What police want from liquor licensing legislation: the Australian perspective

Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 53 Australian police officers with specialist expertise in liquor law enforcement to ascertain their perspectives concerning the liquor licensing legislation in Australia’s eight states and territories. Respondents generally indicated that current arrangements favoured the interests of the alcohol industry and did not sufficiently empower them to reduce alcohol-related harms. Other key themes included: ambiguity surrounding the police role in liquor licensing; difficulties in enforcing drunkenness-related offences; partnerships; strategies to enhance enforcement; data/intelligence gathering; and the separation of Ministerial responsibilities for liquor licensing and policing. Overall, police in Australia are not currently being given the tools they require to effectively reduce alcohol-related harms.     

Completing the Analysis in WTO Appeals: The Practice and its Limitations

Since its creation in 1995, the Appellate Body of the WorldTrade Organization (WTO) has gradually constructed a consistentapproach to completing panels’ analysis where the circumstancespermit. The need for this practice stems from the limitationof WTO appeals to issues of law and the absence of remand inWTO disputes. The Appellate Body can be seen to complete a panel’sanalysis in two different scenarios: to deal with a claim thatthe panel failed to address; or to apply a different legal interpretationto the facts of the case, where the Appellate Body has reversedor modified the panel’s legal interpretation. In decidingwhether to complete a panel’s analysis, the AppellateBody appears to consider three criteria: the existence of uncontestedfacts to resolve the matter, the connection between the legalissues to be addressed in completing the analysis and thoseconsidered by the panel, and the due process rights of the partiesto the dispute. Where these criteria are not satisfied, theAppellate Body is unable to complete the analysis, and the disputemay go unresolved. This is an increasing problem, highlightingthe need for WTO Members to agree on a suitable remand mechanism.     

Self-protection in Greece: sticking with groups,communicating, protesting,and fighting

Despite the international community’s responsibility to protect (R2P) mandate, we are years away from effective international enforcement mechanisms. It is therefore important that we better understand and seek to support local capacities for self-protection. Migrants and refugees in Greece have shown us four central ways they cope with insecure environments. They stick together in groups, communicate warnings of danger, protest when conditions are threatening, and fight when all else fails. This practical note offers three recommendations on how to support the capacity of displaced people to protect themselves.     

Linkedin Users’ Self-Brand Congruence,Attitudes and Social Media Use Integration

This article describes a sample of LinkedIn users in South Africa. The main purpose of the study reported on was to compile a consumer profile of LinkedIn users based on several measures (e.g. usage behaviour, self- and brand-personality traits and attitudes towards the LinkedIn brand). The study contributes to the literature by including users’ personality traits, perceived brand-personality traits, self-brand congruence (SBC) and social media use integration (SMUI) in the investigation. Self-congruity theory was used as a basis to examine SBC in the LinkedIn context. The study entailed a cross-sectional quantitative design using a survey of LinkedIn users in Gauteng, the economic hub of South Africa. The primary results indicated that despite low usage patterns, users’ SBC is high and their attitudes towards the LinkedIn brand are positive. SMUI is not prevalent, yet it correlates positively with brand attitude.     

Forensic comparison of soils by bacterial community DNA profiling

This preliminary investigation has shown that a soil microbial community DNA profile can be obtained from the small sample of soil recovered from the sole of a shoe, and from soil stains on clothing. We have also shown that these profiles are representative of the site of collection and therefore could potentially be used as associative evidence to prove a link between suspects and crime scenes. Soil community profiles were obtained using the T-RFLP fingerprinting method that uses fluorescent primer technology and semi-automated analysis techniques similar to those used in human DNA profiling in forensic laboratories.     

Compensation to landowners for use of bauxite lands in Jamaica: assessing the legal issues

Bauxite companies in Jamaica have increasingly begun to feel the ire of the owners of bauxite lands who believe that they have been denied reasonable compensation for the use of their lands by bauxite companies for the purposes of mining bauxite. The Mining Act speaks to the landowner being fairly and reasonably compensated for the damage done to the surface rights of the land during the bauxite mining process. It does not consider how a landowner should be compensated when the bauxite company unlawfully acquires the landowner’s property. Where property has been compulsorily acquired, the landowner must be adequately compensated.     

Dangerous Excursions: The Case Against Expanding Forensic DNA Databases to Innocent Persons

Recent expansions of federal and state law enforcement databanks to include DNA samples and profiles of innocent persons threaten individual privacy, impose unjustifiable costs on society, and may undermine our pursuit of justice. The move to permanently retain DNA from arrestees and proposals for a universal database should be vigorously opposed on matters of principle, legality, and practicality.     

LGBTQ-Affirming Policing: Tactics Generated by Law Enforcement Personnel

Law enforcement personnel (LEP) use a variety of tactics to perform their job duties. Although LEP often receive specialized training to work with ethnocultural minorities and are sometimes trained to work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) citizens, a clear articulation of LGBTQ-affirming police tactics has not yet been established. Using qualitative content analysis and a multiple case study approach, this project identified a variety of tactics generated by LEP in written surveys and group discussion of scenarios involving LGBTQ citizens. Results showed that across all scenarios, LEP were able to generate LGBTQ-affirming tactics, including both typical police procedures, as well as approaches specific to LGBTQ citizens. Non LGBTQ-affirming tactics typically reflected reluctance to adapt general procedures to meet the needs of LGBTQ citizens. The results of this study support the use of group-based scenario training to help LEP identify and adopt LGBTQ-affirming approaches. This study is significant because it represents a first step toward identifying best practices for LGBTQ-affirming police tactics.