Legal Issues Affecting Blue Carbon Projects on Publicly-Owned Coastal Wetlands

Coastal wetlands play an important role in sequestering atmospheric carbon, but these ecosystems are under threat from sea level rise, land use conversion, and other causes. Restoration projects in coastal wetlands can provide a range of benefits for habitat and ecosystems, including by increasing sequestration of “blue carbon.” Coastal wetland restoration projects that effectively sequester carbon and meet the requirements of the voluntary carbon market can generate tradeable carbon offsets, which have a monetary value and can be used to finance all or part of the restoration needed to generate them. Blue carbon offsets thus represent a promising tool to promote effective restoration and maintenance projects on threatened and degraded coastal wetlands. Agencies must be confident that they will not violate the law before they commit to deployment of blue carbon offset projects on public coastal wetlands. Federal, state, and tribal agencies are critical partners in wetlands restoration projects because they control a substantial portion of the nation’s coastal wetlands. However, land management agencies may justifiably worry about violating their legal mandates if they participate in wetland restoration projects funded through blue carbon offsets. In the absence of past models of successful blue carbon offset projects on public lands, and without explicit authorization for this activity, agency staff can benefit from an analytical framework to understand what legal issues may occur in a blue carbon offset project and how to design projects to avoid legal problems to the extent possible. This study begins to provide that framework by identifying legal considerations for blue carbon offset projects on public coastal wetlands. Agencies are faced with the difficult challenge of both complying with all relevant laws and satisfying the conditions necessary to qualify projects for offsets under voluntary standards. Key conditions for offset markets with legal implications include: (i) additionality – the project must actually sequester carbon; (ii) permanence – the project must provide the promised sequestration benefit over a long time period; and (iii) unambiguous ownership – the entity registering the carbon offset must be the only one able to reasonably claim it. Each of these three core conditions may result in potential legal issues when applied to blue carbon-financed restoration projects on public coastal wetlands. Based on an evaluation of representative federal, state, and tribal law, this study divides these legal issues into two broad categories: (i) title and property rights; and (ii) legal authority

Resettlement needs for foreign national prisoners returning to their home country

While a wide range of literature exists on the topic of prisoner resettlement, little is known about the struggles faced by foreign national prisoners who return to their home country after serving a prison sentence aboard. This paper aims to address this gap in the literature by providing a comparative analysis of two reports which have examined this phenomenon in Ireland and in the UK. While concerns over accommodation, healthcare, addiction, employment, education and family contact are common to all prisoners, foreign national prisoners also face concerns related to language, culture and immigration and deportation. These additional concerns can have a dramatic impact on the resettlement of those foreign national prisoners who return to their home country post-release

Eliciting information and cues to deception using a model statement: Examining the effect of presentation modality

Forensic interviewing involves gathering information from a suspect or eyewitness. Administering a model statement during an interview results in greater information elicitation, which can enhance lie detection. Typically, a model statement is a highly detailed statement, on an unrelated topic to that of the interview. This study examined the effect of manipulating the modality of the MS, either by allowing participants to listen to (Audio-MS), or read (Written-MS) a model statement. A total of 162 (81 truth tellers, 81 liars) participants were randomly allocated to one of three interviewing conditions where they received either the Audio-MS, Written-MS, or No-MS (control condition). Truth tellers honestly reported a “spy” mission, whereas liars performed a covert mission and lied about their activities. Results showed both model statements were equally more effective at eliciting information and facilitating lie detection, compared with a control condition. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Understanding the impact of organisational and operational stressors on the mental health of police officers in Ireland

The mental health of police officers is a critical yet under-researched area. They face unique operational and organisational stressors, including exposure to violence and trauma, as well as bullying, managerial conflict, and a lack of support in the workplace. This paper explores the multifaceted challenges impacting police mental health through thematic analysis of an online questionnaire completed by 98 members of An Garda Síochána (Irish police force) in Ireland. We found, inter alia, the existence of a culture of bullying and a lack of managerial support within the institution. Furthermore, exposure to traumatic events as part of the policing role was found to have a negative impact on the mental health of most respondents

A critical analysis of the Model Statement literature: Should this tool be used in practice?

Investigators need to elicit detailed statements from interviewees to find potential leads, whilst simultaneously judging if a statement is genuine or fabricated. Researchers have proposed that the Model Statement (MS) can both (a) increase information elicitation from interviewees and (b) amplify the verbal differences between liars and truth tellers, thereby enhancing lie-detection accuracy. Based upon a critical analysis of the MS literature, we argue that this tool is not currently ready for practical usage, as its utility has not been fully established. We highlight a diverse range of existing MS scripts, and a greater diversity in the dependent measures examined in conjunction with this tool. More robust replications of these procedures are needed. We also highlight why some measures of verbal content may not be suitable as outcome measures and suggest that new research could use the well-established reality monitoring criteria to allow for standardisation across studies

Applying the asymmetric information management technique to insurance claims

This study investigates the Asymmetric Information Management (AIM) technique's ability to detect fraudulent insurance claims submitted online. The AIM instructions inform claimants that, inter alia, more detailed statements are easier to accurately classify as genuine or fabricated. To test this, truth tellers (n=55) provided an honest statement about a lost or stolen item, while liars (n=53) provided a false claim. All claimants were randomly assigned to either receive the control or AIM instructions. We found that truth tellers provided more information in the AIM condition (compared to the control condition), and discriminant analysis classificatory performance was improved slightly. Unfortunately, the AIM instructions had little effect on the amount of information liars provided. Thus, the AIM technique is useful for supporting truth tellers to be more detailed, but more work needs to be conducted to assess why liars in this study did not adapt a withholding strategy

Sexual offending and barriers to employability: Public perceptions of who to hire

Employment can reduce reoffending, yet many employers refrain from hiring candidates with prior convictions, particularly for sexual offences. This study explored employability ratings before and after a disclosure and barring service (DBS) check for a public facing job. The DBS check revealed either (i) rape, (ii) sexual activity with a child, (iii) possession of indecent photographs of children, or (iv) no criminal conviction. We measured ratings of trustworthiness, company value, and role suitability before and after the disclosure. Participants were then invited to keep or reject the candidate. As predicted, individuals with a prior sexual offence were perceived as less trustworthy, valuable, or suitable for employment. Those with contact offences (sexual activity with a child 80%, rape, 57%) received higher rejections than those with possession of photographs of children convictions (49%). Participants provided qualitative responses for their decision making. This data indicates directions for future research for enhancing employment opportunities