Convergence and conflict perspectives in Scandinavian studies of the legal profession

This article focuses on classic Scandinavian studies of the legal profession. These classic studies, which followed World War II and the development of the Scandinavian welfare states, focused on national developments in the legal profession and its relevance to the development of the states and the markets. The studies are divided into convergence perspectives with Aubert's studies dominating on the one hand, and conflict perspectives with Mathiesen's studies dominating on the other. This article examines their similarities and differences in theoretical backgrounds, methodology and empirical data. It demonstrates how the two research traditions, despite their different theoretical perspectives, build their research on comparatively the same kind of empirical data and methodology and how they reach some of the same conclusions.     

Legal aspects of sexual violence--does forensic evidence make a difference?

A survey was done of 307 alleged victims of sexual violence reported to the police departments in Greater Aarhus, Denmark, in 1999-2004. The legal disposition was ascertained and related to victim and assault characteristics together with the forensic medical and laboratory findings. The police pressed charges in more than half of the cases and 11% turned out to be false allegations. Nineteen percent of all cases ended with sentencing of the defendant. Sperm was detected in 35% of the examined and analysed cases, and in 46% consumption of alcohol prior to the assault was reported. Information in the forensic report regarding injury documentation, intoxication, and detection of sperm and DNA match between victim and alleged assailant did not aid in the prosecution of the case. Severe coercion used by the assailant increased the likelihood of conviction. Intoxication estimation and sperm detection suffered from low sensitivity compared with laboratory analyses. Results suggest the need for new research and optimising the sexual assault examination protocol to strengthen the legal impact of forensic evidence.     

Political and Economic Policy Planning on a National Level—Exorcism and Laws of Gravity

Within political and social processes the actors' intentions arc played out against institutional 'laws of gravity'. With this in mind, the article focuses on the planning regime associated with the Scandinavian political model. At present the model seems to be challenged by a series of obstacles, raising the question of the political mechanism's ability to adapt. One hypothesis—called the 'Decay' scenario—is described in detail, thereby presenting: (1) a framework for political analysis on a national level; (2) some indicators on how the 'Decay' story may turn out; and (3) a group of sub-theories supporting the hypothesis; in rivalry with its counterpart, a future success story of the Scandinavian model.     

The Political Economy of Transition in Post-Socialist Systems: The Case of the Baltic States

The nature of the failed socialist systems calls for a transition which is as comprehensive in its objectives as were the systems themselves before they failed. Hence, the transition to democracy in the post-socialist systems cannot be treated as separate from the transition to a market economy and national independence. The critical part of the transition is the economic reforms inasmuch as the institutions of the planned economy are the major power base for the conservative elites. To be successful, the economic transition must be able - in both the short and the long term - to command political support, to achieve social acceptance of the distributional consequences involved and to be compatible with democratic institutions. Analysis reveals that in the case of the Baltic states widespread support for the transition to a market economy can be detected and that the democratically elected governments have so far been fairly active in establishing a legal framework for transition, but appear unable to implement the necessary stabilization policy. The reforms have produced strong social protests, and the governments have been under pressure to maintain social guarantees during the period of transition. The non-Baltic minorities in particular defend previous social privileges and are distressed by their uncertain status after independence. The ultimate outcome of political and economic transition in the Baltic states, therefore, remains in doubt.     

Forensic chemical detection of furadan

Isolation of furadan from biological material by ethyl acetate is considered. Column chromatography with silicone gel L 100/160micro was used to purify extractions from biological objects. A technique was elaborated for identification and quantitation of furadan in cadavers. It is possible to use this technique in forensic expert examination.     

Evaluation of diagnostic tools applied in the examination of sudden unexpected deaths in infancy and early childhood

During the period between 1984 and 1999, 309 cases of sudden unexpected death in infancy and early childhood (0-3 years) were investigated at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Oslo. In 73 cases, an explainable cause of death was found. In this non-sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) group, 42 cases were due to disease, 14 to accidents, 7 to neglect/abuse and 10 cases were due to homicide. In 43 cases, there were pathological findings at the autopsy or suspect features in the history and/or circumstances, which were, however, insufficient to explain death ("borderline" SIDS). In the remaining 193 cases, nothing of significance was detected ("pure" SIDS).The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the importance of the different diagnostic tools used in diagnosing non-SIDS and borderline SIDS cases. The definition of SIDS requires a negative history as well as a negative autopsy result. Thus, the following variables were analysed: circumstances, medical history and autopsy, which included a gross pathological investigation, histology, neuropathology, microbiology, radiology and toxicology. In diagnosing deaths due to disease, histology, neuropathology and microbiology were the most important diagnostic tools. In contrast, information about the circumstances of death and the gross pathological findings at autopsy most often revealed the cause of death in accidents and cases of neglect/abuse and homicide.Following the drop in SIDS rate in Norway after 1989, the share of pure SIDS in proportion to the total population of sudden unexpected deaths in infancy and early childhood has decreased. The increasing proportion of non-SIDS and borderline SIDS cases presents a challenge to improve the quality of the investigation in cases of sudden death in infancy and early childhood.     

The effects of political design and organizational dynamics on structural disaggregation and integration in Norway 1947–2019

In countries with long-standing agency traditions, the creation of new agencies rarely comes as a large-scale reform but rather as one structural choice of many possible, most notably a ministerial division. In order to make sense of these choices, the article discusses the role of political design—focusing on the role of political motivations, such as ideological turnover, replacement risks and ideological stands toward administrative efficiency—and organizational dynamics—focusing on the role of administrative legacies and existing organizational palettes. The article utilizes data on organizational creations in the Norwegian central state between 1947 and 2019, in order to explore how political design and organizational dynamics help us understand the creation of agencies relative to ministry divisions over time. We find that political motives matter a great deal for the structural choices made by consecutive Norwegian governments, but that structural path dependencies may also be at play.