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When medieval cartographers were tasked with filling In the blanks on new maps, they often would label uncharted territories with the phrase 'Here be dragons' to denote the unknown, In [...]

The support provided by the United States Department of Defense to law enforcement agencies is described. The formation of the United States Northern Command is discussed.

In this article, the authors present a framework for considering five different economic sanctions: restitution, costs, fees, fines, and forfeiture. The intended purposes of these sanctions are described, and the research on the imposition of these sanctions is reviewed, particularly the extent to which offenders are likely to pay these court-ordered amounts and the effect of economic sanctions on recidivism. Four specific problems with economic sanctions are presented: setting the amounts of the sanctions, ensuring payment, setting priorities among different sanctions, and defining the roles of probation officers in the monitoring of payment. Keywords: costs; fees; fines; forfeitures; restitution

This research analyzed decisions in 170,260 restitution-eligible cases in Pennsylvania from 1990 to 1998 to infer the policies underlying the imposition of restitution when it was discretionary and to assess whether a 1995 statutory change making restitution mandatory changed those policies. Multilevel analyses of restitution decisions from the 1990-1994 prestatutory change period suggested that judges considered restitution to be both a victim-focused sanction, in that restitution was ordered more for offenders who committed more serious crimes and for property offenders (whose crimes could be more easily quantified), and an offender-focused sanction, in that restitution was ordered more for offenders who pleaded guilty, offenders with no prior record, White offenders, and female offenders. The statutory change increased the proportion of restitution orders statewide from 1996 to 1998. Moreover, it appeared to meet the policy goal of greater focus on victims. Keywords: restitution; sentencing; contextual factor; economic sanctions

This study examined court records, probation records, and collection office records in four counties in Pennsylvania, which were chosen because they varied along two dimensions: (a) population size and (b) the use of specialized units for the collection of monetary sanctions. From each county, restitution-eligible cases were sampled from both 1994 and 1996 to test the effect of a 1995 statutory change mandating restitution. Multivariate models indicated that restitution was significantly more likely to be ordered for property crimes, for offenses that were more easily quantified, for offenses against businesses, and for offenses after the statutory change. Moreover, restitution was more likely to be imposed and a higher percentage was likely to be paid in counties with smaller populations and in counties in which probation officers handled the collection of economic sanctions than in counties in which they were handled by specialized collection units. Keywords: restitution: sentencing; contextual factors; specialized collection units: payment of economic sanctions

OFFSHORE financial centers (OFCs), despite their name, are not necessarily islands, although many island jurisdictions have established OFCs. Nor is there a single universal definition of an offshore center. One [...]

Money laundering and terrorist financing can threaten financial stability and economic prosperity, adding to the gravity of the underlying crimes. The IMF, working closely with the global community, is stepping [...]

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A country that is liberalizing its capital account faces the challenges of strengthening financial institutions to ensure they are capable of operating in a more market-oriented system and deciding how [...]

Research suggests that the relative influence of extralegal variables, such as defendants' race, gender, and social class, varies depending on who is being sentenced and where that sentencing occurs (Myers [...]

Across states there is variation in two dimensions of economic sanctions aimed at compelling individuals with justice system involvement to pay for criminal justice expenses. The first dimension – imposition – relates to the number of statutorily authorized costs. The second dimension – payment enforcement – relates to whether or not a private collection agency can collect economic sanctions; privatization means that offenders have higher financial obligations because of the surcharges and penalties that make these businesses financially successful. Together, these two dimensions of imposition and enforcement can be used to characterize states in terms of the degree to which convicted individuals are compelled to make payments toward costs and fees. Our analysis suggests that the South is more coercive than other regions of the country on these two dimensions and that, within the South, this continuum of coercive costs is worse in states with a history of convict leasing.

There is consisted evidence from a variety of sources that crime victims' reporting decisions are influenced by others. The present studies extended this prior work by surveying two statewide stratified random samples ([n.sub.s] = 817 and 832). In Study 1, of 148 respondents who said a family member had been a victim of sexual assault, domestic assault, or robbery, only 65% said that they had advised the victims to report the crime, and women were significantly more likely to advise reporting domestic assault than were men. In both Study 1 and Study 2, respondents were asked about the appropriateness of reporting specific crimes to the police. Based on both within-and between-respondent questions, it appears that reporting advice is contingent on several factors: the seriousness of the offense, the gender of the victim, the victim-offender relationship, and the gender of the respondent.

Measuring the Military Atmosphere of Boot Camps.--Correctional boot camps are programs characterized by a military atmosphere, that is, by an emphasis on discipline, strict adherence to rules, drills, and physical training. Authors John P. Keenan, R. Barry Ruback, and Judith G. Hadley describe an objective method developed to measure the level of "militariness" in boot camps. They discuss the reliability of the measure and its usefulness in helping to understand the effects of boot camp programs on participants.

Bachman (1993) concluded that the prior relationship between the rapist and the victim does not affect the victim's decision to report the crime to the police. The present commentary argues that, for both conceptual and statistical reasons, this conclusion is too strong, although it may simply be premature. Conceptually, the victim-offender relationship is important because it helps both the victim and others define whether or not an action is rape and whether or not reporting the crime to the police would be worthwhile. Statistically, in light of prior findings, Bachman could justifiably have used a one-tailed test of significance. In any case, her results are not significantly different from those of a comparable prior study, which found that the victim-offender relationship was important. Furthermore, Bachman's argument of changing societal standards over time calls for a time-series analysis of victim survey data. A table of reporting percentages for victims of stranger and nonstranger rapists over the past 19 years indicates an increase in reporting of nonstranger rapes over time, although over the entire time period, rapes by strangers were more likely to be reported to the police than were rape by nonstrangers.

The relationship between institutional density (population divided by capacity) and institutional infractions (both violent and nonviolent) was examined for 65 different institutions (25 state prisons, 33 county prisons, and 7 transitional centers) by month over a 10-year period. Across all institutions, there appeared to be no consistent pattern of effects for density. Even within institutions, there was no consistent pattern across time. Multivariate analyses holding other factors constant indicated that institutional density and rate of change of prison populations had statistically significant effects on both types of infractions, although the size of the effects was very small. Additional analyses indicated that these effects were particularly true for prisons for youth. Overall, the results indicated that institutional factors other than density were the strongest predictors of infractions.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2008.06.019 Byline: Richard K. Orr, Kerry L. Wheeler, Devonne D. Barrineau, R. Barry Hird Keywords: Breast cancer; Sentinel node Abstract: In 2001 we reported poor results for sentinel node biopsy and marked variability among surgeons. Subsequently, we initiated a multidisciplinary protocol involving standardized radiocolloid injection, physician education, and surgeon proctoring. Author Affiliation: Division of Surgical Oncology, Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, 101 E. Wood St., Spartanburg, SC 29303, USA Article History: Received 16 April 2008; Revised 4 June 2008