Can epidemiological studies assist in the evaluation of community treatment orders? — The experience of Western Australia and Nova Scotia

Epidemiological studies using administrative databases have several advantages over other methodologies in studying the effectiveness of compulsory community treatment such as community treatment orders (CTOs). We compared patients placed on CTOs in Western Australia with controls drawn from both within the jurisdiction and from another without this measure (Nova Scotia). Although in different countries, the mental health services in both jurisdictions share common characteristics. Notably, we were able to control for forensic history in our comparison within Western Australia. We analysed predictors of admission and number of bed-days using multiple, logistic or Cox regression as appropriate. Of the 274 subjects placed on a CTO, we were able to find controls for up to 96% (n = 265). CTO placement was not associated with reduced admissions or mean bed-days, although there was a threshold effect with a reduced risk of inpatient stays exceeding 100 days. Outpatient contacts were significantly greater for the CTO group. However, we do not know whether the intensity of treatment, or its compulsory nature, effected outcome.     

United in Diversity? Asymmetry in Indian Federalism

Many studies highlight constitutional asymmetry as a desirablefeature of federal systems in multinational countries. Thisarticle looks at India which, mainly because of the specialprovisions for Kashmir in the 1950 constitution and the statusof newer small states in the north-east, is generally describedas asymmetrically federal. I show that, while India exhibitsconsiderable de facto asymmetry, asymmetry in the constitutionalpowers granted to individual states has (i) not been importantfor India's ability to ‘hold together’ as oftenassumed and (ii) not entailed special protection of culturalor national minorities. I thus cast doubt on the normative politicalphilosophy, particularly informed by Canadian and Spanish debates,that advances the idea of asymmetrical federalism as a modelof governance in potentially divided societies.     

The trade in people in and from the former Soviet Union

This paper focuses on the trafficking and smuggling of human beings fromand through the former Soviet Union. It explores the reasons for the risein the illegal movement of people; the groups which facilitate it; the demographics of the people who are moved and the business side, includingthe profits, the disposition of profits and the use of corruption to facilitatethe trade. With the disintegration of state control over national territory, this mass movement of people often violates national laws and the national sovereignty of the countries of the Soviet successor states and the countrieswhere the former Soviet citizens move illegally. The paper concludes that thistrade mirrors and contributes to the overall downward development of thepost-Soviet economies. In contrast, a comparative look at the respective Chinese developments indicates that trade in human beings tends to facilitatethe growth of both the Chinese legitimate and illegitimate economies.     

Ranking of United Kingdom Law Journals: An Analysis of the Research Assessment Exercise 2001 Submissions and Results

Notwithstanding the Chancellor of the Exchequer's announcement in the 2006 Budget that, after the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise ('RAE 2008'), it is the government's firm presumption that the system for assessing research quality and allocating quality-related funding to United Kingdom universities will be mainly metrics based, RAE 2008 is vitually certain to proceed and to have considerable significance for legal research in the United Kingdom. In this rapidly developing and controversial context, this paper uses statistical analysis of the data from RAE 2001 to construct a series of metrics-based rankings which, when taken together, provide a reliable and coherent ranking of leading United Kingdom law journals.     

Making War on Terror? Global Lessons from Northern Ireland

In place of the simple modelling employed in anti-terrorist legal discourse, this article posits an interactive model of the relationship between the state and violent political actors, exploring law's role in both the repression and mobilisation of challengers. Drawing on social movement theory, it hypothesises a process of 'legally implicated mobilisation' which takes account both of law's presence and its partial absence in 'legal grey zones' during violent conflict, and it suggests how law may impact upon key elements of the mobilisation process. The hypothesis is applied to qualitative data from Northern Ireland on violent challengers. The data point to the importance of 'messaging' about law in the state of exception, supporting claims that law can have a 'damping' effect on violent conflict. The relationship between repression and violence is partly symbiotic, and in the global 'war on terror,' prisoner-abuse may have a mobilising effect on violent challengers.