8,542 research outputs found
Another Collateral Consequence: Kicking the Victim When Sheās Down
Every state has a victim compensation fund that provides financial relief to victims of crime who have no other way to pay for medical expenses, funeral costs, crime scene cleanup, or other costs associated with the crime. States impose their own eligibility requirements to determine which victims can receive funding. Six states prohibit victims with certain criminal histories from obtaining compensation. This means that innocent victims of crime are left with nowhere to turn because of something that they already āpaidā for. This leaves victims, who are likely already in a financially precarious situation due to their felon status, with no way to pay for their bills. To make matters worse, the bans disproportionately affect Black victims who are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Despite this negative impact, the Supreme Court has made it clear that the victims will not find any redress in the law. In fact, Congress has enacted legislation that negatively affects individuals with a criminal history, despite the disproportionate negative impact on Black individuals.
This Note suggests that Congress enact legislation prohibiting states receiving federal funding for their compensation funds from disqualifying victims based on their criminal history. Additionally, this Note encourages the six states with a criminal history ban to change their legislation and redefine āvictim.
Magnetoplasmon resonances in polycrystalline bismuth as seen via terahertz spectroscopy
We report the magnetic field-dependent far-infrared reflectivity of
polycrystalline bismuth. We observe four distinct absorptions that we attribute
to magnetoplasmon resonances, which are collective modes of an electron-hole
liquid in magnetic field and become optical and acoustic resonances of the
electron-hole system in the small-field limit. The acoustic mode is expected
only when the masses of distinct components are very different, which is the
case in bismuth. In a polycrystal, where the translational symmetry is broken,
a big shift of spectral weight to acoustic plasmon is possible. This enables us
to detect an associated plasma edge. Although the polycrystal sample has grains
of randomly distributed orientations, our reflectivity results can be explained
by invoking only two, clearly distinct, series of resonances. In the limit of
zero field, the optical modes of these two series converge onto plasma
frequencies measured in monocrystal along the main optical axes.Comment: Accepted in PR
Soft Manifold Dynamics Behind Negative Thermal Expansion
Minimal models are developed to examine the origin of large negative thermal
expansion (NTE) in under-constrained systems. The dynamics of these models
reveals how underconstraint can organize a thermodynamically extensive manifold
of low-energy modes which not only drives NTE but extends across the Brillioun
zone. Mixing of twist and translation in the eigenvectors of these modes, for
which in ZrW2O8 there is evidence from infrared and neutron scattering
measurements, emerges naturally in our model as a signature of the dynamics of
underconstraint.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Modelling the spread of Wolbachia in spatially heterogeneous environments
The endosymbiont Wolbachia infects a large number of insect species and is capable of rapid spread when introduced into a novel host population. The bacteria spread by manipulating their hosts' reproduction, and their dynamics are influenced by the demographic structure of the host population and patterns of contact between individuals. Reactionādiffusion models of the spatial spread of Wolbachia provide a simple analytical description of their spatial dynamics but do not account for significant details of host population dynamics. We develop a metapopulation model describing the spatial dynamics of Wolbachia in an age-structured host insect population regulated by juvenile density-dependent competition. The model produces similar dynamics to the reactionādiffusion model in the limiting case where the host's habitat quality is spatially homogeneous and Wolbachia has a small effect on host fitness. When habitat quality varies spatially, Wolbachia spread is usually much slower, and the conditions necessary for local invasion are strongly affected by immigration of insects from surrounding regions. Spread is most difficult when variation in habitat quality is spatially correlated. The results show that spatial variation in the density-dependent competition experienced by juvenile host insects can strongly affect the spread of Wolbachia infections, which is important to the use of Wolbachia to control insect vectors of human disease and other pests
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