The accuracy of sex identification in European skeletal remains using the phenice characters

Three documented European skeletal series were examined to assess the accuracy and reliability of the pubic variables described by Phenice for correctly identifying the sex of adult human skeletal remains. The accuracy and objectivity of these variables, as reported by Phenice, Kelley, Sutherland and Suchey, and Lovell, could not be confirmed on this European material. In general, the subpubic concavity feature, when used alone, proved to be the most reliable variable for sex identification. In this study, the level of correct sex identification that could be achieved using the Phenice variables was shown to be significantly affected by the previous experience of the observer.     

State Crimes of Previous Regimes: Knowledge, Accountability, and the Policing of the Past

The policy of lustration is set in the context of responses to abuses of power by previous regimes. Using examples from three recent forms of social reconstruction (in Latin America, the former communist states, and South Africa), the author reviews the “justice in transition” debate. How do societies going through democratization confront the human rights violations committed by the previous regime? Five aspects of this debate are reviewed: (1) truth: establishing and confronting the knowledge of what happened in the past; (2) justice: making offenders accountable for their past violations through three possible methods: punishment through the criminal law, compensation and restitution, and mass disqualification such as lustration; (3) impunity: giving amnesty to previous offenders; (4) expiation; and (5) reconciliation and reconstruction. A concluding discussion raises the implications of the subject for the study of time and social control.     

Data sharing

The sharing of research data to permit secondary analyses is rooted in the collegial tradition of science. Recently there has been a gradual shift from viewing data sharing as a voluntary activity to considering sharing as an obligation of researchers. This paper identifies two important dimensions of data sharing: the degree to which the primary investigators may determine whether they will share their data and the reason for which the data set is being requested. In addition to discussing the dimensions of data sharing, the negative aspects of viewing data sharing as an obligation are discussed. These negative factors are increased burden on the primary investigator; lack of incentive to share data; and loss of control over the use of data and negative effects on scientific progress. Recommendations regarding data sharing policies are made in light of these negative effects.     

Regulating on the run: the transformation of the crtc as a regulatory institution

Abstract: This article examines the transformation of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (crtc) as a regulatory institution caught in the midst of massive technological change in the converging broadcasting and telecommunications industry. Focusing on the last decade, the article assesses institutional change in relation to five aspects central to current regulatory institutional analysis: 1) the contemporary nature of an independent regulator in relation to ministers, regulated interests and the public; 2) the characteristics of both quasi-judicial and quasi-political regulatory functions; 3) changing views of regulatory compliance; 4) changing relations between competition and other framework regulators; and 5) the internationalization of regulation both through international trade regimes and through the effects of globalization on regulated industries. The analysis shows that the crtc is being transformed as a regulatory institution but that it has not been as pared back as have some other federal regulators, nor have the changes gone as far or as fast as the telecommunications revolution would lead one to expect. Each of the five institutional features examined conveys part of the reasons for change, but they also show how institutional directions and trade-offs for the crtc do not all pull in the direction of deregulation and contraction. Sommaire: Cet article examine la transformation du crtc, en tant qu'institution de réglementation confrontée à une évolution technologique massive, à la croisée des chemins de l'industrie de la radio/télédiffusion et de l'industrie de la télécommunication. L'article, qui porte sur la derrière décennie, évalue son évolution en fonction de cinq aspects essentiels a I'analyse des organismes chargés de la réglementation: 1) la nature actuelle d'un organisme de réglementation indépendant par rapport aux ministres, aux intérêts réglementés et au public; 2) les caractéristiques des fonctions de réglementation quasi-judiciaires et quasi-politiques; 3) 1'évolution des points de vue concernant le respect de la réglementation; 4) l'évolution des relations entre les organismes chargés de réglementer la concurrence et ceux chargés d'autres activités, et 5) la mondialisation de la réglementation par les schémas de commerce international et par les effets de la globalisation sur les industries réglementées. L'analyse montre que le crtc subit des changements en tant qu'institution de réglementation, mais qu'il n'a pas fait l'objet d'autant de coupures que d'autres organismes fédéraux de réglementation, aussi le rythrne et la portée de son évolution restent inférieures à ce qu'on aurait prévu, compte tenu de la révolution des télécommunications. Chacune des cinq caractéristiques institutionnelles examinées précisent les raisons du changement, mais elles montrent aussi que toutes les orientations et tous les compromis institutionnels ne mènent pas néessairement vers la déréglementation et le rétrécissement du crtc.     

Psychotropic Medication and Competence to Stand Trial

At any given time, as many as 15,000 persons are hospitalized for study or treatment regarding their competence to stand trial. Although most of the defendants found incompetent to stand trial "could rapidly be returned to competence and so maintained were the facilities and treatments of modern psychiatry made available to them", the impact of recent advances in psychiatry—particularly drug therapy—has not been fully absorbed by the legal system. Defendants restored to competence by psychotropic drugs frequently require ongoing medication. Some courts, mistakenly assuming that psychotropic drugs produce a "chemical sanity" that is unacceptable for participation in a trial, have adopted a practice—the "automatic bar rule"—of automatically prohibiting the return for trial of defendants under the influence of such drugs. A lack of statutory, regulatory, or judicial guidance leaves the question largely to the discretion of individual trial judges. This article critically examines the automatic bar rule in light of the effects of various psychotropic drugs and of the consequences of the rule both to defendants and to the state.