Is counter-terrorism policy evidence-based? : what works, what harms, and what is unknown. '??Est?? basada la pol??tica antiterrorista en la evidencia? : lo que es efectivo, lo que es perjudicial, y lo desconocido'

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Reflections about Complicity and its Application in some Socio Economics Crimes

In Colombia, the definitions of crimes are found in the special part of the Criminal Code. They are set out as though the only way of to commit them was by being the author of the punishable conduct there described. Nevertheless, in the general part of the Criminal Code, we find other forms of criminal responsibility for the conduct described in the special part. Complicity is one of those ways. Although complicity is established in the Criminal Code, it does not appear as a criminal definition and, as such it is ignored or, worse, applied incorrectly. For those reasons, this article tries to reflect upon the validity of complicity. Accordingly, this article analyzes: what is complicity, what is the difference between complicity and co-authorship and how would complicity work in some practical cases related to socio-economic crimes, in which it has being overlooked or, has been used incorrectly. The article concludes that complicity is still valid, and that the correct application of complicity materializes the ideal of justice.

Crocodile crimes: people versus wildlife and the politics of postcolonial conservation on Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

This article is about the politics of conservation in postcolonial Southern Africa. It focuses on the process and consequences of redefining the Nile crocodile as an endangered species and explores the linked local and international, commercial and conservationist interests that allowed the animal to re-establish itself in state-protected waterways in colonial and postcolonial contexts. It investigates the effects of the animal's successful re-accommodation by examining conflicts between crocodiles and the fishing communities sharing space on Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. Fishermen's hostile representations of the animal emphasize competition for fish, harassment, fear, loss of assets and loss of life. Their fear of crocodiles is heightened by the animal's entanglement in local social life, through its association with witchcraft. The article emphasizes the importance of considering both hegemonic and marginalized ideas about animals in the light of the material interactions, relations of power and historical contexts that shape them. Understanding the attitudes and circumstances of the local communities who bear the physical and economic costs of living with dangerous animals is important-it threatens the future of conservation programmes and reveals the potential for significant abuses to accompany the conservation of wildlife in postcolonial contexts. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contribution to collective harms and responsibility

In the present contribution, I discuss the claim, endorsed by a number of authors, that contributing to a collective harm is the ground for special responsibilities to the victims of that harm. Contributors should, between them, cover the costs of the harms they have inflicted, at least if those harms would otherwise be rights-violating. I raise some doubts about the generality of this principle before moving on to sketch a framework for thinking about liability for the costs of harms in general. This framework uses a contractualist framework to build an account of how to think about liability for costs on the basis of the presumably attractive thought that individual agents should have as much control over their liabilities as is compatible with others having like control. I then use that framework to suggest that liability on the basis of contribution should be restricted to cases in which the contributors could have avoided their contribution relatively costlessly, in which meeting the liability is not crippling for them, and in which such a liability would not have chilling effects, either on them or on third parties. This account of the grounds for contributory liability also has the advantage of avoiding a number of awkward questions about what counts as a contribution by shifting the issue away from often unanswerable questions about the precise causal genesis of some harm or other. Instead, control over conduct, which plausibly has some relation to the harm, becomes crucial. On the basis of this account, I then investigate whether a number of uses of the contributory principle are entirely appropriate. I argue that contributory liability is not appropriate for cases of collective harms committed by coordinated groups in the way that, for example, Iris Marion Young and Thomas Pogge have suggested and that further investigation of how members of such groups may be liable will be needed.

Lighting and violent crimes: evaluating the effect of an electrification policy in rural Brazil on violent crime reduction

This paper estimates the effect of lighting on violent crime reduction. We explore an electrification program (LUZ PARA TODOS or Light for All - LPT) adopted by the federal government to expand electrification to rural areas in all Brazilian municipalities in the 2000s as an exogenous source of variation in electrification expansion. Our instrumental variable results show a reduction in homicide rates (approximately five homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) on rural roads/urban streets when a municipality moved from no access to full coverage of electricity between 2000 and 2010. These findings are even more significant in the northern and northeastern regions of Brazil, where rates of electrification are lower than those of the rest of the country and, thus, where the program is concentrated. In the north (northeast), the number of violent deaths on the streets per 100,000 inhabitants decreased by 48.12 (13.43). This moved a municipality at the 99th percentile (75th) to the median (zero) of the crime distribution of municipalities. Finally, we do not find effects on violent deaths in households and at other locations. Because we use an IV strategy by exploring the LPT program eligibility criteria, we can interpret the results as the estimated impact of the program on those experiencing an increase in electricity coverage due to their program eligibility. Thus, the results represent local average treatment effects of lighting on homicides.

Development of successive cambia and structure of wood in Gallesia integrifolia (Spreng.) Harms (Phytolaccaceae)

Stem diameter in Gallesia integrifolia (Spreng.) Harms (Phytolaccaceae) increases by forming concentric rings of xylem alternating with phloem, which show frequent anastomoses. After a period of primary growth and the formation of first (normal) ring of vascular cambium, further successive rings are initiated outside this cambium. The second ring of cambium originates from the pericycle parenchyma located between the proto-phloem, and the pericycle fibres. Each cambium produces centripetally secondary xylem and centrifugally secondary phloem. Differentiation of xylem precedes that of phloem and the first elements formed are always xylem fibres. Structurally, the vascular cylinder is composed by successive rings of secondary xylem and phloem. These rings are separated by wide bands of conjunctive parenchyma tissue. Presence of collateral vascular bundles with irregular orientation is observed in the region of anastomoses of two or more bands of conjunctive tissue. These bundles are surrounded by isodiametric, lignified and thick-walled cells. In some of the cambial rings, occurrence of polycentric rays was also noticed; these rays are tall, and characterized by the presence of meristematic regions that differentiated into thick-walled elements of secondary xylem. Origin and development of the successive cambia and the structure of xylem are discussed.