Equal opportunities: protecting the rights of AIDS-linked children in the classroom

Within the past few years a number of children have been excluded from attending public school because they are linked to AIDS. School boards have justified their decisions to exclude these children on the basis that protecting the public's health, safety and welfare outweighs the rights of these children. Most courts have rejected this justification and have held that either under the equal protection clause of the Constitution or section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, children cannot be excluded from the classroom solely because they are linked to AIDS. This Note discusses both section 504 and equal protection analyses used by the courts. When analyzing a school board's decision to exclude an AIDS-linked child from the classroom, most courts have used a higher level of scrutiny and individualized inquiry in order to ensure that the rights of both the AIDS-linked child and his or her uninfected classmates and teachers are protected. After applying these analyses to a hypothetical case, this Note concludes that both section 504 and the equal protection clause ensure that AIDS-linked children will not be barred from the classroom unless the presence of additional factors increases the risk of these children transmitting the virus to others.     

Returning to the child welfare system: Understanding the wellbeing,health, education,and placement of children who return

Using longitudinal archival Child Welfare System (CWS) data, this study describes child health and wellbeing at their initial entrance into the CWS and subsequent returns. Associations between child wellbeing, health, placement stability, and frequency of returning to the system were also investigated. Results indicated most children were healthy and developmentally on target. In addition, emotional distress, behavioral concerns, and number of placements in the CWS were significantly correlated with placement stability. Future work should utilize the use of developmental assessments to systematically and reliably document the concerns for children in the system, and investigate factors contributing to stable placements.     

Social rights,child rights,discrimination and devolution: untangling the web

Abstract

This article examines judicial reviews of two areas of social security policy and practice in the UK – the household benefit cap and the restriction of bereavement benefits to bereaved spouses and civil partners. While each case ostensibly concerned discrimination against claimants, in practice much of the legal argument centred on the impact on claimants’ children. The judiciary is revealed to be deeply divided on the lawfulness of the acknowledged discrimination. The article considers what lessons can be drawn about the relative weight that ought to be afforded to claimants’ property rights, the best interests of affected children, anti-discrimination provisions and the state’s stated policy imperatives of cost control and administrative convenience. Insights are also sought into whether devolutionary differences can be identified between the approaches of courts in London and Belfast.     

Suicide in children,adolescents and young adults

As suicides of children, adolescents and young adults occur very seldom and only few case reports and more comprehensive studies are available in forensic literature, the autopsy records of the Bonn Institute of Forensic Medicine and the database of the Bonn police authorities from 1989 to 1998 were retrospectively analysed for this phenomenon. This search revealed 37 respective suicides involving 23 male (62%) and 14 female (38%) victims. The ages ranged from 10 to 21 years with the prevalence sharply increasing in adolescents and young adults. Independent from sex, the victims almost unexceptionally applied hard suicide methods like hanging, running over by a train or jump from the height. As for the psychological background, current conflicts with a sweetheart, within the family or at school on the background of mental illness or chronically disturbed family structures were encountered as prevailing factors.     

走向平衡：对被害人和被告人权利保障的关系思考

注重对刑事诉讼中人权的保护是全世界范围内司法改革的重要内容,无论在理论探究还是在司法实践中都有着很强的时代意义。通过对被害人和被告人权利保障的历史的回溯,现实的观察,以及从理论研究和司法实务的视角,总结了对被害人和被告人权利保障关系方面一直存在的不同的声音和做法。并以全球范围内新一轮司法改革的价值为引导,从哲学的角度进行系统的分析,力求厘清权利保障平衡的相关关系,从而符合寻求被告人与被害人之间权利保障的平衡这一变化趋势,指导司法实践工作,并在最后以此平衡关系作为一个新颖的视角,对国家被害人补偿制度进行探讨。     

Morphology of "asphyxia-induced epiglottis form" in newborn infants, infants and young children

A systematic histological study of cross-sections of the larynx from 52 fatalities (neonates, infants and young children) revealed a broad spectrum of anatomical variants in the epiglottis form, which were caused by variations in the epiglottic cartilage. There was no correlation between the epiglottis form and the age of the child. Furthermore, no differences in shape could be established between cases of SIDS and control cases. The term "asphyxial-related epiglottis form" appears to be inappropriate. The commonly found supraglottic laryngitis on the laryngeal aspect of the epiglottis was seen in combination with histologically proven infections in the upper and lower respiratory tract. Histological investigation of the larynx provides valuable information for the morphological diagnosis in fatal cases in early life.     

完善紧急状态立法保障公民的宪法和法律权利

紧急状态是危及一个国家正常的宪法和法律秩序、对人民的生命和财产安全构成严重威胁的正在发生的或者是迫在眉睫的危险事态。如何在紧急状态时期始终坚持依法办事的原则,是衡量一个社会法治化水平的标志。为此,世界上绝大多数国家都注重通过宪法和法律来确立国家的基本紧急状态制度,以保障宪法所规定的公民基本权利,通过赋予国家机关必要的紧急权力,来建立有效的应急反应机制,迅速恢复宪法和法律秩序,最大限度地保证人民的生命和财产安全。另外,还有一些国家依据宪法关于紧急状态的规定,制定专门的紧     

关注刑事辩护律师的权益保障

年初本刊采访最高人民检察院常务副检察长张耕时,张耕副检察长曾透露说高检正在起草一个有关保障律师依法执业的专门规定。果然,最近最高人民检察院公开发布了这个颇受司法界关注的司法文件枣《关于人民检察院在刑事诉讼中保障律师依法执业的规定》(以下简称《规定》)。     

The Dublin Regulation,mutual trust and fundamental rights: No exceptionality for children?

Mutual trust in the Dublin III Regulation is justified by the assumption that all Member States respect the fundamental rights of asylum seekers and that it is therefore immaterial which Member State processes any given claim. This justification has been questioned in light of the treatment of asylum seekers in some Member States. Nonetheless, in order to circumvent a Dublin transfer on fundamental rights grounds, the Court of Justice of the EU has held that the risked violation must meet the threshold for inhuman or degrading treatment in Article 4 of the Charter. Recently, the Court rejected the proposition that another Charter right—the principle of the best interests of the child—could block Dublin transfers of families with children. Through a child-rights analysis of the jurisprudence, this article explores the idea of exceptionality for children, concluding that there is potential for the best interests principle to trump mutual trust.     

The third way in mental health policy: negative rights, positive rights, and the Convention

Mentally disordered patients may be said to have rights in two senses: negative rights to freedom from arbitrary detention or interference with their person; and positive rights to expect a certain minimum standard of service, be that in terms of treatment as an in-patient, or as a patient in the community. The Labour government has appointed a 'scoping group' to carry out a root-and-branch review of the Mental Health Act 1983. The 1983 Act was mainly concerned with in-patient treatment. The group is to look at the scope for introducing further compulsory powers in the community, enhancing the rights of carers and relatives, and is to take account of recent British and Strasbourg case law. The primary impact of the Convention on psychiatric patients has been in relation to protection against arbitrary detention under Article 5, unsoundness of mind being one of the permitted grounds of deprivation of liberty under Article 5(1)(e). This article explores the potential impact of Convention rights in developing what Gostin referred to in the early 1980s as a 'new legalism'. The new legalism linked concern for traditional rights to due process and review by the courts or other external bodies with the 'ideology of entitlement' to adequate treatment and services. The article outlines the current policy context of mental health services and looks at the development by the European Court of Human Rights of positive Convention rights to services out of Article 5, whose purpose seems at first sight to be the protection of due process rights. It examines the relevance of Convention rights to community powers.