Addicted to Punishment: The Disproportionality of Drug Laws in Latin America

In Latin America, trafficking cocaine so it can be sold to someone who wants to use it is more serious than raping a woman or deliberately killingyour neighbor. While it may seem incredible, that is the conclusion of arigorous study of the evolution of criminal legislation in the region, which shows that countries' judicial systems mete out harsher penalties for traffickingeven modest amounts of drugs than for acts as heinous as sexua lassault or murder.How have we reached such an unjust and irrational point? In recent decades, especially the 1980s, Latin American countries, influenced by aninternational prohibitionist model, fell -- ironically -- into what we mightmetaphorically call an addiction to punishment.Addiction creates the need to consume more and more drugs, whichhave less and less effect; ultimately, the problematic user simply consumesdrugs to avoid withdrawal. Drug legislation in Latin America seems to have followed a similar path. Countries have an ever-growing need to add crimes and increase the penalties for drug trafficking, supposedly to control an expanding illegal market, while this increasingly punitive approach has less and less effect on decreasing the supply and use of illegal drugs.This report explores whether the recent evolution of criminal legislation in Latin American countries with regard to drug-related conducts respects these minimal guarantees to which criminal law should be subject, and especially whether that criminal legislation can be considered proportionate to the harm caused by prohibited conducts. Ultimately, the question is whether the crimes and punishments outlined in national legislation are proportionate. If the answer is no, the conclusion should be that they may even be unconstitutional within the framework of a constitutional state.To address this question, the report explores the recent development of criminal laws on drug-related crime in seven Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. These countries were chosen based on two basic criteria. First, they are of academic importance, because they have different drug-related problems, different geographic locations, diverse contexts and different political systems. According to traditional categorization, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia are considered producer countries; Mexico and even Brazil are considered trans-shipment countries. They also represent the different regions of Latin America,from the Southern Cone to the furthest Spanish-speaking country in North America.This report has three main parts. The first provides a conceptual and methodological overview of the elements that form the basis of the analysis.The second describes the principal recent trends in criminal drug legislation in Latin America. The third analyzes the proportionality of drug-related crimes and punishment in the countries, comparing them with penalties for other serious crimes, followed by some conclusions

Strategies for Mobile Web Design

This paper presents a literature review on the topic of web design, specifically with regard to mobile web design. The aim of the review is to identify and analyze major strategies and approaches to design for small-screen-size devices. Three strategies consistently appeared across the reviewed literature, namely, responsive web design, adaptive web design, and separate site. The analysis of these strategies intends to provide a clear understanding of their advantages and disadvantages, in terms of cost and user experience

Compresión Digital en Imágenes Médicas

Imaging technology has long played a principal role in the medical domain, and as such, its use is widespread in the diagnosis and treatment of numerous health conditions. Concurrently, new developments in imaging techniques and sensor technology make possible the acquisition of increasingly detailed images of several organs of the human body. This improvement is indeed advantageous for medical practitioners. However, it comes to a cost in the form of storage and telecommunication infrastructures needed to handle high-resolution images reliably. Ordinarily, digital compression is a mainstay in the efficient management of digital media, including still images and video. From a technical point of view, medical imaging could take full advantage of digital compression technology. However, nuances unique to medical data impose constraints to the application of digital compression in medical images. This paper presents an overview of digital compression in the context of still medical images, along with a brief discussion on related regulatory and legal implications.La Imagenología desempeña un papel protagónico en el campo médico, siendo su uso ampliamente generalizado en el diagnóstico y tratamiento de numerosos trastornos de la salud.Nuevos desarrollos en la adquisición de imágenes y en la tecnología de sensores hacen posible obtener imágenes más detalladas de varios órganos del cuerpo humano. Tal mejora es ciertamente ventajosa para la práctica médica, pero supone un encarecimiento de los recursos tecnológicos necesarios para manejar imágenes de alta resolución de manera confiable. Comúnmente, el manejo eficiente de medios digitales se apoya principalmente en la compresión digital. Desde un punto de vista técnico, las imágenes médicas podrían aprovechar las ventajas de la compresión digital. Sin embargo, peculiaridades de los datos médicos imponen restricciones a su uso. Este artículo presenta un vistazo a la compresión digital en el contexto de las imágenes médicas, y una breve discusión de los aspectos regulatorios y legales asociados a su uso

Estimating Sample Size for Usability Testing

One strategy used to assure that an interface meets user requirements is to conduct usability testing. When conducting such testing one of the unknowns is sample size. Since extensive testing is costly, minimizing the number of participants can contribute greatly to successful resource management of a project. Even though a significant number of models have been proposed to estimate sample size in usability testing, there is still not consensus on the optimal size. Several studies claim that 3 to 5 users suffice to uncover 80% of problems in a software interface. However, many other studies challenge this assertion. This study analyzed data collected from the user testing of a web application to verify the rule of thumb, commonly known as the “magic number 5”. The outcomes of the analysis showed that the 5-user rule significantly underestimates the required sample size to achieve reasonable levels of problem detection

The Internet of Things in Healthcare. An Overview

La prestación de servicios de salud está experimentando enormes cambios alrededor del mundo. El envejecimiento de la población, la creciente incidencia de enfermedades crónicas, y la escasez de recursos se están convirtiendo en una carga pesada para los actuales sistemas de salud y podrían comprometer la prestación de servicios de salud en las próximas décadas. Por otro lado, la creciente popularidad de dispositivos para el cuidado de la salud y el bienestar, junto con avances en comunicaciones inalámbricas y en sensores abren la puerta a nuevos modelos para la prestación de servicios de salud respaldados por el Internet de las cosas (IoT). Este artículo presenta una revisión general de las tendencias que están impulsando el desarrollo de aplicaciones para el cuidado de la salud basadas en IoT, y las describe brevemente a nivel de sistema.The provision of healthcare is experimenting enormous changes worldwide. Population ageing, rising incidence of chronic diseases, and shortages of resources are placing a heavy burden in current healthcare systems and have the potential to risk the delivery of healthcare in the next few decades. On the other hand, the growing popularity of smart devices for healthcare and wellness, along with advances in wireless communications and sensors are opening the door to novel models of health care delivery supported by the Internet of things (IoT). This paper presents a review of the trends that are driving the development of IoT-based applications for healthcare and briefly describe them at a system level

Violencia de Género: Detección y Pautas de Actuación

En este curso se contempla la violencia de género desde una perspectiva humana, social, asistencial y jurídica. Se matizarán las principales diferencias y características entre violencia de género y violencia doméstica así como las posibles respuestas a los casos que se nos planteen Así se destacarán las pautas de actuación ante una víctima de violencia de género y un maltratador

Estimating Sample Size for Usability Testing

One strategy used to assure that an interface meets user requirements is to conduct usability testing. When conducting such testing one of the unknowns is sample size. Since extensive testing is costly, minimizing the number of participants can contribute greatly to successful resource management of a project. Even though a significant number of models have been proposed to estimate sample size in usability testing, there is still not consensus on the optimal size. Several studies claim that 3 to 5 users suffice to uncover 80% of problems in a software interface. However, many other studies challenge this assertion. This study analyzed data collected from the user testing of a web application to verify the rule of thumb, commonly known as the “magic number 5”. The outcomes of the analysis showed that the 5-user rule significantly underestimates the required sample size to achieve reasonable levels of problem detection

Governmentalization and Social State in Colombia

En este ensayo se pretende analizar la relación entre el proceso de gubernamentalización del Estado colombiano y el sistema de reproducción bipartidista luego de la crisis del modelo liberal clásico. Si bien, entre la I y la II Guerra Mundial se dio en Occidente un replanteamiento de la figura Estado a través del inevitable reconocimiento de la clase obrera como sujeto colectivo dinámico y de la adecuación de las instituciones hacia el Estado social, en Colombia la pretendida intervención del Estado bajo el principio de justicia social, sería obstaculizada por el reclutamiento partidista del personal administrativo y por la primacía de los intereses privados sobre los del Estado.This essay aims to analyze the relationship between the process of governmentalization of the Colombian State and the reproduction system bipartisan after the crisis of the classical liberal model. Although, between the I and World War II gave rise to a rethinking of the figure of the State in the West through the inevitable recognition of the working class as dynamic collective subject and the adequacy of institutions towards the Social State, in Colombia the alleged intervention of the State under the principle of social justice, would be hindered by the partisan recruitment of administrative personnel and by the primacy of private interests over those of the State

Editorial

Presentamos la edición No. 42 de la revista Refexión Política con la publicación de artículos derivados de investigación y/o de refexión en aspectos centrales del debate académico de la ciencia política, particularmente en Derechos Humanos y Conficto, Democracia y Políticas Públicas. En la sección Derechos Humanos y Conficto, se presentan cinco artículos, el primero denominado “En búsqueda de visibilización: experiencias y necesidades de las mujeres excombatientes de las FARC-EP en el escenario de construcción de paz” escrito por Omar Huertas Díaz y Angie Lorena Ruiz; indaga acerca de las experiencias, aprendizajes y retos de las mujeres excombatientes de la guerrilla de las FARC-EP en el marco de la reincorporación a la vida civil que han emprendido estas mujeres derivada de la frma del Acuerdo Final entre esa guerrilla y el Gobierno Colombiano.We present the 42nd edition of the Refexión Política magazine with the publication of articles derived from research and/or reflection on central aspects of the academic debate on political science, particularly in Human Rights and Conflict, Democracy and Politics Public. In the Human Rights and Conflict section, five articles are presented, the first called "In search of visibility: experiences and needs of women ex-combatants of the FARC-EP in the peace building scenario” written by Omar Huertas Diaz and Angie Lorena Ruiz; inquire about the experiences, learnings and challenges of female ex-combatants of the FARC-EP guerrilla in the framework of reincorporation to the civil life that these women have undertaken as a result of the signing of the Final Agreement between that guerrilla and the Colombian Government

Vicisitudes del Bipartidismo en Colombia

Resumen Sobre la base de las características propias del sistema de partidos en Colombia, este artículo intenta mostrar, partiendo de la génesis de los dos partidos tradicionales, tanto los elementos funcionales que han guiado la historia política nacional, como la problemática que desde el análisis político se puede revisar teniendo como base el accionar bipartidista desde su existencia hasta las transformaciones operadas en el sistema político colombiano durante la última década y que afectaron el sistema de partidos