Correction to: Right method,right price: the economic value and associated risks of experimentation

Journal of Experimental Criminology - The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The DOI given for the reference Bennett et al. 2008 is incorrect.     

Lawyers' Associations and the Brazilian State, 1843-1997

This study focuses on the trajectories of the Institute of Brazilian Lawyers (Instituto dos Advogados Brasileiros, or IAB), created in 1843, and the Order of Lawyers of Brazil (Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil, or OAB), formed in 1933, extending the analysis up to 1997. The article has three objectives: (a) to point out the role played by expertise in the cohesion of the IAB-OAB, changing its public image from one of the political counterelite to that of representatives of civil society, with the "institutional vocation" to defend juridical order and, later, human and citizenship rights; (b) to describe the social ties that permeate the legal world, preventing internal disputes from becoming deep and lasting cleavages; and (c) to contrast the experience of the Brazilian bar with those of the German and French.     

The EU or France? The CSDP Mission in Mali the Consistency of the EU Africa policy

The EU’s role in the recent Mali crisis offers a good opportunity to assess the consistency of the EU’s Africa [Africa as used here refers to Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)—the region of the EU’s most extensive external policy] policy in the post-Lisbon era. Against the background of the EU’s external policy objectives with special reference to SSA, this Article will particularly offer a comprehensive overview of the legal and policy dynamics of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). This will be discussed especially with reference to how they relate to (in)consistency in implementation as illustrated in the EU’s role in the recent Mali crisis. Although the EU initially made a decision to deploy an EU Training Mission to Mali, the EU did not activate the peacekeeping dimension of the CSDP as required at an advanced stage of the crisis. Instead, this gap was filled by France’s unilateral military intervention in Mali. The EU’s inertia in this regard raises the question of the consistency of its external policy instruments and policy objectives towards the region. Without excluding other possible contributing factors, the analysis submits that the ‘partial’ activation of the CSDP in Mali is mainly attributable to the constitutional specificity of the CSDP especially its lack of permanent and planning conduct structures. In any event, it is argued that these do not render the EU’s role in Mali less inconsistent both in the light of the relevant EU external policy instruments and objectives towards SSA in general, and in the light of the CSDP objectives in particular. In general, the Article uses Mali as a case study to illustrate the extent and therefore the limits of the consistency of the EU’s CSDP and its overall policy towards SSA especially post-Lisbon. Whilst acknowledging the current limits of the law in this context, the Article nevertheless argues that the dire implications of inconsistency for the effectiveness of the EU’s policies and for the credibility of the Union make a search for practical, if not legal solutions, a political imperative. This is necessary especially if the EU wants to protect or indeed rebuild its credibility as an international actor in general, and as an effective partner for crisis management in SSA, in particular [The EU’s credibility in much of the African Caribbean and Pacific states, especially SSA is reportedly already at an all-time low (Mackie J et al. in Policy Manag Insights ECDPM 2, 2010)].     

Opening up personal data protection: A conceptual controversy

The existence of a fundamental right to the protection of personal data in European Union (EU) law is nowadays undisputed. Established in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in 2000, it is increasingly permeating EU secondary law, and is expected to play a key role in the future EU personal data protection landscape. The right's reinforced visibility has rendered manifest the co-existence of two possible and contrasting interpretations as to what it come to mean. If some envision it as a primarily permissive right, enabling the processing of such data under certain conditions, others picture it as having a prohibitive nature, implying that any processing of data is a limitation of the right, be it legitimate or illegitimate. This paper investigates existing tensions between different understandings of the right to the protection of personal data, and explores the assumptions and conceptual legacies underlying both approaches. It traces their historical lineages, and, focusing on the right to personal data protection as established by the EU Charter, analyses the different arguments that can ground contrasted readings of its Article 8. It also reviews the conceptualisations of personal data protection as present in the literature, and finally contrasts all these perspectives with the construal of the right by the EU Court of Justice.     

Three to Four Year Prospective Evaluation of Personality and Behavioral Risk Factors for Later Disordered Eating in Adolescent Girls and Boys

Findings of a 3- to 4-year prospective investigation of personality, temperament, and behavioral factors predictive of the later development of disordered eating in an adolescent population are presented. The sample consisted of 726 girls and 698 boys who entered the study in grades 7–10 in year 1 or in grade 7 in year 2. Predictors of eating disorder risk score were determined separately by gender. For both girls and boys, the latent variable of negative affect/attitudes determined at study entrance was the only significant predictor of final-year risk score. Semistructured diagnostic interviews confirmed an eating disorder diagnosis in 52.8% of 36 female subjects in the high eating disorder symptom group. A substantial history of lifetime and current comorbidity also was noted in this group. The function of negative affect/attitudes as a generalized psychopathology vulnerability factor and as a specific factor increasing risk for disordered eating is discussed.     

Forensic mitochondrial DNA analysis of 691 casework hairs

A five year retrospective review of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis on 691 casework hairs was carried out. A full or partial mtDNA profile was obtained for > 92% of hairs. With increasing age of the hair, the likelihood of obtaining a full profile decreased, although "mini-primer sets" could often be used to capture a partial profile. With increasing color and diameter of the hair, the likelihood of obtaining a profile increased. Full or partial profiles were obtained on more than 80% of 114 hairs < or = 1.0 cm. Mixtures were observed in 8.7% of hairs tested; mixtures increased with the age of the hair and were presumed to be due to exterior surface contamination that could not be sufficiently cleaned prior to extraction, since the overall level of laboratory contamination was low. The frequency of sequence heteroplasmy was 11.4%, and both hot-spot and novel sites were observed. In about one-third of these observations, another sample in the case showed either the same heteroplasmic site or a nucleotide substitution at that site.