What makes a real man? Gender norms and Western Australia v. AH [2010] WASCA 172

In Western Australia v AH [2010] WASCA 172 the Western Australian Court of Appeal denied two female-to-male applicants for gender reassignment certificates the right to be legally recognised as men. In so doing, an opportunity was lost for Australia to be one of the first jurisdictions in the world to legally provide a reassignment of gender without requiring permanent sterilising surgery. This column examines not only the legal issues considered in the case but the broader ethical and human rights issues associated with denying female-to-male gender reassignment applicants who have not undergone a permanent sterilisation or genitalia alteration procedure, the right to be identified as males.     

Development and validation of a sensitive UPLC-MS/MS method for the analysis of narcotic analgesics in urine and whole blood in forensic context

Narcotic analgesics are widely (ab) used and sometimes only occur in low concentrations in biological samples. Therefore, a highly sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for simultaneous analysis of 9 narcotic analgesics and metabolites (buprenorphine, O-desmethyltramadol, fentanyl, norbuprenorphine, norfentanyl, pethidine, piritramide, tilidine and tramadol) in urine and whole blood. Sample preparation was performed on a mixed-mode cation exchange solid phase extraction cartridge with an additional alkaline wash step to decrease matrix effects and thus increase sensitivity. Ionization with electrospray ionization was found to be more efficient than atmospheric pressure chemical ionization. The use of a mobile phase of high pH resulted in higher electrospray ionization signals than the conventional low pH mobile phases. In the final method, gradient elution with 10mM ammonium bicarbonate (pH 9) and methanol was performed on a small particle column (Acquity C18, 1.7 μm, 2.1 mm × 50 mm). Selectivity, matrix effects, recovery, linearity, sensitivity, precision, accuracy and stability were validated in urine and whole blood. All parameters were successfully evaluated and the method showed very high sensitivity, which was the major aim of this study. The applicability of the method was demonstrated by analysis of several forensic cases involving narcotic analgesics.     

From the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 to the Serious Crime Act 2015 - the development of the law relating to female genital mutilation in England and Wales

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is defined by the World Health Organization to include: ‘procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons’. It is a practice that affects many females in England and Wales and as a result, specific legislation has been introduced to tackle it. This paper explores the development of the criminal and civil law relating to FGM in England and Wales. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the approaches adopted and considers whether they are effective. The paper concludes that the creation of a specific criminal offence has proved to be ineffectual; that the introduction of civil FGM protection orders is a more appropriate and effective means of combatting the practice and that legal measures need to be supplemented by non-legal interventions.     

Conditional openness: young people define practices for successful child protection interventions

Taking the reforms of child protection legislation that have occurred since the 1980s as a backdrop, this paper considers young people’s perspectives on the factors that facilitated their engagement with child protection services and the barriers they perceived to effective service delivery. Drawing on findings from a New Zealand study of young people’s experience of multiple service use (child protection, mental health, youth justice and remedial education), the paper identifies that that rather than being ‘resistant’ or ‘hostile’ to statutory child protection intervention, young people reported a ‘conditional openness’. This conditional openness was characterised by three themes: communication; continuity and consistency; and contextual and cultural responsiveness. Interventions with these characteristics activated this conditional openness allowing effective interventions to occur. Using a series of case studies, comprising interviews and agency case file records; the paper considers the experiences of 109 young people (12–17 years) as well as those of the ‘person most knowledgeable;’ an adult nominated by young people because they knew the young person’s situation well.