Experiences of coercion during investigation and treatment

According to Swedish legislation (LVM) compulsory treatment shall be decided on if someone, due to ongoing abuse of alcohol, drugs or volatile solvents, is in need of care to overcome abuse and if a voluntary intervention is not possible. Very little research has been conducted in Sweden on this particular legislation with regard to the clients' experiences of entire process from assessment to aftercare. We interviewed 74 subjects who were being assessed prior to the court's decision on involuntary care (n=39), or with previous experience of assessment and involuntary care (n=35). The assessment group more often reported having the opportunity to express their opinions to the social worker during the assessment period (55% vs. 21%, p<.05) and they were more positive towards the final decision (60% vs. 24%, p<.05). In spite of the law, 18% were not contacted by the social services while in coercive treatment. The clients who did meet with a social worker, often described the conferences as more of a perfunctory nature with a lack of focus on the actual situation and aftercare planning. This study points at a need of studying the subjects' experiences of the whole continuum of the coercive process: from the investigation, to treatment and to aftercare. It also points at the need for new instruments to be developed covering all aspects of the coercive process and in particular the period of investigation prior to the decision on involuntary care.     

Female crime and household control in early modern Frankfurt am Main

This article investigates the way in which informal control by household authorities affected how female crime was prosecuted in early modern Frankfurt am Main. Crime historians have argued that female crime was a particular urban phenomenon during this period. They have attributed this to a relatively high level of independence of women and the existence of many formal social control institutions. This article shows that due to strongly enforced patriarchal ideals concerning household authority in the Holy Roman Empire supposedly ‘rural’ characteristics (low levels of independence and high levels of informal control) could also be found in distinctly urban settings, like Frankfurt am Main. As the household was viewed as the central location for social order, authorities required everyone to reside in an orderly household. Unlike regions in which household control was weaker, the majority of women, including migrants, were therefore incorporated in networks of informal control through their position in the household. This means that strong informal control within the household, which is normally associated with close-knit communities in the countryside, also played a dominant role in the urban community of Frankfurt. The criminal investigation records show that only few domestics were prosecuted formally; rather they were disciplined by their master – leaving a possibly very large dark number of female criminality. Most of the offenders appearing in the criminal investigation records were those that had failed to secure a position within a household. Owing to the reliance on household control, cities like Frankfurt am Main knew a distinct type of urban female offender.     

The Role of the IASB and Auditing Standards in the Aftermath of the 2008/20091 Financial Crisis

The primary argument of this article is, namely, that the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is in need of an enforcement mechanism. In drawing attention to this argument, the article not only proposes considerations which are to be taken into account if such a mechanism is to be implemented, but also considers areas in which the regulation of accounting standards, and auditing standards in particular, have contributed to the recent global financial crisis. The impact of such standards on pro‐cyclicality, the level of success achieved by the IASB and other international standard setters, such as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, relates to how effectively the accounting and audit standard setting is implemented. As well as identifying the importance of convergence in contributing towards high quality audits and the consistent application of auditing and accounting standards, this article also acknowledges the difficulties and challenges encountered in attempting to achieve a convergent framework. Furthermore, through a discussion of recommendations aimed at consolidating transparency and accounting, as proposed by the G20, ways in which accounting standards, and, consequently, the IASB, could contribute further to the improvement of transparency and accountability of the framework for fair value measurements and evaluation, are considered. The absence of enforcement mechanisms, the fact that enforcement actions are carried out at national level in various EU Member States, present sources of obstacles to attempts to realise the proposals put forward by the G20. This article not only attempts to address such factors, but also to suggest ways in which the IASB, to an extent, could realise its goals. Through a consideration of two enforcement regimes in Europe, namely Germany and the UK, two related standards which govern enforcement in Europe, principles on which harmonisation of the institutional oversight systems in Europe may be achieved , and the vital contribution made by the Committee of European Securities Regulators and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, this article will consider how enforcement could be implemented by the IASB at a European level.     

Trace DNA collection—Performance of minitape and three different swabs

In this study two types of synthetic swabs and one commercially available minitape were tested and compared with the currently used cotton swab. The results indicate that there is no major difference in performance between the swabs for recovery of trace samples, and that the minitape is better suitable for recovering from absorbent materials than swabs are. However, no statistical calculations were carried out due to the low number of samples in each category.     

Crossing borders in North America after 9/11: ‘regular’ travellers’ narratives of securitisations and contestations

This article is part of a larger project on ordinary border crossings and state practices in North America. The changing border governmentalities in the region focusing on securitising their borders against potential terrorist threats and the increased emphasis on the managing of population flows have led to a reduced mobility for certain travellers as opposed to others. The construction of potentially safe and ‘un-safe’ subjects through profiling on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion and socioeconomic background and the increasing use of biometrics have impacted upon travellers’ mobilities. In the North American context, the Mexican state has undergone significant modernisation in terms of its border control capacities, thus enhancing not only its capacity as a buffer state, but also its performative sovereignty, and is therefore an interesting case to study. This article aims to analyse how these transformations in border governmentalities have affected the mobility of ‘ordinary’ travellers, and how they have developed coping strategies and resistances towards the potential curbing of their respective mobilities.     

Unfolding the coverage of illicit drugs in Estonian print press

The aim of this article is to analyze the changes in the coverage of illicit drugs by the Estonian press in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the restitution of Estonia’s independence. The article adapts Anthony Downs’ ‘issue-attention cycle,’ in which he proposes that public concern about certain issues follows a particular five-phase model. The author of this paper conducted a content analysis of 1523 press articles from 1993 to 2009. The analysis indicates that coverage of drug issues follows four of the five phases of Downs’ model, the exception being the fifth ‘post-problem’ phase.