Police observation and the 1990 schengen convention

Conclusion In spite of the different conditions, all of the five countries which originally signed the Schengen Convention seem to allow and use observation as a method of criminal inquiry, at least to a certain extent. However, the only country in which practically every type of observation is based on statutory provisions is Germany. The interpretation that the Constitutional Court has given to the privacy and the freedom of the individual has led to the situation that Germany now has an extremely detailed and vast system of legislation on breaches of privacy by the state in general and on observation in particular. One could therefore think that the reason for the existence of this German legislation is a typically German one. But is this really true?The creation of an explicit legislation on police observation powers would also bring more clarity into the undefined terminology used in the Schengen Convention and clarify the legal position and situation in which observing police officers might find themselves (in their own country as well as abroad). Furthermore, it would go some way to controlling the activities of the police in the highly sensitive field between the common interest of criminal investigation and the individual interest of privacy. It leads one to seriously wonder if the use of intensive observation techniques by the police without a statutory basis is in accordance with the right to privacy as guaranteed by article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights ...This article is based on a contribution to the 11th International Congress on Criminology, held August 22–27, 1993 in Budapest (Hungary). It was written with financial support of the Legal Research Foundation, which is part of the Netherlands Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO), and of the Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs. The author would like to thank Chantal Joubert, especially for providing him with information on Luxembourg and France, Prof. dr. Jan Naeyé for his commentary on a previous version of the article and Frank Klaassen for his very special contribution to the presentation in Budapest.     

A model for ranking the punitiveness of the states

There has recently been much interest in the measurement of imprisonment rates. Since this variable has such widespread importance in criminological research and policy, new methods are called for in expanding the procedures for evaluating levels of punitiveness as indicated by imprisonment rates. This paper presents a new model using logarithmic transformations to develop a system for ranking the punitiveness of the states. Comparisons are made between different approaches to specifying imprisonment rates including controls for crime rates and arrest rates. Results of the analyses indicate that the use of this model generates somewhat different rankings of punitiveness compared with those based on sample imprisonment rates or prisoner/arrest ratios.     

Democracy and the Symbolic Constitution of Society

Building on Cassirer's philosophy of symbolic forms, this paper argues that the continuities and discontinuities characterizing the passage from medieval politics to modern democracy can best be understood by reference to political power's symbolic structure. For the one, political power, whether theocratic or democratic, always mediates an absolute power; as mediation, political power enacts the twofold movement which Cassirer has identified as characteristic of all human symbolization: a distancing of, and approximation to, reality. For the other, democracy institutionalizes a category distinction between meaning and being, making of political unity a functional, rather than substantial, unity.     

Artenschutz in der Fachplanung

Die Verbote des Artenschutzes führten bisher eher ein unbeachtetes Dasein. Erst die Diskussion um die Gebiete des europäischen kohärenten Netzes Natura 2000, bestehen aus Europäischen Vogelschutzgebieten auf Grund der Vogelschutz-Richtlinie (V-RL) und Gebieten von gemeinschaftlicher Bedeutung auf Grund der Fauna- Flora-Habitat-Richtlinie (FFH-RL) hat auch den in diesen Richtlinien verankerten Artenschutz ins Bewusstsein der Planer und Entscheider treten lassen. V-RL und FFH-RL bestehen im Wesentlichen aus 2 Teilen, einem Teil über den Schutz von Flächen und einem Teil über den Schutz von Arten. Während sich der Flächenschutz auf ausgewählte Bereiche beschränkt, gilt der Artenschutz flächendeckend in allen Mitliedgliedstaaten. 1) Der Verfasser ist Leiter des Referats Rechtsangelegenheiten des Naturschutzes im Niedersächsischen Umweltministerium, Lehrbeauftragter für Umwelt- und Planungsrecht an der Technischen Universität Braunschweig (Institut für Geoökologie) und der Universität Hannover (Institut für Landschaftspflege und Naturschutz), sowie Mitglied des Deutschen Rats für Landespflege. Der Beitrag gibt seine persönliche Auffassung wieder.Der Aufsatz basiert auf dem Vortrag, den der Verfasser auf den Speyerer Planungsrechtstagen vom 10. bis 12. 3. 2004 gehalten hat.

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Comparison of ethanol concentrations in venous blood and end-expired breath during a controlled drinking study

Concentration-time profiles of ethanol were determined for venous whole blood and end-expired breath during a controlled drinking experiment in which healthy men (n=9) and women (n=9) drank 0.40-0.65 g ethanol per kg body weight in 20-30 min. Specimens of blood and breath were obtained for analysis of ethanol starting at 50-60 min post-dosing and then every 30-60 min for 3-6 h. This protocol furnished 130 blood-breath pairs for statistical evaluation. Blood-ethanol concentration (BAC, mg/g) was determined by headspace gas chromatography and breath-ethanol concentration (BrAC, mg/2l) was determined with a quantitative infrared analyzer (Intoxilyzer 5000S), which is the instrument currently used in Sweden for legal purposes. In 18 instances the Intoxilyzer 5000S gave readings of 0.00 mg/2l whereas the actual BAC was 0.08 mg/g on average (range 0.04-0.15 mg/g). The remaining 112 blood- and breath-alcohol measurements were highly correlated (r=0.97) and the regression relationship was BAC=0.10+0.91BrAC and the residual standard deviation (S.D.) was 0.042 mg/g (8.4%). The slope (0.91+/-0.0217) differed significantly from unity being 9% low and the intercept (0.10+/-0.0101) deviated from zero (t=10.2, P<0.001), indicating the presence of both proportional and constant bias, respectively. The mean bias (BAC - BrAC) was 0.068 mg/g and the 95% limits of agreement were -0.021 and 0.156 mg/g. The average BAC/BrAC ratio was 2448+/-540 (+/-S.D.) with a median of 2351 and 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles of 1836 and 4082. We found no significant gender-related differences in BAC/BrAC ratios, being 2553+/-576 for men and 2417+/-494 for women (t=1.34, P>0.05). The mean rate of ethanol disappearance from blood was 0.157+/-0.021 mg/(g per hour), which was very close to the elimination rate from breath of 0.161+/-0.021 mg/(2l per hour) (P>0.05). Breath-test results obtained with Intoxilyzer 5000S (mg/2l) were generally less than the coexisting concentrations of ethanol in venous blood (mg/g), which gives an advantage to the suspect who provides breath compared with blood in cases close to a threshold alcohol limit.     

Catecholamine levels in rat adrenals increase post-mortem

Catecholamine (CA) levels in rat adrenals increase significantly over the first day post-mortem, but then decrease. This suggests that adrenal CA synthesis is active after death and stress the possibility that tissue levels of CAs may increase post-mortem. This has to be considered when evaluating post-mortem tissue CA levels.