5,890 research outputs found
Gerrymandering and Compactness: Implementation Flexibility and Abuse
The shape of an electoral district may suggest whether it was drawn with
political motivations, or gerrymandered. For this reason, quantifying the shape
of districts, in particular their compactness, is a key task in politics and
civil rights. A growing body of literature suggests and analyzes compactness
measures mathematically, but little consideration has been given to how these
scores should be calculated in practice. Here, we consider the effects of a
number of decisions that must be made in interpreting and implementing a set of
popular compactness scores. We show that the choices made in quantifying
compactness may themselves become political tools, with seemingly innocuous
decisions leading to disparate scores. We show that when the full range of
implementation flexibility is used, it can be abused to make clearly
gerrymandered districts appear quantitatively reasonable. This complicates
using compactness as a legislative or judicial standard to counteract unfair
redistricting practices. This paper accompanies the release of packages in C++,
Python, and R which correctly, efficiently, and reproducibly calculate a
variety of compactness scores.Comment: 10 pages, 17 figures, 1 tabl
Exploring QCD: from LEAR to GSI
In this invited contribution I briefly review some of the principal topics in
hadron spectroscopy that were studied at the CERN low-energy antiproton
facility LEAR, from its beginnings in the early 1980s to the present. These
topics include the nature of multiquark systems, the short-ranged nuclear
force, and gluonic hadrons, including glueballs and hybrids. Lessons we have
learned from the LEAR program that are relevant to the future GSI project are
given particular emphasis.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Invited presentation to LEAP03, Yokohama, Japan,
3-7 March 200
Alaska Correctional Requirements: A Forecast of Prison Population through the Year 2000
This report is part of the Fire Island Prison Feasibility Study, a project conducted jointly by the School of Justice and School of Engineering at University of Alaska, Anchorage under contract to the Alaska Department of Corrections. The project undertook to assess the feasibility of locating a correctional facility on a 4,240 acre tract of land on Fire Island, which lies in Upper Cook Inlet about three miles off Point Campbell within the Municipality of Anchorage. The project was divided into three major phases: (1) an assessment of future bed space needs of the Alaska Department of Corrections; (2) an evaluation of the physical site and cost estimates for prison construction and operation; and (3) a public opinion survey and open discussion.The growth of the Alaska prison inmate population over the past fifteen years has been substantial. According to available statistics there were 482 institutionalized adult prisoners under control of the Alaska Division of Corrections in January 1971; by January 1980 this population had increased to 770 inmates; and between 1980 and 1985, the number of Alaska inmates almost tripled, rising from 770 to 2,073. Accurate forecasts of the future size and makeup of the prison population are needed as a basis for long-range programs and capital planning. This report presents long and short-term forecasts of the Alaska incarcerated prisoner population and bedspace needs of the Alaska Department of Corrections through the year 2000. The forecasts were developed by taking into consideration historical facts and status quo assumptions. Attention is also given to the impact of the 1980 Alaska criminal code revision on unsentenced and sentenced populations. The forecast derived from this study provides evidence of the need for additional institutional capacity in Southcentral Alaska by 1990. Planning should proceed for a capacity of 1,000 beds to be available for use by 1990.Alaska Department of CorrectionsAcknowledgments /
Summary of Study /
I. Introduction /
II. Long-Range Forecasts /
III. Short-Range Forecasts /
IV. Regional Forecasts /
V. Conclusions /
APPENDICES /
A. Inmate Population Forecasting: Statistical Model /
B. JUSSIM Forecasting Model /
C. Bibliography of Inmate Population Forecastin
Police powers and human rights in the context of terrorism
Purpose β The object of the paper is to analyse the justifications for the modification of police
powers in response to terrorist threats, placing this issue in a European context.
Design/methodology/approach β The paper consists of a critical examination of provisions
relating to terrorism emanating from the European Union and the Council of Europe (European
Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)), and the relevant English law on police powers of stop and
search, arrest, and detention.
Findings β Nothing in European law requires the amendments to police powers contained in English
law; European law requires respect for human rights, even in dealing with terrorism; a shoot-to-kill
policy is prohibited by the ECHR; and balance is an unsatisfactory method of resolving conflicts in
this area.
Research limitations/implications β The research was limited in its scope to certain areas of
police powers, and to certain fundamental European documents. Future research should consider the
issue in relation to wider areas.
Originality/value β It challenges the idea of balance between liberty and security, proposing a test
based on necessity instead
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