Placing the Animal in the Dialogue Between Law and Ecology

This paper explores the growing dialogue between law and ecology, and asks if there is a promising space for the development of animal law in this growing dialogue. Specifically it sets up two meetings and dialogues between ecology and law, one with law prevailing, and one with ecology prevailing, The article pursues the later meeting of ecology and law through introducing and then compiling four prominent groupings in the ecology prevailing dialogue between ecology and law (Ecosystemic Law; Earth Jurisprudence; Resilience Theory; approaches embracing philosophical complexity theory). The article argues that in this dialogue that ecologically informed approaches develop a fundamental critique of orthodox legality, and that ecologically informed approaches consequently assume the problematic of legality, and that in so doing ecology and legality are each transformed. What emerges from these transformations is an ecological jurisprudence, and ideas of Emergent Law, Adaptive Law, and Ecolaw. In the final two sections the article turns directly to the place of the animal in the ecology prevailing dialogue between ecology and law. The article argues that in this dialogue affective assemblage theory has developed as a pre-prepared place for the animal as an affective body in complex social–ecological affective assemblages. The conclusion briefly draws out some of the implications for animal law and animal lawyers in taking up the conclusions from the ecology prevailing dialogue between law and ecology. The article suggests it may well be an exciting dialogue for animal law to find a place for exploration.     

A Perfect Prosecution: The People of the State of New York Versus Dominique Strauss-Kahn

People v. Strauss-Kahn is an ideal lens through which to examine the operation of a criminal justice system that privileges the presumption of guilt, or, to use the words of the US Supreme Court in the 2012 decisions Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye, has become “a system of pleas, not a system of trials.” It is both an excellent example of a transparent and objective invocation of the criminal sanction, and a sharp counterpoint to the vast majority of cases where law enforcement conclusions are privileged and rarely second-guessed. As analyses of wrongful convictions have sadly but inevitably demonstrated, the screening methods of police and prosecutors are fallible. Moreover, the prevalence of “tunnel vision” once the decision to charge has been made means that few cases experience the kind of post-indictment investigation and reevaluation seen in the prosecution of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Stage by stage, the Strauss-Kahn case illustrates how to counterbalance the presumption of guilt and give expression to the presumption of innocence in the pretrial period through vigilantly-invoked and enforced due process protections. Drawing from this examination, the paper will then explore how to approach this model process in the more standard cases, which typically see a fraction of the judicial, law enforcement, and defense resources afforded Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The Strauss-Kahn prosecution offers several insights, three of which will be sketched at the paper’s conclusion: a requirement that prosecutorial decision-making be subject to a reasonable doubt standard; vigilant and early enforcement of the prosecutor’s obligation to disclose information that is favorable to the accused; and finally, a requirement that a prosecutor explain in writing any decision to dismiss the felony charges in indicted felony cases, so that the factual, legal and policy bases of these decisions (numbering almost one quarter of New York’s superior court felony cases annually) can be analyzed and publicized.     

INADEQUACIES IN THE PROCESSES OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT IN AUSTRALIA

Abstract: Policy and policy development have received considerable attention in Australia over the last decade or more. This attention has resulted in many recommendations on policy in the series of major public service inquiries of the 1970s, in a number of books and journal articles on varied aspects of public policy, and in the considerable strengthening of the policy development capacities of many government agencies. This attention has to date been inadequate, because it has in almost all cases concentrated on the questions of where within the bureaucratic structure policy development should occur and what procedural mechanisms are needed to allow ministers or cabinet to choose between alternative policies and to facilitate the coordination of policies. These questions are of course important, but questions of how a well-considered policy option that can be considered by a cabinet or a minister is actually developed appear to have been almost totally ignored. In the public service inquiries, in the published literature, and in public accounts of the work of policy units, there appears to be virtually no analysis of the process of policy development. There is little or no discussion of how the standard formal models of policy development match or fail to match the techniques used in Australia, and although there have been many individual case studies of policy issues, there are no comparative case studies from which general observations might be drawn. Lastly, there are very few positive suggestions as to how policy development in Australia could be improved. Overcoming these inadequacies provides a major challenge to Australian policy workers.     

Endotracheal tube ignition by electrocautery during tracheostomy: case report with autopsy findings

This case of upper airway tract fire resulting from the use of electrocautery during elective tracheostomy has significance for surgeons, anesthetists, and forensic pathologists alike. The major autopsy findings are described and illustrated. Suggestions that may help to prevent or minimize the risk of fire in this context are reviewed.