchases from small, disadvantaged businesses when they are not authorized by an original manufacturer. 5) All unauthorized brokers must be excluded from attending and marketing at government sponsored conferences. Following these policies will help in mitigating the risk on inclusion of counterfeit and other substandard parts in the national security systems at the system integrator level. To tackle the problem of counterfeiting at the sources, other parallel technical, legislative, law enforcement, and logistical measures need to be undertaken

Road accidents and rainfall in a large Australian city

We investigate the impact of rainfall on daily road accidents in the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Australia, over 1987–2002. Our analysis from several viewpoints of the accident count, which has been normalised for variation in traffic volume, indicated that the effect of rainfall is multifaceted. Owing to a large non-linear trend a subdivision into three epochs (1987–1991, 1992–1996 and 1997–2002) was made. Nominal daytime and nighttime as well as 3 h raw counts were available for the first two epochs only. Generally, the effect of rainfall across the epochs shows a tendency for larger values in autumn with smaller values in spring. For the daily, daytime and nighttime cases there is an approximate 40% decrease in both the volume-normalised dry and wet means from the first to second epoch. Since the second epoch is wetter than the first, and both dry and wet cases are affected in a similar way, then it appears that a non-weather influence is at work. It is suggested that law enforcement measures may be largely responsible. We obtained a conservative estimate of relative risk of an accident in wet conditions based on a matched-pair analysis of 3 h dry and wet periods over the first two epochs (1987–1996). As with other studies we find that the risk is greater than unity in almost all cases suggesting that the presence of rainfall consistently represents a driving hazard. Rainfall occurring after a dry spell has an enhanced effect on the volume-normalised accident count as the spell duration increases. The effect of dry spells is more clearly described when broken down by rain class. Generally, there is an increase in the impact of a dry spell when it first rains as the spell duration and rainfall amount increase.

FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE UNITS

Extracted from text ... An integral part of the fight against money laundering is to have access to financial information in order to assist in investigations. The primary goal of financial investigations is to identify, trace and document the movement of funds; to identify and locate assests that are subject to law enforcement measures; and to support the prosecution of criminal activity. Financial intelligence units (FIUs) have an increasingly important role to play in the international effort to detect and combat money laundering. They are defined as agencies that receive reports of suspicious transactions from financial institutions and other persons and entities, analyse them, ..

Law enforcement in the ocean

The combating of the present great variety of criminal activities occurring at sea mainly involves measures to be taken on land, in particular in ports.However, also actual enforcement at sea will continue to play an essential (complementary) role. This article surveys the rules of international law governing law enforcement measures at sea. These rules are complex, because distinctions have to be made between the various jurisdictional zones at sea and between the positions of the flag state, the coastal state and the port state. Traditionally, ships in the high seas (all sea areas beyond a narrow band of territorial sea) were under the exclusive jurisdiction of the flag state. In an increasing number of situations, the coastal state now has law enforcement authority over foreign ships in expanded areas up to 200 nautical miles offshore. But apart from these situations, flag state jurisdiction still prevails beyond the territorial sea. This makes effective law enforcement difficult. In practice, many obstacles can be overcome by making more effective use of the authority of the port state, and by concluding new international agreements providing for specific enforcement systems.

Evicting the undesirables. The idealism of public space and the materialism of the bourgeois State

In political as well as in scientific debates, the concept of “public space” is invoked by both supporters and critics of the eviction of undesirables (beggars, drug addicts, prostitutes) from urban spaces. Both sides use the concept as a codeword standing for opposing interests, both directed at the state. Drawing on Habermas’s conception of the “public sphere”, the paper argues that any such notion of “public space” is necessarily normative and does not help to explain the eviction of undesirables. Instead of this idealism, an analysis of the concrete processes and the interests that drive them is sought. This is done by examining the nature of regulating the access to urban spaces, the rhetoric of “zero tolerance” and the concrete measures of law enforcement applied in various cities in the US and Western Europe. These are shown to be means of the state to control the “reserve army” and thus part and parcel of global social processes.

INJURIES AND DEATHS FROM VEHICULAR ACCIDENTS IN CALABAR

Four thousand five hundred and sixty (4560) accident cases that were reported to the traffic section of the Nigerian Police in Calabar were studied. Of this number, 1051 23%) were fatal and post mortem examinations were carried out at the University of Calabar, Teaching Hospital (UCTH). Six hundred and eighty-Two (682) were males while 369 were female victims. Head injury and ruptured abdominal viscera were the commonest causes of death. Lack of good roads, indiscipline on the part of drivers/motorcycle riders and absence of good law enforcement measures by the relevant ities all combine to render vehicular movements unsafe. It is hoped that the reinvigoration of the Federal Road Safety Commission and the reactivation of the Marine police will help reduce vehicular accident-related deaths. (Global J Med Sci: 2002 1(1): 61-63)

The Legal Context of School Violence: The Effectiveness of Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement Efforts to Reduce Gun Violence in Schools

In the wake of recent school shootings, communities and legislatures are searching for law enforcement solutions to the perceived epidemic of school violence. A variety of legal measures have been debated and proposed. These include: the enactment of tougher gun control laws and more vigorous federal and local enforcement of existing gun control laws; the enactment of laws imposing civil or criminal liability on parents for their children’s violent behavior; the establishment of specialized courts and prosecution strategies for handling juveniles who are charged with weapons offenses; stricter enforcement of school disciplinary codes; reform of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to make it easier to expel students for weapons violations; and greater use of alternative schools as placements for students who are charged with weapons violations. This article provides a legal and empirical analysis of proposed legislation in these areas as informed by social science research on the patterns of school violence, gun acquisition by juveniles, and the effectiveness of various laws and law enforcement measures. It proposes and discusses recommendations for legal reform. While efforts to reduce school violence will be most effective at the state and local levels, the United States federal government has an important role to play, particularly in federal‐state partnerships aimed at disrupting illegal gun markets, and through the formulation of national standards and guidelines. These standards and guidelines are for the enforcement of existing laws; inter‐agency law enforcement cooperation and information‐sharing (particularly using computer‐based analysis); effective school discipline and alternative educational settings for disruptive youth; and psycho‐educational interventions designed to detect and prevent school violence in the first place.

Domestic Implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Pursuant to its article 2 para. 2

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 (ICCPR) contains a comprehensive catalogue of civil and political rights which the States parties pursuant to its article 2 para. 1 have accepted to respect and to ensure. This article elaborates on the requirements for implementing the Covenant and addresses questions as to when and to what extent the Covenant requires a particular act of implementation. A dominant issue is whether it creates only duties of result, as the duty to refrain from human rights violations, or also duties of conduct, as the enactment of specific safeguards against violations. An analysis of the relevant jurisprudence shows that the Human Rights Committee over the years has specified and elaborated a variety of the means to be adopted by the States parties to the ICCPR, such as law enforcement measures, institutional and procedural safeguards, monitoring and control mechanisms, contextual measures, and the provision of information and education. With these obligations of conduct the leeway given to States parties regarding the choice of implementation measures has been reduced gradually.