English High Court decides that “making available” over the internet only occurs in the jurisdiction where the servers are based

The English High Court has considered the meaning of “making available to the public” by online transmission in the context of database rights and has determined that the act of making available is only committed in the country where the host server is located, and not the country where the material is accessed by the public.     

Planning for the succession of digital assets

Estate planners’ current strategies for the disposition of digital assets are quickly becoming out-dated. This is largely the result of ambiguities concerning proprietary rights of digital assets after death. When advising clients on how to plan for the succession of digital assets, it is important for estate planners to understand the nature of digital assets today and to recognize how these assets may evolve. In failing to take into account the evolving nature of digital assets, estate planners are liable to craft short-sighted and thus ineffective succession plans. As the popularity of digital executor businesses increases, estate planners ought to caution clients on their shortcomings. Additionally, legislatures must create statutes which outline the rights of individuals vis-à-vis online service providers.     

A field study of adult witness interviewing practices in a Canadian police organization

Purpose. The current study examined witness interviewing practices in a Canadian police organization. The effect of interviewer, interviewee, and interview characteristics on those practices was also examined. Method. Ninety witness interviews from a Canadian police organization were coded for the following interviewing practices: types of questions asked (i.e. open‐ended, probing, closed‐ended, clarification, multiple, leading, opinion/statement, and re‐asked), the number of interruptions, percentage of words spoken by interviewer, type of pre‐interview instructions (consequential vs. generic), and whether or not a free narrative was requested (and when requested during the interview). Characteristics pertaining to the interviewer (e.g. primary interviewer's age), interviewee (e.g. witness gender), and interview (e.g. crime type) were also coded. Results. Results showed that closed‐ended and probing questions were the most widely asked questions, and that open‐ended questions were asked relatively infrequently. It was also found that the 80–20 talking rule was violated in 89% of the interviews, interviewers rarely interrupted the witnesses, and free narratives were requested often. Overall, the effect of interviewer, interview, or interviewee characteristics on interviewing practices was minimal. Conclusions. The finding that scientifically prescribed interviewing practices are employed rarely by Canadian police officers highlights a need for increased professional interviewing training. The finding that practices are largely unaffected by personal and situational factors suggests that such training would be equally beneficial for all types of interviewers, interviewees, and contexts.     

Interviewing Witnesses: The Effect of Forced Confabulation on Event Memory

After viewing a crime video, participants answered 16 answerable and 6 unanswerable questions. Those in the "voluntary guess" condition had a "don't know" response option; those in the "forced guess" condition did not. One week later the same questions were answered with a "don't know" option. In both experiments, information generated from forced confabulation was less likely remembered than information voluntarily self-generated. Further, when the same answer was given to an unanswerable question both times, the confidence expressed in the answer increased over time in both the forced and the voluntary guess conditions. Pressing eyewitnesses to answer questions, especially questions repeated thrice (Experiment 2), may not be an effective practice because it reliably increases intrusion errors but not correct recall.     

Who is better for handling domestic violence? A comparison between Taiwanese female and male Officers

This study examined Taiwanese female and male police officers’ perceptions of handling domestic violence. Specifically, it assessed officers’ attitudes toward whether female officers, male officers, or a combination of female and male officers are more suited for handling cases of battered women, offenders, and domestic violence overall. Survey data were collected from 96 female and 156 male officers from two police departments in Taiwan. Frequency distributions showed that a combination of male and female officers were most preferred by officers for handling abused women, offenders, and domestic violence overall. Regression analysis found that female officers were significantly more likely than male officers to favor a combination of male and female officers over female officers alone for handling battered women. Female officers were found to be more likely than male officers to favor male over female officers and a combination of male and female officers for handling offenders. Police supervisors’ attitudes toward domestic violence also influenced officers’ attitudes toward who is more suited for handling offenders. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.     

Supermax housing: Placement, duration, and time to reentry

Despite the growth in and debate about super-maximum security housing, there exist few studies of inmates’ experiences or placement in supermax incarceration. The lack of research on this new type of confinement assumes particular salience given criticisms that such confinement is excessive, that placement in it is arbitrary, and that it may have adverse effects on reentry into society. The goal of this article was to inform efforts to understand how supermax housing is used and to contribute to policy debates about this housing. To this end, it used data from the Florida Department of Corrections to investigate several dimensions of the supermax experience. These included the frequency of placement into supermax confinement, the duration of time spent in such confinement, and the timing of it relative to reentry back into society. In addition, the article explored factors, especially behavioral indicators, that may contribute to decisions to place inmates in supermaxes. The article concludes by discussing the study's findings and implications for research and policy.     

Sex offender residence restriction laws: Parental perceptions and public policy

Despite a steady decline in sex crime over the past twenty years, new laws, such as residence restrictions, targeting such crime have proliferated. Some scholars have argued that public concern about sexual offending against young children has served as a catalyst for the emergence of these laws. Few studies, however, have empirically tested this claim. To address this gap and to contribute to scholarship on public opinion about crime and justice, this research tests a central implication flowing from prior work—namely, the notion that people with children will be more likely to endorse increased restrictions on where sex offenders can live. Analyses of public opinion data from a 2006 poll of Florida residents suggest that parents are indeed significantly more likely to support such restrictions. Implications of the study for research and policy are discussed.     

An ID card for the Internet – The new German ID card with “electronic proof of identity”

The personal ID card is a document carried by most Germans, but rarely used. This could change in the future: According to the new law on identification cards and electronic proof of identity (Gesetz über Personalausweise und den elektronischen Identitätsnachweis, PAuswG), the ID card, with its proof of identity, will gain a new functionality, making it applicable for diverse Internet transactions. Functionally, the electronic proof of identity corresponds to existing non-electronic personal proof of identity guidelines in legal and business connections. However, its concrete, technical application opens up many issues regarding contracts and data privacy laws. On both the legal and the technical level, the German approach departs from other European countries, as it strictly distinguishes the electronic proof of identity from the electronic signature function, which the new ID card also provides. It remains to be seen whether the various projects of the EU Member States will become legally and technically interoperable in the near future.     

‘Customary internet-ional law’: Creating a body of customary law for cyberspace. Part 1: Developing rules for transitioning custom into law

The shift in socio-economic transactions from realspace to cyberspace through the emergence of electronic communications and digital formats has led to a disjuncture between the law and practices relating to electronic transactions. The speed at which information technology has developed require a faster, more reactive and automatic response from the law that is not currently met by the existing law-making framework. This paper suggests the development of special rules to enable Internet custom to form legal norms to fulfill this objective.     

Cautioning jurors regarding co-witness discussion: the impact of judicial warnings

Abstract

The research seeks to identify the most common problem areas and associated treatment needs of incarcerated and recently released offenders, to determine the importance of prison-based treatment and to assess the motivation of offenders towards treatment. Interviews were scheduled with representatives of three participant categories: drug-involved incarcerated offenders (n=18), recently released prisoners (n=15) and treatment staff members (n=18), resulting in 1971 statements. Using the qualitative software package WinMAX98, these expressions were categorized in a tree structure, after a codification process of the raw material. The results suggest that there is a difference in opinion between offenders and service providers with regard to the most important problems related to incarceration and re-entry. The findings further indicate that released offenders struggle more often than incarcerated offenders with problems concerning their psychological status. Therefore, the need for continuous through-care and aftercare is apparent, as is the necessity to assess the participants’ support expectancies and their individual needs. Motivating offenders to take part in (prison-based) treatment initiatives and aftercare is a major challenge, which can be accomplished by cooperation and partnerships between the criminal justice system and community-based treatment providers.