Is there a Need for a European Criminology?

Readers were invited in Issue 4, 2000 to give their comments on the subject of European criminology. The Editors also invited some scholars on a personal title. The comments, ranging from 1,200 to 2,000 words are presented in alphabetical order. The comments are written by: Rosemary Barberet, Josine Junger-Tas, Martin Killias, H.-J. Schneider, Alenka élih, Henrik Tham, Bas van Stokkom and Lode Walgrave. Together they offer a view on the ideas and different views on European criminology.     

Is there a place for hair analysis in doping controls?

The actual antidoping control rules applied in sports (as established by the International Olympic Committee and the International Sport Federations) state that a positive case is chemically established by the unequivocal detection of a forbidden parent molecule and/or any of its metabolite(s) in urine, no matter the amounts which were administered and when the drug was taken. Screening is accomplished most of the time by using GC-MS procedures. These have been optimized to detect most if not all of the forbidden compounds which are put on a list. Recently, attempts have been made on scalp hair to demonstrate the value of this matrix as a possible means for differentiating between therapeutic use and doping abuse. In particular, GC-mass selective detector and GC-high resolution MS were successfully applied to treated animals and body-builders for anabolic agents (steroids and beta-2-agonists) at high sensitivity detection (low ng/g level). Naturally occurring molecules, like testosterone and its metabolites, could also be differentiated from their synthetic counterparts. Positive cases are more often challenged in courts and retrospectivity in time of the drug(s) intake is becoming an important issue for evaluating the responsibility of the person. This is can be based on hair analyses if the drugs have been taken at regular intervals. Stimulants and narcotics are often used in sports like drug of abuse in the ordinary social contexts. On the other hand, anabolic agents, when taken to improve the physical performances, follow complex regimens with the mixing of various formulas and dosages. Scalp hair references ranges for these as well as for endogenous substances still wait to be established statistically for competing, well-trained athletes. The incorporation rate into blond or gray hair is poorer than that of dark colored hair raising the question of individuals equality against the controls, a very important matter of concern for the sport's governing bodies. The frequency of hair cutting and short hair cuts necessary to gain speed in specific sports like swimming are other critical factors. On the other hands, irregular hair growth, associated with the washout effect through multiple washing and staining processes over expanded time intervals can cause concentrating or diluting effects. So far, a minority of prohibited substances could be detected in scalp hair with the sensitivity and specificity required in the context of the sport's activities. From the above, clear limitations of the usefulness of hair analysis in doping control analysis are obvious until a lot more data relevant to this particular field have been collected.     

Is there a need to regulate mediation? The English and Welsh case study

The use of mediation in England and Wales is nowadays an accepted and common practice within the alternative dispute resolution industry. Credited professionals have been performing the duties of a mediator in different fields of legal disputes; however, despite the positive perception of mediation, this area remains unregulated. So far, the rules applying to mediation in England and Wales originate from case law and contract between the parties. Such a scenario is not shared by other countries in which mediation has been regulated through an Act covering either private or judicial mediation. This article examines the current mediation scenario in England and Wales to assess whether there is a need to give it a statutory character in a similar manner to other jurisdictions.     

Adverse selection and financing of innovation: is there a need for R&;D subsidies?

We study the interaction of private and public funding of innovative projects in the presence of adverse-selection based financing constraints. Government programs allocating direct subsidies are based on ex ante screening of the subsidy applications. This selection scheme may yield valuable information to market-based financiers. We find that under certain conditions, public R&D subsidies can reduce the financing constraints of technology-based entrepreneurial firms. First, the subsidy itself reduces the capital costs related to the innovation projects by reducing the amount of market-based capital required. Second, the observation that an entrepreneur has received a subsidy for an innovation project provides an informative signal to the market-based financiers. We also find that public screening works more efficiently if it is accompanied with subsidy allocation.     

Surrogacy: is there a case for legal prohibition?

Surrogacy arrangements are a complex and challenging issue for legal regulation. On the one hand, if we wish to promote personal autonomy and enable the infertile to experience parenthood, there is a case for allowing these arrangements to proceed. However, objections to legal sanctioning of surrogacy include concerns for the surrogate and the child born through the surrogacy arrangement. Legally sanctioning surrogacy may also adversely affect social conceptions of women's roles or may be considered a form of commodifying women's reproductive capacities. This article examines these challenges to allowing surrogacy, but concludes that surrogacy should not be legally prohibited.     

Multilateral Rules on Investment: Is Forward Movement Possible?

This paper explores the forces that have to date impeded thedevelopment of a multilateral set of rules on investment. Thepaper chronicles the policy- and rule-making debates that tookplace in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s)Working Group on Trade and Investment (WGTI) and advances anumber of political economy reasons that contributed to thederailment of investment discussions under the Doha DevelopmentAgenda (DDA). The paper highlights elements of a development-friendlyinternational investment regime and identifies various scenariosfor imparting forward movement to international negotiationson investment issues at the bilateral, regional and multilaterallevels.