Determining the Vulnerability Factors, Lures and Recruitment Methods used to Entrap American Children into Sex Trafficking

This article aims at gaining insight into the lives of human trafficking victims in the United States and, more specifically, female domestic minor victims of sex trafficking. Understanding how family dynamics and the breakdown of the American family have created vulnerabilities in victims to being lured into the life of domestic minor sex trafficking in America is an important research study. 

Through the historical case study research here, survivors Stories and tragedies will come to life. In this study, an examination was made to understand what particular lure became effectively used to exploit the child through sex trafficking and what tactics or recruitment methods traffickers used, as well as the pimp characteristics that led to trust in the trafficker. Prior exposure to poverty, abuse in the home, exposure to drugs and alcohol, and basic needs for love and affection, food, clothing, shelter and security are all contributing factors to susceptibility, the very vulnerabilities that become preyed upon by human traffickers.

Markets in the Light of Political-Economic Actors and Democracy Reconsidering Conceptual Framework for Sustainability Politics

The conceptual framework of neoclassical economics has been quite stable over the years while present challenges point in the direction of a need for new thinking and a new conceptual framework. Neoclassical economics is more or less blind to equality issues and not enough to deal constructively with present unsustainable trends. I will suggest important elements of such a new conceptual framework as part of a pluralistic understanding of economics.

When compared with neoclassical economics, the political dimension is emphasized thus making democracy a fundamental principle for relationships in markets and in society at large. A political economics is suggested where individuals are understood as political economic persons and organizations as political economic organizations. This leads to a different understanding of markets from that of neoclassical supply and demand. The ethics and responsibilities of market actors in a democratic society is considered relevant and something to be investigated for purposes of sustainability politics. 

Parents or Peer Group: Factors shaping the Identities of the Young Adolescents

Sociologists have been probing the influence of parents and peer groups on young adolescents for ages. While the parents play a crucial role in meeting the basic needs along with education and healthcare, peer groups provide the necessary emotional support in sharing their views and interests and acts as stress busters. When probed whether parental support or the peer group influence that shape the personalities of the young adolescents, a significant co-relation between the parental bond and attachment rather than the peer group pressure that shapes the mental and behavioral frames of the young adolescents.

Download PDF

SWAT Operations and Deadly Force: A Comparison of National Data with the Dorner Case

This study examines the case of ex-Los Angeles Police officer Christopher Dorner comparing it with national data on Special Weapons and Tactic (SWAT) operations. Emphasis is on the final confrontation between Dorner and SWAT. The inquiry seeks to expand what is known on SWAT use of deadly force. 

Qualitative data from media accounts and a law enforcement dispatch log is fused with quantitative data on SWAT from both the Multi-Method Study of Police Special Weapons and Tactics Teams in the United States, 1986-1998 and a related report to the U.S. Department of Justice. Chi-square tests of significance were applied. Results found Dorner possessed and used weapons common to SWAT suspects, SWAT and Dorner used deadly force, he was barricaded, and he committed suicide. Statistical significance was found for the following; SWAT uses deadly force more often than suspects, narcotics warrant suspects are fired upon by SWAT more than in other types of incidents, and hostage takers are fired upon less than in other types of incidents.

Partisan Differences in Spending Preferences after theNew Democrat and New Labour Transformations of Party Images

In this paper we wonder whether the efforts of the New Democrats and New Labour to alter their parties’ images with respect to public spending mute the differences (or lack thereof) in their supporters’ preferences for public spending between their respective major parties as observed by Lewis in the UK case and Lowery and Sigelman in the US case. 

We address this question by constructing matching UK and US data on aggregate public opinion on public spending at four points since 1980, treating the Clinton New Democrat and the Blair New Labour transformations as interventions that might be expected to alter the preferences of partisans for public spending. We find support for the thermostatic model of preferences for spending a result that raises questions about the power of party elites to shape the preferences of their supporters in the battle over the size of government.

Download PDF

Mother who starved her Baby to Death: Is she Culpable of Murder or of Another Crime?

In the new criminal justice system in Japan, citizens serve as jurors, and media has predicted that   citizens may take a severe attitude toward a child abuse. In a recent fatal neglect case, the panel including citizens found the defendant to be murder and imposed apparently severe punishment than in prior procedure. 

This paper looks at similar two neglect cases tried in the prior system and considered how the neglect cases had been evaluated and charged in the prior system and will be in the new system in Japan. We obtained and reviewed the complete trial record of these cases by lawful means. The marked difference between two cases was whether the offenders had concretely foreseen the result of “the death of a child”. In spite of the same results caused by the mothers’ omission, their foresight of the occurrence of the results made differences in the charges and sentences for the offenders. 

Greening a Machiavellian State? Insights for International Environmental Governance

This article is an appeal to common sense, once seen as the American virtue, as it may be applied to contemporary considerations of the contest over same-sex marriage. Specifically, I argue that all societies, including our own, are bound together by an underlying or fundamental common sense of a select few things. Each society builds upon these few universal fundamentals with its own particular mythic and social constructions. 

When any one society begins to lose sight of these original human fundamentals and relies instead upon new shared conceptions of its world based solely upon abstract instrumental reason, it not only risks creating social and political mistakes-these, we may be able to live with, if not correct. More importantly, when such mistakes completely detach us from our fundamental common sense of human society, we risk the loss of this very society itself. This we cannot live with, at least not together. In other words, no policy or legislation, no constitution, and no charter of rights can bind together a people determined to become unbound by their loss of a fundamental common sense of the things by which they are first constituted together as human beings. I write with hope that we Americans-humanity’s “last best hope”-are not yet so determined.

From Dungeon Masters to Keepers of Peace: Tribalism, Dispute Resolution, and Theoretical Intervention within the Prison System

The American penal system is failing. Despite the billions of dollars spent on the prison system, America still faces challenges with its soaring prison population, high recidivism rate, and perpetual violence. Prisoners must cope with daily violence, and they are unable to escape once in the system. 

Prison administrators, overburdened with the need to maintain security, are powerless. This research proposal, therefore, presents a theoretical case for implementing tribalism and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) within the prison system in order to reduce violence, and empower both inmates and prison guards. Arguments for the benefits of ADR are examined. The paper proposes a theoretical model that uses the prisoners as self-regulating agents for change. A proposal for implementing reform by employing a system of “Tribal Elders” and a council of guards system is also discussed.

Nigerian Youth are Paying Heavily for the Illicit Drug Trafficking

Illicit drug trafficking is one of the major threats the Nigerian youth encountering over the years and it is seriously hindering the national development and security, apart from affecting the health of the youth in Nigeria. Poverty, low rate of economic development,, acute unemployment, lack of security and massive corruption in the government sector are factors contributing to this heinous conditions. Government should act on aspects like adequate intelligence gathering, combating insecurity, bribery,  and corruption, poverty alleviation and  strengthening the weak borders   to prevent illicit drug trafficking and save the young Nigerians from this ever-growing menace.

Download PDF

When Governors Speak Up for Justice: Punishment Politics and Mass Incarceration in the American States

The tension created by the drop in violent crime since the 1990's and the sustained increase in mass incarceration in the American states during that period constitutes a phenomenon of great theoretical and policy relevance. Previous accounts of this tension centered on theories of group conflict and instrumentalism. We introduce a rhetorical framework for understanding mass incarceration. 

We argue that a key contributor to the mass incarceration boom is the use of aggressive political rhetoric by state governors to communicate the crime problem. Using data partially derived through content analysis of state of the state addresses of governors from all 50 states, we test this rhetoric theory and evaluate its implications alongside instrumental and conflict-based explanations of mass incarceration. Our analysis indicates that gubernatorial rhetoric has strong effect on mass incarceration but that this effect is moderated by the institutional power of the governor. 

Developmental Theories and the Challenge for the 21st Century

Empirical research on developmental theories of crime first informed us that increase in social capital such as quality marriages, jobs orfirst time fatherhood would lead toward desistance, except among men who were substance abusers. However, the men in this notable work by Robert Sampson and John Laub were based on a cohort who came of age during World War two.

While this seemed disheartening for those of us who hoped for social policies that might facilitate such attachment policies, at least in the United States where the incarceration mania continued until recently. Now new re-entry policies have begun to lead to de-carceration movements around the country. While this is laudable, job creation and treatment programs also must be created to facilitate successful re-entry. The neighborhoods some of these form felons may not increase but rather decrease their social capital.

Political Science and the "Micro-Politics" Research Agenda

In the last decade, a new research agenda has emerged in political science. Under the broad rubric of “micro-politics” research, these studies focused on the close range analysis of a gamut of questions such asrebel group behavior, popular enactment of genocidal violence, reconciliatory or peace-making behaviors, and democratic citizenship. 

Combining various methodological strategies, these studies refocused attention on the non-elites (the “little people”) as the central object of inquiry. Local level dynamics-local histories, institutions, power struggles, and community-based networks-played an important role in these explanatory frameworks. This Editorial note sketches a broad overview of this agenda not only because it has attracted prominent scholars and enjoyed rapid growth within the discipline, but also because it holds substantial promise for the future of political science.

Our Side of the Mirror: The (Re)-Construction of 1970s’ Masculinity in David Peace’s Red Riding

David Peace and the late Gordon Burn are two British novelists who have used a mixture of fact and fiction in their works to explore the nature of fame, celebrity and the media representations of individuals caught up in events, including investigations into notorious murders. Both Peace and Burn have analysed the case of Peter Sutcliffe, who was found guilty in 1981 of the brutal murders of thirteen women in the North of England. Peace’s novels filmed as the Red Riding Trilogy are an excoriating portrayal of the failings of misogynist and corrupt police officers, which allowed Sutcliffe to escape arrest. Burn’s somebody’s Husband Somebody’ Son is a detailed factual portrait of the community where Sutcliffe spent his life. Peace’s technique combines reportage, stream of consciousness and changing points of views including the police and the victims to produce an episodic non-linear narrative.

Download PDF

A Note on Race and Politics in the United States

The impetus for this brief commentary derives from the idea that the politics of race in the United States continues to be a public affairs issue. Given that it is important for political scientists to debate race and politics in the United States, as a multifaceted area of American politics, the Journal of Political Science and Public Affairs provides an open forum for different methodological approaches and diverse perspectives and positions on race and politics. 

In fact, we are witnessing a time where race, in terms of its metonymic intensifications, is analysed and discussed through a variety of coded signifiers such as culture and class. Hence, any effort to stage ast and off that race matters or not in the United States would have to recognize the ontology and epistemology of race and its modalities of visual performance,that is, not what race is, but what race does. Race is something that is ascribed to blacks and other non-whites. Whites, on the other hand, are unraced and unmarked, which positioned whites as members of the dominant group.

Income Inequality and Crime: A Review and Explanation of the Time– series Evidence

The relationship between inequality and crime is of interest in multiple disciplines, including sociology, economics, psychology and epidemiology. Despite broad agreement across the disciplines for the existence of a relationship, there is little consensus on the theoretical explanation for this association. Runciman and Blau and Blau address the relationship from a sociological perspective yet provide differing explanations. 

Runciman’s theory of relative deprivation suggests that income inequality increases feelings of dispossession and unfairness, which leads poorer individuals to reduce perceived economic injustice through crime, while Blau and Blau suggest that relevant inequalities may be exacerbated by race. Evolutionary psychologists,Wilson and Daly views crime as a result from status competition. They argue that people at the bottom of the income distribution are particularly sensitive to inequality and this leads to risk-seeking behaviour (such as crime) when low-risk activities offer poor returns to the individual.

Hooking up in the Twenty-First Century

This study presents an exploratory analysis of the meaning of “hooking up” based on 1) academic literature, and 2) the perspective of college students from differing backgrounds. The authors investigated definitions of hooking up based on scholarly articles derived from search engine results and then from college students’ responses to an open-ended question on an online survey (N=358). 

Coding was used to identify themes that emerged from the data with the goal of understanding what the phrase means and whether the research is in line with students’ perspectives. Additionally, the authors sought to examine whether differences exist based on demographic variables. The findings revealed that the phrase “hooking up” predominantly represents sexual behavior ranging from kissing to sexual intercourse in the research base, but has been more narrowly constructed among college students. Gender differences also emerged, with males being more likely than females to view hooking up as involving sex rather than a broader range of sexual behaviors. A discussion follows and highlights directions for future research.

Lack of Gender Equality in Salaries despite Legislation in USA

Public governance involves policy making that determine the government’s attitude towards a particular public issue. Gender parity and equality in pay is something that has been an acted as a law in USA 50 years ago however, there is no gender equity in payments between the male and femalein USA. On an average, if men is drawing $ 1 US dollar for a particular work women are paid only$0.77 dollars. This was for deteriorated from the payments in the past that happened to be $1:0.78 a decade ago. Although legislation related to equality of pay between the genders was enacted 50 years ago, it is not practiced despite raise in the number of women legislators in the country.

Download PDF

Socioeconomic and Political Dimensions of Development Worldwide

The scope of this paper is to examine the main economic, social and political dimensions of development worldwide. More specifically,our analysis focuses on the study of the links between the levels of income percapita, the level of perceived corruption, the degree of human development, the extent of government effectiveness and the quality of the political system as the main variables describing the level of overall development in a country. 

As we expected, we find that all these factors are very important determinants of the scale of overall development, since combinations of these factors according to their values determine clusters of countries with different patterns of overall development. As a result, an effective policy towards development demands integrated strategies that incorporate efforts for low corruption and high income, human development and government effectiveness levels. However, in order these strategies to be sustainable in the long run they should be associated with democratic transformations.