Editorial

Liverpool Law Review -     

The Retreat from Government Support for Social Dialogue in the Australian Public Service

This article explores the impact of the Coalition government's federal public sector reforms since 1996 in the Australian Public Service (APS). Under the Labor governments from 1983 to 1996, a range of measures operated to facilitate the development of social dialogue practices in the APS. There were also various mechanisms for consultation, information sharing and employee participation in decision-making, such as the Joint Council and Departmental Councils, statutory provisions for Industrial Democracy Plans, award provisions for consultation over business restructuring and support for consultative structures under enterprise bargaining and health and safety legislation. Nearly all of these measures have been dismantled or downgraded since the Coalition government came to office, especially those requiring consultation with trade unions or providing unions with a central role in participative mechanisms. It is argued here that the government's reforms have involved a substantial reduction in formal support for social dialogue in the APS, and a rejection of the benefits that such an approach offers.     

Recent court rulings on medical and non-medical marijuana

The last several months saw important victories but also disappointments in litigation over criminal prohibitions of marijuana in Canada. Four cases are summarized below--two deal with claims regarding medical marijuana, the other two with recreational use.     

Red Cross and federal government held liable for hemophiliacs' HIV infection

After eight years of litigation, on 21 June 2000 three hemophiliacs infected with HIV finally won a judgment against the Canadian Red Cross Society and the federal government. An Ontario trial court ruled the Red Cross and the government were negligent for having delayed the implementation of heat treatment for blood products, which resulted in the plaintiffs' infections. Since starting their lawsuits in 1992, two of the three plaintiffs died of AIDS before the trial judgment. But the damage awards were criticized by the plaintiffs' lawyer.     

Complaint against Argentina over protection of patents and test data

On 30 May 2000, the same day as the complaint against Brazil, the US (again joined by the EC) filed a complaint against Argentina, alleging that its patent laws violate the TRIPS Agreement in a number of ways.     

Victory for transgendered people in gaining protection against discrimination

On 7 June 2000, the BC Supreme Court rejected an attempt by the Vancouver Rape Relief Society to prevent the provincial human rights commission from hearing a complaint that it had discriminated against a transgendered woman. Kimberly Nixon filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Commission in August 1995, alleging that the Vancouver Rape Relief Society had refused to allow her to work as a volunteer counselor because she had not been biologically female at birth.     

Court approves final Red Cross bankruptcy plan to compensate blood victims

Following two years of negotiations, the insolvent Canadian Red Cross Society received court approval on 14 September 2000 of its plan to compensate victims of Canada's tainted blood tragedy (and pay other creditors).     

Book reviews

Nations and Politics in the Soviet Successor States Ian Bremmer and Ray Taras, (editors) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, 577 pp, £35

Central Asia in World History S. A. M. Adshead London: Macmillan Press, 1993, 291 pp, £40

Turkey and the West: Changing Political and Cultural Identities Metin Heper, Ayse Oncu and Heinz Kramer (editors) London: I. B. Tauris, New York: St Martins Press, 1993, 289 pp, £39.50

Endurance and Endeavour. Russian History 1812–1992 J. N. Westwood Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993, 624 pp, £40

State, Religion and Society in Central Asia. A Post‐Soviet Critique Vitaly Naumkin and Sergei A. Panarin (editors) Reading: Ithaca Press, 1993, 289 pp, £35

Communism Ferdinand Mount (editor) London: Harvill, 1992, 321 pp, £9.99     

Verdict selection processes in insanity cases

Judicial instructions (traditional American Law Institute vs. Guilty But Mentally Ill [GBMI]) were manipulated within an insanity defense vignette portraying a highly psychotic defendant. Construals were highly predictive of verdicts in both instructional conditions. Instead of influencing case construals, the GBMI option seems to operate by increasing respondents' decisional thresholds for insanity and guilty verdicts, creating a collapsing effect such that few such verdicts are rendered. Between-instruction comparisons reveal that the construals of respondents who choose insane and guilty verdicts are considerably more homogeneous and extreme under the GBMI conditions. Results suggest that many respondents intend their GMBI verdicts to signify diminished blame and punishment, indicating that such verdicts entail cognitive compromises that reflect both the thresholdraising effects and also probable confusion about the jurisprudential meaning of a GBMI verdict.This article is an expanded version of a paper entitled Insanity case construals are not simply verdict justification effects, which was presented at the 99th annual convention of the American Psychological Association at San Francisco, August, 1991. We would like to thank Linda Roberts, Norman Finkel, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this paper. Support for this research was provided in part by a grant from the Baldy Center on Law and Social Policy at the State University of New York at Buffalo.