Forensic DNA retention: Public perspective studies in the United Kingdom and around the world

This review analysed public perspective studies on forensic DNA retention in the United Kingdom and around the world. The studies generally show strong public support for the long-term or indefinite retention of DNA from convicts and suspects. There is considerable support for the retention of DNA from all or some arrestees and potentially the entire population. This was predicated upon the belief that forensic DNA databases have crime-solving abilities, which the public rate highly. In the UK, it was found that the current Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 regime is broadly representative of the recommendations of the surveyed British public. Nevertheless, the studies highlighted a gap in forensic DNA education among the public, suggesting that public views may not be well informed. Overall, there was clear evidence of privacy concerns and the potential misuse of DNA records among the public, with a significant number opposing the retention of DNA from the innocent. It was found that most of the studies were qualitative or non-representative of the relevant population, limiting the generalisation of the results. There was also limited studies among a representative sample of primary stakeholders who are well-informed or directly exposed to the benefits, challenges and risks associated with DNA retention. A research into stakeholders rating of different forensic DNA retention regimes is therefore highly recommended. This is important because the studies suggest divergent views among criminal justice professionals and other members of the public, with the former expressing expansive views and the latter expressing restrictive views. The primary stakeholder's survey will help establish whether the relevant safeguards have been put in place to protect both public security and individual interests.     

Public interest versus interest groups: a political economy analysis of allowance allocation under the EU emissions trading scheme

In a theoretical analysis, we use a common agency model to show that lobbying by energy-intensive sectors covered under an emissions trading scheme (ETS) shifts the regulatory burden of an economy-wide emission constraint to sectors outside the ETS. The emission tax on the latter becomes inefficiently high such that lobbying does not only induce burden shifting but also efficiency losses. A complementary empirical analysis for a cross section of German firms under the EU emissions trading scheme supports our theoretical result on the role of lobbying on allowance allocation.     

Social networks among Indigenous peoples in Mexico

We examine the extent to which social networks among indigenous peoples in Mexico have a significant effect on a variety of human capital investment and economic activities, such as school attendance and work among teenage boys and girls, and migration, welfare participation, employment status, occupation, and sector of employment among adult males and females. Using data from the 10 percent population sample of the 2000 Population and Housing Census of Mexico and the empirical strategy that Bertrand, Luttmer, and Mullainathan (2000) propose, which allows us to take into account the role of municipality and language group fixed effects, we confirm empirically that social network effects play an important role in the economic decisions of indigenous people, especially in rural areas. Our analysis also provides evidence that better access to basic services such as water and electricity increases the size and strength of network effects in rural areas.     

Paradoxes of internationalisation of the Anglophone problem in Cameroon

Historically it is not strange that the Anglophone elites in Cameroon took their case to the international community, since this was a strategy that they employed during the British colonial period. A number of petitions and constant visits were made to the United Nations (UN) by Anglophone elites concerning British neglect of their territory. These petitions were made in the form of presentations before the United Nations in New York or whenever there was a visiting UN mission to the trust territory. Nonetheless, since the early 1990s, the pattern of petitions has changed drastically. Petitions against the new state are different from those earlier petitions against colonialism. The aim of the petitions against the new state has been to draw the attention of the UN and the international community to the injustices inflicted upon minority English-speaking Cameroonians by the ruling government. The Anglophone elites believe that, by making their plight known to the international community, the latter might intervene to restore the statehood of Southern Cameroons.     

The Great Illusion: Tort Law and Exposure to Danger of Physical Harm

In the aftermath of Gregg v Scott and Johnston v NEI , it is commonly thought that claims for exposure to danger of physical harm are not independently compensatable in English law. I argue that this assumption is doubly mistaken. On the one hand, claimants exposed to danger of physical harm have a compelling argument of principle for the recovery of any significant increase in the cost of their options for dealing with the carelessly heightened danger to their physical health. On the other hand, that argument of principle is not blocked by Gregg , or other cases in the line of precedent consolidated in that decision. Properly construed, the rejection of the plaintiff's claims in Gregg and Johnston is consistent with a right of recovery for significant costs following from careless exposure to danger of physical harm.     

The Imbalance between Public Expectations and Resource Provision in Developing Countries: Can Inter-Assemblies Cooperation Reduce the Gap?

ABSTRACT

Local authorities have long sought for solutions to the numerous service delivery challenges arising out of increasing demands from the general public coupled with budgetary constraints. One such solution is inter-organisational cooperation which has been found as an alternative cost-effective way of providing services to the general public. Drawing on resource-dependency theory, this paper explores the possibilities and challenges of cooperation among Assemblies in Ghana by adopting a qualitative approach. The findings reveal that inter-district cooperation is still at its development stages in Ghana despite the respondents’ recognition that it has the potential to address most of the problems faced by District Assemblies in Ghana.