The Prosecution Role where Courts Decide Cases

This article explores the role played by prosecutors during the court stage of criminal proceedings. It complements Peter et al.’s chapter on negotiated case settlements in showing how the power to decide cases is divided between judges and prosecutors when cases are taken to court. Providing information as to, e.g. what influence prosecutors in the 11 study countries have on what evidence is brought to court in “normal” and accelerated court proceedings, this chapter explores the balance of responsibilities in court rooms across Europe.     

Prosecution and Diversion within Criminal Justice Systems in Europe. Aims and Design of a Comparative Study

This article presents the aims, approach and design of a 11 countries study on diversion and prosecution in European Criminal Justice Systems. The basic assumption is that the flood of proceedings is mastered by procedural short cuts and simplifications with the public prosecutor as the key player. The article describes the methods developed in order to compare the different national concepts and and competencies of criminal justice agencies and procedures. Furthermore, it demonstrates the interdependencies of the various articles in this double issue focusing on different parts of the criminal justice system from police to the court.     

System management and compensatory parenting: Educational involvement after maternal incarceration

Research has demonstrated that paternal incarceration is associated with lower levels of educational involvement among fathers and primary caregivers, but little is known regarding caregiver educational involvement when mothers have been incarcerated. In this study, we present the first analysis of variation in school- and home-based educational involvement by maternal incarceration history, pairing survey and interview data to connect macro-level group differences with micro-level narratives of mothers’ involvement in their children's education. Our survey data demonstrate that children of ever-incarcerated mothers experience increased school-based educational involvement by their primary caregivers, regardless of whether the caregiver is the mother herself. Our interview data point to compensatory parenting as a key motivating factor in educational involvement, wherein a caregiver endeavors to “make up for” the child's history of maternal incarceration. Findings add to the literature demonstrating maternal incarceration as a distinct experience from both paternal incarceration and material disadvantage alone, and they suggest the need to explore the role of schools as potential points of productive institutional involvement for mothers with an incarceration history.     

Tutors and Pupils: International Organizations, Central European Elites, and Western Models

In the past decade, political elites in Central and Eastern Europe have often sought to imitate Western organizational and institutional models, while organizations like the EU and NATO have often acted as “institutional tutors” in the region. Using evidence from Hungary and the Czech Republic, this paper demonstrates why imitating Western structures has been both administratively expedient and useful in building political coalitions. It also stresses that the short‐term benefits of doing so are followed by longer‐term costs. The paper answers four questions: How have certain models been held up to CEE elites? Why might some such models be targets for elites to imitate? How does such imitation occur? And what results from imitation? Contrary to expectations that institutional modeling would be merely technocratic and used only yearly in the transformation, the paper's threefold heuristic of templates, thresholds, and adjustments shows that the process is both politically contentious and sustained.     

Litigating the science of breast cancer treatment

Beginning in the late 1980s, many health insurers refused to cover high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplant (HDC/ABMT) for high-risk and metastatic breast cancer patients. Insurers denied coverage because there was no persuasive evidence of clinical effectiveness. In response, many women sued to compel coverage. After years of litigation and the expenditure of approximately $3 billion, randomized clinical trials (RCTs) showed that the procedure was no more effective and possibly more harmful than conventional therapy. To understand whether and how litigation contributed to the diffusion of the procedure, we conducted a series of case studies that examine the litigation tactics and strategies used by defense and plaintiffs' counsel. Despite the fact that HDC/ABMT lacked proven scientific effectiveness, insurance defense attorneys were unable to stop the procedure's diffusion. Plaintiffs' attorneys had a much easier and more sympathetic story to tell and were able to exploit vulnerabilities facing the defense.     

Smaller State Perspectives on the Future of Space Governance

Current debates over impending developments in military and civilian uses of space raise deeper questions of how the expanding human presence in space over the next century might unfold. Appreciating the full range of challenges and opportunities posed by this uncertain future requires exploring all scenarios and perspectives comprehensively. As a contribution to such analysis, this article draws insights from the outlooks of smaller states toward national and global space priorities. The first two sections summarize and contrast United States and Canadian policy trajectories and dispositions in their respective space programs. The third section assesses how differences in smaller state perspectives can contribute to developing an analytically rigorous concept of space power. The fourth section then examines how juxtaposing alternative scenarios for the long-term development of human space presence, consistent with power-based theory, offers a stronger foundation for explaining and assessing current conditions than does making limiting assumptions of inevitable future trajectories. The article concludes that more inclusive analysis of serious future possibilities also enables more complete assessment of current space security challenges.     

Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on School Attendance and Child Poverty: An Ex Ante Simulation for Sri Lanka

For countries assessing whether to implement a cash transfer programme, an ex-ante evaluation is vital to assess its potential impacts. This study simulates the impact of alternative cash transfer programmes on school attendance and poverty among Sri Lankan children. We find that cash transfer programmes targeting poor children would be the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty and encourage school attendance. If means-testing is not feasible, then programmes targeting the children in households with at least three school-age children would provide a suitable second-best solution. Our findings suggest that even a limited programme budget can provide significant impacts.