To Crack or Crumble: Use of the Thin Skull and Crumbling Skull Rules

The psycholegal and medicolegal assessment of injury-related physical and psychological impairments and disabilities is fraught with difficulties, including assessing for physical and psychological risk factors. In the injury litigation context, in Canada, issues related to pre-injury physical and psychological risk factors are best captured by the thin skull and crumbling skull rules. A review of court cases in which these rules have been considered suggests that the rules are not applied consistently. This inconsistency in the application of these rules has contributed to conflicting determinations of cause and damages across trial court, appeal court, and Supreme Court cases. This article provides operational definitions of the thin skull and crumbling skull rules, presents a case that involves a series of court decisions that exemplify the difficulties associated with the application of these rules, and provides recommendations for more effective application of the two rules.     

Another white elephant? Youth councils as democratic structures

UK society has probably never witnessed the kind of activism now emerging to tackle the roots of age-based discrimination and inequality. Everyone appears to be consulting and listening to children. The most favoured response by statutory and voluntary agencies for encouraging children and young people's participation has been the setting up of youth councils. This paper considers the extent to which youth councils enable participatory citizenship and democratic participation. In so doing, the commonplace suggestion that young people exhibit a lack of enthusiasm for involvement in ‘political’ matters and issues of local representation is challenged. The concept of active citizenship is mobilised to highlight particular ethical and methodo logical issues that need to be addressed at a local level if successful partner ship working that includes young people is to be achieved.     

Cross-Country Disparity in Agricultural Productivity: Quantifying the Role of Modern Seed Adoption

Inequality of agricultural labour productivity across the developing world has increased substantially over the past 40 years. This article asks: to what extent did the diffusion of Green Revolution seed varieties contribute to increasing agricultural labour productivity disparity across the developing countries? We find that 22 per cent of cross-country variation in agricultural labour productivity can be attributed to the diffusion of high-yielding seed varieties across countries, and that the impact of such diffusion differed significantly across regions. We discuss the implications of these findings for policy directed at increasing agricultural labour productivity in the developing world.     

Osteological case study to narrow the timing of postmortem trauma to a skull

In the course of an exhumation performed 5.5 years after death, several bone fragments were uncovered during the excavation of the clay-rich soil. Amongst others, there was a large piece of the frontal neurocranium. In addition, a so-called coffin stain was discernible. The exhumed coffin was intact. The forensic autopsy revealed a complete corpse with distinct adipocere formation. Consultation with the cemetery administration allowed the conclusion that the additional bone fragments were from the first use of the grave approximately 100 years ago. The heavily soil-encrusted skull fragment bore clear signs of a half sharp force, that could immediately be classified as postmortem. The pattern of injury pointed to an excavator as the cause. However, the question arose whether the postmortem trauma occurred 5.5 years ago during the excavation of the grave or during the current exhumation. First the skull fragment was dried. However, it was then impossible to remove the clay-rich soil without damaging the bone. The fragment was therefore carefully washed and dried again. The cut and fracture areas then showed distinctly lighter surfaces than the rest of the bone, which pointed to the exhumation as the time of origin. For comparison, fresh injuries were inflicted with a hatchet. These distinctly showed even lighter surfaces, so that the time of origin could be assumed to have been during the excavation of the grave 5.5 years ago.     

Perceptions of victimization risk and fear of crime among lesbians and gay men

Research on fear of crime has evolved to suggest the existence of a complex relationship between individual, lifestyle, and contextual factors. Past work generally focuses on predominantly heterosexual populations; this study examines correlates of fear of crime and perceptions of risk among a sample of 272 self-identified lesbians and gay men. Higher levels of perceived risk and fear of victimization were found among females, persons in neighborhoods characterized by incivility, and persons who had experienced previous victimization. Perceived risks of personal and property victimization were similar for males and females. Contrary to past research, women did not seem to view all types of potential victimization as opportunities for sexual assault. Instead, fear of victimization was offense specific--past personal victimization predicted fear of future personal victimization, and past property victimization predicted fear of future property victimization. Similarities and differences between current findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Special Market Economy: Undermining the Principles of the WTO?

Despite World Trade Organization (WTO) principles of non-discrimination,the European Community (EC) operates special anti-dumping proceduresagainst certain former State-trading nations, arguing that intransition economies, prices do not fulfil the same functionas in market economies, thus being an unreliable indicator forthe purpose of anti-dumping calculations. This paper discussesthe question of whether these procedures nullify the benefitsor impede the attainment of any objective of the WTO. Whilethis approach is based on out-dated legal concepts mirroringpolitical and economic conditions of the twentieth century,it remains questionable how effective and necessary it is tooffset unfair trading practices in a globalized economy. Ultimately,WTO rules are sufficiently flexible to deal with price discriminationsfrom transition economies without resorting to principles thatare frustrating in their application and produce questionableadministrative results.     

METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN EVALUATING FAMILY COURT PROGRAMS

Although there has been in recent years a proliferation of court programs, especially divorced parent education programs, evaluations of the effectiveness of these programs lag dangerously behind their inception, perhaps because program developers and courts lack the expertise to perform these evaluations. The present article provides a primer of the methodological considerations for evaluations of court programs. The authors discuss the following topics: formative versus summative evaluations; how to discover program goals by identifying stakeholders; how these goals translate into measures to be assessed; the data sources for these measures (exit questionnaires, archival data, and follow-up surveys); answering the “compared with what?” question through the selection of an appropriate research design; budgeting the evaluation; and disseminating the findings through appropriate write-up(s).     

``Is Alec a Rapist?' – Cultural Connotations of `Rape' and `Seduction' – A Reply to Professor John Sutherland

This article is a response to an essay written by an academic in English Literature, Professor John Sutherland. Through close textual analysis,Sutherland purports to resolve a well-known literary question: whether the sexual encounter outlined in the Victorian novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles should be classified as rape or seduction. The present article rejects his conclusion on the matter. An(equally) close analysis of the fictional text in question and of Sutherland's gloss, demonstrates the partiality of his critique, both in literary-critical and critical-legal terms. In addition, examination of the conceptual and historico-legal context regarding the notions of rape and seduction on both sides of the Atlantic highlights parallels between Sutherland's own partiality and that of the law. In short, the apparent objectivity of the textual analysis and subsequent critique undertaken by Sutherland is revealed as a continuation of legal and patriarchal prejudices defining rape and seduction. The use of close textual analysis as the key critical device promotes the apparent probity of his findings. Locating them in an essay collection designed for mass lay public consumption completes the circle – from partisan scholarship to `informed' popular prejudice. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.