Technology and special needs provision in the UK: is current law satisfactory?

Recently, the government has issued legislation on disability discrimination (the UK Disability Discrimination Act 2005) that is silent on the issue of access to technology for those adults and minors with special needs/disabilities either in the classroom or out of the classroom. At the same time, commercial legislation from Europe drives forward with new directives on the regulation of technology as part of the European Union's Lisbon Goals to make Europe more efficient through the use of Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) and to provide an increasing array of on-line services (payment of taxes, licensing, identity cards, and access to public services). With more rapid provision of public and private services on-line, there is a pressing need to ask to what extent current legislation should address access to assistive technology for those with special needs and disabilities. Furthermore, the legal obligation on government to provide ICTs as communications aids in school classrooms either as an auxiliary aid or service, or as an education and associated service for those who are disabled is unclear under current UK disability discrimination and special needs law. As far as the writer is aware, currently, no study as yet has reviewed disability and SEN legislation to determine what obligations (if any) arise on government to provide communications aids based on ICTs to children with disabilities. And yet, disability remains a central issue.     

Parole release decisions revisited: An analysis of parole release decisions for violent inmates in a southeastern state

In an attempt to discover the major predictors of parole decision-making in one southeastern state, this study examined the cases of 762 inmates under the supervision of the Alabama Department of Corrections who were eligible for parole from June 1, 1993 through May 31, 1994. Of the 762 eligible inmates, only 138 (18 percent) were granted parole. Using parole disposition (granted or denied) as the dependent variable, this study investigated the offense, offender, and general parole variables and their impact on parole decisions. Logistic regression findings indicated that the strongest predictors of parole release decisions were the length of the original sentence assessed for the offense, the total number of felonies for which the inmate was serving time, and the warden and senior officers' recommendations. These variables, which were also significant at the bivariate level of analysis, explained approximately 47 percent of the variation in the dependent variable. A major concern of the study was the generalizability of the findings.     

Link law: The emerging law of internet hyperlinks

Although Internet enthusiasts often claim a right of on‐line associations, that is, a right freely to link to other content on the Internet, evolving case law demonstrates that there is no absolute right to associate or link on the Internet. Rather, business law at times imposes limits and penalties on linking. As business grows on the Internet, litigants are likely to use creative theories based on unfair competition and intellectual property law to seek limits on linking. This article examines the first waves of Internet link law cases, how the legal positions have been framed and the principles with which those cases have been resolved. The article reviews the basics of the legal theories used (and likely to be used in the future) to challenge links. The article then reviews key linking cases involving, among other issues, direct links, “framing” and “inlining,” hidden metalinks and contributory infringement through links and mirror sites. The article concludes that, contrary to the original ethos of Internet use, in the era of business use of the Internet, linkages will often be scrutinized and controlled, and sometimes discouraged, litigated or penalized.     

End-of-life decisions in Italy: an overview of the current situation

This contribution analyzes end-of-life decisions in Italy. Its aim is to report the complex situation in end-of-life decisions. The scientific work applies an interdisciplinary approach by taking into consideration the position of the medical and biomedical communities. In addition, it examines the perspective of the jurisprudence and of the parliament. The investigation of all these parties is fundamental since Italy is one of the few Western European countries that does not have an ad hoc law ruling advance directives. After a complete and comprehensive study of the standpoint taken by the medical and biomedical communities, in addition to the position taken by the Italian law-maker, this contribution underlines the significance of the role of the jurisprudence. In the conclusions, the author underlines the significance of a specific law governing advance directives since it will end the contrasts between these different communities in addition to provide legal certainty.     

Constant costs in the public provision of judicial services

The nature of the cost conditions surrounding the provision of judicial services by state and local governments is examined. It is suggested that these services fit Werner Hirsch’s category of horizontally integrated public services and a priori arguments are presented to support the kypothesis that judicial services are provided under conditions approximating constant costs. Empirical tests for the existence. of scale economies are made which yield results consistent with the constant cost kypothesis. Hence, the conclusion is drawn that differences across states per capita expenditures on count systems ane due primarily to variations in demand factors rather than differences in the sizes of judicial systems. This paper was partially prepared under Grant Number 75-NI-99-0037 from the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, U. S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions stated in this document are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.     

Drugs in hair: a new extraction procedure

An enzymatic hydrolysis of hair for drug detection is described. The results obtained with the suggested method are compared with those observed by chemical hydrolysis. Enzymatic digestion provides a high recovery (80%) for cocaine metabolite, while alkaline hydrolysis causes its chemical destruction. The two hydrolytic procedures yielded comparable results for morphine. The outlined procedure is recommended when unstable compounds are to be detected in hair.     

Emerging styles of social control on the internet: Justice denied

The rapid growth of the Internet during the past 10 years has resulted in many disagreements over who should have the power to make and enforce the rules of on-line content and conduct and what form, such rules and enforcement should take— informal or formal. The extremes at which each of these potentially complementary systems of social control are currently practiced have contributed to an atmosphere of inconsistency, contradiction, uncertainty, and excessive discretion amongst state agencies, Internet service providers, system operators, and Internet users. If the Internet is to serve as a major communication, entertainment, and information medium in the 21st Century, a system is needed that integrates the strengths of both informal and formal systems of control while respecting the social, intellectual, and political freedom of the Internet community.     

Police criminal charging decisions: An examination of post-arrest decision-making

Scholars have encouraged studies of police decision-making to move beyond the arrest decision into research that broadens the understanding of police behavior. The criminal charge placed by officers against offenders is largely an untouched area of study. Examining criminal charging decisions goes beyond simple dichotomous decisions, such as arrest, but instead explores the area of police leniency or punitiveness. Randomly constructed vignettes describing a domestic violence incident were given to officers from four agencies. Officers indicated the criminal charges they would likely list against an offender if they were to make an arrest. Serious criminal charges were often supported by additional, but less serious, charges. Victim injury and an uncooperative offender were related to the decision to charge a misdemeanor offense. There was a significant negative relationship between the number of charges listed and more experienced officers and officers working in smaller agencies. The implications of this study and directions for future research are discussed.     

Private roles in food safety provision: the law and economics of private food safety

Private food safety standards play a crucial role in ensuring the safety of the foods we consume. A voluntary instrument, private standards are so widespread to have become de facto mandatory for suppliers who wish to access the most profitable markets. Developed by retailers and business coalitions and enforced through third-party certification, private food safety standards constitute one of the principal food safety governance instruments of agribusiness value chains. Albeit private and voluntary, such standards have profound public implications because they contribute to food safety and protect consumers’ health. This article uses law and economics theory to identify their strengths and vulnerabilities and understand the relationship between public and private regulation. Specifically, it examines whether private standards can fulfill the public interest objective of protecting consumers’ health and whether they compete with or rather complement public regulation. The article argues that private standards have emerged in response to food scares to coordinate complex food value chains and have become ever more relevant in the context of intense market globalization, an area in which public regulation often failed. Among the advantages of private standards, are their flexibility and ability to rapidly respond to new risks. Through their focus on management-based regulation and strong market incentives for producers, private standards promote compliance better than traditional inspection methods. Private standards also present several gray areas including increased risk of capture due to their limited transparency and gaps in enforcement by third-party certifiers. The article suggests areas that deserve additional scrutiny, especially the opacity of standards vis-à-vis consumers and the public sector and the quality and reliability of third party certification.     

Procedural decisions in intergroup conflict situations: The influence of hierarchical group membership

A review of research on procedural and distributive justice shows that whereas distributive justice research has examined people's actual choice of outcomes, procedural justice research has paid little attention to the investigation of people's actual choice of procedures. In the present paper, three experiments are presented, all investigating people's actual choice of procedures. In all three experiments, participants were in a middle-management position where their subordinates demanded an opportunity to voice their opinion, while their superiors demanded that the subordinates should not be allowed voice. In Experiments 1 and 2 it was found that participants who were induced to identify with the low hierarchical group (subordinates) allowed more voice than participants who were induced to identify with the high hierarchical group (superiors), but that the effect of hierarchical group membership was absent when maximizing performance (Experiment 1) or participative values (Experiment 2) were explicitly emphasized. In Experiment 3 it was found that the effect of hierarchical group membership on procedural decision making was also evident in persons who progressed from identifying with both hierarchical groups to identifying with one hierarchical group. In the discussion it is argued that cross-fertilization between the fields of procedural and distributive justice will deepen our understanding of social justice in general.     

Trial venue decisions in juvenile cases: Mitigating and extralegal factors matter

Purpose . This study assessed whether the characteristics of juvenile offenders and their victims affected respondents' decisions regarding whether a juvenile offender should be transferred to the adult criminal justice system. Method . Participants (N = 758) read a scenario about a juvenile accused of murder and decided whether the youth should be tried as an adult or as a juvenile. The age of the offender (11‐, 13‐ or 15‐years‐old), the sex of the offender, abuse history and victim type (neighbour or father) were varied. After indicating jurisdictional preference, participants read a series of statements (e.g. importance of punishment) and rated how important each was in their decision. Results . Significant main effects and complex interactions between defendant gender, age and abuse history were found. In general, younger defendants were more likely than older defendants to be recommended for juvenile court. Overall, juvenile offenders with a history of child abuse received less harsh verdicts. For males, a history of abuse affected decisions about trial venue and verdict both alone and in combination with other factors such as age, sex and relationship to victim. Results supported a mediational model in which extralegal and mitigating factors influenced the importance of a ‘just desserts’ orientation, which, in turn, influenced jurisdictional decisions. Conclusion . Despite a recent tendency for policymakers to pass legislation that requires more juveniles be sent to adult courts, the present study suggests that the public does not support automatic transfers to adult courts and that mitigating factors are important to their jurisdictional decisions.     

Doctors and allocation decisions: a new role in the new Medicare

The role of the physician in the allocation of health care resources has come under renewed scrutiny in recent years. Doctors have always had to face the reality of scarce resources and to do their work in the context of social injustices. With the advent of Medicare and Medicaid came the rhetoric of universal access and the "right to health care." At the same time the field of bioethics was emerging and contributing ideas about other kinds of rights, such as the right to die with dignity. Physicians during this time did not see their role as that of gatekeeper, but rather as advocate for the best care for each individual patient. The 1980s has brought a new awareness of limited resources and the necessity for a rationale for allocation of resources. These social and professional shifts have confronted physicians with the need for yet another shift in their ethical stance. If they are to take part in allocation decisions, for the continued well-being of their patients and of the public health, they will need a new perspective on biomedical ethics. This role can be an ethical one for physicians providing certain criteria are met: there must be universal access to a basic minimum level of care, physicians' levels of income must not be directly related to treatment choices, there must be a closed financial system within which meaningful trade-offs can be made, and there must be an ethically acceptable framework for decision-making.