Future generations as rightholders

Many people believe that we have obligations with respect to future generations concerning the state of the environment that we pass on to them. Apart from the practical problem of people not really acting on such beliefs, there are also conceptual or philosophical issues that make these obligations problematic. The so-called non-identity problem is especially difficult: depending on which courses of action we adopt, different people will be born in the future, which means that even future people who due to our behavior will live under fairly poor circumstances might not have any ground for complaint. Had we not behaved as we did, they would not even have existed. It is argued here that, at least within a rights-theoretical approach, the non-identity problem can be solved by moving from considering individual rights to generational rights, rights which future generations hold qua generations.     

The utility of histology in assessing the cause of death in medico-legal autopsies in selected trauma deaths: Suspension-, immersion-, fire-, and traffic-related

The goal of a medico-legal autopsy is primarily to determine the cause and manner of death. To this end, the pathologist often uses auxiliary analyses, including histology. However, the utility of routine histology in all medico-legal autopsies is unknown. Earlier studies on the utility of routine histology have shown inconsistent effects, with some studies recommending it and others rejecting it. To study the degree to which histology informs on the underlying cause of death, we sent autopsy reports from suspension-, immersion-, fire-, and traffic-related deaths to senior board-certified forensic pathologists and had them assess the cause of death, first without knowledge of the histological findings and then with knowledge thereof. Fifty cases were identified in each of four subgroups: fire-, immersion-, suspension-, and traffic-related deaths. The autopsy reports were anonymized, and the histological findings and conclusions were removed. Two board-certified forensic pathologists independently reviewed the reports in each subgroup and assessed the manner and underlying cause of death (including their certainty of this assessment on a five-level scale) with and without access to histological findings. The probability of changing the underlying cause of death posthistology was low in all study groups. There was a slight increase in the degree of certainty posthistology in cases where the underlying cause of death was not changed, but only when the antehistology certainty was low. Our results suggest that histology does not meaningfully inform on the underlying cause of death in suspension-, immersion-, fire-, and traffic-related deaths except when antehistology certainty is low.     

Veldt fires in South Africa: Implications on osteometry and the biological profile

Standard operating procedures for forensic anthropological analyses dictate that thermally altered remains should not be measured, hindering the creation of a biological profile. Few studies have addressed estimating biological parameters from burned remains, with the greatest focus of this research area being on cremated remains. However, veldt fires are more common than cremation in the South African forensic context. The aim of this study was to explore the degree of structural changes observed in domestic pig (Sus scrofa) bones associated with thermal destruction and the potential impact on the estimation of a biological profile using standard osteometric methods. A total of 96 pig femora were divided equally into two categories: fresh and dry. Within each category, equal samples were exposed to different durations of burning, namely, 5, 10, and 20 min. Ten standard femoral anthropological measurements were collected before and after burning. Technical error of measurement and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to assess changes in the femoral dimensions before and after burning. Most measurements were significantly different after burning, with the fresh bones decreasing in size by up to 7.8% and the dry bones decreasing in size by up to 4.0%. The magnitude of post-burning measurement changes for both burn conditions was similar to, or smaller than has previously been reported for observer measurement errors of commonly used variables investigated for standard osteometric studies. Veldt fires are less intense than cremation, thus causing less shrinkage.     

Balancing data protection and privacy – The case of information security sensor systems

This article analyses government deployment of information security sensor systems from primarily a European human rights perspective. Sensor systems are designed to detect attacks against information networks by analysing network traffic and comparing this traffic to known attack-vectors, suspicious traffic profiles or content, while also recording attacks and providing information for the prevention of future attacks. The article examines how these sensor systems may be one way of ensuring the necessary protection of personal data stored in government IT-systems, helping governments fulfil positive obligations with regards to data protection under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (The Charter), as well as data protection and IT-security requirements established in EU-secondary law. It concludes that the implementation of sensor systems illustrates the need to balance data protection against the negative privacy obligations of the state under the ECHR and the Charter and the accompanying need to ensure that surveillance of communications and associated metadata reach established principles of legality and proportionality. The article highlights the difficulty in balancing these positive and negative obligations, makes recommendations on the scope of such sensor systems and the legal safeguards surrounding them to ensure compliance with European human rights law and concludes that there is a risk of privatised policymaking in this field barring further guidance in EU-secondary law or case law.     

Recording of offences on police domestic violence call outs

ABSTRACT

Due to new legislation passed in 2011, Finnish police have been legally obligated to record and investigate all assaults, including petty assaults, occurring in close relationships. Referred to as domestic violence (DV), these assaults can be prosecuted even without victim consent. Much like pro- and mandatory arrest policies, this reform was aimed at decreasing victim and police discretion, based on the assumption that recording and preliminary investigation of every DV incident would help prevent further violence. Comparison between police call outs and the number of offences indicate that in reality not every DV incident is recorded. Using Police and Emergency Call Database data merged with 410 police officer survey responses, the current study presents the first empirical results on legal and extra-legal factors associated with recording DV as an offence in Finland. Factors explaining non-recording are discussed based on police officers’ free-text comments, and implications for policy and practice are presented.     

Deliberative multi-actor dialogues as opportunities for transformative social learning and conflict resolution in international environmental negotiations

The format for formal international negotiations on environment and development sometimes prevents negotiators from truly listening to each other and adapt pre-existing positions to realize constructive conflict resolution. In this paper we present and analyse “Multi-Actor Dialogue Seminars” (MADS) as an approach to contribute to transformative social learning and conflict resolution, and the contribution to tangible and intangible outcomes in formal negotiations. Unlike negotiations, the objective of MADS is not to agree on a text, but to identify areas of agreement and disagreement, build trust and understanding and identify policy options that are tailored to different cultural-political and value systems. As a case study we use the breakdown of the negotiations at the formal Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference in 2010 regarding “innovative financial mechanisms,” and subsequent two international Quito Dialogues using the MADS approach. Through a composite of methods this article reveals the effects of the Quito Dialogues on formal CBD negotiations. The Quito Dialogues contributed to bringing actors out of their deadlock and thereby paving the way for constructive results in the formal CBD negotiations, evident by references in CBD Decisions adopted by 196 CBD Parties. We discuss key design and implementation factors which were decisive for these effects including the importance of a bridging organization, trust building, exploration of both convergences and divergences, involvement of participants with diverse and conflicting views early in the planning, promotion of active listening and addressing diverse knowledge systems and power asymmetries.     

Does Direct Democracy Reduce Public Debt Evidence from Swiss Municipalities

Although some countries have managed toobtain balanced budgets or even budgetsurpluses in recent times, public debts ofmany OECD countries remain at high levels.Since structural reforms of public spendinghave only infrequently taken place in mostcountries, fiscal pressure will increaseagain in the future due to society's ageingand the accompanying increases in socialtransfer spending. Constitutionalrestrictions on debt levels and legal rulesof the budgetary process, such as a strongrole of the minister of finance, aresupposed to be helping against the debtbias inherent in political decision-makingprocedures. In addition to such top downbudgetary procedures, this paperinvestigates the impact of referendumapproval of budget deficits by the voterson the level of public debt in a crosssection of the 134 largest Swissmunicipalities in 1990.     

Examination reports on survived strangulation cases

Clinical-forensic examination of strangulation victims is an increasing part of the routine of many forensic pathology institutes. The cases examined between 2004 and 2008 at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Hanover Medical School were retrospectively analysed. In total, the study material comprised 218 victims (175 females and 43 males). In 80.7 %, the clinical-forensic examination was performed within 24 hours after the incident. In the overwhelming number of cases, the alleged perpetrator was no stranger. 128 victims (58.7 %) had strangulation marks, 32 victims (14.7 %) ligature marks and 65 victims (29.8 %) nail marks. Four victims showed injuries of the laryngeal and pharyngeal structures (reddening, hematomas, swelling and in one case a fracture of the cricoid cartilage on both sides). Extensive petechiae were predominantly seen in the conjunctivae, the buccal mucosa and the skin of the face in cases where the victims suffered a loss of consciousness. 87 cases (39.9% were classified as potentially life-threatening and 30 cases (13.8 %) as acute life-threatening events. This classification is of legal relevance for the penalty. In addition, 60 victims experienced sexual violence. These results suggest that early clinical-forensic examination is crucial for documenting forensic evidence in support of police investigations and may deliver significant details relevant in court.     

Retrieving the Hidden Meaning: Jain Commentarial Techniques and the Art of Memory

One of the peculiar characteristics of the vast body of Jain commentarial literature is the primacy given to artha, meaning, over sūtra, the root text itself. It is the task of the commentator—or, in a pedagogical context, the teacher—to retrieve and explain a text’s true, hidden meaning, which often appears to stretch and even contradict its apparent meaning. This article examines the interpretive processes in one of the most important Jain commentaries on monastic discipline, the Bṛhatkalpabhāṣya attributed to the sixth-century CE Śvetāmbara Jain exegete Saṅghadāsa. An examination of passages where the commentator claims to uncover the real—but sometimes less-than-apparent—meaning of monastic rules enables us to detect the interpretive moves involved and the underlying assumptions about the nature of text and the work of commentary. I argue that this commentarial tradition presupposes particular practices of memory, and a degree of internalizing the traditional hermeneutical methods, on the part of a monastic practitioner who wants to understand the text correctly and live according to its true meaning.     

Recovery of Latent Fingerprints and DNA on Human Skin*

Abstract: The project “Latent Fingerprints and DNA on Human Skin” was the first systematic research in Europe dealing with detection of fingerprints and DNA left by offenders on the skin of corpses. One thousand samples gave results that allow general statements on the materials and methods used. The tests were carried out according to a uniform trial structure. Fingerprints were deposited by natural donors on corpses. The latent fingerprints were treated with magnetic powder or black fingerprint powder. Afterward, they were lifted with silicone casting material (Isomark^®) or gelatine foil. All lifts were swabbed to recover DNA. It was possible to visualize comparable and identifiable fingerprints on the skin of corpses (16%). In the same categories, magnetic powder (18.4%) yielded better results than black fingerprint powder (13.6%). The number of comparable and identifiable fingerprints decreased on the lifts (12.7%). Isomark^® (14.9%) was the better lifting material in comparison with gelatine foil (10.1%). In one‐third of the samples, DNA could be extracted from the powdered and lifted latents. Black fingerprint powder delivered the better result with a rate of 2.2% for full DNA profiles and profiles useful for exclusion in comparison with 1.8% for the magnetic powder traces. Isomark^® (3.1%) yielded better results than gelatine foil (0.6%).