Wrong Doing Research Articles

Replication Talk Costs Lives: Why are Economists so Concerned About the Reputational Effects of Replications?

Michael Clemens' recent working paper The Meaning of Failed Replications: A Review and Proposal echoes concerns expressed by some replicatees and economists more generally about the potentially damaging effects of a claim of replication on reputations (or similar concerns in social psychology. I disagree with Clemens' core argument that replication should be distinguished from robustness testing in part because a replication bears implications of error or wrong doing or some other deficiency of the replicatees, while robustness testing (and extension) are practices that reflect legitimate disagreements among competent professionals. I draw attention to arguments made elsewhere that economists are so concerned about failed replications because the status of their profession as a science will be damaged by exposure of the fragility of much applied economics, even though the fuller definition of replication corresponds better with the practices of (hard) sciences.

Trade Interference or Good Environmental Stewardship: The Case of Gibson Guitar and the Lacey Act

The Gibson Guitar Corporation based in Tennessee was raided by federal agents twice for importing prohibited wood products. The raids, especially the second, attracted much public attention and have even led for calls from some members of Congress for a change. The case examines the Lacey Act, the allegations of wrong doing, and the question trade and domestic job creation at the expense of environmental stewardship.
 JEL Classifications Code: F18

The causal cognition of wrong doing: incest, intentionality, and morality.

The paper concerns the role of intentionality in reasoning about wrong doing. Anthropologists have claimed that, in certain non-Western societies, people ignore whether an act of wrong doing is committed intentionally or accidentally. To examine this proposition, we look at the case of Madagascar. We start by analyzing how Malagasy people respond to incest, and we find that in this case they do not seem to take intentionality into account: catastrophic consequences follow even if those who commit incest are not aware that they are related as kin; punishment befalls on innocent people; and the whole community is responsible for repairing the damage. However, by looking at how people reason about other types of wrong doing, we show that the role of intentionality is well understood, and that in fact this is so even in the case of incest. We therefore argue that, when people contemplate incest and its consequences, they simultaneously consider two quite different issues: the issue of intentionality and blame, and the much more troubling and dumbfounding issue of what society would be like if incest were to be permitted. This entails such a fundamental attack on kinship and on the very basis of society that issues of intentionality and blame become irrelevant. Using the insights we derive from this Malagasy case study, we re-examine the results of Haidt’s psychological experiment on moral dumbfoundedness, which uses a story about incest between siblings as one of its test scenarios. We suggest that the dumbfoundedness that was documented among North American students may be explained by the same kind of complexity that we found in Madagascar. In light of this, we discuss the methodological limitations of experimental protocols, which are unable to grasp multiple levels of response. We also note the limitations of anthropological methods and the benefits of closer cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Areas of Proof in a Discharge Case

A discharge case involves two areas of proof; a) proof of wrong doing on the part of the grievor, and b) an evaluation of the punishment in relations to the infraction. In this case, there was cause for discipline but not for the extreme penalty of dismissal. Exerpt from an award in a dispute between Dominion Engineering Works Ltd and Lodge 1660, The International Association of Machinists. H. D. Woods, President; J. R. Cardin, Union nominee; H. McD. Sparks, Company nominee. Revue Légale, octobre 1960, pp. 474-485.

Education in nonviolence: Levinas' Talmudic readings and the study of sacred texts

The essay offers a Jewish account of education in nonviolence by examining the first of Emmanuel Levinas' Talmudic readings ‘Toward the Other.’ I begin by exploring Levinas' unique philosophy of religious education, which nurtures responsibility for the other, as part of an alternative to enlightenment-orientated modern Jewish thought pioneered by the likes of Gershom Scholem, Martin Buber, and Franz Rosenzweig. I then consider a question raised by Yusef Waghid and Zehavit Gross at the 2012 meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain in Oxford concerning whether one must forget in order to forgive great wrong doing such as South African Apartheid or the Holocaust of European Jewry. Through an examination of Levinas' treatment of several Talmudic passages, I argue that the Jewish tradition takes a paradoxical approach to this question. We should forget in order to remember wrong doing. The spiritual process that both perpetrators and victims must undergo in order to embrace this paradox, I contend, is a genuine education in nonviolence.

A different approach to information management by exceptions (toward the prevention of another Enron)

We review the fall of Enron and other bankruptcies from the perspective of information management by exceptions (MBE) for insights into how to prevent another collapse. We entertain the idea that a group of special employees in an institution such as Enron can be analogously equated to a malignant tumor in human body, which can grow abnormally to bring the institution to collapse. Following this general analogy, we examine the biological spectrum for insights into a business framework for an MBE in the wrong doing detection. Such a model can be used to insure the institution's stability, growth and therefore profitability.

Image Repair: Analysis of President Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s Rhetoric Following Sanctions on Zimbabwe

This paper analyzes the image repair rhetoric used in Zimbabwean President Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s speeches against sanctions. It focuses on part of his speeches at international forums (2002 to 2007) in his capacity as the president of Zimbabwe. The analysis relies on Benoit’s image restoration theory as a methodological impetus. It is concluded in this paper that Mugabe mostly uses attack the accuser rhetoric to repair his image following accusations of misgovernance and the political sanctions by USA, Australia and the European Union on Zimbabwe. President Mugabe mainly focuses his attack on Tony Blair and George W. Bush whom he accuses of being the chief architects of the sanctions on Zimbabwe. Attack the accuser rhetoric is used to counter the accusations proffered by President Mugabe’s accusers to justify the existence of sanctions. There is also the use of denial of wrong doing, expression of good intentions and offer of corrective action in the speeches. In addition, President Mugabe questions the sincerity of his accusers as champions of democracy themselves. This study concludes that Mugabe, using image repair rhetoric as a strategy, is successful in denying wrong doing and in attacking his accusers. It is also concluded that the rhetoric strategy is a vital persuasive device seen in the manner in which Mugabe’s speeches managed to compel the African Union to maintain its support for the Zimbabwean government.

Prosecution of Corrupt Officials in Light of Single Directive

The impact of this culture of impunity has been twofold. Firstly, it has promoted a climate which is conducive to violations of human rights of citizens, because the security force personnel or public servants are not deterred from wrong doing, safe in knowledge that sanction to prosecute them will not ordinarily be given. Secondly, it has undermined the rule of law and damaged the democratic fabric of society. The basis of this culture is the inequality in the application of laws. Though the government cites very laudable objective behind Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the fact remains that this provision of law has been used more to protect corrupt than to shield honest public servants. There is a definite need to earnestly review the entire working of the law relating to grant of sanction to prosecute. The review may include the possibility of discarding the provision altogether from the statute book, as the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 attempted to do.

When Do Politicians Lie?

Abstract When do politicians lie? A politician who admits to wrongdoing will likely suffer some loss of popularity, but probably not as great as if he denied wrong doing and was subsequently discovered to have lied. This simple observation has a number of implications. For example, a politician in a marginal seat may have little choice but to risk lying as admitting will lose him too much popularity to survive. On the other hand, a politician in a relatively safe seat might survive the loss from admitting, but not from lying and being caught. Therefore we might predict the likelihood that a politician admits to a scandal to be positively related (over some range at least) to the security of his seat. This paper tests this prediction, and some others, with data from House bank scandal of 1991-92.

Psychological and Religious Understanding of Wrong Doing in African Perspective

For an African the word sin does exist as wrong doing, shame, evil person, malice, sorcerer, witch, wizard, unkind person. Sin as understood in Christianity is different from African perspective. Traditionally adultery is different from Christian understanding of the same. A woman caught in bed with her brother in law in some African communities it is not regarded as wrong doing because traditionally that is her husband. The research has found out that, in our world, the appalling depth and extent of human suffering is evident and very much experienced. Evil and suffering are not just philosophical and theological aspects of human existence but is a personal problem that every human person experiences. There are occurrences in nature, for example, catastrophes, floods, earthquakes, which cause harm, misery and suffering to human persons. Human beings suffer from sickness, blindness, physical handicaps, which are very often accompanied by physical pain. The researcher has found out that every sensible human being questions why this should happen to humanity and individuals. The problem is even more crucial in Africa where we have rampart wars like in Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and so many other places. We are left asking the question: Why all this suffering in the world? How did it all begin? How can we be free from it? In this research we have looked at the concept of evil, evil and community, evil and God, moral culpability, consequences of evil, evil and covenant, evil and salvation in African perspective. For Africans punishment for evil is here and now not like in Christianity where we postpone punishment to the next life. Africans belief evil recoils. What goes around comes around. If you do evil it comes back to you. Leaders whose leadership is characterized by dictatorship, Genocide, threats, dehumanization among others die miserably. Simply said evil recoils. You cannot do evil and get away with it.

Ethical and legal issues in aesthetic surgery

Rapid growth and expansion of plastic surgery in general and aesthetic surgery in particular in the past decade has brought in its wake some confusions particularly raising questions for the surgeons conduct towards his colleagues and the patients in the light of ethical requirements. Some thoughts from eminent thinkers form a backdrop to consideration of theories of medical ethics. In this article raging and continuous debates on these subjects have been avoided to maintain the momentum. Apart from the western thoughts, directions from our old scriptures on ethical conduct have been included to accommodate prevelant Indian practices. The confusion created by specialists advertising their abilities directly to the lay public following removal of ethical bars by the American Courts as also latitudes allowed by the General Medical Council of Great Britain have been discussed. The medical fraternity however has its reservations. Unnecessary skirmishes with the law arose in cosmetic surgery from the freedom exercised by the police to file criminal proceedings against attending doctors in the event of a patient's death with or without any evidence of wrong doing. This has now been curtailed in the judgement of the Supreme Court of India[1] where norms have been laid down for such prosecution. This has helped doctors to function without fear of harassment. An effort has been made to state a simple day-to-day routine for an ethical doctor-patient relationship.

Correlates of Perceived Care Comfort with an EMS Professional Having a Legal Conviction

The first objective was to examine the outcome of how comfortable a potential EMS-caller would be receiving care from an out-of-hospital-care EMS professional who might have a legal conviction. A second objective was to test for correlates that would explain this outcome. In the autumn of 2010, a structured phone survey was conducted. To maximize geographical representation across the contiguous United States, a clustered, stratified sampling strategy was used based upon US Postal Service zip codes. Of the 2,443 phone calls made, 1,051 (43%) full survey responses were obtained. Data cleaning efforts reduced the total to 929 in the final model regression analysis. Results revealed significant public discomfort in receiving care from EMS professionals who may have such a conviction. In addition, respondents who are less educated and older more strongly (1) agree that EMS professionals should have their licenses revoked for wrong doing; (2) agree EMS professionals should be screened before being hired; (3) perceive EMS credentials to be important; (4) support a lawsuit for improper care; and (5) are collectively less comfortable with being cared for by an EMS professional who may have a legal conviction. Reliable scales were found for future research use. There is significant public discomfort in receiving care from EMS professionals who may have a legal conviction. The results of this study provide increased impetus for the careful screening of EMS professionals before they are hired or allowed to be volunteers. Beyond this due diligence, the results serve as a reminder for increased EMS provider awareness of the importance of exhibiting professionalism when dealing with the public.

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses: When They Help, When They Hurt

The current studies examine the effects of excuses on reactions to misbehavior. We argue that excuses may have differential effects on observers’ perceptions of a wrong doing, depending on the exte...

Anticipated feelings of guilt and shame as predictors of early adolescents' antisocial and prosocial interpersonal behaviour

The primary aim of this study was to examine how early adolescents' anticipated guilt and shame before adults in response to wrong doing are related to each other and to their antisocial and prosocial behaviour. Measures of anticipated guilt and shame before adults were obtained from 363 10- to 13-year-old participants. Correlational analyses were used to relate participants' anticipated guilt and shame before adults to their teacher-reported aggressive behaviour, to a peer-report-based measure of antisocial behaviour that combined nomination-based measures of bullying, aggression, and unempathic behaviour, and to a peer-report-based measure of prosocial behaviour that combined nomination-based measures of helping victims of bullying and of empathic behaviour. For exploratory reasons, anticipated guilt and shame before adults were also related to a peer-nomination-based measure of participants' outsider behaviour, that is their tendency to actively avoid all involvement in bullying. Results indicated that there was a considerable positive relation between anticipated guilt and shame before adults and that both types of anticipated affective responses were negatively related to antisocial behaviour and positively to prosocial and outsider behaviour. However, when guilt and shame before adults were controlled for each other using regression analyses, only guilt was positively related to prosocial behaviour and only shame before adults was negatively related to antisocial behaviour and positively to outsider behaviour. The findings concerning anticipated guilt are interpreted as being in line with previous theoretical and empirical accounts that depict guilt as an empathy-based response that helps the individual both to inhibit antisocial behaviour and to maintain important interpersonal relationships. The findings concerning shame before adults are interpreted as suggesting that anticipated shame before an audience that values the individual's adherence to moral norms primarily serves to inhibit antisocial behaviour.

Your right to blow the whistle

The NHS Constitution has now enshrined within it a number of pledges concerning whistle blowing. This comes as a result of a recent Department of Health (DH) public consultation concerning the Constitution and whistle blowing (DH, 2011). Changes to the Constitution will add an expectation that staff should raise concerns at the earliest opportunity. It also pledges that NHS organizations should support staff by ensuring their concerns are fully investigated and that there is someone independent, outside of their team, to speak to. It will aim to add clarity around the existing legal right for staff to raise concerns about safety, malpractice or other wrong doing without suffering any detriment.

Tafsir of the Holy Qur'An: Ch. 2, Verses 62-71

In these verses the good deeds of all the people are assured of award with the precondition of faith in God and the Last Day. This faith cannot come without a Prophet or a Messenger of Allah. From Hadrat Adam to Hadrat rat Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon all of them) said the same thing. After finality of the Prophethood, the whole truth has been preserved in the last book the Holy Qur'an which is the touchstone for every excellence.Another important principle given in these verses is that God Almighty has always been kind and merciful to mankind and his door to forgive and pardon is open till the last breath. It is the man himself who deprives himself of the lot by his own arrogance, pride or insistence on wrong doing, on oppression, transgression and arrogance.Unity, faith and discipline among a people for a good cause never goes unaccepted and the Divine help reaches unexpectedly.

Right to Information, Development and Media

With the enactment of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the citizens as well as the media have been armed with a law in the country which compels the bureaucracy to disclose the necessary information, since, the bureaucracy hides the important aspects of the administrative information depriving the citizens the right to know. Further, the decision making process to implement the developmental schemes is kept in the dark by the government, and the common man can receive the developmental information only when it is revealed by the government or bureaucracy. Moreover, the press is expected to make the citizens well-informed, the freedom of the press that it enjoins makes it obligatory to be socially responsible. In this context, the present essay discusses the responsibility of the media in using the Right to Information act to accelerate the processes of development by exposing the wrong doing by the bureaucracy or the government by making the latter accountable to the people.

Are Migratory Birds Extending Environmental Criminal Liability

Environmental statutes frequently include criminal provisions as a means of enforcing their regulations. However, these provisions often include little if no mens rea requirement. As with any form of criminal liability that approaches strict liability, courts must therefore somehow insure that convictions satisfy constitutional due process concerns. During the last century, and accompanying the rise of regulatory statutes, the court developed the public welfare doctrine as a method of justifying the lack of a mens rea requirement for certain types of crimes. These crimes, known as public welfare offenses, involve regulations so potentially dangerous to public health and safety that the court was willing to presume that the allegedly criminal actor had knowledge of his wrong doing, thus satisfying due process. United States v. Apollo Energies, Inc.’s, interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, demonstrates another justification for a lack of a mens rea requirement. However, for a criminal offense that did not fall under the coverage of the public welfare doctrine: an offense that does not affect the public health, and which features a causation element. To satisfy due process, the Tenth Circuit borrows several elements embedded in the public welfare doctrine: foreseeability of regulation and foreseeability of harm. The use of these elements, and the Tenth Circuit’s willingness to apply them outside of the public welfare setting, illuminates when courts might find liability for future environmental regulatory crimes.

Necessary Evil: Justification, Excuse or Pardon?

The problem of necessary evil is a sub-class of the problem of moral dilemmas. In cases of genuine moral dilemmas the agent cannot avoid doing evil whatever he does. In some cases of genuine moral dilemmas, the options facing the agent are incommensurable. But in some other cases of genuine moral dilemmas, though wrong doing is inescapable, there is a rationally best course of action. These are cases of necessary evil. There are several views regarding the doing of necessary evil. On the closure view it is never necessary to do what is evil. This is the view of some utilitarians and of Kant. Then there are people who believe that it is sometimes necessary to do evil. Of these some (like John Gardner) believe that evil in such cases is justified even though it remains an evil; while there are others (like Gandhi) who believe that evil in such cases can never be justified but it can at best be excused or pardoned. Some even think that in some extreme cases the individual who does evil (even if it is the lesser evil) should be punished even though the individual could not avoid doing evil whatever he chose. The paper stresses the significance of the distinction between justified wrong doing, pardonable wrong doing, and excusable wrong doing.

Pulling the heartstrings, arguing the case: a narrative response to the issue of moral agency in moral distress

In this paper it is argued that moral distress is an emotional response to an ethical dilemma, and that to date, the literature has largely failed to address the fundamental...