Negotiations on Safeguards and Subsidies in Services: a Never-ending Story?

After the Uruguay Round, negotiations under the General Agreementon Trade in Services (GATS) continued in several rule-makingareas, including emergency safeguards and subsidies. However,there has been little progress to date. The negotiations onsafeguards appear to have suffered from a combination of highambition, limited flexibility and, possibly, too much inspirationfrom the existing mechanism under the General Agreement on Tariffsand Trade (GATT). Yet the GATS is different in at least tworespects: its reach has been extended from cross-border tradeto factor flows, and from an essentially tariff-only regimeto many more permissible restrictions, including import-displacingsubsidies. The question arises, whether and where safeguardscould still serve a useful purpose. At the same time, with lessenthusiasm, however, WTO Members have discussed the need foradditional subsidy disciplines beyond current Most-Favoured-Nation(MFN) and, in scheduled sectors, national treatment obligations.A link between the two areas has not been established. Thisarticle thus seeks to identify and, as far as possible, tieup loose ends. While there appears to be little scope for GATT-typesafeguards in services, a transitory arrangement, which allowsfor suspensions of new commitments during an implementationphase, might encourage more ambitious liberalization under theGATS.     

“Humanitarian aid is never a crime”: humanitarianism and illegality in migrant advocacy

I analyze the case of humanitarian pro-migrant activists in southern Arizona between 2000 and 2010 to explore how contending groups wield law and legality claims in a dynamic policy environment. Humanitarian activists both evade and engage the law. They appeal to a higher law to elude charges that they are acting illegally, while seeking assurances that their actions are within the law. Law enforcement agents rely on the authority and technical neutrality of the law in redefining humanitarian aid as illegal, while expanding their own claims to carry out humanitarian work. This case study of advocacy on behalf of “illegal” migrants highlights how both activists and those who enforce the law redefine legality in strategic ways.     

“Delinquent Boys”: Toward a New Understanding of “Deviant” and Transgressive Behavior in Gay Men

Cultural criminology suggests that crime, deviance, and transgression are often subcultural in nature. For this reason, cultural criminologists often focus on the simultaneous forces of cultural inclusion and social exclusion when explaining criminal, deviant, or transgressive behaviors. This is a particularly useful bricolage for examining contemporary gay deviance and transgression—behaviors that are perhaps closely linked to (if not directly caused by) the past isolation, marginalization and/or oppression of homosexuals by Western heteronormative societies. It is also useful for understanding behaviors that are the result of marginalization and oppression from other sources, namely, the gay community itself. Using subcultural theories of deviance—such as those favored by cultural criminologists—this article explores a perspective that can be used for exploring certain forms of gay deviance and transgression. First, some of the more ostensible criminological theories that satisfy a prima facie criminological inquiry will be presented and critiqued: labeling and stigma, and resistance to heteronormativity. To these will be added a new and potentially productive way of thinking that takes into consideration rule-breaking as a form of resistance to homonormative norms, values and rules.     

“Why Always me?”: Childhood Experiences of Family Violence and Prejudicial Treatment against People Living with Albinism in Nigeria

Journal of Family Violence - In an attempt to address the paucity of research examining the childhood experience of people living with albinism within family context, the present study explored...     

The Impact of a Risk Assessment Instrument on Juvenile Detention Decision-making: A Check on “Perceptual Shorthand” and “Going Rates”?

This study assesses the impact of a juvenile detention risk assessment instrument (RAI) on decision-making in five New Jersey counties. It uses a pretest–posttest design, drawing on a sample of decisions matched across time periods using propensity scores (N = 1,432). It suggests that the RAI, supported by other reforms, lowers overall rates of detention. Though evidence is not strong, findings suggest the RAI may have reduced reliance on “perceptual shorthand” variables reflected in the juvenile’s age and the time of day of the decision. There is stronger evidence that the RAI increased reliance on the specific factors contained within its risk score. There is also evidence that RAI reduced disparities in detention rates across counties, perhaps by diminishing the importance of “going rates” for detention, rooted in local courtroom workgroups.     

“Membership in a Particular Social Group”: International Journalists and U. S. Asylum Law

At least thirty non-U.S. journalists in the last decade have argued in U.S. Courts of Appeal that U.S. immigration authorities erroneously denied their asylum applications based on persecution in their native countries. However, only about 20% of journalists were successful, mirroring the approximate national asylum success rate for all applicants. The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act does not include journalism as a basis for asylum, but some circuit court judges have stated that reporting on systemic official corruption is inherently political and, as a result could be grounds for asylum for persecuted journalists. A 2007 opinion from the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals defining “particular social group,” a key requirement for asylum, is examined for its application to journalists.     

The Google conundrum: Perpetrator or facilitator on the net? - Forging a fair copyright framework of rights, liability and responsibility in response to search engine 2.0 - Part II: The Google Books Search Project

Is Google in its quest for search engine optimization through the creation of new technologies, which not only improves its search algorithms but also refines its search functions for users, doing it in a manner that makes it a perpetrator of primary copyright infringement or an invaluable facilitator for Internet functionality? How should the balance of interests in the treatment of creative works be recalibrated in the face of changes in search engine technology and operations, and the disputes that have arisen within the last decade in the context of the digital age and its needs? Using Google as a case study, this paper will look at the two main areas of dispute over the operations of information locator tools and services that either threatens search engine functionality and efficiency or weakens copyright holders’ exclusive rights. It proposes a concerted set of solutions through a reassessment and amendment of copyright law to optimize the social benefits and objectives of both the copyright regime and technological innovations in the electronic model of information archiving, indexing and delivery. A fair distribution of responsibilities and allocation of rights and liabilities will be suggested. In the process, due consideration will be given to both public and private interests, with the former taking precedence; while the recommended solutions will be made within the currently outdated framework for Internet intermediary protection (i.e. safe harbor laws) and exceptions (i.e. specific statutory exemptions and the general fair use defense) under the existing copyright regime. Thus, the proposed changes will be far reaching without being too radical a departure from current law, an evolution that will likely be more acceptable and realistic a solution to the problem.This paper is published in two parts. Part One of this paper published in the previous edition of the CLSR at [2011] 27 CLSR 110-131 dealt with the challenges to the copyright regime posed by the operations and technology behind the Google Images Search Engine, while Part Two will assess the benefits of the Google Books Search Project vis-à-vis the effects it will have on the scope of copyright protection. Recommendations are made to copyright law to accommodate both functions while generally preserving the main objectives of copyright protection.     

“Curiosity and a Pimp”: Exploring Sex Trafficking Victimization in Experiences of Entering Sex Trade Industry Work Among Participants in a Prostitution Diversion Program

This mixed-methods study explored entry into the sex trade industry and experiences of sex trafficking victimization among 478 adult women enrolled in a prostitution diversion program in a large southwestern state. Written responses to several open-ended survey questions were coded using a template approach to content analysis wherein a priori codes were identified based on characteristics of sex trafficking victimization identified in the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (U.S. Department of State, 2000 U.S. Department of State. (2000). Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/61124.htm [Google Scholar]). Findings revealed that approximately one third of participants (n = 161) described sex trafficking experiences on entry into the sex trade industry, and quantitative analysis revealed that women who experienced sex trafficking as part of entering the sex trade industry were more likely to report abuse during childhood and adulthood, to report gang involvement, and to be involved in multiple types of sex trade industry work. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

“I'm Innocent!”: Effects of Training on Judgments of Truth and Deception in the Interrogation Room

The present research examined the extent to which people can distinguish true and false denials made in a criminal interrogation, and tested the hypothesis that training in the use of verbal and nonverbal cues increases the accuracy of these judgments. In Phase One, 16 participants committed one of four mock crimes (breaking and entering, vandalism, shoplifting, a computer break-in) or a related but innocent act. Given incentives to deny involvement rather than confess, these suspects were then interrogated. In Phase Two, 40 observers were either trained in the analysis of verbal and nonverbal deception cues or not trained before viewing the videotaped interrogations and making their judgments. As in past studies conducted in nonforensic settings, observers were generally unable to distinguish between truthful and deceptive suspects. In addition, those who underwent training were less accurate than naive controls—though they were more confident and cited more reasons for their judgments. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of what is known about police interrogations, false confessions, and the wrongful conviction of innocent suspects.     

Balancing autonomy and risk: a failure of nerve in England and Wales?

Specialised mental health legislation typically provides for the hospitalisation and treatment of those with mental disorders in the absence of their consent. The article examines the possible justifications for the existence of these special powers and argues that two of the most common justifications, the protection of the patient and the protection of others, do discriminate against those with a mental, as opposed to a physical, disorder. The relationship between mental health and mental capacity, or guardianship, legislation is then considered and possible ways forward are discussed with particular reference to the current reform debate in England and Wales.     

“State ineffectiveness in deterring organized crime style homicide in Mexico: a vicious cycle”

Institutional weaknesses in the criminal justice system (limited court capacity and the increasingly sophisticated armament of splintering drug trafficking organizations) limit the effectivity of Mexican states to deter organized crime style homicide. Court capacity, expressed by increasing sentencing rates in states where the oral court system was institutionalized, remains insufficient against the post-2006 organized crime related homicide epidemic. The illegal arms market, combined with long-standing deficits in firepower between organized crime and municipal police forces, limit the state’s capacity to alter the arms balance toward policing forces. Taken together, limited court capacity and the tactical imbalance of weapons held by drug trafficking organizations create a vicious cycle which continually perpetuates state ineffectiveness to deter and punish organized crime style homicide.