Der Biodiversitätsschaden nach 21a des Bundesnaturschutzgesetzes

Zusammenfassung Im Mai 2007 wurde das Gesetzes zur Umsetzung der Richtlinie des Europ?ischen Parlaments und des Rates über die Umwelthaftung zur Vermeidung und Sanierung von Umweltsch?den verabschiedet, das seinerseits die Umwelt-Haftungsrichtlinie (UH-RL) in deutsches Recht umsetzt. Auf Grund von Art. 72 Abs. 3 S. 2 GG treten Gesetze auf dem Gebiet des Naturschutzes mit Ausnahme der abweichungsfesten Teile frühestens 6 Monate nach Verkündung in Kraft. Folglich sieht Art. 4 des Gesetzes vom 10. Mai 2007 vor, dass das Umweltschadensgesetz (USchadG) und die ?nderungen im Wasserhaushaltsgesetz und im Bundesnaturschutzgesetz zum 14. November 2007 in Kraft getreten sind.     

Service Providers’ Knowledge and Perceptions of the Legal Service Needs of Crime Victims

Currently, there is an expansive body of victimization literature within the criminal justice field, which covers a number of essential topics such as victimization trends and patterns, short-and long-term effects of victimization, as well as specific effects of intimate partner violence and sexual assault victimization. Despite the variety of topics examined by empirical research, there is a noticeable lack of discourse pertaining to civil legal services for crime victims. This study is among the first to take a close look at civil legal services for victims by exploring three uncharted areas including: (a) service providers’ knowledge of civil legal services, (b) the legal needs of crime victims and available services, and (c) barriers between victims and accessing civil legal services. Using quantitative and qualitative data from interviews with service providers, policy implications and future research recommendations are discussed.     

How many more guns?: Estimating the effect of allowing licensed concealed handguns on a college campus

Among other arguments, advocates for lifting bans on carrying concealed handguns on campus propose that this would increase the prevalence of legitimately carried handguns, which might then deter crimes or be used to intervene in campus shooting incidents like the one that took place at Virginia Tech in 2007. Opponents suggest that increased prevalence of concealed handguns would lead to increases in other negative consequences, such as accidental shootings. Little empirical research has examined the potential outcomes of such a policy change, nor has existing research examined the prerequisite issue of whether lifting these bans would result in substantial increases in the prevalence of concealed handguns among students. Using a sample of undergraduate classrooms selected from five academic buildings at a public university in Texas, this study examines the potential impact of lifting the concealed handgun ban on the likelihood that a given classroom would contain at least one legally carried handgun. Results reveal that the impact of potential policy changes in this area vary based on the building under consideration and the measure of potential handgun prevalence. Limitations of the study and implications for future research on the issue of concealed handgun carrying on college campuses are discussed.     

Non-Response Bias with a Web-Based Survey of College Students: Differences from a Classroom Survey About Carrying Concealed Handguns

Internet-based and e-mail surveys represent viable administrative methods for efficiently collecting data. These methods appear to be particularly well-suited for studying college student populations, a group that has gained attention from criminologists interested in testing theories. An important concern with administering surveys with the Internet and via e-mail is that of non-response bias. Despite the appeal of online surveys, nonresponse bias associated with these methods has not been sufficiently investigated. The study described here estimates nonresponse bias associated with a web-administered survey that measured opinions about changing concealed handgun carrying laws on college campuses, items likely to elicit polarizing opinions. Results show important substantive differences between web-administered and in-class versions of the survey. Students who responded to the web survey expressed more extreme opinions and behavioral responses to a proposed policy that would allow concealed handgun carrying on campus. Survey researchers who utilize web-based administrative methods should consider using multiple sources of leverage when soliciting participation and must carefully evaluate sample representativeness.     

A Story of Miscarriage: Law in the Media

This article utilizes the work of the sociologist Niklas Luhmann in order to examine the relationship between law and the media. Luhmann views both law and the media as closed systems of communication, systems which cannot duplicate the meaning of each other's communications. After introducing Luhmann's approach to media reporting, and applying this to the relationship between law and media reporting on law, the article analyses a recent miscarriage of justice case. The case is that of the solicitor Sally Clark who was convicted of a double child killing. Although her first appeal was rejected she succeeded in a second appeal. Media reporting of Sally Clark's case is contrasted with the trial and Court of Appeal judgments to demonstrate the different basis upon which law and the media each construct communications about the same events     

Guilt and Innocence in the Criminal Justice System: A Comment on R (Mullen) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

The House of Lords upheld the Secretary of State's right to deny compensation under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the ex gratia scheme to Mullen, whose conviction for conspiracy to cause explosions had been quashed by the Court of Appeal solely by reference to actions by the authorities (securing his illegal deportation to the UK) that constituted an abuse of process, without impugning the fairness of his trial or the accuracy of the verdict The note discusses the different judgments in the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal in terms of their implications for the respective roles of legal and political systems in determining guilt and innocence. In particular, the note explores the nature of the legal principle of the presumption of innocence as it operates in the context of successful appeals.