Poland's legal integration into the European community: Some past,present, and future dilemmas

The paper contains some thoughts on the issue of the legal aspects of Poland's integration into the European Community (EC) against the background of Polish efforts to adapt its legal system to European Community requirements. The discussion is divided into three substantive parts: The first part deals with the issue of various legal traditions constituting the general phenomenon of EC law, with the second part spelling out legal aspects of the process of European integration, and finally the paper will be presented by way of a more concrete discussion — e.g., human rights, criminal law in general, and computer crime specifically.     

Social network analysis as a tool for criminal intelligence: understanding its potential from the perspectives of intelligence analysts

Over the past two decades an increasing number of researchers have applied social network analysis (SNA) to various ‘dark’ networks. This research suggests that SNA is capable of revealing significant insights into the dynamics of dark networks, particularly the identification of critical nodes, which can then be targeted by law enforcement and security agencies for disruption. However, there has so far been very little research into whether and how law enforcement agencies can actually leverage SNA in an operational environment and in particular the challenges agencies face when attempting to apply various network analysis techniques to criminal networks. This paper goes some way towards addressing these issues by drawing on qualitative interviews with criminal intelligence analysts from two Australian state law enforcement agencies. The primary contribution of this paper is to call attention to the organisational characteristics of law enforcement agencies which, we argue, can influence the capacity of criminal intelligence analysts to successfully apply SNA as much as the often citied ‘characteristics of criminal networks’.     

Using cadastral maps in historical demographic research: Some examples from the Netherlands

Historical cadastral maps can be a very useful additional source in historical demographic research. As an increasing range of geospatial data and tools have become available to researchers, it becomes easier to combine, link and analyse historical micro level demographic data within a small-scale spatial context. This study shows some examples of linked cadastral map data, population census data, and population register data of the Dutch city of Leeuwarden halfway the nineteenth century. The spatial methods and techniques used vary from relatively easy visualisation in maps and basic spatial statistics to more advanced spatial modelling.     

The past, present and future of mental health law: a therapeutic jurisprudence analysis

This article uses a therapeutic jurisprudence perspective to review the evolution of mental health law in the Western world by examining developments at various stages in history, in particular the 20th century. It suggests that one of the major challenges for the future, from a therapeutic jurisprudence perspective, will be to help minimise the stigma, prejudice and discrimination associated with mental health law. The article concludes with the suggestion that the question of whether mental health law itself, because it contributes to discrimination against mentally disordered people, may be anti-therapeutic requires more investigation and consideration.     

对一起硫酸毁容案精神司法鉴定所引发的相关问题探讨

1999年江苏省南通市发生了一起亲姐妹硫酸毁容案 ,由于多个精神司法鉴定的不同结论 ,影响案件处理 ,加上新闻媒体炒作等因素参与 ,产生了轰动效应 ,虽然该案审理现已终结 ,但该案例所引发的精神司法鉴定相关问题值得深入探讨。案情摘要被告人王× ,31岁 ,汉族 ,大专文化 ,原南通市某时装公司报关员。因婚姻家庭矛盾等原因 ,产生报复伤人之想法 ,并为此准备了硫酸 ,于 1999年 5月 2 8日晚 ,乘送到自己家中吃饭的亲妹妹、姨侄、母亲下楼之机 ,将硫酸泼向 3人致重伤 ,伤残程度分别为三级、九级 ,案发后不久即被警方刑事拘留。精神司法鉴定经过…     

对一起硫酸毁容案精神司法鉴定所引发的相关问题探讨

1999年江苏省南通市发生了一起亲姐妹硫酸毁容案,由于多个精神司法鉴定的不同结论,影响案件处理,加上新闻媒体炒作等因素参与,产生了轰动效应,虽然该案审理现已终结,但该案例所引发的精神司法鉴定相关问题值得深入探讨.     

The “Science of Science Policy”: reflections on the important questions and the challenges they present

Developing the “Science of Science Policy” will require data collection and analysis related to the processes of innovation and technological change, and the effects of government policy on those processes. There has been much work on these topics in the last three decades, but there remain difficult problems of finding proxies for subtle concepts, endogeneity, distinguishing private and social returns, untangling cumulative effects, measuring the impact of government programs in a true “but for” sense, and sorting out national and global effects. I offer observations on how to think about these issues. This paper was presented as the Keynote Address at the NSF Workshop on Advancing Measures of Innovation: Knowledge Flows, Business Metrics, and Measurement Strategies, Arlington, VA, June 2006.     

中国社会转型的法律基石:1982年宪法的历史地位

世界各国宪法无不是为应对其面临的"麻烦问题"而制定与变迁,美国宪法最为典型,中国宪法亦是如此。回顾中国制宪与宪政历程,其面临着的多重问题。82宪法的历史地位和时代背景也需要从历史逻辑中进行探寻,即82宪法承担着稳定国家秩序与推进社会转型改革的重任。从82宪法的历史和文本中,可以看到宪法作为人民的基本共识,潜藏新中国宪法发展与变迁的历史逻辑,契合了中国社会变革和转型的现实,总结了历部宪法的历史经验,融入了先进的宪政理念。由此展望82宪法之未来,其拥有足够容量,能够完成为中国社会进一步转型提供法律动力之历史使命。     

The moving targets of penal abolitionism: ICOPA,past, present and future

The history of the International Conference on Penal Abolition (ICOPA) is explored, assessing major trends shaping the current growth of carceral practices and offering suggestions for the future of the conference movement. The goal here is to facilitate the expansion of abolitionism by describing the changing nature of what is to be abolished. A discussion of the emergence of prison abolitionism and of the ICOPA is presented, describing the shift in focus from prison to penal abolition. Taking these developments and character into account, an abolitionist gaze must be expanded to reflect a carceral abolition project, encompassing contemporary penal abolitionism while acknowledging the proliferation of carceral practices and spaces outside the traditional penal system.     

Forward to the past: Organized crime and Cuba’s history, present and future

Before the 1959 revolution, Cuba was virtually a Mafia fiefdom. However, as the future of Cuban leader Fidel Castro—and thus the entire revolutionary regime — becomes increasingly uncertain, there is growing reason to fear that history is about to repeat itself and Cuba will become a focus for organized criminality in the Caribbean, with an impact not just on the regional but global underworld. Cuba and its airspace and territorial waters have become important nodes on smuggling routes into the United States. While Havana may no longer be willing to turn a blind eye to the traffickers’ activities, it lacks the resources to interdict effectively or deter them. However, Cuba is also beginning to suffer from both domestic drug abuse and the first indications of organized criminality at home. This is very limited compared with the strength of Cuban-American organized crime in the United States, but does open up the prospect of these groups exploiting any weaknesses in Cuba to reestablish operations on the island. Although it is possible that the revolutionary regime might survive Castro, at the very least it will experience a turbulent transition, one in which power politics will divert attention from the problem of growing crime. Were the Cuban Communist Party to fall, either to a democratic revolution or a military coup, then either way this would probably generate increased domestic organized crime and open up the country even more rapidly to international criminal influences. Perhaps the final tragedy of the revolutionary regime, born out of a rejection of authoritarian rule and rampant organized crime, is that it will have proven to lay the foundations for an even more dynamic and voracious criminalization of Cuba. This article draws on an earlier, shorter piece: Mark Galeotti, “Organized crime gangs pose threat to Cuban development,” Jane's Intelligence Review, 18, 2 (2006).     

Electoral foundations of parliamentary questions: evidence from the European Parliament

Parliamentary questions (PQs) provide a useful tool for members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to control the executive at supranational level and to promote their reputation among relevant groups (party, interest groups and constituency). Previous works have just focused on macro-functions of questions, neglecting the opportunity for MEPs to use them as a re-election and re-selection strategy (micro-functions). In this article, it is argued that PQs are a relevant instrument in the hands of parliamentarians in order to increase their reputation and build up their political image. In particular, it is considered how variation in electoral systems might affect legislative behaviour and, especially, the number of questions asked. Using a new data set on oral and written questions to the European Commission and the Council, the article demonstrates how candidate-centred electoral systems incentivise MEPs to ask more questions than legislators elected under party-centred systems.     

The history of the family in Spain: past development, present realities, and future challenges.

"The article presents a brief overview of the historical study of the family in Spain, and deals with household work patterns, labor migration, adaptive strategies of households, and property devolution. From a belated and rater timid beginnings in the early part of the 1980s, the growth of this field in recent years has been noteworthy. The articles included in this volume are fitting testimony to the maturity achieved by this discipline in a very short amount of time. There are many important methodological and conceptual challenges facing family historians in Spain today. If they are able to respond to them successfully, the future of the discipline will be a bright one indeed."     

The non-discrimination principle and American higher education: judicial failure to recognize the present effects of past discrimination

This article suggests that any approach to the issue of access to higher education in the United Kingdom not view the approach of the United States in the recent University of Michigan cases as providing appropriate guidance. It is the author's assertion that the United States Supreme Court has failed to recognize the present effects of a long history of deliberate racial segregation of higher education in America and the affirmative duty of public higher education to remedy the effects of America's unique system of racial segregation. Specifically, the Supreme Court's jurisprudence has abandoned the interests of the victims of a judicially sanctioned exclusion of African-Americans from public higher education during most of the 20th Century, and has instead supported equal access only to the extent that it furthers the university's own interests in so-called ‘diversity’. This disregard for the history of American racial segregation is inconsistent with the Constitutional principles announced in Brown v. Board of Education and the federal judicial decisions which secured and advanced the mandate for racial equality announced in Brown v. Board.     

中国DNA数据库建设应用技术现状及发展趋势

中国的法庭科学DNA数据库建设历经10年,在应用中取得了显著成果.随着DNA分析技术的进步,DNA数据库更加完善,DNA信息作用更加突显.本文综述了中国DNA数据库的规划与建设,DNA数据库建设中的应用技术,以及DNA数据库建设应用技术发展趋势,为完善DNA数据库建设提供借鉴.