Suchergebnisse

This paper is the result of the study Apreensões de drogas no estado de São Paulo: Um raio-x das apreensões de drogas segundo ocorrências e massa [Drug Seizures in the State of São Paulo: An In-Depth View of Drug Seizures Broken Down by Number of Incidents and Drug Amounts], conducted by Instituto Sou da Paz to encourage a discussion about Brazil's drug policy. The study focuses on drug incidents in the state of São Paulo, the richest and most populous in Brazil, which accounts for 28% of all drug incidents in the country. São Paulo is also the state with the largest police force—about 100,000 policiais militares [ostensible police officers] and 30,000 policiais civis [investigative police officers]. São Paulo law enforcement seized over 100 MT [metric tons] of drugs in the state in 2015. In 2016, drug seizures totaled over 160 MT.1 Data on drug seizures in Brazil are still scarce. It is crucial to have those data to assess the performance of the institutions comprising the criminal justice system as far as drugs are concerned. Based on statistical resources, we found that a large number of drug incidents involve small amounts of drugs, whereas large seizures account for a significant share of the total amount of drugs seized. By comparing those data, we show police resources are largely used in incidents that have no impact on the drug trafficking chain and in which only drug users and small drug dealers are charged.

This article considers the key contributions Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) has made to our understanding of victimisation, contending that while CTS has greatly expanded our knowledge in certain areas, it has hitherto failed to adequately engage with victims and survivors of terrorist attacks. It argues that CTS has the capacity to afford greater space to marginalised survivor narratives and representations of victimhood which are often used to justify prevailing responses to terrorist violence. Finally, it suggests that this represents an important juncture for CTS to reflect upon the issue of vulnerability in its pursuit of more progressive policy agendas.

This article considers the policing of protests against "fracking" at Barton Moss, Salford, Greater Manchester between November 2013 and April 2014. The article seeks to make sense of the policing response to the protest camp established at the Barton Moss site and to consider what the policing of anti-fracking protests reveals about state responses to resistance in the current era. The article begins by sketching out the background to fracking in the UK and to the specific protest at Barton Moss. It then provides some detail about the nature of policing experienced at the camp during its five month operation before considering how the policing of anti-fracking protests – and protest policing more generally – need to be considered in relation to the general function of police . To do this we draw upon the concept of pacification to consider both the destructive and productive effects of the exercise of police power and suggest that this concept, and the reorientation of critical policing studies that it demands, are essential for understanding police and state violence in the contemporary liberal democracy.

Background: The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has been adopted by national governments to advance the interests and wellbeing of people with psychosocial disabilities (PPSD). It is often assumed that the adoption of a 'rights' framework will advance the dignity and autonomy of PPSD. However, little is known about how families and communities understand 'rights'. The present paper, based on research conducted in Santiago, Chile, takes a contextual approach to rights, asking: How do family carers of PPSD understand and use the idea of 'rights'? How does the context of caregiving shape families' understanding of rights? Methods: Four focus groups were conducted with a total of 25 family carers (predominantly mothers) of people diagnosed with schizophrenia and other severe neuropsychiatric conditions. Thematic analysis was conducted. Results: Carers' experience of caregiving was marked by isolation, stigmatization, a lack of support and mistreatment by public services. Their family networks did not provide sustained help and support, and the public services they had used were characterized by scarce resources and inadequate support. Carers did not refer to rights of dignity or autonomy. Given an unsupportive context, and worries about who would care for their child after the carer's death, their primary interest in 'rights' was a right to guaranteed, long-term care. While carers endorsed the idea of universal, state-supported rights, appeals to compassion and the exchange of favours were spoken of as the most effective strategies for gaining a minimum level of services and support. Conclusions: Carers' understandings, framed against a background of unmet needs and shaped by a history of interactions with unsatisfactory services and institutions, do not resonate with the principles of the CRPD. We suggest an expanded, relational struggle for rights that acknowledges the critical and contextually defined role of families.

Safety in aviation has often been compared with safety in healthcare. Following a recent article in this journal, the UK government set up an Independent Patient Safety Investigation Service, to emulate a similar well-established body in aviation. On the basis of a detailed review of relevant publications that examine patient safety in the context of aviation practice, we have drawn up a table of comparative features and a conceptual framework for patient safety. Convergence and divergence of safety-related behaviours across aviation and healthcare were derived and documented. Key safety-related domains that emerged included Checklists, Training, Crew Resource Management, Sterile Cockpit, Investigation and Reporting of Incidents and Organisational Culture. We conclude that whilst healthcare has much to learn from aviation in certain key domains, the transfer of lessons from aviation to healthcare needs to be nuanced, with the specific characteristics and needs of healthcare borne in mind. On the basis of this review, it is recommended that healthcare should emulate aviation in its resourcing of staff who specialise in human factors and related psychological aspects of patient safety and staff wellbeing. Professional and post-qualification staff training could specifically include Cognitive Bias Avoidance Training, as this appears to play a key part in many errors relating to patient safety and staff wellbeing.

If there are any charitable, philanthropic, or welfare-state activities in the de-facto states of insurgent armies, they are generally interpreted in terms of utilitarian motives and the self-legitimation of military elites and their business associates. However, development and philanthropy in the Wa State of Myanmar have more extensive purposes. We argue that a framing of care rather than of governance allows for ethnographic attention to emerging social relations and subject positions – "our people", "the vulnerable", and "the poor". In this article we describe "communities of care" by analysing public donations, development assistance and independent philanthropy in the Wa State as categories of care that each follow a different moral logic, respond to different needs, and connect different actors and recipients. Zooming in on the ways in which communities of care re-produce moral subjectivities and political authority allows a re-imagining of everyday politics in the de-facto states of armed groups, no longer wedded to notions of control, legitimacy, and "rebel governance".

The new prominence of ordinary voice in crime journalism – claims to have seen things, experienced things, felt things 'first-hand' – has the potential to decenter elite perspectives and open up crime news narratives to the voices of systemically criminalized subjects. However, I argue in this paper that the political potential of ordinary voice can only be realized in and through concrete instances of its use, and so needs to be examined within news texts as sites of micro-political struggle over meaning. Looking at Australian current affairs television coverage of so-called 'African gang' crime in Melbourne, this paper approaches crime news texts as sites of vulnerability politics, where different and sometimes competing claims to vulnerability encounter one another and struggle for public recognition. A close multi-modal analysis of three episodes of current affairs television uncovers four specific strategies of textual composition and presentation by which the criminalization of Black African youth is able to persist despite the testimonial interventions of the criminalized: appropriation, marginalization, subjugation and calculation. The paper concludes by considering the implications of this analysis for future studies of ordinary voice and citizen testimony in news reporting.

Introduction: Long-term care (LTC) is organized in a fragmented manner. Payer agencies (PA) receive LTC funds from the agency collecting funds, and commission services. Yet, distributional equity (DE) across PAs, a precondition to geographical equity of access to LTC, has received limited attention. We conceptualize that LTC systems promote DE when they are designed to set eligibility criteria nationally (vs. locally); and to distribute funds among PAs based on needs-formula (vs. past-budgets or government decisions). Objectives: This cross-country study highlights to what extent different LTC systems are designed to promote DE across PAs, and the parameters used in allocation formulae. Methods: Qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire filled by experts from 17 OECD countries. Results: 11 out of 25 LTC systems analyzed, fully meet DE as we defined. 5 systems which give high autonomy to PAs have designs with low levels of DE; while nine systems partially promote DE. Allocation formulae vary in their complexity as some systems use simple demographic parameters while others apply socio-economic status, disability, and LTC cost variations. Discussion and conclusions: A minority of LTC systems fully meet DE, which is only one of the criteria in allocation of LTC resources. Some systems prefer local priority-setting and governance over DE. Countries that value DE should harmonize the eligibility criteria at the national level and allocate funds according to needs across regions.

Criminal computer data legislation in Ireland dates to 1991, however its next iteration was not until 2017. Its implementation is still in its infancy and needs an effective, consistent constitutional framework to ensure accountability and action. Irish legislation is important for monitoring 30% of EU data, but is limited in its belated modernisation. Therefore, it is important for personal, criminal, and national security defining cybercrime legislation to review current Irish legislation of technology related crimes. Statistics alone cannot interpret legislative efficacy, and therefore qualitative understanding the experiences of digital security practitioners whose professions are directed by relevant legislation could produce beneficial insights. This research analysed interviews with seventeen digital security experts about their professional experiences and opinions relating to cybercrime legislation. Primary emergent themes were identified as: Awareness and prioritisation, jurisdiction and reporting limits, technological advances and the legislative sprawl of dealing with cybercrime today. This research contributes to Irish legal understandings of cybercrime regulation and technology use today, and suggests how to address legislative developments in the future, based on the experiences of an expert security panel.

The debate about the prohibition of drugs has taken a fundamental turn with the publication of 'Regulation: The Responsible Control of Drugs' by the Global Commission on Drug Policy. This edition of the journal publishes papers addressing how to regulate drugs, which informed the Global Commission report. These papers shift the discussion from what must be done, i.e. end prohibition, to how regulation can be implemented. These papers shift the discourse from a 'drugs are the problem' paradigm to 'management of drugs is the problem'. Implications of regulation means: • accepting that people should have controlled access, within a public health framework, to a range of psychoactive substances for non-medical use purposes • highlighting of the incoherence of substance use management policy and regulation between legal and illegal substances • blurring the dichotomy concept of medical and non-medical use • supporting rigorous monitoring, evaluation, and research Consideration of implementing public interest–based regulated drug markets is gaining traction. This will not be without challenges, including pressure from profit-driven interests to weaken the public health orientation. Governments can be capable and competent when provided with technical support to regulate risky products, so should move from rigid adherence to the failed drug prohibition policy to regulation based on public health and human rights principles. This will help refocus on achieving the fundamental aim of the UN drug treaties – promotion of the health and welfare of humankind.

A citizens' initiative was launched in 2016 in the Swiss canton of Basel-Stadt, demanding that the rights catalogue in the Cantonal Constitution be complemented by a fundamental right to life and a right to bodily and mental integrity for non-human primates. This initiative became the subject of a three-year legal dispute that ended with a decision of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in September 2020, ruling that the initiative is legally valid and must be put to the people for a vote. This case note discusses the key developments in the dispute, including the groundbreaking decision by the Constitutional Court of Basel-Stadt, which held that cantons are free to 'expand the circle of rights holders beyond the anthropological barrier'. The authors, who were involved in the drafting of the initiative and acted as legal advisers in the judicial proceedings, offer first-hand insights into legal strategies and shed light on the importance of the case in the context of the ongoing efforts to secure rights for primates around the world.

Although an object of increasing interest, researching illegal activities generates a range of methodological challenges for political scientists. Rather than an exhaustive discussion, this article provides a simple framework that structures these challenges. It highlights that illegality is an insufficient guide to method development and needs to be supplemented by an analysis of three dimensions in addition to legality: enforcement, normalization, and ethics. The article explains that beyond providing insight into the feasibility and challenges of different methodologies, examining these dimensions also directly points researchers to key political science questions about illegal activities.

The incentive for international agencies to promote 'local' peacebuilding is commonly premised on the hope that micro-level interventions can nourish grassroots activism and participatory citizenship. Tracing reconciliation processes across Iraq following the defeat of ISIL provides a window through which to view the transactional relationships between 'national' and 'local' forms of politics, conflict and peace in post-Ba'athist Iraq. This paper focuses on the example of Yathrib, Salah al-Din Province, where over ninety per cent of residents were displaced in 2014, and an estimated eighty-five per cent subsequently returned following peace negotiations. The paper uses qualitative interview findings to demonstrate on the one hand that seemingly 'local' tribal solutions are built into national-level 'peace strategies', while on the other, state capture and power politics is infused into the management of apparently parochial disputes. While these observations are not an indictment of international efforts to intervene at the subnational level, they serve to thoroughly 'de-romanticise' the local.

By 2019, a record high of 79.5 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, and human rights violations (UNHCR 2020a: 2). In the decade leading up to this only a fraction of this number were able to 'return' or find a 'durable solution'. Multiple waves of displacement are common, and 'return' often involves far more complicated arrangements than the term suggests. Yet if 'return', as a one-directional durable solution is increasingly rare, the need to understand it in difficult and dynamic contexts of precarity and multi-directional mobility, is all the more urgent. This introductory essay reflects on what studies of return can tell us about the 'life cycle' of conflict and displacement dynamics in war-affected Central and East Africa, with particular focus on Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda. 'Return' and the 'returnee' category is broad and includes former combatants, especially those involved in non-state armed groups. We survey the historical and conceptual background of 'return' and its growing prominence in international policy before introducing four areas in which the articles in this special issue contribute to our understanding of internally displaced person, refugee and combatant return dynamics: conceptualizations of home and mobilities; everyday negotiation of belonging; the relationship between return and 'cycles of violence'; and finally, the ways in which return shapes and re-shapes governance and public authority across settings.

What do you do when faced with wrongdoing – do you blame or do you forgive? Especially when confronted with offenses that lie on the more severe end of the spectrum and cause terrible psychological or physical trauma or death, nothing can feel more natural than blame. Indeed, in the UK and the US, increasingly vehement and righteous public expressions of blame and calls for vengeance have become commonplace; correspondingly, contemporary penal philosophy has witnessed a resurgence of the retributive tradition, in the modern form usually known as the 'justice' model. On the other hand, people can and routinely do forgive others, even in cases of severe crime. Evolutionary psychologists argue that both vengeance and forgiveness are universal human adaptations that have evolved as alternative responses to exploitation, and, crucially, strategies for reducing risk of re-offending. We are naturally endowed with both capacities: to blame and retaliate, or to forgive and seek to repair relations. Which should we choose? Drawing on evolutionary psychology, we offer an account of forgiveness and argue that the choice to blame, and not to forgive, is instrumentally counter-productive to reducing the risk of future re-offending and inconsistent with the political values of a liberal society. We then sketch the shape of penal philosophy and criminal justice policy and practice with forgiveness in place as a guiding ideal.