Shadow chairs as monitoring device? A comparative analysis of committee chair powers in Western European parliaments

Recent work on coalition governance claims that government parties use the chairs of parliamentary committees to ‘shadow’ ministers and thus to monitor coalition partners. This argument rests on the assumption that committee chairs enjoy special powers to extract information from ministries and to affect policy-making in committee. To test this assumption, the paper develops the first comparative measure of committee chair powers in fifteen Western European democracies. The analysis shows that most committee chairs have very limited formal powers and that the share of shadowing chairs does not increase when committee chairs are more powerful. Both findings cast doubt on the interpretation of shadow chairs as a monitoring device. We sketch an alternative explanation according to which coalition parties employ the shadowing strategy in order to increase public visibility and to counteract issue ownership by the minister’s party.     

Exercising control and gathering information: the functions of interpellations in Hungary (1990–2014)

The article investigates the factors shaping the number and content of interpellations, a form of parliamentary questions by members of parliament (MPs) in post-regime change Hungary. Four theoretical propositions regarding the functions of interpellations are examined in this context: political control; policy-oriented information seeking; parliamentary group leadership; and constituency service. A new database of 4096 observations for the period between 1990 and 2014 is compiled in order to analyse these hypotheses. Computer-assisted content analysis techniques and count data regressions are used to describe the text of interpellations in terms of their geographical and policy content. Results show that opposition MPs interpellate more, whereas representatives of single-member districts and regional lists interpellate less than their peers. Representatives from single-member districts and regional lists make more reference to local issues in general, but not to their own district or county. Finally, policy specialisation increases the likelihood of submitting pertinent parliamentary questions.     

Analysis of mitochondrial SNPs in addition to conventional STR-typing in a case of aggravated theft

In the field of forensic DNA typing, the analysis of Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) can fail in cases of degraded DNA. The typing of coding region Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) of the mitochondrial genome provides an approach to acquire additional information. In the examined case of aggravated theft, both suspects could be excluded of having left the analyzed hair on the crime scene by SNP typing. This conclusion was not possible subsequent to STR typing. SNP typing of the trace on the torch light left on the crime scene increased the likelihood for suspect no. 2 to be the origin of this trace. This finding was already indicated by STR analysis. Suspect no. 1 was excluded for being the origin of this trace by SNP typing which was also indicated by STR analysis. A limiting factor for the analysis of SNPs is the maternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA. Individualisation is not possible. In conclusion, it can be said that in the case of traces which cause problems with conventional STR typing the supplementary analysis of coding region SNPs from the mitochondrial genome is very reasonable and greatly contributes to the refinement of analysis methods in the field of forensic genetics.     

Fatal unintentional intoxications with tramadol during 1995-2005

Tramadol is an extensively used centrally acting analgesic and is considered a safe drug devoid of many serious adverse effects of traditional opioids. However, recently, toxicity and an abuse potential of tramadol have been reported. This study examined fatal unintentional tramadol intoxications among Swedish forensic autopsy cases between 1995 and 2005. All fatal intoxications were selected, in which toxic concentrations of tramadol (>1 microg/g femoral blood) had been detected, and where the forensic pathologist considered the intoxication unintentional and the fatal outcome at least partly explained by tramadol. Toxicology analyses, police reports, autopsy protocols and medical records were scrutinized. A total of 17 cases (eleven men and six women) of fatal unintentional tramadol intoxications were identified. For these cases the median age was 44 years (range 18-78 years) and the median tramadol concentration was 2.0 microg/g (range 1.1-12.0 microg/g). Other pharmaceutical substances, illicit drugs or ethanol were detected in addition to tramadol in all of these cases. In fact, intoxication with multiple drugs was considered the cause of death in 10 (59%) cases. However, in seven cases tramadol was the only substance present in toxic concentrations. A history of substance abuse was identified in 14 (82%) subjects and a present tramadol abuse in 8 (47%). These results suggest that fatal intoxications with tramadol may occur unintentionally and that subjects with a history of substance abuse may be at certain risk. Precaution is therefore warranted when prescribing tramadol in such patients.     

Forensic odontologists successfully identify tsunami victims in Phuket, Thailand

More than a year has elapsed since the seaquake in South-East Asia in December 2004, and more than 92% of the non-Thai victims have been identified. About 80% of the non-Thai victims were identified by dental information. This high success rate of dental identification in Thailand was a matter of surprise for many forensic experts. Identification based on dental information is a highly efficient, reliable and rapid procedure. The conclusions drawn from the identification of tsunami victims in Thailand were recently discussed at the 17th Meeting of the Standing Committee on Disaster Victim Identification of Interpol in Lyon, and may be used to formulate new guidelines for the identification of victims.     

The difference between drug money and a "lifetime's savings"

In many countries, monies suspected of being associated with drug trafficking can be seized by the authorities. One of the ways of investigating this association is through the analysis of seized banknotes for traces of controlled drugs. We report three studies which may assist the expert in assessing whether banknotes contaminated with diamorphine are part of the general population of notes in circulation or whether they show unusual contamination patterns which require explanation. Study 1 is based on three plausible contamination scenarios as they may occur during the various stages of an illicit drug transaction and seizure. It shows that notes which have been in direct contact with visible traces of diamorphine show significantly higher contamination to those in more indirect contact with the drug. Study 2 investigates the transfer of diamorphine from one highly contaminated note to other notes in a bundle over a period of 10 weeks with and without agitation. It was found that the total amount of drug transferred was smaller than 6% and no more than 4 out of a bundle of 10 previously clean notes became lightly contaminated. Based on extensive background data, study 3 proposes a probabilistic model to assess whether an observed proportion of diamorphine bearing banknotes is likely to have been contaminated by chance. The model predicts that there is only a 0.3% chance that a bundle of 100 notes from the general banknote population contains more than six contaminated specimens. Jointly, the three studies give useful indications for the spread of contamination throughout a sample and the amounts of heroin which may be expected given plausible contamination scenarios.     

Homicide-suicide - an event hard to prevent and separate from homicide or suicide

Suicide preceded by homicide is a rare but tragic event that often shocks the whole community. Annual rates show considerable variation, though not as great as the incidence of homicides. Within the industrialized nations, Finland's prevalence rates for homicide-suicide have been mid-range. The National Suicide Prevention Project recorded and carefully analysed all suicides committed in Finland during a 12-month period. In this material of almost 1400 suicides, 10 verified homicide-suicide cases were found. The perpetrator was male in all but one case, and all the victims were family, 9/10 being spouses and/or children. The most typical homicide-suicide seemed to be a man shooting a family member during a separation process. No perpetrator was found suffering from a psychotic disorder but three had major depression. The homicide-suicides were compared with the suicides and statistically significant differences emerged in two variables: shooting was more often the method used in the homicide-suicide cases, which, furthermore, were more likely to involve a divorce or recent rupture in another long-term intimate relationship. Sharing few common variables with either homicide or suicide, homicide-suicide appears to be a distinct phenomenon whose prevention would seem to be extremely difficult on the individual level. Since shooting is the most common method of homicide-suicide, firearm licenses should be more restricted.     

The health of health practitioners: remedial programs, regulation and the spectre of the law

The past two decades have seen an emerging awareness by regulators and some of the health professions about the phenomenon of the impaired practitioner. One response, particularly from the medical profession, has been to design various models of health programs principally to cater to psychiatrically unwell and substance dependent practitioners. However, the health conditions of practitioners are more diverse than these categories, particularly in the era of a stressed and ageing health care workforce. The potential exists for practitioners, their treaters and employers to be legally liable for foreseeable risks posed to patients and clients by practitioners whose health is problematic and/or deteriorating. There is much to be said for practitioners, health service administrators, educators and regulators dealing more effectively with all categories of impaired practitioners before the intervention of the civil law which may not be adequately informed or sophisticated and is most unlikely to be collaborative in its approach.     

Is There An Expressive Function of Law? An Empirical Analysis of Voting Laws with Symbolic Fines

This article empirically investigates whether law affects behaviorbeyond deterrence ("expressive function of law"). With Swisspanel data, I find that the legal abolition of the voting dutysignificantly decreased average turnout, even though the finesfor not voting have only been symbolic. As for the size of Cantonalturnout reduction, it widely differs between the Cantons andis highly correlated with voter participation before the removalof the voting duty. In contrast to the voting duty, the introductionof postal voting did not affect voter turnout in spite of thesubstantial decrease in transaction costs. Therefore, in publicgood areas such as voting, even a sanctionless law targetingat the civic duty might have a bigger impact on behavior thanactions which affect the costs of provision for the public good.     

EU accession and the hardening of soft budget constraints: some macro evidence

The hardening of soft budget constraints (SBCs) is a central element in transforming the economies of Central and Eastern Europe into market economies. This paper presents macro evidence on budget hardening of transition economies comparing the performance of EU accession countries relative to non-accession countries. We estimate SBC hardening for 21 transition economies in a partial adjustment model by measuring the reaction of employment to output changes over a 10-year period. The paper finds that accession candidates have reduced excess labour demand substantially relative to non-accession countries.