A Review of: “Rebecca Knuth. Burning Books and Leveling Libraries. Extremist Violence and Cultural Destruction.”

In the 1970s, Western European countries were hit hard by terrorism, especially by international terrorism that crossed borders easily and allowed terrorists of different origins to carry out attacks against both governments and people. Consequently, the necessity of fighting this menace also extended to international organisations. This article looks at how the Council of Europe dealt with the issue, and assesses the negotiations that led to the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism from the German perspective. West Germany was very interested in establishing a sounder international legal framework against terrorism and thought that the Council of Europe would be able to make an important contribution by abolishing the political offence exception that had so far been a core feature of most extradition treaties. This clause allowed political criminals to escape punishment by fleeing to a country that would deny extradition to a different country on the grounds of the political nature of the act committed by the person in question. The article gives an account and analysis of the complex negotiations that finally resulted in the adoption of the Convention in 1977, as well as of the problems encountered and compromises reached during these negotiations.     

Notes on recent dissertations

This article assesses the nature and extent of negative advertising on the Internet in the 1996 U.S. Senate races. As a benchmark for comparison, the use of negative campaigning in other media is outlined. In the aggregate, the Internet is a medium disproportionately characterized by positive campaigning. On the other hand, the candidates with negative campaigning used it a lot. In exploring the rhetoric of negative campaigning, a theoretical distinction between superficially comparative and engagingly comparative is offered and applied to 1996 campaign sites. T he negative campaigning that does occur on the Internet is largely comparative but still falls short of engaged campaign rhetoric.     

Fracture Characteristics of Entrapped Head Impacts Versus Controlled Head Drops in Infant Porcine Specimens,,

In many forensic cases, the job of forensic pathologists and anthropologists is to determine whether pediatric death is due to an abusive act or an accidental fall. The goal of this study was to compare the cranial fracture patterns generated on the parietal bone of a developing, infant porcine (pig, Sus scrofa) model by a controlled energy head drop onto a plate versus previous data generated by blunt force impact at the same energy onto the head constrained to a plate. The results showed that blunt force impacts on a head constrained to a rigid plate produces more fracture, but the same general pattern, as that for a head dropped onto the plate with the same level of impact energy. The study suggests that head constraint may be an important factor to consider in the evaluation of death causation for blunt force impacts to the pediatric skull.     

Positional Asphyxia without Active Restraint Following an Assault

Deaths due to positional asphyxia are most often accidental, associated with alcohol and/or drug intoxication. A 19‐year‐old male is reported who was assaulted and placed in a head‐down position in the back of a car were he was later found dead. Brush abrasions indicated that he had been dragged to the vehicle. The head and right shoulder were wedged into the foot well with the body uppermost. At autopsy, there was marked congestion of the face, neck, and upper chest with conjunctival ecchymoses, bruising of the face and scalp, focal subarachnoid hemorrhage, minor cerebral contusion, and diffuse cerebral swelling with early hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Toxicology was negative. Death was attributed to HIE resulting from the unusual positioning of the body. Cases of positional asphyxia involving others may not always include restraint, and when encountered should initiate a careful evaluation of the possible events and lethal pathophysiological processes.     

The law and practice in maritime boundary delimitation: lessons for the resolution of dispute between Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana

Definitions of terrorism in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries tend to provide that behaviour can constitute terrorism only if it is politically, religiously or ideologically motivated. Critics argue that this complicates prosecutions, distorts trials, and encourages racial profiling. Defenders argue that the requirement helps yield a definition which corresponds to common understandings of what terrorism entails, and limits the danger of terrorism‐related powers being abused. Part 1 of this article examines the antecedents of the requirement, part 2 examines its legal significance, and part 3 argues that it is unnecessary and undesirable. While many of the criticisms of the motivation requirement are either unpersuasive or exaggerated, defences of the requirement are not altogether convincing. While the requirement excludes from the definition some behaviour which ought not be treated as terrorism, it also excludes some socially dangerous activities which should be.     

Ideology and Anti‐Utopia

A recent film adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, makes a number of seemingly minor changes in the novel’s characters, setting, and plot. Together, however, these changes transform the novel’s theme into its polar opposite. As a result, the dystopian novel is transmuted into an anti‐utopian film. After examining these changes in detail, I analyze the contrasting world views that lie behind the two texts and argue that they are based upon opposing views of human nature and society. I then reflect on the meaning of this transformation, arguing that it reflects a fundamental transformation in our society, one which undermines the possibility of using political action to attain social justice. Moreover, it is just this transformation which Huxley, in writing Brave New World, had hoped to warn us against.     

Evaluation of the ADViSOR project: Cross‐situational behaviour monitoring of high‐risk offenders in prison and the community

Purpose. The release on licence of prisoners who have committed serious violent and/or sexual offences requires rigorous risk assessment and risk management. This study evaluates the ADViSOR project, designed to examine the contribution of prison behaviour monitoring to community supervision of a sample of the highest risk offenders released in England and Wales under Multi‐Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). Method. The offence‐related behaviour of a total group (n= 25) of MAPPA prisoners in one prison, due for release in the following year to two adjacent probation trust areas, was monitored. Their behaviours in the community were followed up for 1 year. A comparison group (n= 36) was formed of the total number of MAPPA prisoners released from prisons nationally to the same two probation trusts. Results. The frequencies of ADViSOR negative behaviours in prison and the community were strongly correlated, r_s (25) = .55, p= .004, as were positive behaviours, r_s (25) = .56, p= .004. No statistically significant correlations were found either under usual MAPPA processes in the ADViSOR prison or comparison group prisons. The frequency of ADViSOR negative behaviours statistically significantly predicted, with 92% accuracy, the offenders who would reoffend or be recalled to prison (n= 8). Statistically significant similarities in types of behaviour were also identified. Conclusion. Results are discussed in terms of the contribution of behavioural monitoring to risk prediction with high‐risk offenders, consistency of cross‐situational behaviours, and implications for policy and practice.     

Electoral reform and the British MEP

After many years in which the subject was of marginal concern, electoral reform has recently become of central importance to politics in the UK. In this paper we examine the consequences for political representation of the electoral reform introduced in Britain for the 1999 elections to the European Parliament. We find that the immediate consequences of reform for the partisan balance and ‘representativeness’ of the British contingent in the EP were very much as expected. However, both qualitative and quantitative evidence suggest that the impact of reform on the representative priorities of British MEPs has been more partial, as parliamentarians have sought to adapt to the challenge of representing multi-member regions.     

The European parliament and the co‐decision procedure: A reassessment

In this paper, I reassess the co‐decision legislative procedure introduced by the Maastricht Treaty on European Union. Specifically, I examine the dispute as to whether co‐decision enhanced or diminished the European Parliament's influence over EU law making. Employing a combination of formal analysis of the different stages of the procedure and evidence from its actual operation, I argue that Garrett and Tsebelis’ claim that co‐decision reduces Parliament's legislative powers is both theoretically and empirically unsupported. The implications for the Parliament's position within European politics are evaluated in the conclusion.