A Conditional Defense of Plurality Rule: Generalizing May's Theorem in a Restricted Informational Environment

May's theorem famously shows that, in social decisions between two options, simple majority rule uniquely satisfies four appealing conditions. Although this result is often cited in support of majority rule, it has never been extended beyond decisions based on pairwise comparisons of options. We generalize May's theorem to many-option decisions where voters each cast one vote. Surprisingly, plurality rule uniquely satisfies May's conditions. This suggests a conditional defense of plurality rule: If a society's balloting procedure collects only a single vote from each voter, then plurality rule is the uniquely compelling electoral procedure. To illustrate the conditional nature of this claim, we also identify a richer informational environment in which approval voting, not plurality rule, is supported by a May-style argument.     

"Theory of Mind" and Executive Functioning in Forensic Patients with Schizophrenia

Abstract:  Previous studies in forensic patients with schizophrenia have shown that delinquent patients may outperform nondelinquent patients with regards to "theory of mind" (ToM). Findings were, however, confounded by a lack of control for executive functioning. We examined 33 forensic patients with schizophrenia regarding ToM, intelligence, executive functioning, and psychopathology. Results were compared with a nonforensic schizophrenia sample and a group of healthy controls. Both patient groups performed more poorly on most measures compared with controls. Forensic and nonforensic patients did not differ in task performance. In the forensic group ToM correlated inversely with "excitement" and cognitive symptoms. When "excitement" was covaried out, forensic patients outperformed nonforensic patients with regards to ToM. This study supports the hypothesis that schizophrenic patients with a criminal record are equally impaired in their ability to infer mental states compared with nonforensic patients, but for different reasons associated with a divergent psychopathological profile.     

Zur Anwendbarkeit der gesetzlichen Verarbeitungsregeln auf den Werkvertrag

Nach verbreiteter Auffassung soll der klassische Werkvertrag den Besteller, der den Stoff beistellt, schon mit der Herstellung des Werks zum Alleineigentümer machen. Die gesetzliche Verarbeitungsregel des § 415 ABGB, die bei beweglichen Sachen grunds?tzlich Miteigentum zwischen Stoffeigentümer und Verarbeiter bis zur übergabe des Werkstücks nahelegen würde, sei durch den Werkvertrag abbedungen. Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht nachzuweisen, dass mangels besonderer Vereinbarung die gesetzlichen Verarbeitungsregeln bis zur übergabe des Werks an den Besteller anwendbar bleiben. Das gilt insbesondere auch für jene F?lle, in denen der Besteller einen fremden Stoff zur Bearbeitung gibt, ohne das offenzulegen. Die für die (einigerma?en) gleichwertige Verarbeitung iSd § 415 angestellten überlegungen werden sodann in einem zweiten Schritt für F?lle der blo? geringwertigen Ausbesserung iSd § 416 ABGB fruchtbar gemacht. Auch für den Fall einer Werkbestellung durch den nicht zahlungsf?higen Nichtberechtigten, den die Rsp mit dem gutgl?ubigen Erwerb eines Zurückbehaltungsrechts durch den Unternehmer analog § 367 ABGB zu bew?ltigen versucht, ergibt sich eine zT neue L?sung.     

Kautionsrückforderung im streitigen Verfahren nach der WRN 2009 – Eine Erwiderung

Im Zuge der WRN 2009 hat der Gesetzgeber die Feststellung der H?he des rückforderbaren Kautionsbetrags ins (mietrechtliche) Au?erstreitverfahren verwiesen. In einer ersten Stellungnahme zu den Folgen dieser Verweisung hat der Verfasser ua die Ansicht vertreten, dass die Rückforderung im streitigen Verfahren vorübergehend – dh bis zur rechtskr?ftigen Feststellung der H?he des rückforderbaren Betrags im Au?erstreitverfahren – unzul?ssig ist. Der vorliegende Beitrag behandelt – in Form einer kurzen Replik – die jüngst von renommierten Autoren gegen diese Ansicht vorgebrachten Argumente.     

Interindividual variability, pathological changes and decomposition as an impediment to the morphological determination of human specificity of bone finds

Playing children discovered several teeth close to the wall surrounding a village church. A subsequent police search yielded further teeth, three neurocranial fragments, a metacarpal bone and the fragment of a long tubular bone. The circumstances along with the results of the investigation and the morphological findings suggested historical bones from a former graveyard. However, a large fragment of bone shaft from a long bone could not definitely be classified as being of human origin. The tibia of a deer was amongst the possibilities considered. Comparative tests run at the Institute of Veterinary Anatomy of the University of Giessen in addition to histological examinations, however, ultimately established the human specificity. Interindividual variability and decomoositional changes were determined as causes for the conspicuous macroscopic and microscopic findings for the tibia fragment. Pathological changes could not be demonstrated.     

The Need for a Positive Psychological Approach and Collaborative Effort for Improving Practice in the Interrogation Room

The White Paper suggests important reforms that will reduce the likelihood of false confessions resulting from police interrogation. The research underlying these suggested reforms has yielded significant advances in our understanding of factors associated with false confessions. As we move forward, we encourage the development of empirically based approaches that provide a viable alternative to current practice. In doing so, we suggest that researchers pursue a positive psychological approach that involves partnering with practitioners to systematically develop interrogative methods that are shown to be more diagnostic. By taking such an approach, we believe that the recommendations offered in the current White Paper can be supplemented by methods that carry the support of both scientific and law enforcement communities.     

Sex crime legislation: Proactive and anti-therapeutic effects

Therapeutic jurisprudence may have its major role within law practice, but analysis of the law from a therapeutic perspective is a task that should not be neglected; how a piece of legislation is designed and formulated certainly influences the therapeutic outcome of a legal process. This article uses sex legislation as an example to demonstrate how the old rape law based on coercion has anti-therapeutic effects on rape victims. If the law requires resistance, it implies that a woman is sexually available until she resists physically, resulting in an attitude that a woman reporting rape without injuries should be mistrusted. This mistrust of the victim and the victim's attendant feelings of self-blame aggravate the victim's trauma. On the other hand, a modern rape law based on lack of consent gives the signal that a woman is not available until she has given her consent, resulting in a different starting position for the investigation. Since the will of the victim must be respected, the victim herself must be respected in the legal process. Furthermore, being able to tell one's story in a respectful atmosphere can be more important for the well-being of the victim than the outcome of the reported case.     

European Studies and the European Crisis: Legal and Political Science between Critique and Complacency

European Studies used to be dominated by legal and political science approaches which hailed the progress of European integration and its reliance on law. The recent set of crises that struck the EU have highlighted fundamental problems in the ways and means by which European integration unfolds. The quasi‐authoritarian emergency politics deployed in the euro crisis is a radical expression of the fading prevalence of democratic processes to accommodate economic and social diversity in the Union. As we argue in this paper, however, the mainstreams in both disciplines retain a largely affirmative and apologetic stance on the EU's post‐democratic and extra‐constitutional development. While political science contributions mostly content themselves with a revival of conventional integration theories and thus turn a blind eye to normatively critical aspects of European crisis governance, legal scholarship is in short supply of normatively convincing theoretical paradigms and thus aligns itself with the functionalist reasoning of the EU's Court of Justice. Yet, we also identify critical peripheries in both disciplines which intersect in their critical appraisal of the authoritarian tendencies that inhere in the crisis‐ridden state of European integration. Their results curb the prevailing optimism and underline that the need for fundamental reorientations in both the theory and practice of European integration has become irrefutable.