Data,Damn Lies,and Cannabis Policy: Reefer Madness and the Methodological Crimes of the New Prohibitionists

Critical Criminology - The rapid pace of cannabis legalization in North America has provoked a backlash that is predictable and discouraging. The New Prohibitionists, distinct but related to their...     

20 Years of global climate change governance research: taking stock and moving forward

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - Research on global climate change governance is no longer primarily concerned with the international legal regime, state...     

A fast analysis system for forensic DNA reference samples

On January 1st, 2006, the Swedish legislation on obtaining DNA reference samples from suspects and the recording of DNA profiles in databases was changed. As a result the number of samples analysed at the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science (SKL) increased from about 4500 in 2005 to more than 25,000 in 2006. To meet this challenge, SKL launched a new analysis system to create an unbroken chain, from sampling to incorporation of a profile in the national DNA database and subsequent automatic generation of digitally signed hit reports. The system integrates logistics, digital data transfer, new functions in LIMS (ForumDNA Version 4, Ida Infront AB) and laboratory automation. Buccal swab samples are secured on a FTA^® card attached to an identity form, which is barcoded with a unique sample ID. After sampling, the police officer sends a digital request to SKL. The sample is automatically registered in LIMS and processed on delivery. The resulting DNA profiles are automatically classified according to quality using a custom-made expert system. Building the evaluation around mathematical rules makes it reproducible, standardised and minimises manual work and clerk errors. All samples are run in duplicate and the two profiles are compared within LIMS before incorporation in the database. In the first year of operation, the median time for completion of an analysis was 3 days, measured from delivery of the sample to incorporation of the profile in the national DNA database. In spite of the dramatic increase in the number of reference samples there was no backlog.     

Innovation in Seventeenth Century Grammatical Philosophy: Appearance or Reality?

This paper argues that the grammarians Bha??oji Dīk?ita and Kau??a Bha??a did innovate in the realm of grammatical philosophy, without however admitting or perhaps even knowing it. Their most important innovation is the reinterpretation of the spho?a. For reasons linked to new developments in sentence interpretation (?ābdabodha), in their hands the spho?a became a semantic rather that an ontological entity.     

Der Rechtsstaat und sein ökologisches Fundament

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Codifying Temporary Stability? The Role of Interinstitutional Agreements in Budgetary Politics

Abstract:  The article analyses the potential of Interinstitutional Agreements (IIAs) for resolving conflicts in the field of EU budgetary policy. In the 1970s and 1980s, annual budgetary procedures were characterised by intense interinstitutional battles, mainly between the Council and the European Parliament. IIAs concluded during this period tried to clarify pertinent Treaty provisions, but proved to be insufficient to resolve budgetary conflicts stemming from the more general problem of the uneven allocation of budgetary and legislative power between the two institutions involved. It was not before the fundamental budgetary reform in 1988—agreed upon by the European Council and implemented through an IIA along with the gradually increased role in legislative politics granted to European Parliament through several Treaty amendments—that budgetary stability—arrived. Hence, IIAs can be regarded as an improper means to solve profound constitutional problems. Yet, they can be considered as suitable tools to arrange technical details.