IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES

This article will examine several of the more difficult issues raised by the Freeman case, including the potential conflict between a parent's rights and a child's rights, the concern over legislative intervention in family autonomy, and the obvious struggle the courts are having in making consistent decisions in this area. The focus will be on Canadian child welfare legislation, with particular emphasis on the Nova Scotia legislation, as it relates to the refusal to consent to the medical treatment of a child. Similarly, the case law considered will also be primarily Canadian. The article will concentrate on situations in which the withholding of medical treatment would threaten the life of a child and will discuss the withholding of treatment as it relates to an unborn child, a mentally and/or physically challenged child, and a normal child.     

The Risks and Needs of the Returning Prisoner Population

There is a growing interest in the threat posed by the increase in the number of prisoners released from prison each year. Some have argued that unless new services and programs are funded, the increasing waves of released prisoners will pose a major threat to public safety in general. This paper reexamines these and other issues and finds that a significant portion of released prisoners pose little if any threat to public safety and that the current parole supervision system often serves to increase rather than reduce recidivism. While released prisoners have significant social, economic, residential, and family needs, they are not sufficient to restrict their release from prison.     

Past and Present Utilization of Interstate Compacts in the United States

This research examines the frequency of utilization and theusefulness of interstate compacts as a contemporary instrumentof intergovernmental relations. Beginning with a discussionof the legal status of compacts, the author then reviews historicand current scholarship on compacts. Changes over time in theenactment of compacts are observed, together with changes inthe types and scope of compacts. The procedures of the Stateof Maryland are used as a case study in evaluating the benefitsof compact membership. In conclusion, the author discusses recentacademic interest in this aspect of intergovernmental relations.