IT'S 10 p.m., DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE?

Over the past several decades, parent-child abduction has turned from a national into an international problem. To try and minimize this problem, The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was adopted on October 1980. The goal of the Convention is to ensure that abducted children are promptly returned to their homes. While the goal has been met, the overwhelming use of the Convention's exceptions must be limited so that the purpose of the Convention is not damaged.     

“Children in a Terrible State”: Understandings of Trauma and Child Sexual Assault in 1970s and 1980s Australia*

ABSTRACT

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has shown us the multitude of ways that children were vulnerable to sexual violence. This article explores child sexual abuse outside of institutions, and the development of concepts of trauma in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. From the mid-1970s, there was increased social, medical and legal focus on child abuse. Driven originally by feminists, there was a new interest in the psychological impacts of abuse, including analysis of the grief, despair, fear and anger experienced by survivors. The explosion of interest in child sexual abuse was mainstreamed in the Royal Commission into Human Relationships (1974–1978) and in discussion leading up to the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (1989). Across the 1980s, public recognition grew concerning the dangers of sexual violence against children, and, in particular, the increased knowledge and interest in intra-familial assaults. This article will chart the dramatic shifts in public consciousness around sexual abuse, particularly around ideas of harm and trauma. It will also suggest that despite a substantial change in cultural views on sexual assault, improvements for child victims were slow to filter through to the criminal justice system.     

International election observation in Guyana 1964–2001

The infusion of election observation in the political landscape of the Caribbean has presented a range of trends and reactions. Some countries, such as Guyana, have had a more entrenched and controversial history with observation than others. Guyana was the first Caribbean country to have had international observers. This paper presents a survey of the case of Guyana between 1964 and 2001. The article outlines all the observed elections in Guyana during this period with reference to issues of logistics, size, duration and the actors involved. It also assesses the outcomes of international observer presence in these elections and explores the implications for Guyana’s efforts to display acquiescence to the norm of holding free and fair elections.     

Ethical Considerations in the Development and Application of Mental and Behavioral Nosologies: Lessons from DSM-5

We are not likely to find a diagnostic system as “unethical,” per se, but rather find that it creates ethical concerns in its formulation and application. There is an increased risk of misuse and misunderstanding of the DSM-5 particularly when applied to forensic assessment because of documented problems with reliability and validity. For example, when field tested, the American Psychiatric Association reported diagnostic category kappa levels as acceptable that were far below the standard level of acceptability. The DSM-5 does not offer sensitivity and specificity levels and thus psychologists must keep this in mind when using or teaching this manual. Also, especially in light of concerns about diagnostic inflation, we recommend that psychologists exercise caution when using the DSM-5 in forensic assessments, including civil and criminal cases. Alternatives to the DSM-5, such as the International Classification of Diseases and the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual are reviewed.     

Business law for non‐lawyers: Setting the stage for teaching,learning and assessment at Hong Kong Polytechnic University

SCALE-UP is an acronym for Student-Centred Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies. The term upside-down pedagogies refers to a flipped or inverted classroom approach that is characterised by flipping teaching and learning responsibilities; instead of students first hearing a lecture and then doing homework, students can watch a lecture or otherwise prepare for class at home and then practise what they have learned in class. This paper discusses active learning strategies and how legal education can utilise such approaches, explores how studio classroom design can facilitate such strategies, describes the configuration of a Scale-Up classroom, provides exercises that can be incorporated into such a learning space, and elaborates on the advantages and disadvantages of the use of the pedagogy in a redesigned learning space. It concludes that requiring students to complete some practical exercises in class, participate in discussions with peers, or work on assignments where the lecturer has some input, may engage students in the learning process, encourage them to attend class and to accept more responsibility for their learning.