Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau Comparison Grid

Given all the recent kerfluffles in anthropology and related sciences it is good to take a look at the three basic political and philosophical "wells" from which these views diverge and relate to as the different "sides" seem to be being taken for the most part along these. Particularly Hobbes-ish versus Rousseau-ish, as someone more partial to Locke (minus his Protestant religious stuff) or even Montesquieu (minus the idea women cannot head a family stuff). Pay special attention to their views on "State of Nature." 

	Hobbes	Locke	Rousseau
State of Nature	The state of nature is a state of war.  No morality exists. Everyone lives in constant fear.  Because of this fear, no one is really free, but, since even the “weakest” could kill the “strongest” men ARE equal.	Men exist in the state of nature in perfect freedom to do what they want.  The state of nature is not necessarily good or bad.  It is chaotic.  So, men do give it up to secure the advantages of civilized society.	Men in a state of nature are free and equal. In a state of nature, men are “Noble Savages”.  Civilization is what corrupted him.
Purpose of Government	To impose law and order to prevent the state of war.	To secure natural rights, namely man’s property and liberty.	To bring people into harmony. To unite them under the “General Will”.
Representation	Governments are designed to control, not necessarily represent.	Representation ensures that governments are responsive to the people.  Representation is a safeguard against oppression.	Representation is not enough.  Citizens cannot delegate their civic duties. They must be actively involved.  Rousseau favors a more direct democracy to enact the general will.
Impact on Founders	Governments must be designed to protect the people from themselves.	1.       Governments must be designed to protect the people from the government.  2.       Natural Rights must be secured.	1.       Governments must be responsive and aligned with the general will.  2.       People make a nation, not institutions. 3.       Individual wills are subordinate to the general (collective) will.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2Uztlg/www.1215.org/lawnotes/work-in-progress/hlrcomparison/hlrcomparisongrid.htm/

SPICY TUNA CASSEROLE

(inspired by Tuna Casserole and Spicy Tuna Rolls)

INGREDIENTS

One or Two Cans of Tuna (depending on size and amount of food wanted)

Garlic (to taste)

Mushrooms (to taste)

Cooked Rice (to taste)

Fried Onions (Can style – I like Trader Joes or Japanese brands)

Mayo or Cream (I used Olive oil based mayo)

Sriracha or Favourite (red) hot sauce (to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

Roast some garlic and mushrooms (whichever ones you like I used peeled cloved but minced is fine and shiitake [Lentinula edodes]) and drain of excess oil. Keep oil to use for frying eggs or whatever as it has a nice umami flavour and can be used again. Make a nice mix of no more than half garlic/mushroom mix to rice but at least 1/6^th garlic/mushroom mix to rice. Drain tuna of fishy-water, usually give it to the pet. Mix that all together with as much mayo needed to make moist but NOT soggy. Add a hot sauce to taste and mix again. Sprinkle canned Fried onions on top. You could also sprinkle Seaweed or Furikake if you want to lean more Asian. It’s a fusion dish so either ways fine.

January so far ...

January has been crazy busy. I finally took over the DNS for the National Association of Student Anthropologists and have big, HUGE plans on how I'd like to see it upgraded. Most of those plans are of course based on a survey of the membership which I've yet to have time to actually read all the responses to. I've been assured though based on the survey there's a demand a Forum and am looking to add that. Relatedly I've been re-reading a lot of HTML books and webpages on how to use Word Press. Guess anthropology has finally given me and excuse to resurrect my inner computer nerd that my sexist father tried to squash out of me as a child. Yay! more nerd credz. 

Something I'd also like to mention is that this term my department head Dr. Samuel Connell and his family are in the field. First stop in Vietnam! They will be blogging their experiences at http://labigblog.blogspot.com/ and his kids at http://labigblogkids.blogspot.com/. If you look you today (28 Jan 2013) one can already see some wonderful pictures of Halong Bay on the children's blog. If you're interested in globalization, resistance, archaeology etc. I'm sure he'll cover these topics at some point because that's bailiwick. He's really an amazing professor and I hope you enjoy learning from him as much as I did. However I believe by the time he comes back from his sabbatical I'll be in the field and when I come back he'll be in the field again. So I might not see him in real life for a long time. After that I'll then I'll one Foothill class left (not an anthropology one) then I transfer so even when we're both back I probably won't be seeing much of him. However I will be following his adventures via his blog above - and on Facebook. 

Speaking of writing and Facebook, my writing partner killed his Facebook. He's lucky to be in such a position and kudos to him for offing it. However too many of my current school/AAA and other coordination points are on it so it actually cuts down on my work rather than adds to it. Also I'd have a hell of a phone bill with all those overseas friends/family without it - so I'm screwed. On a good note we have started on our Sci-Fi novel and are at the point where we have the basic outlines for major cultures and philosophical conflicts and am starting to sort out the changes to my original plot idea which are dependent on the changes to the two conflicting cultures as I initially saw them. It's been interesting working with the differing time zones - all I can say is thank Google for Google Drive! Maybe I should send them a fruit-basket? 


I've also been in the midst of planning some fieldwork for May/June. I'll be volunteering with Lefika La Phodiso - The Art Therapy Centre in the Johannesburg area of South Africa. This will be the first time I'll be setting up such work independently of a volunteer recruitment organization and so I'll be having to set up everything from almost scratch. To this effect I'm going to be announcing a KickStarter campaign fairly shortly. Hopefully I can get enough funds that my husband doesn't have to help sponsor me ... who knows? He's already letting me use his miles for the flight so I'm hoping that it works out that way. Either way though I'm going, that's what I do know! 

Hum, well there's lots of other stuff too but those are the things I feel comfortable sharing on a blog which anyone can read.

Toodles for Now!

Valerie

  

The United Nations Approach to Humanitarian Intervention (Review)

Norrie MacQueen. Humanitarian Intervention and the United Nations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011. xv + 240 pp. $32.50 (paper), ISBN 978-0-7486-3697-6; $100.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7486-3696-9.

Reviewed by David Williams (Swansea University, Wales)
Published on H-Genocide (October, 2012)
Commissioned by Elisa G. von Joeden-Forgey

The United Nations Approach to Humanitarian Intervention

One simply cannot consider intervention in the current world climate without taking into account the United Nations. In Humanitarian Intervention and the United Nations, Norrie MacQueen explores the capability of the UN to use its members’ military assets to defend human rights. Whilst this is not the first book on the subject, even by this author, it does fill a crucial gap in providing a straightforward, detailed analysis of the relationship between the UN and intervention. More than this, it makes a valid contribution to the critical analysis of the present world system that has dominated intervention research in the last twenty years and provides a fundamental insight into the limitations of the current legal and political infrastructure surrounding intervention. Its central proposal is that the world stage has not changed as much as recent scholarship indicates, and this means that the UN remains the most effective body for implementing intervention. The extent to which the UN has ever been effective is, however, questionable.

For those who are not familiar with humanitarian intervention, this is the practice of attempting to halt humanitarian concerns, like genocide and the fall-out from natural disasters, in a foreign state. Whilst in practice intervention is often attempted in a number of non-military ways (for example through economic sanctions or refugee management), the most concerning and indeed the most studied is armed intervention. MacQueen is entirely focused with this military dimension, as he well should be. Scholarship on this area is fixated on the challenges these types of interventions generally face, particularly the tension between the notions of international order and state sovereignty, on the one hand, and the upholding of justice and human rights, on the other. As others have pointed out, this should be an area in which international law, and by extension bodies like the UN, should create a legal exception to its own conflicting laws.[1] But at present, armed intervention, even with the objective of halting genocide, is nowhere near as easy to execute as it should be. Any text that deals with intervention therefore needs to reconcile how sovereignty plays off against human rights. Due credit should thus be given to MacQueen’s introduction, which is a masterpiece of succinctness. It avoids the quagmire of complex concepts such as the Responsibility to Protect but deals directly with the interminable debate between sovereignty and human rights. The result is a great overview of the role the UN has played, continues to play, and will play in future interventions. Humanitarian Intervention and the United Nations is highly recommended reading for anyone unfamiliar with the general issues surrounding intervention.

The first half of the text deals with the conceptual and ethical aspects of armed intervention and the United Nations. Initially MacQueen charts the development of humanitarian aims alongside the UN, claiming a heritage from the subtly successful League of Nations towards the armed interventions in the Congo and Lebanon, ending with Darfur. In this part MacQueen criticizes the recently emerged argument that the basis of international politics has started to shift. Common consensus is that the nature of international relations has changed over the last three hundred years. From the late 1600s the prevailing model has been based on the Westphalian system, with a state having absolute authority within its own borders by right; any action within its borders is therefore the state’s own affair. In recent years, after the publication of the Report by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), many thinkers have proposed that the ideas around sovereignty have changed--now sovereignty is seen as a responsibility and it is only granted if a state is capable of defending the human rights of its citizens.[2] This, of course, has had progressive repercussions for thought surrounding intervention, with the idea of sovereignty as a responsibility justifying the action entirely. When states can no longer ensure the human rights of their citizens, their own right to sovereign borders is forfeited. However, MacQueen takes his analysis beyond the common wisdom, providing a critical analysis of the real state of this proposed post-Westphalian system. As he concludes, there is not as much evidence of a worldwide acceptance of the responsibility to protect as is necessary to prove the existence of a post-Westphalian world. Whilst many will disagree, the ICISS report has had a long honeymoon period with intervention scholars, and perhaps now is the right time for its ideas to be reassessed. 

The implications of this conclusion for the future of military intervention are not, however, as detrimental as one might think. Instead, MacQueen argues, the UN provides a key facilitator for humanitarian actions and, having been developed in a Westphalian system, remains as effective today as it ever has been. What is most illuminating in MacQueen’s argument is the long-term analysis of how intervention has been dealt with inside the limits of this state system. He places a significant amount of emphasis on the legacy of the League of Nations and how the UN has had to react to avoid facing the same fate as the League, whilst also trying to meet similar objectives as its predecessor. In MacQueen’s reading the League of Nations proves to have had a significant legacy in providing a precedent for an inter-state body making physical changes to the real world, with the League's establishment of the Saar region and the Permanent Court of International Justice as exemplars of this. Despite the ultimate failure of the League of Nations, these small glimmers of success gave credit to the burgeoning idea of an international organization to bring peace. This demonstrates the capacity for the UN to enact interventions inside the limits of right-based sovereignty.

What follows is an extended discussion of the UN and intervention after the Second World War. It is no surprise that the shape of international relations was affected by the Cold War and this continually altered the approach the UN had to take in staging interventions. A very clear and concise summary of this period is delivered which covers areas including the development of humanitarian law, the rise of peacekeeping, and the growth of a human rights ethic. MacQueen also deals with some of the more challenging examples of interventions and explains how these have moved the history of intervention. The United Nations Operation in the Congo is explained as a game-changer, in so far as it was an intervention rather than a peacekeeping mission and marks a shift from traditional models of state conciliation. Most refreshing in this first section of the book is the exploration of little-known interventions. The examples of Kashmir, West New Guinea, and Palestine, despite their successes, have all been overshadowed in recent years by more violent interventions that have garnered media focus. A reprisal of these early interventions is therefore timely, and MacQueen proves convincing in assigning these examples genuine importance.

MacQueen then goes on to explore the changes that the end of the Cold War brought to the UN. After the collapse of the USSR there was an extraordinary increase in the number of interventions and peacekeeping missions undertaken by the UN, and attempts are made to explain why this was the case.[4] This period is described as one of “new peacekeeping,” although this seems to be due more to the quantity of interventions than the quality. A part of this change in quantity is attributed to the fact that the number of problems that limited the practical efficacy of the UN in staging interventions dropped dramatically. MacQueen follows on from the “new and old wars” theory proposed by Mary Kaldor, which argues that since the end of the Cold War the nature of conflict has changed to small-scale wars between people rather than states and  hat this generates increased human rights violations.[4] The implication is not only an increased demand for intervention, but also that the nature of this intervention has changed as genocides now rarely occur across state borders. This has obvious and dire consequences for the unique role that the UN can play in intervention as an institution concerned with states. Still, perhaps some of MacQueen’s thought has grown out of date, with situations like Kosovo marking a close to the immediate post-Cold War period of intervention, and the application of the ICISS’s recommendations. Another constructive component of this section is one of the most comprehensive analyses to date of former UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s An Agenda for Peace. This quite rightly concludes that intervention needs to change to a multifunctional practice that focuses as much on pre-emptive action and post-conflict peace-building as on prevention at the time of violence.

Whilst MacQueen’s discussion of this period is solid, in being so based on the international system there is a distinct lack of awareness of other factors. Since the close of the 1980s intervention has flourished. As the author argues, this has, in part, been due to both a shift in the dynamics of state interaction and the contributions of individuals like Boutros-Ghali and Lakhdar Brahimi, a UN special advisor on peacekeeping. But there are other explanations that are less explored. MacQueen does describe a growing awareness of genocide from a world media which suddenly offered 24-hour coverage and gained an increased audience, leading to what has been termed “the CNN effect.”[5] The physical and emotional distance of viewers from victims thousands of miles away started to close with the rise of the world media at the same time that interventions started to increase in frequency. No one can deny the extent to which the news media influenced the decision to intervene in Kosovo, especially after the revelations of Rwanda. Whilst factors like this are covered in some regard, perhaps it would have been beneficial to look to a broader spectrum outside of an international relations context to appreciate why interventions increased. Recent studies have, for example, examined a genuine belief held by states that intervention could create deep social changes in the intervened state, and generate political currency at home.[6] The belief that intervention was also becoming easier helped increase the practice as well. The emphasis is put on changes on the world stage, but there is a far more complex picture in explaining why interventions increased in this time. MacQueen ends this section of theoretical engagement by addressing the extent to which the responsibility to protect has altered the underlying function of intervention.

The first section of this book does do a good job of discussing the theory of intervention. It deals with the development of this theory, giving due prominence to key individuals who have furthered the practice. In the main it discusses the capacity of the UN to initiate an intervention, and the point in time when this is most appropriate. It also assesses the aptitude of the UN for operating in a Westphalian context. The book then shifts tact, and explores the actual practice of UN intervention, ultimately with the aim of analyzing if and how we can call any intervention a success. Here there is a balanced appraisal of UN interventions, both recent and in the past.

This second half of this book comprises a number of case studies, including Africa, the Balkans, and East Timor. These provide a practical balance for the theoretical arguments put forth previously. They introduce the reader to some of the better known and more commonly cited interventions, again in such a way as to familiarize readers clearly and concisely with the examples. Good connections are made both between consecutive cases of interventions and between interventions and the UN. The section on Africa makes the deliberate and well-furnished argument that one intervention leads to another, or in some cases to the absence of another. In this manner the decision to avoid intervention in Rwanda is explained, and it is uplifting to see that MacQueen avoids the often used argument that the lack of oil or diamonds explains why the outside world did not intervene. There is some loss of engagement with theory here, and little of the second section directly relates to changes and continuities in the Westphalian system. More effort is made in illustrating the idea that the end of the Cold War brought significant changes in intervention and increased the number of cases where interventions were appropriate. While the focus remains on the capacity of the UN to intervene, it is important to note that MacQueen also looks at alternatives, exploring the notion of African solutions to African problems and non-UN-backed enforcement in the Balkans. Although the general thrust of his argument is somewhat lost in this part, it does enforce the idea that the UN is the most suitable intervener.

The book closes with the argument that it is not always appropriate to intervene, and there seems to be a pessimistic streak throughout the conclusion. War is supposedly necessary, and the sole way in which political and social conflicts that reach certain levels can be resolved. Whilst this realist tone dominates his argument, MacQueen does accept that the case for intervention should be forwarded on a casuistic basis. This dictates that there are cases in which conflicts need to run their course, but that there is also a place for interventions that come at the point in a conflict where an opportunity for external help ebbs to become part of the resolution process. A very good comparison of Angola and Mozambique supports his argument. Aside from a discussion of what constitutes success, which must also be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, MacQueen concludes that if intervention is to be carried out, the UN is the only body capable of dealing with it. The UN sits on a world stage that has not yet moved beyond its Westphalian limitations. There is no other body that can suitably balance all the demands of an intervention with the limitations that the present international situation places on it. At the very least the UN provides a legitimate body to approve intervention. Nonetheless, MacQueen realizes that there are weaknesses to the UN system. Rapid reaction and clear objectives are something that the UN can only rarely provide. Despite this MacQueen concludes, to paraphrase Winston Churchill’s quip on democracy, that the UN is the worst agent of intervention, apart from all the others.

This book certainly provides a solid and critical approach to intervention theory. It is easily accessible without dumbing down the subject and engages the reader in a stimulating way that avoids overburdening them with complex theories and unnecessary information. Amongst all this it also provides a clear argument, that the UN is not as capable of staging interventions as it claims to be but is still more capable than any other alternative. As I have described, the close association of this book to international relations theory is a weakness in terms of really answering the research questions set out. But it also proves a great strength in making this text relevant and accessible. Whilst the number of publications that consider the topic of humanitarian intervention has grown progressively larger in the last decade, there is still no real standard basic text on the subject. It  may be presumptuous to claim that MacQueen has produced a work that could fill this need, but this book is certainly to be recommended as solid introductory reading, for theory on the topic at the very least. I only wish that a text as clear and precise as this had existed when I was introduced to the subject.

Notes

REFERENCES:

[1]. Nicholas J. Wheeler, Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society  (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 28.

[2]. Gareth Evans and Mohamed Sahnoun et al., The Responsibility To Protect: Report of The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 2001).

[3]. Between 1988 and 1992 the annual budget for UN peacekeeping operations grew from $230.4M to $1689.6M. See Boutros-Ghali, Supplement to An Agenda for Peace: Position Paper of the Secretary-General on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations, UN Document A/50/60-S/1995/1, available at http://www.un.org/Docs/SG/agsupp.html.

[4]. Mary Kaldor, New and Old Wars. Organized Violence in a Global Era (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999).

[5]. Gary J. Bass, Freedom's Battle: The Origins of Humanitarian Intervention (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), 25.

[6]. Stephen Wertheim, “A Solution from Hell: The United States and the Rise of Humanitarian Interventionism, 1991–2003,” Journal of Genocide Research 12, nos. 3-4 (2010): 149-72.

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the list discussion logs at: http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl.

Citation: David Williams. Review of MacQueen, Norrie, Humanitarian Intervention and the United Nations. H-Genocide, H-Net Reviews. October, 2012.

URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=35244

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Transitions (poem)

Sometimes I think in another life

you were mine and

I gave shelter to you in my bosom,

Like pillows they cradled your head and

We were one flesh

Circumstances have changed our ages

So different this spin on the Kalachakra  

Now I barely know you, yet I know you still

I feel close though we have just met

again through kismet

This is all unreal to you

because you’re a Skeptic 

and you are not who you were,

Only a mirror of what you will be again though

What cannot be for us this cycle is coupling

Love must now take a different form because

I am promised in love's rings to another

who I wish never to hurt and for whom vasopressin flows 

And yet to not have you pains me

like an arrow through the amygdala 

So I seize your camaraderie

and pleasure you through music

Hoping someday another will encircle you in love

Time is sick and the universe fickle

Pounding a sickle into the ground relentlessly

Forming new combinations with leftover seeds

Becoming different beings

Through this puckish epoch

Promiscuous I must not be with flesh

But care for you with melody and mirth instead as

Love does not end just transforms

Short Latin Poem I

Super cogitans tibi ...

Sola magicis est caritas

Licet una darent libere

Id sapienter utaris

On pondering you ...

The only real magic is love

Though one should give it freely

Use it wisely

FORENSIC MEDICINE IN SOUTH AFRICA - SEX, GUNS, GERMS AND CRIMINALITY

By: Valerie Feria-Isacks

Anthropology has the ability to illustrate, identify, and keep up with the real world, which is too complex to address within the confines of classic socio-political theories. As a bridge between science and humanities - culture clash, death, and issues of uneven and fragmented resource distribution are prime examples of what it can serve to address. In addition, anthropology’s scholarly pursuits often further denationalization of academic dialogues so as to encourage planet-wide dissemination of ideas in order to better understand issues that plague the world writ large.

One such issue is the conflux of the forensic method and evidence-based medicine. In 1956 Alan Moritz reflected on this issue when he said “He [the pathologist] may be highly esteemed by the police and by prosecuting counsel because he is an emphatic and impressive witness. His prestige, together with exclusive access to original evidence, places him in an exceedingly powerful position in the courtroom… the stakes are too high to play hunches in forensic pathology.” and this still holds as basically true. (Moritz, 1956)

Recently though concerns have been raised in several countries about forensic sciences effectiveness, efficiency, cost and whether it is being used in pursuit of a larger socio-political agenda not based on impartial and/or scientific evidence. Thus auditing forensic and medical evidence is an important task as it serves a ‘checks and balances’ role in terms of determining efficacy of police procedure, the importance of proper diagnosis, epidemiological and criminological trends, and subjects them to quality control assurances. Indeed this application is particularly important in my adoptive homeland by marriage - South Africa.

Per the United Nations, South Africa has the most per capita sexual assaults in the world, and such violence has striking long and short-term effects on the victim’s health. In some surveys over 25% of men have admitted to having raped a female. The World Health Organization (WHO) states “Health services for victims of rape have two important roles: to assist the victim and to gather evidence for the police and courts.” Additionally the murder rate is 4.5 times the global average, and drunk driving kills just shy of the murder rate. Couple this with an epidemiologically significant amount of people with HIV, and other potentially fatal illnesses – as well as a diaspora level of emigration – it is surprising that anyone is left in the country at all! (Jewkes R, Christofides N, Vetten L; et. al. 2009)   

In an attempt to try and combat these scourges the South African Police Service (or SAPS) in 2006 created the world’s first robotic Genetic Sample Processing System (GSPS) in its Forensic Science Laboratory in Pretoria. The GSPS occupies 47 meters and can effectively process 800 samples per day – four times the previous maximum of 200 per day. As in other British Commonwealth countries initial rape kit evidence is collected either in hospitals, police stations, or in “care centres” – places where trained forensic nurses, therapists, childcare providers and police work together in one location. However in some regions of South Africa only the police station option is available, where unfortunately they are often told not to bother with charges because it might shame their family. Worst yet because of rampant corruption in local law enforcement there is a euphemism called “lost files” for when a police officer or staff working in the station requests a bribe from the victim in order to “find” the files. (Du Mont, J; White, D WHO 2007) 

Next, provided the kit actually gets to the lab - per SAPS “all exhibits from criminal cases and crime scenes which may contain DNA are delivered to the Forensic Science Laboratory, registered as a case and allocated with a number. Some are processed but many are archived as suspects have not as yet been arrested or there are no samples with which to make a comparison.” Once there is an identified suspect the prosecutor (but in rare instances the victim) will request that the sample be “activated” and then DNA cross-referencing and analysis begins. When the prosecutor and/or the police investigator give the lab the court date, then the evidence is re-prioritized in a manner so everything is completed by the start of proceedings. This whole process is roughly 90 days from DNA extraction (not collection) to the time the final report is finished, thought it can be expedited when needed urgently. (De Beer, 2006) Unfortunately the entire system seems to be colossally underutilized. Currently the vast majority of samples are merely archived because the prosecutor often doesn’t bother requesting the report. Mainly because of these two factors SA is one of the few countries in the world without a DNA “backlog” but this is not a positive indicator!

In the spirit of understanding these issues the World Health Organization (WHO) and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) - separately and in concert with each other and/or others, have done several studies on what measures are effective - particularly in relation to gender-based violence, murder, and HIV/Aids. Studies have utilized the analysis of rape kit collection procedures across multiple venues, morgue/autopsy reports, court proceedings documents, biological samples, drug tests, and epidemiological surveys.

My first report read is a dispiriting look at femicide by analysis of forensic measures in relation to case progression and conviction outcomes where the court dockets and all forensic records were meticulously analyzed. The study did show an improvement of DNA process speed post-GSPS implementation. However it also pointed out that doing full autopsy is a mentally exhausting as well as time intensive procedure, which cannot be automated. Furthermore that study indicated that in “21.5% of cases the perpetrator was convicted the [major] factors associated with a conviction for the female murders included having a history of intimate partner violence, weapon recovery [including ballistics] and a detective visiting the crime scenes…None of the forensic medical activities increased the likelihood of a conviction.” Later this same study showed finger scrapings had a slight but statistically significant correlation with conviction – all of which has been corroborated in some of the other later studies I read. (Abrahams N, Jewkes R, et.al. 2011)

The most stupefying thing discovered though was that laboratory quality control measures don’t improve the efficacy of forensic techniques impact on the court-room. In this and other reports from 2007-2011 there was a bit of a failure to take a page out of socio-cultural anthropology and ask larger questions such as – What do the family/friends (and in South Africa one must frequently ask Tribe) feel about the forensic processes in terms of giving them closure? This is particularly weird in light of the fact that the Netherlands, UK, and US studies that inspired the South African ones there is an effort to analyze not just forensic science and case outcomes – but also more of an effort to examine the socio-cultural factors as well. (Abrahams N, Jewkes R, et.al. 2011)

Another key study looked at 226 sexual offenses perpetrated on children as well as adult females in the Johannesburg area from January 2002 to June 2003. It determined that 13% of the cases had no forensic report attached to them at all, and that even in the 23% that did have a complete forensic report there was no evidence that a single report had even been read at a trial! (Blass 2004) Most of the others I read had similarly depressing results.

Contrasting this is that in newspapers and other non-scientific publications several people involved with these studies regularly comment on such issues. In fact one of co-authors of multiple studies - Dr. Rachel Jewkes is quoted in The Guardian as saying "The social space for debating these gender issues is now smaller than it was a few years ago. We need our government to show political leadership in changing attitudes. We need South African men, from the top to the grassroots, to take responsibility." (Smith 2009)

It is interesting to note that since the completion of the recent scientific improvements related to the processing of DNA evidence – for example it can now be effectively collected up to 96 hours after an incident. In response to these changes and internal pressure from various lobbying groups South Africa law has changed to so that there is currently no  legal time limit to the collection of physical evidence and there is no longer a need for corroboration of a woman’s testimony in cases of sexual violence whether paired with murder or not. Moreover any healthcare personnel who examined and/or collected evidence from a victim may testify in court. Per WHO effective additional examinations typically comprise actions such as “acquiring victim consent to process the previous evidence, taking the medical and sexual assault histories, documenting medico-legal findings, and carrying out treatment guidelines.” (Du Mont, J; White, D WHO 2007)

Another related concern is firearm based crimes. Firearms feature in South African masculine culture where one’s manhood has long been tied to weapons ownership. Previous to European colonization the spear was the weapon of choice but since then the firearm has been the de rigueur status symbol. South Africa has the third worst rate of firearm deaths (26.8/100,000) worldwide - in fact some years it’s the second leading manner of death and always the leading cause of ‘violent’ deaths.

Though men are the majority of victims of firearm related deaths, their availability also features in the correlation between femicide and suicide. About 83% of femicides are committed with a firearm and within seven days of murdering their loved one about 19% of wrongdoers commit suicide, usually with the same firearm. Statistically speaking a gun in the home is less likely to be used to protect family members than in harming them. Estimates show that the rate of females killed by shooting to be 7.5/100,000 more than four times the US. Indeed, the intimate femicide firearm rate of 2.7/100,000 is higher than the overall US statistics of females killed by firearms period!

Utilizing homicide firearm data from 2001 to 2004 the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMSS) study collected data from mortuaries in all four major cities (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban). Using statistical regression they tested whether any changes occurred due to the implementation of the Firearms Control Act (FCA) of 2000. Findings showed a decline in homicide did occur afterward - a fast decline in firearms based homicides and a slower decline in regular homicides as well! However, the femicide rate is still about five to seven times more than that of the US showing that supplementary endeavors are needed in this direction.

There is some hope for other applications of forensic anthropology/medicine such as in the fight against HIV/Aids. In fact a recent study of autopsies which was primarily done in order to gain basic ‘cause/manner of death’ statistics noticed an interesting comorbidity correlation between HIV and tuberculosis – leading to further more specific epidemiological studies showing that TB is the leading cause of death among people infected with HIV even when on antiretroviral therapy (ARTs) as antiretroviral don’t do much in the way of counteracting TB. (Byass P, Kahn K, 2010)  

In conclusion: in South Africa only two forensics procedures seem to have discernible positive outcomes in relation to sexual violence and/or murder (ballistics and finger scrapings) so the application of forensic anthropology/medicine there has had a mixed bag of results. It does seem that on the social aspects that as the general public awareness of such activities plays somewhat in decreases in firearm crime. As well there is a non-profit organization simply called “The DNA Project” currently lobbying to pass a “DNA Bill” which would make is compulsory for all those convicted or arrested to have their DNA profile entered onto the Pretoria database so as to compare crime scenes trace and rape kits – which should lead to more frequent matching and more effective use of the GSPS. The bill also calls for the creation of a second laboratory in the Cape Town where sexual assault and drug crimes are most heavily concentrated. Additionally the analysis of mortuary data has at least accidentally found out that co-morbidity of HIV with Tuberculosis is basically a death sentence, thus enabling the medical establishment to do something that it might be able to improve conditions. In the end it seems that despite relatively forward thinking laws and modern scientific equipment unresolved social issues – such as sexism, racism, poverty and law enforcement corruption – as well as a need to train more healthcare personnel in forensic procedure are to blame for the lack of efficacy.  

Ideas for further research:  What are the perspectives of the police investigators and/or prosecutors toward forensic science? What’s preventing prosecutors from asking/using forensic reports? How does one improve the sensitivity of law enforcement personnel? Clarification of the socio-cultural reasons that affect the adherence to proper collection procedure on initial examination? What is the value and meaning of the post sexual assault examination for victims and/or their community? Under what circumstances are which forensic tools most valuable (case adjudication, psychological, etc.)? How to prioritize resource allocation given budget constraints? What kind of training would best serve those in the healthcare community become more efficient in collecting evidence for crimes such as rape, assault, muggings, etc.? Could the marketing of ‘consensual sex culture’ as more masculine and pleasurable than ‘rape’ help to change cultural attitudes that permeate current society? Who is prone to committing femicide and thus shouldn’t be allowed gun ownership?  

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