Children,war and world disorder in the 21st century: a review of the theories and the literature on children's contributions to armed violence

Young populations, and particularly young males, have been attributed a proclivity to aggression and unrest that puts societies at risk. Theories about the dangers of a demographic ‘youth bulge’ inform public and policy debates about the predictors of violent conflict, as evidenced most recently in the World Bank's World Development Report for 2007. This paper assesses the validity and utility of claims linking youth bulges to civil conflicts by reviewing different literatures concerning naturalist ideas of young humans' innate aggression and cognitive incompetence as well as environmentalist ideas of environmental stimuli, processes of socialisation, and the dialectical relationship of structural conditions and human agency. This review finds that the moral panic propagated by youth bulge theorists is too often based on only one form of influence on human development and action, whether an aspect of environment, personal experience, or individual traits. A more cogent analysis must integrate the highly complex and dynamic processes involved in cognition and behaviour and aim to develop theories that take account of the social power, ideational and structural forms, and emotional and cognitive processes that young people experience and draw on in times of war.     

Social perceptions on genomics in four Latin American countries. Ethical-legal implications]

The authors analyze under an ethical and legal perspective the consequences and anxieties generated by the human genome project in the population of four Latin American countries: Argentine, Chile, México and Perú, through bibliographical analysis and interviews done to biomedical researches, lawyers and legislators, students and lay civilians.     

Access to justice

Conclusion The central aim of providing access to justice should be to ensure that every citizen receives implementation of his legal rights at the lowest overall cost, not just the cost to litigants, or the courts' budget, or insurers, but to society as a whole. How far the proposals in the Report will achieve that will have to be seen when they are implemented, whether in whole or in part. Although the proposals are radical in many ways, it is certainly possible to argue that on one construction they merely preserve the present distinction between small claims, County Court, and High Court cases, with a variety of significant modifications. If that be so, it is equally arguable that very much the same result could be achieved by modifications to both the County Court and High Court rules without the need for universal sweeping changes. Certainly all practitioners and judiciary are going to find that the next few years are full of challenge and interest. It will be fascinating to observe the changes and the outcome. Q.C., M.A., LL.M. (Cantab), J.D. (Chicago), one of Her Majesty's Circuit Judges since 1987. The opinions expressed in this article are purely personal to the author and should not be attributed to any other member of the judiciary.     

Decision Support Within the Criminal Justice System

The Crown Prosecution Service forms a vital component of the criminal justice system, as the chief organization prosecuting on behalf of the State and therefore the public. This paper highlights those areas where the CPS has attracted most criticism, focusing on sources of inconsistency in decision-making and management practices which may be considered inappropriate in the provision of justice. An example of how new technology could be utilized to improve the service provided by the CPS is presented. This would increase consistency of decision-making by introducing an independent assessment of the 'realistic prospect of conviction' test in the form of a decision support system. The various artificial intelligence tools available are discussed, in addition to a brief summary of why a neural network was felt to be the most suitable for the task under consideration. Preliminary results of a practical test, undertaken using archived data collected from various magistrates'courts are disseminated,together with discussion of the issues raised. Key issues concerning the philosophical and social acceptability of utilizing such a system within the Crown Prosecution Service are addressed by reference to correspondence with representatives of various organizations within the criminal justice system. This method is adopted in order to illustrate problems, both real and perceived, with the notion of utilizing technological support in what is a crucial human process.     

All Votes are Equal? Significant Legislation and Party Competition in the Danish Folketing

In nearly all studies on legislative party competition, all votes are treated equally. It is argued in this article that the cooperation between parties varies substantively depending on the type of legislation analysed. However, establishing a measure of the relative significance of votes has challenged legislative studies for decades. A novel measure for legislative significance is therefore proposed: length of debate. Using parliamentary votes from 23 legislative periods in the Danish parliament from 1953 to 2003 and debate length as measurement for bill significance, analyses are presented that focus on between‐party voting patterns on significant and non‐significant legislation and the presence, extent and features of legislative cartels is discussed. The results suggest that looking only at significant legislation reveals more clearly the legislative cartels within the legislature. These findings challenge the traditional assumption of treating parliamentary votes equally, and they allow for a better understanding of legislative cartels in the Folketing.