Normative Balance and Electoral Reform: A Finnish Puzzle and a Comparative Analysis

The Finnish electoral system has recently been changed to slightly increase proportionality, but nothing has been done to make cabinet alternatives more ‘identifiable’ before the election. This outcome poses a major puzzle for one important theoretical approach to electoral system change. This approach sees normatively ‘unbalanced’ systems as vulnerable to reform and would have expected a significant increase in the pre-electoral identifiability of competing cabinet options. The article explains the Finnish case by embedding it in a comparative model of normative tradeoffs in democratic design. Based on Finnish case evidence and a statistical analysis of 100 elections in 32 democracies (from 2001 to 2011), the article argues that the type of democracy exemplified by Finland is not normatively unbalanced. In particular, the lack of pre-electoral identifiability is compensated for by an unconstrained multidimensionality of partisan preferences. While it may be true that normatively balanced designs are more stable, there is more than one way to be balanced.     

Is Differentiation of Frequently Encountered Foreign Bodies in Corpses Possible by Hounsfield Density Measurement?

Abstract:  The radiological determination of foreign objects in corpses can be difficult if they are fragmented or deformed. With multislice computed tomography, radiodensities—referred to as Hounsfield units (HU)—can be measured. We examined the possibility of differentiating 21 frequently occurring foreign bodies, such as metals, rocks, and different manmade materials by virtue of their HU values. Gold, steel, and brass showed mean HU values of 30671–30710 (upper measurable limit), mean HU values for steel, silver, copper, and limestone were 20346, 16949, 14033, and 2765, respectively. The group consisting of objects, such as aluminum, tarmac, car front-window glass, and other rocks, displayed mean HU values of 2329–2131 HU. The mean HU value of bottle glass and car side-window glass was 2088, whereas windowpane glass was 493. HU value determination may therefore help in preautopsy differentiation between case-relevant and irrelevant foreign bodies and thus be useful for autopsy planning and extraction of the objects in question.     

GSR2005--continuity of the ENFSI proficiency test on identification of GSR by SEM/EDX.

Within the framework of the ENFSI Expert Working Group "Firearms" a proficiency test on the detection and identification of GSR by energy-dispersive scanning electron microanalysis (SEM/EDX) is carried out in a 2 years term. The latest test was performed in 2005/2006 and was denoted as GSR2005. Seventy-five laboratories from 28 countries participated in this proficiency test and submitted in total 83 independent data-sets. The participating laboratories were requested to determine the total number of PbSbBa containing particles on a synthetic test sample following their own laboratory specific methods of automated GSR particle search and detection by SEM/EDX. Furthermore size and position of the detected particles had to be reported by the laboratories and were evaluated statistically. The results were compiled by means of z-scores according to the IUPAC and EURACHEM guidelines-assessing individual laboratory achievements (inter-laboratory) as well as intra-laboratory performance-and were compared to the results of the previous proficiency test run GSR2003 (1). The comparison shows that there is a noticeable improvement in the method's detection capability.     

Voting rules in insolvency law: a simple-game theoretic approach

A chief characteristic of modern insolvency law in Canada, Germany, the UK, and the US is the provision for ‘workouts’ or ‘schemes of arrangement’ by which insolvent companies can attempt to rehabilitate the business. If reorganization is chosen, the debtor has to devise a plan of action which will be voted upon by claimants. The voting rules, however, differ in each jurisdiction to a greater or lesser extent and as yet have not been analyzed in any rigorous manner. This paper provides an approach based upon the theory of simple games to analyze the rules in terms of the ease which each of these regimes can pass (or hinder) plans and how these rules distribute value among claimants. We pay particular attention to the role of classification and the effect of coalition formation.     

The failure of immigration reform in Germany

After many years without substantial activity in immigration policy, the German Red–Green government which came to power in 1998 introduced an American-style Green Card and a new citizenship law. From these beginnings, the immigration reform campaign captured the public imagination, and for two years a broad spectrum of figures from German public life took part in a lively debate on the issue. A law was eventually adopted by parliament and promulgated in spring 2002, but – in the wake of a voting scandal in the Bundesrat – it was struck down by the Federal Constitutional Court weeks before its scheduled entry into force. This report recounts the story of the now defunct immigration law and seeks to shed valuable light on German politics by analysing what the key differences were that divided the main political parties.     

Clinical forensic examination findings and legal outcome in cases of suspected sexual child abuse

The clinical forensic examinations conducted at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Hanover Medical School between 1999 and 2008 in cases of suspected sexual abuse of children were evaluated retrospectively and analysed with regard to their legal outcome. In total, the study included 223 children (172 girls, 51 boys) with a median age of 8.6 years. In 34 children (15.2%), forensically relevant diagnostic findings due to anogenital injury and/or detection of semen were recorded. Perpetrators were convicted more often when they were not a member of the victim's family. In cases with victims aged seven years or older, conviction was more common. The study shows that medical findings can best be preserved by an immediate clinical forensic examination. Suspected sexual child abuse can often not be proved by medical examination results, but in some cases diagnostic findings are not mandatory for conviction.