Sexual offenders in preventive detention: data concerning the inmates and expert witness practice

In the last decade, preventive detention-especially that relating to sexual offenders- has gained relevance for the German legal system. However, data are lacking concerning the inmates and the modus operandi of the psychiatric experts. Court orders and psychiatric statements of 114 offenders with orders of preventive detention were examined, 57 of whom were incarcerated because of sexual offences. Sexual offenders mostly show antisocial personality traits or even disorders, with a history of poly-trophic delinquency. In only four cases, the diagnosis of a sexual disorder was given. The analysis showed a high rate of psychiatric expert testimonies' lacking basic information, with incomplete assessment of sexual history. None of the experts used standardized prognostic instruments, meaning that most of the risk factors included in the Sexual Violence Risk-20 and the Static-99 were not considered. Further work needs to be done to improve the quality of psychiatric statements concerning sexual offenders.     

Representing sexuality and morality in sex education picture books in contemporary China

This study conducts a social semiotic analysis of six sex education picture books for preschool children in the People’s Republic of China. Following van Leeuwen’s framework for analysing the discursive construction of social actors, this paper examines two types of social actors directly associated with the education of human sexuality: the physical body of human beings and the institutional, disciplinary body of the family. The analysis of the linguistic and visual representations of the two types of social actors reveals a significant compromise of biosexuality to the complicated psychosexual and sociosexual concerns in the People’s Republic of China. The introduction of biological knowledge about human reproduction is conducted in such a manner that aims to instil the appropriate moral values and behaviours that are regarded as the norm in contemporary Chinese culture as well as ensuring the sound physical and psychological development of young children.     

Under the shade of AK47s: a multimodal approach to violent extremist recruitment strategies for foreign fighters

Two notable features of the current conflict in Syria and Iraq are the number of foreign fighters from western countries fighting for Sunni militant organisations, and the use of the Internet and social media by some extremist groups to disseminate propaganda material. This article explores how the group which refers to itself as Islamic State and an affiliated British group, Rayat al Tawheed, deploy combinations of images and text which serve as bonding icons to rally supporters. The data consists of the English language edition of ISIS’s online magazine Dabiq and online materials produced by Rayat al Tawheed. The results suggest that ISIS and Rayat al Tawheed adopt similar but different iconisation strategies. While ISIS adopts a global strategy to present a unified world view utilising a range of ISIS values in its iconisation, Rayat al Tawheed foregrounds jihad using strategies specifically targeting young, English-speaking men of Islamic/Arab backgrounds.     

Clearing the muddy waters of shared watercourses governance: conceptualizing international River Basin Organizations

Institutions that have been set up by riparian states to internationally govern shared water resources—international River Basin Organizations (RBOs)—play a key role in river basin governance. Despite an increased attention paid to RBOs in international relations and water scholarship, there has been little focus on defining and conceptualizing RBOs and, subsequently, on comprehensively identifying the RBOs that exist around the world. This has challenged research around RBOs in both methodological and theoretical ways. This paper aims to meet this challenge by offering a theoretically grounded definition of an international RBO and crafting a comprehensive list of international RBOs. We do so deductively, building from the larger neo-institutionalist research and international water resources governance literature. Our definition identifies three broad categories of constitutive elements: internationalization, institutionalization and governance. We apply this definition to potential cases to better identify the extent of RBOs around the world today and outline which cases qualify as RBOs and which cases fail to meet our constitutive criteria. This allows us to compile a comprehensive list of all existing international RBOs, including the identification of RBOs with specific characteristics. The article concludes by crafting an agenda for future research around RBOs that builds on this more complete understanding of RBOs.     

Evaluation lokaler Verwaltungspolitik: Umsetzung und Wirksamkeit des Neuen Steuerungsmodells in den deutschen Kommunen

The article aims at an evaluation of the New Public Management-inspired reform in German local governments which under the heading of the “New Steering Model (NSM)” spread over the municipalities like a “bush fire”. Since the research on Public Sector Reforms has so far largely been concentrated on institutional and instrumental change in Public Administrations there is now as ever only little empirical evidence concerning the actual changes and results of reform initiatives. Against this background, in the following article the attempt will finally be made to focus on results and effects of the local governments’ reform activities which have been achieved after 10 years of NSM-modernization and, thus, to outline perspectives for institutional-ortiented evaluations in the future.     

A normative theory of criminal procedure

Criminal Law Forum -