Disintegration: Environmental Protection and Article 81 EC

This article addresses the question of whether the modernisation and decentralisation of EC competition law will affect the integration of environmental protection requirements into the framework of Article 81 EC. First, the interface between competition policy and environmental protection at both the constitutional level and operational level is investigated. Following this, the Commission's assessment of environmental benefits under Article 81(3) EC prior to decentralisation and modernisation is explored. It is submitted that the Commission's expansion of its interpretation of the first two positive criteria of Article 81(3) EC allowed environmental objectives and competition goals to be balanced within the framework of Article 81 EC. Finally, this article examines the extent to which the decentralisation and modernisation of Community competition law may impede the integration of environmental protection into the definition and implementation of Article 81 EC.     

Investigation Delayed Is Justice Denied: Proposals for Expediting Forensic Examinations of Digital Evidence*

Abstract: There is an urgent need to reduce the growing backlog of forensic examinations in Digital Forensics Laboratories (DFLs). Currently, DFLs routinely create forensic duplicates and perform in‐depth forensic examinations of all submitted media. This approach is rapidly becoming untenable as more cases involve increasing quantities of digital evidence. A more efficient and effective three‐tiered strategy for performing forensic examinations will enable DFLs to produce useful results in a timely manner at different phases of an investigation, and will reduce unnecessary expenditure of resources on less serious matters. The three levels of forensic examination are described along with practical examples and suitable tools. Realizing that this is not simply a technical problem, we address the need to update training and establish thresholds in DFLs. Threshold considerations include the likelihood of missing exculpatory evidence and seriousness of the offense. We conclude with the implications of scaling forensic examinations to the investigation.     

Assessing treatment readiness in violent offenders

Although violent offenders are widely considered to be difficult to engage in therapeutic change, few methods of assessing treatment readiness currently exist. In this article the validation of a brief self-report measure designed to assess treatment readiness in offenders who have been referred to violent offender treatment programs is described. The measure, which is an adaptation of a general measure of treatment readiness developed in a previous work, displayed acceptable levels of convergent and discriminant validity and was able to successfully predict treatment engagement in violent offender treatment. These results suggest that the measure has utility in the assessment of treatment readiness in violent offenders.     

Corporate crime and the Canadian state: Anti-combines legislation, 1945–1986

This paper analyses post-war (1945–1986) anti-combines enforcement in Canada in the light of major competing theoretical models of the state in capitalist economies. Such an analysis serves as a framework for the clarification of issues pertaining to the debate on the state in advanced capitalism, the outcome of which may permit certain postulates concerning state-corporate relations in Canada. A narrative history of the nature and development of the Canadian economy informed by Canadian political economists will be presented, followed by a brief review of the history of anti-combines legislation and its enforcement up to 1945. Data will then be introduced enabling analysis in greater detail of post-war enforcement.     

Psychosocial concepts in juvenile law

This study was designed to clarify the types of information about juveniles and their families that are relevant for three types of juvenile court decisions: (a) the pretrial detention of juveniles; (b) their transfer for trial in criminal courts: and (c) disposition decisions after delinquency adjudication. Predominant legal standards for these decisions are described, information relevance for the decisions is defined, and why past studies have failed to clarify the information needs of juvenile court decision makers is explained. Results of a study involving a national sample of juvenile court personnel include an empirically derived domain of psychosocial and behavioral characteristics of juveniles and their families relevant for courts' interpretations of controlling legal standards; factor analysis of the domain, describing dimensions of the domain of information about juveniles and families; and an examination of the relation of these information categories to each legal standard controlling the decision areas in question. The interpretation of results may facilitate decision making by juvenile courts, evaluations by mental health professionals who assist juvenile courts, and further research by social scientists who study discretionary juvenile court decisions.This research was supported by grant No. MH-35090 from the Center for Studies of Antisocial and Violent Behavior, National Institute of Mental Health, DHHS. Portions of the study were conducted in collaboration with the National Juvenile Law Center, Inc. of St. Louis. The authors wish to acknowledge Martha Bellew-Smith, Marcia Conlin, and Robert Rust, who contributed substantially to the conduct of the study. Others who participated at various stages are Steve Bellus and Sandra Seigel     

IBM correcting selectric typewriter: an analysis of the use of the correctable film ribbon in altering typewritten documents.

From the point of view of a document examiner, the advent of the Correcting Selectric typewriter has not changed any of the procedures ordinarily used in the examination of altered typewritten material. The same precautions should be observed in conducting examinations of such material as would be observed in making examinations for any other type of possible alteration on negotiable instruments. The security question raised with the Correcting Selectric is no different than the questions raised when an eraser was put on a pencil or a chemical bleach was found to remove ink on paper. The Correcting Selectric might even be compared to the introduction of ball-point pens on the market in the late 1940s. At that time, financial publications were suggesting that ball-point pens should not be used on any negotiable or valuable document as the ink was considered to be too readily transferable, and it was thought that they left little in the way of individual writing characteristics. However, it was not long before financial institutions were supplying such pens on their counters. Because of the complexities involved in using the Correcting Selectric to alter a document, it is felt that such problems will prove to be less prevalent than those involving other means of alterations.     

Evaluating partnerships for community health improvement: tracking the footprints

Private-public partnerships are increasingly seen as an important mechanism for improving community health. Despite their popularity, traditional evaluations of these efforts have produced negative or mixed results. This is often attributed to weak interventions or an insufficient period of time to observe an impact. This study examines two additional possibilities--the need for a well-articulated shared vision and the governance and management capabilities of the partnership itself. We conducted a midstream process evaluation of twenty-five community partnerships associated with the Community Care Network (CCN) Demonstration Program. We examined how the roles of a common shared vision, strong governance, and effective management influence a partnership's ability to achieve its objectives. The findings, based on both qualitative and quantitative analyses, underscore the importance of membership organizations' perceived benefits and costs of participation and management capabilities to the partnership's progress toward a vision. Based on the qualitative data, six key governance and management characteristics are identified that separate the top performing partnerships from the lowest performing ones. We explore the implications of this research for future evaluations of public-private community health partnerships.