Courts' use of forensic evidence called into question

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-03/courts-use-of-forensic-evidence-called-into-question/3989860

Things like voice comparison evidence, the use of images for identification purposes, other types of evidence like prints, footprints on carpet - there is very little in the way of testing of those practices and we know very little about their value as evidence.

Controversial X-ray method sparks detention concerns
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-08/indonesian-children-in-australian-jails/3651282

A lawyer says up to 30 Indonesian children may be locked up in Australian jails after a controversial X-ray method used by Australian Federal Police (AFP) declared they were adults.

What do you mean? Could be? Always have been!

Libraries: sandbox space for new technology 
Libraries could be a testing ground for new technology such as Google's augmented-reality glasses and advances enabled by the roll-out of the National Broadband Network, a QUT expert says.

Ask Hogarth.

Key lessons from history on alcohol taxes 
Steep rises in taxes on alcohol do not necessarily reduce consumption, according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) into the history of intoxicants in 16th and 17th England

Reoffending and carrots

Payment by Results is no panacea, by Andrew Neilson

The Ministry of Justice is piloting Payment by Results to try to prevent prisoners from reoffending. But experiments so far have not proved a success and it remains questionable whether this is an appropriate model...

People should not be rewarded for doing the right thing, it sends the wrong message and undermines society.

Now there's a surprise. Stun gun, Tasers, not good for citizens!

Stun guns not safe for citizens, but benefit police, study finds 
The use of stun guns by police significantly increases the chances of citizen injury, yet also protects the officers more than other restraint methods, according to the most comprehensive research to date into the safety of stun guns in a law enforcement setting.

Around £200m of electricity is being stolen every year

The hidden cost of cannabis 
(Phys.org) -- Around £200m of electricity is being stolen every year to run illegal cannabis farms across the UK. Phil Butler, Co-Director of Newcastle University’s Centre for Cybercrime and Computer Security (CCCS), says this would be enough electricity to provide free energy for every household in Newcastle for a whole year.

Can't argue with this!

Brendan O’Neill In the terrible new movie Battleship, a US Navyman watches the arrival of gleaming, menacing spaceships in the Pacific and asks: ‘Is it the North Koreans?’ Doubtful. If North Korea’s botched missile launch is anything to go by, then the idea that this cut-off country poses a terrible threat to world peace is entirely a figment of our imagination. The transformation of an eccentric and hapless state into International Enemy No.1 says more about the international community’s need for a whipping boy than it does about North Korea’s ability to whip its neighbours or the world.

Let's educate to change unrealistic expectations!

Brendan O’Neill 
Let’s liberate youth from the grip of welfare
Cutting housing benefit to under-25s is actually not a bad idea – but let’s do it for the right reasons rather than to save the state cash.

Listen up! No more euro

Eurozone crisis: less is more, by Megan Greene

If the weaker eurozone economies abandoned the single currency, they would grow faster. The countries remaining would also benefit from the ending of an unhappy marriage...

So he wants global warming - that's what we'd guessed.

New UK Met Office global temperature data confirms that the world has not warmed in the past 15 years.

http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=c920274f2a364603849bbb505&id=4d28056e96&e=6370cbdda6

"We also note a comment in an email sent by Professor Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit: “Bottom line – the no upward trend has to continue for a total of 15 years before we get worried.”"

Bloody ridiculous! Let them go out to work, and let old people retire!

Raising the school leaving – while learning from another age 
In April 1947 the post-war Labour Government raised the school leaving age from 14 to 15 and paved the way for a further increase to 16 in 1972. Now, 65 years later, as the UK prepares to raise the 'education participation age' to 17 in 2013 and to 18 in 2015, new research reveals that the transitions of 1947 and 1972 met with more controversy and difficulty than previously thought.

Good advice!

Arnab Das and Nouriel Roubini: Divorce settlement for eurozone  [Registration necessary] Splitting up may be hard to do, but it can be better than sticking to a bad marriage. The euro periphery debt crisis threatens to engulf the core in huge bank capital shortfalls and fiscal liabilities, trapping both in protracted stagnation. This reflects possibly intractable design flaws in the single currency. So we propose an amicable divorce settlement http://link.ft.com/r/QM42II/TU4MVN/8AYTHO/QN8D34/NJA3SA/T3/h?a1=2012&a2=4&a3=2

Khat

Study of 'khat' use reveals poor understanding of effects and regulation 
Australian states need to clarify inconsistent regulation of the stimulant “khat”, and users need to know more about the negative health effects, a research study has found.

Take them out for a walk, give them your time... then decide if maybe there is something wrong. Probably not.

ADHD is over-diagnosed: German study 
What experts and the public have already long suspected is now supported by representative data collected by researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and University of Basel: ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is over-diagnosed. The study showed that child and adolescent psychotherapists and psychiatrists tend to give a diagnosis based on heuristics, unclear rules of thumb, rather than adhering to recognized diagnostic criteria. Boys in particular are substantially more often misdiagnosed compared to girls.

Cupboard love

Online dating scammers looking for money, not love 
Online romance scams, a new form of cybercrime, is under-reported and increasing, and has victimized an estimated 230,000 people in England, costing them nearly $60 billion a year, according to an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

Of course it does

EU Commission wants Cyber Crime Center 
(AP) -- The European Commission wants to set up a special center to deal with cyber crime to protect citizens against illegal online activities.

Don't bother, it doesn't work - and it's cruel!

Interrogational torture: Effective or purely sadistic? 
While government officials have argued that "enhanced interrogation techniques" are necessary to protect American citizens, the effectiveness of such techniques has been debated. According to a recent study, when torture is used to elicit information, it is likely to be unexpectedly harsh yet ineffective. This study was published in a new article in Political Research Quarterly (PRQ) published by SAGE on behalf of the Western Political Science Association.

Cap the time asylum seekers spend in detention?

Refugee advocates are supporting a parliamentary inquiry's recommendation to impose a time limit on how long asylum seekers can be held in detention.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-30/refugee-council-backs-90-day-detention-limit/3924390

A federal inquiry into Australia's immigration detention centres has made 30 recommendations, including capping the time asylum seekers spend in detention to 90 days.

Italy blames Germany, France for eurozone debt culture

The eurozone's two biggest economies had not "abided" by the currency area's deficit rules, thus setting a "bad example" for the rest of the continent.

If the father and mother of the eurozone are violating the rules, you  cannot expect countries such as Greece to be compliant."

The 17-nation eurozone is struggling to avoid collapse in the face of a debt crisis that has driven Greece to the brink of bankruptcy and has engulfed Portugal, Ireland and Spain. Italy is close to being dragged into the mire, needing at least 750 billion euros to finance its debt this year.

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15841979,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

 

 

Need a stake in society? Get out there and make it.

Verdict on UK riots: people need a 'stake in society', says report
Panel concludes that riots were fuelled by a lack of opportunities for young people, poor parenting and suspicion of the police.

Reclaim project lives up to its name with Manchester's inner city teens

Home-grown charity crosses communities and brings their young people together. It is so popular that teens - initially referred for help - now apply to join. Many keep in touch or return to help, mentoring their juniors in turn.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/mar/28/manchester-youthjustice-youth-teenagers-reclaim-manchester-charity

Corruption in the UK

Corrupt UK?
Corruption is a much greater problem in the UK than previously recognised and needs to be responded to by enforcement, transparency and accountability, according to a University expert.

UK's economy is chained to the slowcoach of the world economy

Budget papers reveal the difference between Britain's real and forecast net contribution to the European Union from 2010/11 to 2013/14 increased from £31.3billion at the Autumn statement to £33.1billion at the Budget.

The figures not only show that the Treasury got their estimates wrong, but also that the UK is paying more to the EU than ever before.

Forecasts also released by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the Government's fiscal watchdog, reveal that in 2012 the Eurozone will have a recession, while in every one of the next four years it will deliver output growth at less than half the rate of the world as a whole.

These figures show that by being a member of the EU, the UK's economy is chained to the slowcoach of the world economy.

Formal procedures for evaluating the usability of EHR systems

NIST releases technical guidance for evaluating electronic health records
An important aspect of any product is how easily someone can use it for its intended purpose, also known as usability.  Electronic health records (EHR) that are usable have the potential to improve patient care, which is why the National Institute of Standards and Technology has outlined formal procedures for evaluating the usability of EHR systems

Could widespread conjugal visitation reduce sexual offending in prisons?

Sexual offenses between inmates occur less often in states that allow conjugal visitation
Could widespread conjugal visitation reduce sexual offending in prisons?  It's a possibility, according to Stewart D'Alessio and his team from Florida International University in the US.  Their work shows that in states where conjugal visits are permitted, there are significantly fewer instances of reported rape and other sexual offenses in their prisons.  The study is published online in Springer's American Journal of Criminal Justice.

Like we're surprised! Still doesn't Justify Positive Discrimination.

Decisions are taken more democratically with a higher percentage of women in management positions
In workplaces with a high percentage of women in a management position more individualized employee feedback is carried out, more democratic decisions are adopted and more interpersonal channels of communications are established, according to a study by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

How young is too young for life in prison?

How young is too young for life in prison?
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments related to two separate murder cases in which 14-year-olds were sentenced to life without parole.  The court will take up the constitutionality of such a sentence for juveniles.  Northeastern University news office asked Mary O'Connell - a professor in Northeastern's School of Law with expertise in youth and family law - to examine the impact of the court's ultimate ruling and explain how juvenile cases are handled differently than adult cases.

The EU killed democracy

"Ordinarily if a politician says or does something you do not like we, the electorate, are at some point given the opportunity to vote them out.  There used to be considerable pride in this arrangement.  But Catherine Ashton is part of a new class of people who pretend to be politicians while never having to face the electorate on whose behalf they claim to speak.  Though Ashton is the European Union’s High Representative on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (EU Foreign Minister) she has herself never been elected to this — or any — role.  She was appointed to it in a closed room in Brussels by a group of people who are also, like her, not accountable to any electorate.  Just as we did not vote her in, so we cannot vote her out." - DOUGLAS MURRAY
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/7726843/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-baroness-ashton.thtml 

Cut the waste and the NHS is affordable, as is!

Sunday Telegraph: EU working time rules forced the NHS to spend over £1bn on temporary staff in 2010-2011
An investigation by the Sunday Telegraph into the effects of the EU’s Working Time Directive has found that the NHS spent £1.03bn in 2010-11 on temporary staff in order to cover staff shortages, with some doctors hired at rates of up to £20,000 a week. Charlotte Leslie MP is quoted in the Metro saying, “These are shocking figures. It’s not just the taxpayers who are suffering; patients will too.”
Open Europe research Sunday Telegraph Sunday Telegraph: Editorial Mail Metro

The split. Oh, sad! Is it terminal?

Merkel distances herself from Sarkozy’s campaign after Schengen remarks
Der Spiegel reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is now seeking to distance herself from Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidential campaign, following Sarkozy’s threat to suspend France’s Schengen membership, which she considers ‘right-wing populism’. Meanwhile, Thomas Hanke, Handelsblatt’s Paris correspondent, argues that “regardless of whether Sarkozy or Hollande wins the [French presidential] election, France will become a more difficult partner for Germany…Sarkozy’s proposals for Europe can’t be reconciled with the aims of German political parties. He wants the opposite: more power for governments of big countries.”
Der Spiegel Handelsblatt: Hanke

Save our fish! Hastings - Europe's largest beach based fishing fleet needs this reform NOW!

An estimated £1bn worth of fish could be thrown back dead into the sea by the combined European fleet in the next decade unless the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy is reformed, the Scottish Fisheries Secretary has warned.
Press Association

This is true of Government departments and agencies across the board!al!

“Tolls are the future within the EU and satellite metering of each vehicle will prevail if they get their way”.

"The proposed destruction of the Highways Agency by giving the work to the private sector is a backward step. The Highways Agency is the best provider of road services and when run correctly will be more cost effective than a "piece meal for profit" approach. If the Agency is not performing, change the management not the concept." 

Take a leaf out of his book, Mr. Cameron

Hungarian PM to EU: 'We won't be a colony'


"We will not be a colony. Hungarians won't live according to the commands of foreign powers, they won't give up their independence or their freedom,"

What a good idea!

Children in low-income neighborhood with special walking/bike trail exercised more
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-children-low-income-neighborhood-special-walkingbike.html


Children living in a neighborhood designed with a special bike trail were three times as likely as those in a traditional neighborhood to engage in vigorous physical activity, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2012 Scientific Sessions.

Ex-offenders struggle to remain drug free

Reducing drug overdose for ex-prisoners -- the view from outside the prison gates
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-drug-overdose-ex-prisoners-view.html


Prison inmates frequently have a strong history of drug use and misuse, especially during the time prior to incarceration, and drugs often are the driving force behind the offense itself. New research, published in BioMed Central's newly launched open access journal Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, shows that ex-offenders struggle to remain drug free after release from prison and identifies factors that can help them succeed. Interviews with former inmates show that they themselves recognize that returning to former living environments (former friends and an easy access to drugs) is a strong trigger for drug use and overdose.

There should be more of it!

Dutch 'Repair Cafe' give trash a new lease of life


http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-dutch-cafe-trash-lease-life.html

A broken-down vacuum cleaner, an old bicycle, a torn shirt ... almost nothing is impossible to fix for a group of crafty Dutch volunteers dedicated to giving potential trash a second lease of life.

The European Court of Auditors think not

HAVE EU MEASURES CONTRIBUTED TO ADAPTING THE CAPACITY OF THE
FISHING FLEETS TO AVAILABLE FISHING OPPORTUNITIES?

http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/10952727.PDF

Low carb diets WORK!

New study compares diets for weight management in obese children 
A new study of three diets with obese children shows that all diets are effective in managing weight but that a reduced glycemic load diet – one that accounts for how many carbs are in the food and how much each gram of carbohydrate raises blood glucose levels – may be most promising.

Disruptive children

Disruptive children and their parents benefit from parenting classes 
Children with disruptive behavioural problems and their parents can benefit from peer led parenting classes, claims a study published today in the British Medical Journal.

Unemployment and its effects on future generations

Planning for the future: unemployment and its effects on future generations 
The unemployment experience of parents can have adverse effects on their children’s wellbeing, according to an international study by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research.

Why are we not surprised? Because it is as we suspected, and not just Goldman Sachs.

A SENIOR executive at Goldman Sachs executive has exposed the bank's "toxic" greed and "immoral" culture in a scathing resignation letter.

Greg Smith said the powerful investment bank had lost its "moral fibre" and revealed that its managing directors regularly referred to clients as "muppets"

He said in the letter, which was published in The New York Times, that staff had so little respect for clients they called them "muppets" and talked of "ripping eyeballs out".

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/worklife/we-ripped-out-the-eyeballs-of-our-muppet-clients-goldman-sachs-directors-blistering-attack-on-banks-toxic-greed/story-e6frfm9r-1226299935559#ixzz1pCBG9suF

This is not news!

Exercise might boost kids' academic ability 
(HealthDay) -- Promoting physical activity among young school kids can end up improving their academic performance, a new study suggests.

And I am living proof!

New report finds low family income not a major reason for poor student achievement 
Family income is associated with student achievement, but careful studies show little causal connection. School factors – teacher quality, school accountability, school choice – have bigger causal impacts than family income per se, according to a new analysis by Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG).

No, really? Think about it!

Younger children in the classroom likely overdiagnosed with ADHD 
The youngest children in the classroom are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) -- and prescribed medication -- than their peers in the same grade, according to a study just published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).


Take the children out for a walk (parents and teachers)  Pay attention to them, answer their questions.  Talk to your child, not to your mobile!

How about paying it to the workers?

AB InBev’s top tier to share €1.2bn bonus pool Carlos Brito, the chief executive of AB InBev, is in line for a potential €138m ($181m) windfall, his share of a bonus pot worth €1.2bn that was set aside for top executives at the brewer of Budweiser and Stella Artois for meeting debt reduction targets http://link.ft.com/r/S4XZQQ/TUMSWI/IY32A4/PFBC34/HYGU2S/FW/h?

And jsut in case you thought it was altruism on Germany's behalf.......

Roesler said he was also disappointed that some German companies which had previously done business with Greece had still not been paid.

"The Greek side said during my visit that it would soon resolve the old cases,» he said. «Unfortunately there has been hardly any progress on this."

Germany has a big stake in the debt-stricken Greek economy. Athens has been one of the biggest buyers of German armaments over the past decade and German companies manage some of Greece's largest firms, including Athens International Airport, managed by engineering firm Hochtief.

Greece's cash-strapped hospitals owe dozens of millions of euros in arrears to German drugmakers and health equipment providers, such as Bayer.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_08/03/2012_431787

Analyzing, and preventing, school shootings

Analyzing, and preventing, school shootings 
Earlier this week, a teenager was accused of killing three high school students after he opened fire at Chardon High School in Ohio. Eric Madfis, a doctoral candidate in Northeastern’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology and a research associate at the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict, has been working with criminology expert and professor Jack Levin to complete his dissertation focused on school shootings. We asked Madfis to analyze this shooting, how it relates to past school shootings and how similar tragedies in the future might be prevented.

The implementation clearly is not a priority on the Greek side

No, despite everything, they probably prefer to remain Greek!


Athens' failure to accept Germany’s help on reducing bureaucracy and boosting private investment is disappointing, German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler was cited as saying by a newspaper on Thursday.




http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_08/03/2012_431787

Climate change is in dispute

Alternative-energy innovations on display 
Climate change is in dispute. Oil and gas are staging a comeback. Republicans are questioning federal funding for energy research as a waste of money in a time of deficits.

Barriers to housing ex-offenders

Address barriers to housing ex-offenders, says research 
Ex-offenders face significant barriers to securing accommodation, says research by University of Southampton academics from the Third Sector Research Centre.

New health concerns about 'fake pot' in US

A type of fake pot has raised new health concerns in the United States after at least three users were hospitalized for kidney failure, authorities in the western state of Wyoming said

Do your parents know where you are at night? It's because they care you know!

Does your mother know? 
Do your parents know where you are at night? According to 36 per cent of 15 year old boys and nearly a quarter of 15 year old girls the answer to that question, at least once a month, is no.

Don't be ashamed of national pride - and help instil it in others!

Plea for UK business to end 'migrant addiction' Britain’s immigration minister has urged companies to wean themselves off their “addiction” to hiring foreign workers, insisting that his curbs on immigrants were not preventing skilled employees coming to the UK http://link.ft.com/r/A1TNOO/PF200N/YHASJP/PFBT2E/8ZF8FP/KI/h?a1=2012&a2=3&a3=5

Rural poverty policies ‘should move away from subsidies’

[Especially when, as seen on Panorama - they can sell their subsidies, which we pay for, to  paper farmers!]

 By Nick Mann | 5 March 2012

Policies aimed at reducing rural poverty in the developing world should focus on improving productivity in the agricultural sector, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has said.

Its report says market interventions such as price guarantees and subsidies for farmers should be used as a last resort because they are ‘inefficient’ at addressing income concerns in the long term.

This is what's wrong with the world!

Goldman Sachs DNA
“Like the municipalities, Greece is just another example of a poorly governed client that got taken apart,” Satyajit Das, a risk consultant and author of “Extreme Money: Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk,” said in a phone interview. “These trades are structured not to be unwound, and Goldman is ruthless about ensuring that its interests aren’t compromised -- it’s part of the DNA of that organization.”


http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_06/03/2012_431311

More EU interference in the name of positive discrimination -

- discrimination by any other name....

EU to push quota for women directors

The EU justice commissioner is to announce the first step towards European-level legislation to improve gender balance on corporate boardshttp://link.ft.com/r/YIQXNN/C4URJ7/TPOYIJ/U10PVH/MS0M3X/7V/h?a1=2012&a2=3&a3=5

Education, not training!

Tom Finn-Kelcey 
Teach knowledge, not work-life skills
For too long, vocational qualifications at schools have been used to lower the horizons of working-class kids.

The Equality Act - undermines equality

Luke Samuel 
Let’s call it quits on the equality law
The Equality Act is less about ending oppression and more about enforcing state-approved behaviour.

The Dignity is in doing the job - whatever it may be!

Brendan O’Neill 
The war on workfare is worse than workfare itself
The pity and tears of the anti-workfare lobby are far more insulting to working-class youth than asking them to stack shelves in Tesco.

Obama is out-Bushing Bush

Nathalie Rothschild Obama is out-Bushing Bush, and no one minds That Obama has received so little flak over police spying on Muslims suggests Democrats can get away with far more than Republicans.

Universities now merely train

Dennis Hayes 
Turning professors into social engineers
Obsessed with furnishing student-consumers with skills, universities now merely train where once they enlightened.

Program can simulate the behavior of tens of thousands of people.

Simulator computes evacuation scenarios for major events 
Predicting how large numbers of visitors to major events will behave is difficult . To prevent disasters, however, the police, rescue services and event organizers have to be able to identify dangerous bottlenecks, hidden obstacles and unexpected escape routes in advance.  A research group with scientists from Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany) has developed a simulator that can be used to compute different scenarios.  The program can simulate the behavior of tens of thousands of people.

The IPCC May Have Outlived its Usefulness - An Interview with Judith Curry

"The climate is always changing. Climate is currently changing because of a combination of natural and human induced effects. The natural effects include variations of the sun, volcanic eruptions, and oscillations of the ocean. The human induced effects include the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, pollution aerosols, and land use changes. The key scientific issue is determining how much of the climate change is associated with humans. This is not a simple thing to determine. The most recent IPCC assessment report states: “Most [50%] of the warming in the latter half of the 20th century is very likely [>90%] due to the observed increase in greenhouse gas concentrations.” There is certainly some contribution from the greenhouse gases, but whether it is currently a dominant factor or will be a dominant factor in the next century, is a topic under active debate, and I don’t think the high confidence level [>90%] is warranted given the uncertainties."


http://www.thegwpf.org/the-climate-record/5084-the-ipcc-may-have-outlived-its-usefulness-an-interview-with-judith-curry.html

































2

Recovery housing and treatment programs reduce relapse among recovering opioid addicts

Recovery housing and treatment programs reduce relapse among recovering opioid addicts 
Opioid-dependent individuals who want to kick the habit typically begin the road to recovery with detoxification. But detox is ineffective as a stand-alone treatment, with relapse rates ranging from 65% to 80% just one month after discharge. New research published online today in the journal Addiction reveals that individuals with substance use disorders may be as much as ten times more likely to stay abstinent when they have access to drug-free recovery housing and day-treatment programs following detox

Three-strikes law fails to reduce crime

Three-strikes law fails to reduce crime 
California's three-strikes law has not reduced violent crime, but has contributed significantly to the state's financial woes by substantially increasing the prison population, according to a University of California, Riverside researcher.

Fitness program for mentally ill

Fitness program for mentally ill expands in NH 
(AP) -- Back when he was a self-described friendless recluse, Craig Carey spent hours sitting in a chair doing nothing or driving around in his car, alone. Then a fitness program for people with serious mental illness turned his life around.

Underage drinking laws reduce future criminal behavior

Underage drinking laws reduce future criminal behavior 
Do strict underage drinking laws really have a positive impact on society? A recent study finds that strictly enforcing possession of alcohol under the legal age or PULA (also known as PAULA) laws on teenagers reduces the likelihood that they will engage in alcohol-related crime as adults. This study was documented in the article "The Relationship between Underage Alcohol Possession and Future Criminal Behavior: An Empirical Analysis Using Age-Period Cohort Characteristics Models," published in SAGE Open.

Is there such a thing as a typical criminal career?

No such thing as a typical criminal career 
(PhysOrg.com) -- Is there such a thing as a typical criminal career? This was the question addressed by criminologist Volker Grundies from the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg. This study examined the data of approximately 21,000 men from Baden-Württemberg, who had come into conflict with the law on one or more occasions. The results of his study challenge widely held criminological theories surrounding the development of delinquent behaviour in the life of an individual

Experts recommend measures to reduce human error in fingerprint analysis

Experts recommend measures to reduce human error in fingerprint analysis 
A new report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has documented 149 potential sources of human error in the analysis of crime scene fingerprints. The study by a working group of 34 experts recommends a series of improvements to significantly reduce or eliminate the errors, based on the findings from its three-year scientific assessment of the effects of human factors on forensic latent print analysis. The working group consisted of experts from various forensic disciplines, statisticians, psychologists, engineers and other scientific experts, as well as legal scholars and representatives of professional organizations.

Why do politidcians always think America knows best? One size does not fit all!

A force to reckon with -  Alison Scott The creation of police commissioners raises some awkward accounting issues, not least because there are now going to be two separate police bodies, says.

Norway: New legal limits in traffic for drugs other than alcohol

Norway: New legal limits in traffic for drugs other than alcohol 
Legal limits for twenty illegal drugs and medicines with an abuse potential have been introduced by the Norwegian government. Norway is the first country to define both impairment-based legislative limits and limits for graded sanctions for drugs other than alcohol. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health participated to provide the scientific basis for the new limits.

Health Touriam costa the NHS - and us!

Challenges to the NHS from 'health tourism' going unrecognized 
The rise of medical tourism presents significant challenges for the NHS according to new work from academics at the Universities of Birmingham and York. They argue that policy makers have so far failed to address the implications health tourism has on the quality and continuity of care patients receive.

Well done, Home Office - now that's something you don't hear very often!

Public service reforms ‘inconsistent’

The government should be ‘unflinching’ in pushing through its public service reforms, think-tank Reform said today. Its analysis of the performance of major Whitehall departments and their ministers revealed a mixed picture....

Family functioning and political unrest

Northern Ireland, political violence harms youths through families 
War, the aftermath of war, and political violence are harmful to children's and teens' mental health and well-being. But few studies have looked at how this happens. A new longitudinal study of neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has found that political violence affects children by upsetting the ways their families function, resulting in behavior problems and mental hefamily functioningalth symptoms among the youths over extended periods of time.

Firefighting and the effects of wind

Report on Texas fire urges firefighters to consider wind effects 
(PhysOrg.com) -- Wind conditions at a fire scene can make a critical difference on the behavior of the blaze and the safety of firefighters, even indoors, according to a new report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The findings confirm earlier NIST research, but they take on a particular immediacy because they are based on detailed computer models of a tragic 2009 residential fire in Houston, Texas, that claimed the lives of two firefighters.

Illegal tweeting!

Brazil files suits against Twitter on police traps 
The Brazilian government has filed a lawsuit against Twitter and its users in a bid to stop publication of messages alerting drivers to police speed traps and drunk-driving checkpoints.

Fingerprint evidence

Statistical model unlocks barriers to use of fingerprint evidence in court 
Potentially key fingerprint evidence is currently not being considered due to shortcomings in the way it is reported, according to a report published today in Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society and the American Statistical Association. Researchers involved in the study have devised a statistical model to enable the weight of fingerprint evidence to be quantified, paving the way for its full inclusion in the criminal identification process.

Canadians want to make family a priority

New poll shows Canadians want to make family a priority 
Canadians want to make family a priority – 85 per cent want to spend more time with their families and 60 per cent want governments to support policy changes that make it easier to raise a family, according to a national poll by McAllister Opinion Research about research led by University of British Columbia professor Paul Kershaw.

Holistic (or joined-up) government?

Jobless youth numbers ‘a costly time bomb’

Youth unemployment represents a ‘time bomb’ under the nation’s public finances and could cost the government £28bn over the next ten years, a voluntary sector review has found...


People in their 60's have to work longer, where are the jobs for the young people to come from?  Sending them for tertiary education is not the answer, and debases tertiary education, to the detriment of all aspects of culture, science etc.

EU please note!

Hand counts of votes may cause errors, says new study 
Hand counting of votes in postelection audit or recount procedures can result in error rates of up to 2 percent, according to a new study from Rice University and Clemson University.

New report outlines key features of next-generation public safety communications

New report outlines key features of next-generation public safety communications 
Creation of a next-generation public safety communications network requires leadership from a single non-profit organization devoted to this purpose, according to a report released today by a federal advisory committee. Such a network would support voice, video and data transmissions, and ideally be at the disposal of all first responders—the medical, emergency, law enforcement or military personnel who are first on the scene of events that threaten public safety.

An emergency network for natural disasters

An emergency network for natural disasters 
Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas are developing an emergency communications network that will maintain operation during natural disasters and provide critical warnings and geographic information to people affected by the disasters. The researchers are honing and testing the system now and expect to deploy a pilot network at the end of 2012. 

Be neater if they could disarm it!

From opening thunder to closing whimper 
Thanks to lightning-fast software from the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T), if a truck bomb was discovered in Lower Manhattan we will now be able to predict the likely damage patterns in the surrounding areas, and prioritize the first responders' activities long before the bomb's acoustic shockwave ricocheted out at the speed of sound.

Canadian police agencies suppressing data on race, says criminology study

Canadian police agencies suppressing data on race, says criminology study 
While only 20 per cent of Canada's police forces have an explicit policy against reporting the race of victims and accused persons, University of Toronto and Nipissing criminologists show that the majority of police departments do not report race in practice.

Worrying increase in the number of young NEET individuals

Research shows we must pay now or we'll pay more later for youth crisis 
A comprehensive report published today by the University of Bristol Centre for Market and Public Organisation and Tomorrow’s People shows a worrying increase in the number of young NEET individuals – one of the most economically vulnerable groups in society.

The Coming Of The New Ice Age? End Of The Global Warming Era?

http://www.thegwpf.org/opinion-pros-a-cons/4883-the-coming-of-the-new-ice-age-end-of-the-global-warming-era.html

To sum up: Think of this as a warning from the past. Not a warning about looming ice ages, but rather a warning to ignore politically and/or income motivated disaster-mongers.