Sanctuary Cities: Policies and Practices in International Perspective

Sanctuary cities in the USA, UK, and Canada aim to accommodate illegalized migrants and refugees in their communities. The concept of the “sanctuary city,” however, is highly ambiguous: it refers to a variety of different policies and practices, and focuses on variable populations in different national contexts. In this article, I examine the international literature to show how urban sanctuary policies and practices differ between national contexts and assess whether there are common features of sanctuary cities. I uncover legal, discursive, identity‐formative, and scalar aspects of urban sanctuary policies and practices. These aspects assemble in ways that differ between countries. The article concludes by raising important practical and theoretical questions about urban sanctuary.     

Effects of distortion of spatial and temporal resolution of video stimuli on emotion attributions

Whether recognition of emotion from facial expression is affected by distortions of pictorial quality has rarely been tested, with the exception of the influence of picture size on emotion recognition. On the other hand, this question is important for (low-cost) tele-communication and tele-conferencing. Here an attempt is made to study whether emotion recognition from facial expression is impaired when video stimuli are distorted both with respect to spatial (pixel) resolution and with respect to temporal resolution (refreshment rate).N=56 stimuli, in which professional actors encoded 14 different emotions, were presented to groups of judges (N=10 in each condition) in six different distortion conditions. Furthermore, judges were confronted with a control condition, presenting the non-distorted stimuli. Channel of information (close-up of the face versus full body recording) was in addition manipulated. Results indicate (besides main effects for type of emotion encoded and for channel) that emotion recognition is impaired by reductions of both spatial resolution and temporal resolution, but that even very low spatial and temporal resolutions result in recognition rates which are still considerably above chance expectation. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of facial expression and body movement in communicating emotions, and with respect to applied aspects concerning tele-communication.     

The immigration–crime relationship: Evidence across US metropolitan areas

Despite popular commentary claiming a link between immigration and crime, empirical research exploring this relationship is sparse. Especially missing from the literature on immigration and crime is a consideration of how immigration affects rates of crime at the macro-level. Although individual-level studies of immigrant criminality and victimization tend to demonstrate that immigrants typically engage in less crime than their native-born counterparts, the effect of immigration on aggregate criminal offending is less clear. In this research, we attempt to address this weakness in the literature by examining the effects of aspects of immigration on crime rates in metropolitan areas. We combine 2000 US Census data and 2000 Uniform Crime Report data to explore how the foreign-born population influences criminal offending across a sample of metropolitan areas. After controlling for a host of demographic and economic characteristics, we find that immigration does not increase crime rates, and some aspects of immigration lessen crime in metropolitan areas.     

Interkulturelle Kompetenz in der Polizei: Qualifizierungsstrategien

Increasing tension and scandal-laden conflicts with members of ethnic minorities during the 1990s make it clear, that the German police force is still not satisfactorily prepared to deal with a multi-cultural society. An immediate reaction was the engagement of training programmes, giving higher-rank officials something to present as an approach to solving the problem. This can apparently be seen as cosmetic change without effect on the structure and culture of the organisation. This work attempts to map the potential for sustainable development of intercultural competence via training programmes, based on the results of international research on police work. Four classical models of intercultural training are described, and their suitability for further education within the police analysed. Starting from the difficulties of determining the actual competency requirements specific in the field, and the basic problems of mediating and acquiring inter-cultural skills, the article concludes with a discussion of sustainable education strategies, which extend to fundamental questions of organisational development.     

Gleich und gleich gesellt sich gern — auch im Wahlkampf?

Does the well-known effect of social position on party preference depend on the distance to election day? Based on findings on campaign effects, it is argued that the effect of social position on party preference could vary over time, especially it may react on changes in political communication in campaign phases: parties appeal to their social bases, and therefore the effect of social position on party preference may rise in election campaigns; furthermore, this means that throughout a parliamentary term the partisan effect of social position should first weaken and later rise again. These hypotheses are tested empirically against trend data (Politbarometer) and panel data covering the German federal elections 1972 to 1998. Empirically, however, the core hypotheses are rejected: the structuring effect of social position is almost constant throughout parliamentary terms. Hence, federal election campaigns in Germany do not strengthen the partisan effect of social position substantially.     

Listening in a Multilingual World: The Challenges of Second Language (L2) Listening

Research into language acquisition and oral language use was examined in order to identify key factors that contribute to the successful acquisition of second language (L2) listening ability. The factors were grouped into three major domains: affective, cognitive, and interpersonal. It is claimed that in each domain, proficient L2 listeners have developed strategies, that is, plans of conscious action, in order to address persistent challenges of L2 acquisition. For the affective domain, the strategies concern development of resilience in order to maintain long-term motivation and investment of identity as an active user of the L2. For the cognitive domain, the strategies involve relearning the phonological system of the L2 as an independent system in order to counteract native language influences and using compensation tactics to supplement the influences of semantic organization of one’s native language. For the interpersonal domain, the strategies involve accommodation to communication styles and a task orientation to interaction. Research is reviewed from cognitive psychology, neurolinguistics, pragmatics, bilingualism studies, and language pedagogy, with the aim of identifying particular obstacles faced by L2 listeners and practical approaches used to cope with them.     

Do synergies exist in related acquisitions? A meta-analysis of acquisition studies

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) aim to increase the wealth of shareholders of the acquiring company, in particular by creating synergies. It is often assumed that relatedness is a source of synergies. Our study distinguishes between business, cultural, technological, and size relatedness. It discusses the reasons why these different forms of relatedness can lead to an acquisition success and we conduct a meta-analysis of 67 prior M&A studies. Results indicate that positive effects can be expected under specific conditions only and have a limited overall impact on acquisition success. A moderator analysis finds that synergies stemming from relatedness depend on industry-, country-, and investor-characteristics.