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.     

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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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.     

Characterization of ballpoint pen inks by thermal and desorption and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

The characterization of ink on paper is of importance for dating and comparing questioned ink entries in forensic document examination. Inks are commonly characterized by their colorant profile that is identified by well-established analytical methods. Numerous ink formulations show identical colorant profiles, though. In order to differentiate inks that are not distinguishable by colorant analysis, a method for the characterization of colorless ink ingredients, namely binders, solvents and additives is necessary. In this paper, we propose a technique for the analysis of colorless compounds in ballpoint inks using direct thermal desorption of the ink on paper followed by chemical analysis of the desorbed volatile compounds by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. As compared to liquid extraction and subsequent analysis of the extracts, the technique avoids possible contamination risks. Sensitivity is very high due to the enrichment of volatile components by thermal desorption. Even from old samples, the chromatograms obtained by the method enable the determination of binder polymers, solvents and additives. Pure binders as used by ink manufacturers were analyzed for unambiguous assignment of analytical results to specific polymers. To prove the practical applicability, we analyzed 121 ballpoint pens, not all having the same colorant profile, and grouped the pens into resin and solvent categories.     

The proximity and the directional theories of issue voting: Comparative results for the USA and Germany

In several recent studies George Rabinowitz and his co–authors challenge the 'classical' spatial model of issue voting, the proximity model, by introducing a directional model. In this article we examine whether different measurement of perceived issue positions of candidates or parties leads to diverging judgments about the predictive power of the directional model (which is claimed to be empirically superior), as compared to the proximity model, using data from the USA and Germany. The results demonstrate that the measurement preferred by Rabinowitz et al. tends to bias empirical findings in favour of directional theory. If we use a more plausible operational definition of issue positions of candidates and parties the directional model in both countries fails to turn out superior.