Survey of methods for the rating of psychiatric impairment in Australia

One of the enduring clinical issues in the assessment of plaintiffs in personal injury and workers' compensation claims, as well as applicants for social security and disablement benefits, is that of the evaluation of impairment and work incapacity. Many writers on this topic confuse the concepts of impairment and disability, and similar confusion is reflected in a number of the rating methods that purport to evaluate impairment but in reality assess disability. In Australia there are 20 distinct statutory schemes for workers' compensation, motor accident compensation, and social security and other benefits, which utilise a variety of methods for the rating of psychiatric impairment. Recent legislative changes designed to restrict access to personal injury compensation at common law, which in two Australian State jurisdictions require the use of impairment rating scales, also specify the rating methods to be used in the assessment of psychiatric impairment. This article discusses the concepts of impairment and disability as defined by the World Health Organisation, and reviews the various methods for the rating of psychiatric impairment that are specified by statute in the federal and State jurisdictions in Australia.     

重构欺诈制度:一个实用主义的分析

纵观欺诈的制度史,经过基督教的道德化改造,对欺诈的规范更强调其主观意图,最终呈现为总则中的欺诈规范,针对法律行为(合同)的效力。这一进路未能看到欺诈制度背后作为加速机制的国家权力。国家和市场在打击欺诈时,可以是同路人,但也可能存在紧张关系。尽管传统民法将欺诈行为与胁迫行为并列加以规范,但就行为模式来看,二者差异明显,欺诈制度与胁迫制度的现代决裂势在必行。欺诈应摆脱合同与侵权的人为区隔,进而充当一种法律救济的触发装置:一方面,应当借鉴刑法上受害人教条学的观念,骗局过于明显且有悖俗内容,而受害人自己却积极参与,不应获得补偿(但不排除引发对加害人的公法制裁);另一方面,在当事人信赖受到影响时,应具体化、个案化和客观化地考察当事人的具体状况从而提出解决方案。欺诈应当重返罗马法的模式:对欺诈的规范优先由特别法进行。     

欺诈:一种竞争法的理论诠释——兼论《消费者权益保护法》第49条的适用与完善

欺诈在合同法中是一种意思瑕疵 ,在信息社会里 ,欺诈作为误导公众的行为 ,是一种典型的不正当竞争行为。《消费者权益保护法》不能简单地视为合同法的特别法 ,欺诈的研究不应拘泥于意思表示的狭隘范围 ,反欺诈的消费者权益保护应纳入反不正当竞争法的范畴来考察。从竞争法的角度来看 ,欺诈不要求行为人具有主观故意 ,一种行为只要在客观上有误导消费者的效果 ,就足以构成欺诈。欺诈的救济措施 ,在主体设计、补救措施和赔偿责任上均有区别于传统合同欺诈的制度设计。     

When Abuse Happens Again: Women's Reasons for Not Reporting New Incidents of Intimate Partner Abuse to Law Enforcement

Although most women abused by intimate partners experience a patterned behavior of abuse (by either the same or new partners), little is known about their decision making regarding whether to call the police for subsequent abuse. The current study found that 90 percent of women who had encountered the criminal legal system for previous intimate partner abuse victimizations did not contact the police for some or all recurrences. Qualitative analysis was conducted among a sample of 102 women regarding their reasons for not re-engaging the legal system for subsequent victimizations. The results suggested 5 overall reasons as to why women involved with the criminal legal system choose not to engage the system again.     

Reporting Femicide-Suicide in the News: The Current Utilization of Suicide Reporting Guidelines and Recommendations for the Future

Public health officials have developed and disseminated recommendations for the responsible reporting of suicide in an effort to dispel myths about suicide-completers and minimize contagion effects. However, recommendations as to the reporting of homicide-suicide events have not been a priority in these initiatives. The current study assesses the degree to which newspaper coverage of the most commonly occurring type of homicide-suicide event, femicide-suicide, adhere to existing suicide reporting recommendations by examining newspaper coverage (n?=?143) of a population of femicide-suicide cases (n?=?83) from North Carolina for the years 2002–2009. The current study demonstrates the importance of developing and disseminating reporting guidelines to assist in dispelling myths about the victims and perpetrators of lethal intimate partner violence.     

Fraud,Free Speech and Fossil Fuel: Lessons from Big Tobacco for Big Oil

Recent journalistic investigations revealed that ExxonMobil carried out research beginning in the 1970s indicating fossil fuel's dangerous role in global warming. Rather than heed the warnings of its research, for the next few decades, ExxonMobil instead chose to become a leader in climate change denial; stressing uncertainty, propagating misinformation, funding denial, and politicizing and undermining the expert scientific consensus. Exxon's behavior invoked the tactics used by the tobacco industry years earlier, tactics which wound up the subject of a successful federal government lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The parallels with the tobacco industry prompted legislators and environmentalists to call on the Department of Justice to use RICO again to hold the fossil fuel industry to account. This article will consider the legal issues associated with bringing such an action, and whether useful lessons can be drawn from the tobacco litigation.     

Prior Police Contact and Subsequent Victim Reporting: Results from the NCVS

This study investigated the association between victim reporting and the police response to past victimizations with data from the National Crime Victimization Survey from 1998–2000. The findings include: (1) investigatory effort by police when an individual had been victimized in the past increased the likelihood that the individual would report an ensuing victimization to the police; (2) however, this relationship only held when the victim, rather than someone else, reported the prior victimization to the police; (3) whether the police made an arrest after an individual was victimized in the past had no effect on whether the individual reported an ensuing victimization to the police; (4) the probability of victim reporting was unaffected by investigatory effort or whether an arrest was made after a prior victimization of a member of the victim’s household.     

Fraud: The Characteristic Crime of the Twenty-First Century

In the same way that larceny characterized much of twentieth century, fraud will likely characterize the twenty-first century. Larceny remains the most common oi all serious crimes, but fraud may overtake larceny as the crime of choice in the future, because of changes in our ownership, storage, and movement of property. Fraud involves purposely obtaining the property of another through deception, and its popularity as a crime of choice is growing. Entrusting property to the custody oi others, storing property at remote locations, and electronic movement of property are shown to be major changes in the way we treat property and increase opportunities for theft. The connection between fraud and many of the serious crimes of the twenty-first century are shown in the facts of recent cases. The motivation of thefl behind many frauds is also shown to be used to fund larger criminal objectives, such as illegal immigration and terrorism. The points of view expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Dr. Albanese is chief of the International Center at NIJ on leave from his position as professor of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University.     

对价欺诈交易刑民界限的法教义学分析

对价欺诈交易是指行为人采取虚构事实或者隐瞒真相的方法,通过交付相当代价欺骗他人进行交易的行为。对价欺诈交易侵犯的法益是财产权,商业自治权在厘定对价欺诈交易的民刑界限时可以发挥重要的功能导向性作用。作为刑事犯罪的对价欺诈交易中的“财产损失”,包括客观损失以及交易的物品因不具有商业价值而遭受的损失,但应排除边际损失。对价欺诈交易中“欺诈”的刑事处罚范围,因对价之存在需要从性质、对象以及价值判断上进行限制,同时要加以体系性限缩。对行为人归责,需要考虑被害人是否尽谨慎义务。被害人之谨慎义务应采取折中说。认定刑事诈骗之“非法占有目的”,原则上应采取结果性非法占有目的,特殊情形下可采取行为性非法占有目的。     

诉讼诈骗罪的理论探讨:从概念到犯罪构成

立于诉讼诈骗的行为空间和行为目的,则可提出的诉讼诈骗罪的定义是:诉讼诈骗罪,是指以占有他人财物或其他不法目的,以伪造证据等手段而实施虚假的民事讼诉或行政诉讼,情节严重的行为。对财产等其他社会秩序和司法秩序的复合侵害性构成了诉讼诈骗罪的本质特征。诉讼诈骗罪的犯罪客体是对应着双重被害人的复杂客体,而其犯罪客观方面则可从行为空间和因果关系等方面予以把握;诉讼诈骗罪的犯罪主体逻辑地包含着单位,而其犯罪主观方面则是一种具有特殊构造的双重罪过。     

电信诈骗犯罪取款行为的定性研究

电信诈骗犯罪已成近年高发型犯罪,帮助取款人作为其犯罪链条中最后一步,协助电信诈骗实施者转移与处置赃款.但现行法律法规未明确规定帮助取款人取款行为的性质,致使司法实践出现同案不同判现象.为准确认定取款行为的性质,从客观要素角度,应当识别取款行为是否与电信诈骗实行行为存在因果关系、取款人何时参与电信诈骗犯罪以及电信诈骗犯罪...     

Theories on the Economics of Regulation: A Survey of the Literature from a European Perspective

This article is, on one hand, a survey of the core theoretical literature on the economics of public regulation; and, on the other hand, a cohesive discussion about how the literature has matured and how recent contributions on political and regulatory institutions—US and European—are related to, and affect the results of, former lines of research. We conclude that the traditional distinction between public interest theories and special interest theories has lost validity due to the entry of game theory and institutional research. The evolving institutional analysis provides a sophisticated interpretation of possible corrective rationales inherent in regulatory restrictions, and is as such an important complement to the still vigorous special interest literature focusing on the redistributive rationales and their effects.     

The Reporting Procedure for Police Officers who have Used Serious Force Under Dutch Law and the Privilege Against Forced Self-incrimination

Recently the controversy about the police use of force has increased within The Netherlands. Simultaneously it has become clear that courts have provided divergent judgments in these cases; some have sentenced and others have acquitted police officers. Whereas victims of the police use of force increasingly ask for the prosecution of these officials, others demand to change the reporting procedure in favor of the officer’s legal position. This research explains how the reporting procedure for these cases is construed under Dutch law – particularly regarding the serious use of force – seeing that such a contribution currently lacks in (inter)national legal literature. Besides, it examines to what extent the abovementioned procedure violates the officer’s right against forced self-incrimination under the ECHR. This research concludes, in absence of a court ruling, that the procedure is incompatible with the ECHR when the evidence that follows from the officers’ duty to notify is admissible in criminal procedures.     

Under the skin of probation: A statewide analysis

This analysis examines the inter- and intra-racial/ethnicity effects of skin tone variations in a sample of probationers across three dependent variables: probation length, successful completion, and revocation due to technical violations. Darker tones were linked to shorter probation terms with the exception of African Americans, among whom no effect was found. Darker tones were also associated with a decreased likelihood of successful probation completion. Conversely, probation success likelihood was higher among light skinned Hispanics. Finally, lighter tones were also associated with increased risks of probation revocation. Importantly, across the analysis any significant effects for Whites dissipated once Hispanics were removed from the analysis. Explanations of the contrary findings are offered drawing from scholarship on normal crimes and racial threat.