When can a person be detained by the state solely for the purpose of preventing future harm?It is widely accepted that an actor who is unable to avoid breaking the law because of a mental disorder may not be punished but may be detained for as long as he remains dangerous. But what about those who are not legally insane and who may be held responsible for their behavior? Is it ever permissible to detain them to prevent future harm?Once upon a time the negative answer to this question was also widely accepted:no one who is sane and responsible for his behavior may be detained solely on the ground that he was dangerous and might commit crimes in the future. He might be punished for his behavior, but he might not be detained independently of punishment. However, over the last thirty years the answer to the question has changed.It is now possible (1) to detain before trial solely on the basis of the possibility that the accused will commit the sort of crime he is accused of (but not yet convicted of); (2) in many jurisdictions to detain indefinitely after trial, conviction, and completion of the penal sentence sex offenders and those found guilty but mentally ill (though not legally insane); and (3) to detain indefinitely without trial and conviction those suspected of being terrorists or supporting terrorist activity.This book traces the development in Supreme Court cases and in national legislation of these various grounds of preventive detention, a course of development that the author believes is contrary to what were once considered fundamental principles of American law.

Armed and Considered Dangerous is a book about "bad guys" and their guns. But Wright and Rossi contend that for every suspected criminal who owns and abuses a firearm, a hundred or more average citizens own guns for sport, for recreation, for self-protection, and for other reasons generally regarded as appropriate or legitimate. Armed and Considered Dangerous is the most ambitious survey ever undertaken of criminal acquisition, possession, and use of guns. There are vast differences between the average gun owner and the average gun-abusing felon, but the analyses reported here do not suggest any obvious way to translate these differences into gun control policies. Most policy implications drawn from the book are negative in character: this will not work for this reason, that will not work for that reason, and so on. When experts are asked, "Okay, then what will work?" they usually fall back on the old warhorses of poverty, the drug problem, or the inadequate resources of the criminal justice system, and otherwise have little to say. This is not a failure of social science. It simply asks more of the data than the data were ever intended to provide. Several of Wright and Rossi's findings have become "coin of the realm" in the gun control debate, cited frequently by persons who have long since forgotten where the data came from or what their limitations are. Several other findings, including many that are important, have been largely ignored. Still other findings have been superseded by better and more recent data or rendered anachronistic by intervening events. With the inclusion of a new introduction detailing recent statistics and updated information this new edition of Armed and Considered Dangerous is a rich source of information for all interested in learning about weapon behavior and ownership in America.

Armed and Considered Dangerous is a book about "bad guys" and their guns. But Wright and Rossi contend that for every suspected criminal who owns and abuses a firearm, a hundred or more average citizens own guns for sport, for recreation, for self-protection, and for other reasons generally regarded as appropriate or legitimate. Armed and Considered Dangerous is the most ambitious survey ever undertaken of criminal acquisition, possession, and use of guns. There are vast differences between the average gun owner and the average gun-abusing felon, but the analyses reported here do not suggest any obvious way to translate these differences into gun control policies. Most policy implications drawn from the book are negative in character: this will not work for this reason, that will not work for that reason, and so on. When experts are asked, "Okay, then what will work?" they usually fall back on the old warhorses of poverty, the drug problem, or the inadequate resources of the criminal justice system, and otherwise have little to say. This is not a failure of social science. It simply asks more of the data than the data were ever intended to provide. Several of Wright and Rossi's findings have become "coin of the realm" in the gun control debate, cited frequently by persons who have long since forgotten where the data came from or what their limitations are. Several other findings, including many that are important, have been largely ignored. Still other findings have been superseded by better and more recent data or rendered anachronistic by intervening events. With the inclusion of a new introduction detailing recent statistics and updated information this new edition of Armed and Considered Dangerous is a rich source of information for all interested in learning about weapon behavior and ownership in America.

An extensive body of law designed to control international terror violence has come into being, and it is this assembly of reports and resolutions, conventions and scattered treaty provisions that we must rely on as we move toward an enforceable, unambiguous anti-"terrorism" regime in international law. These legal instruments are gathered together for the first time in this definitive two volume set. The only published source of all United Nations documentation since 1972 on the subject of "terrorism"--including all 180 reports and resolutions adopted since that date and up to June 2001. Plus, an introductory article by the editor provides a forward-looking view of the evolving challenges in combating the ever-changing manifestations of terror violence. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint. The print edition is available as a set of two volumes (9781571052278).