Transnational Exchange of Forensic DNA: Viability,Legitimacy, and Acceptability

Forensic DNA profiling and databasing have become increasingly significant resources for criminal investigations in many jurisdictions. More recently, there have been attempts to recruit these technologies into the policing of cross-border organized crime, migration and terrorism. We examined the trajectory of one such attempt, the establishment and operationalisation of the Prüm Treaty within the European Union. We describe the way in which early technological considerations underlying DNA profile exchange, managed within law enforcement bureaucracies, have given way to a concern with broader societal issues and the necessity for a multifaceted scrutiny of this particular technolegal innovation. Central to this issue is the hybrid nature of exchange arrangements created as a result of the European Council Decision on Prüm (2008). The Prüm Treaty departs from the increasingly normalized framework for criminal justice cooperation, and at the same time, does not facilitate DNA exchange within a more traditional multinational instrument. We consider the significance and implications of the political decisions behind Prüm, as well as the consequences for the development of transnational DNA exchange in terms of three key issues: technical and scientific challenges (viability); legal challenges (legitimacy); and ethical and socioeconomic challenges (acceptability). Unless the Prüm structure is reformed, an important and promising initiative may remain encumbered with unresolved problems of legitimacy and acceptability. A lack of direct democratic involvement of many member states precluded the creation of consensus on issues such as privacy, data protection and due process issues, upon which legal and political regimes could then act.     

Overcoming obstacles encountered on the way to commercialize university IP

While faculty members in universities are inventing and their universities are aggressively marketing the associated intellectual property, many universities have not been pleased with the financial results. Is it due to inadequacy of effort by the universities, or due to objective obstacles? This short article provides insights into some of the real and perceived challenges facing the Technology Transfer Offices of university, and brings relevant observations to the discussion.     

An Exploratory Study of Custody Challenges Experienced by Affirming Mothers of Transgender and Gender‐Nonconforming Children

Family courts have lacked familiarity with evidence‐based recommendations regarding the best interests of transgender and gender‐nonconforming (TGNC) children, resulting in some affirming parents losing physical and/or legal custody. This exploratory, qualitative study with 10 affirming mothers of TGNC children who had experienced custody‐related challenges reported on salient themes, including “blame” for causing children's gender nonconformity, coercion by ex‐partners, bias in the courts, negative impact on children, emotional and financial toll on participants, and the critical importance of adequate resources. Findings indicate the need for better‐educated family court professionals, as well as socioemotional support and financial and legal assistance for affirming parents of TGNC children.     

Reaching Out versus Lashing Out: Examining Gender Differences in Experiences with and Responses to Bullying in High School

The present study examines gender differences in bullying in high school. Unique contributions include comparisons of both victimization and perpetration rates across four subtypes of bullying: physical, verbal, relational, and cyber. Further, as we conceptualize bullying within the larger framework of literature on social rejection, we also address whether there are gender differences in experiencing social rejection–in the form of bullying–and responding with aggression, as opposed to asocial or prosocial behavior. The literature yields mixed findings across these three questions (i.e., gender differences in experiences with victimization and perpetration and responses to those experiences), suggesting sample variations (Archer Review of General Psychology, 8(4), 291–322, 2004; Archer & Coyne Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9, 212–230, 2005; Card, Stucky, Sawalani, & Little Child Development, 79, 1185–1229, 2008). Thus, we explored experiential differences in our sample, and hypothesized based on the tend and befriend model (Taylor et al., 2000) that girls would be more likely than boys to respond to bullying with prosocial behaviors. With regard to victimization and perpetration differences, we found that male students both experienced and perpetrated significantly more physical bullying. Boys were also significantly more likely to report experiencing verbal bullying than girls. No significant differences emerged for relational or cyber bullying. With regard to responses, social withdrawal was more common than aggressive responding, but consistent with the tend and befriend model, girls chose prosocial responses significantly more than boys, whereas boys were just as likely to choose antisocial responding as prosocial responding. These results suggest that gender should be considered in studies addressing the question of when experiences with rejection–in its many forms–results in antisocial versus prosocial behavior.     

CUSTODY EVALUATIONS

In presenting the evidence to court, a custody evaluator has to consider three distinct audiences: the judge, the legal representatives, and the family. Each will look for different things in the evaluation report, each may interpret what is written differently, and each may have different expectations. Consequently, the evaluator has a number of roles and has to adopt a variety of strategies that are sensitive to the needs of the court and the client. At the same time, the evaluator must be able to withstand the constraints and scrutiny that are part of the legal process. This article examines the difficulties this poses for the evaluator in preparing for and presenting evidence to court and looks at some of the ways problems can be avoided.     

A. Reviews: general

JOURNAL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES, Vol. 1. Edited by ATHANASIUS TH. PHOTOPOULOS. Athens, 1989. viii, 245 pp.

RELIGION AND SOCIETY IN ARAB SIND. By BERRYL N. MACLEAN. (Monographs and Theoretical Studies in Sociology and Anthropology in Honour of Nels Anderson, 25.) Leiden, Brill, 1989. x, 191pp. Hf1.75‐/$37.50.

AN ARAB‐SYRIAN GENTLEMAN AND WARRIOR IN THE PERIOD OF THE CRUSADES: MEMOIRS OF USAMAH IBN‐MUNQIDH. Translated by PHILIP K. HITTI. Columbia University Press, 1929; reissued by Princeton University Press 1987. x, 265pp. 3 illustrations, 1 map. US$9.95.

THE ASSASSINS. By BERNARD LEWIS. London, al‐Saqi Books, repr. 1985. £4.95.

ECONOMIC LIFE IN OTTOMAN JERUSALEM. By AMNON COHEN. (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989. 179pp., 6 photographs, 1 map. £27.50.

SUMMON UP REMEMBRANCE. By MARZIEH GAIL. Oxford, George Ronald, 1987. 295pp. £14.95 (H/B); £7.50 (P/B).

AFRICANISMO Y ORIENTALISMO ESPAÑOL EN EL SIGLO XIX. By VICTOR MORALES LEZCANO. Madrid, Universidad Nacional de Education a Distancia, 1989. 175pp.

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POWER AND STABILITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Edited by BERCH BERBEROGLU. London, Zed Books, 1989. 206pp., tables, index.

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ARAB WOMEN IN THE FIELD: STUDYING YOUR OWN SOCIETY. Edited by SORAYA ALTORKI and CAMILLIA FAWZI EL‐SOLH. Syracuse, Syracuse University Press, 1988. xii, 184pp.

KHUL‐KHAAL: FIVE EGYPTIAN WOMEN TELL THEIR STORIES. By NAYRA ATIYA. London, Virago Press, 1988. xxii, 182pp.

WE SHALL RETURN: WOMEN OF PALESTINE. By INGELA BENDT and JAMES DOWNING. London, Zed Press, 1982. iii, 129pp.

THREE WOMEN OF HERAT. By VERONICA DOUBLEDAY. London, Jonathan Cape, 1988. xi, 222pp. £12.95.

DOING DAILY BATTLE: INTERVIEWS WITH MOROCCAN WOMEN. By FATIMA MERNISSI, translated by JO LAKELAND. London, The Women's Press, 1988. 224pp. £5.95.

BOTH RIGHT AND LEFT HANDED: ARAB WOMEN TALK ABOUT THEIR LIVES. By BOUTHAINA SHAABAN. London, The Women's Press, 1988. vii, 242pp. £5.95.

THE PRESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: CONSTRAINT, CONSENSUS, CENSORSHIP. By BARBARA KOEPPEL. Washington, Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), [c.1989]. 14pp. US$2.00.

INFORMATION AND THE MUSLIM WORLD: A STRATEGY FOR THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY. By ZIAUDDIN SARDAR. London, Mansell, 1988. x, 186pp. £24.75

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF SERVICES IN THE ARAB GULF STATES: COMPANY AND INDUSTRY CASES. By M. SAMI KASSEM and GHAZI M. HABIB. Berlin and New York, de Gruyter, 1989. xxi, 480pp.

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MUSIC OF AFGHANISTAN. By JOHN BAILY. (Cambridge Studies in Ethnomusicology.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988. 183pp., cassette. £32.50.

WOMEN'S COSTUME OF THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST. By JENNIFER SCARCE. London and Sydney, Unwin Hyman, 1987. £40.00.

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF EARLY MUSLIM ARCHITECTURE. By K.A.C. CRESWELL, revised and supplemented by J.W. ALLAN. Aldershot, Scolar Press, 1989. 435pp. 273 illustrations, 3 maps. £47.50

THE HISTORICAL MOSQUES OF SAUDI ARABIA. By G.R.D. KING. London and New York, 1986. 208pp.

YEMEN: 3000 YEARS OF ART AND CIVILISATION IN ARABIA FELIX. Edited by WERNER DAUM. Innsbruck, Pinguin‐Verlag and Frankfurt/Main, Umschau‐Verlag, 1987. 483pp.

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