Developments in Danish Parliamentary Democracy: Accountability, Parties and External Constraints

Danish parliamentary developments since the Second World War include the consolidation of minority rule, a reduction in the power of established political parties, and more external constraints on parliamentary actors. They also involve a number of more specific changes to the various steps of delegation and accountability. The evidence tends to support the thesis of a paradox in the development of parliamentary democracy. On the one hand, changes in the constitutional chain of delegation and accountability have, on the whole, favoured the principals (voters, parliament, ministers) compared with their agents (parliament, ministers, civil servants). On the other hand, the established parties have declined somewhat and there are more external constraints than there used to be. This implies that the power of democratic principals has increased within narrower limits of action. In such a situation, the principals can be said to 'decide more about less' because of the stronger national and (not least) international constraints. However, the emergence of a partially new system of governance cannot unequivocally be called better or worse than the traditional Danish system of democratic governance.     

Sequence variation at three X chromosomal short tandem repeats in Caucasian and African populations

Sequence variation for the X chromosome short tandem repeats (X-STRs) DXS9898, DXS6789 and GATA172D05 was studied in two major population groups, namely Caucasians and Africans. DXS6789 revealed two different subtype sequence polymorphisms: for shorter alleles, with less than 17 repeats, results showed a simple composition with the following structure: (TATG)_m-(TATC)_n. For longer alleles, a constant TATC insertion was observed at the beginning of the variable repeat unit. Additionally, alleles identical in size revealed structural variations regarding the TATG/TATC proportion. Africans showed a higher intra-allelic variation at this locus than the Caucasian population group. For all three loci, DXS9898, DXS6789 and GATA172D05, no unique structure was found among Africans and Caucasians.     

The Syrian-Israeli political impasse: A study in conflict, war and mistrust

In order to understand fully why a Syrian-Israeli peace agreement has yet to be made, it is imperative to be aware of the dimensions of the conflict, war and mistrust that have been at the root of the Syrian-Israeli diplomatic impasse. The apparent inability for Syrians and Israelis to live in peaceful co existence pre dates the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Mutual animosity certainly increased with the 1967 Israeli occupation and consequent annexation of the Golan Heights. The 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the 1982 conflict in Lebanon and war by proxy after that heightened insecurity on both sides.     

On the joint use of licensing and liability

Licensing is a widely used technique applied to impose regulations. Firms inducing harm must hold a license issued by a regulatory agency on a case-by-case basis. A firm may also be subject to liability. This paper studies the implications on social welfare of combining licensing with strict liability. Contributions include the study of a joint use and related administrative costs. The latter include costs pertaining to litigation and the issuing and enforcing of licenses. It is established when a joint use is motivated. Regulatory compliance should protect from liability in order to decrease litigation and enforcement costs and associated distortions.     

Under the Law: Legal Consciousness and Radical Environmental Activism

A growing body of sociolegal scholarship focuses the study of law away from formal texts and legal institutions and toward the experiences and perceptions of “everyday” citizens. This study introduces seventeen “radical” environmentalists who engage a repertoire of tactics that includes some actions that involve relatively severe forms of illegality. This research seeks to investigate the role of civil disobedience and lawbreaking within the radical environmental movement and the corresponding legal consciousness of movement actors. Utilizing ethnographic fieldwork and content analysis, this analysis suggests that Ewick and Silbey's (1998 ) three‐tiered model of legal consciousness is an operative starting point, but could be enhanced through theoretical expansion. This study proposes a new category of legal consciousness—Under the Law—that views the law as the protector and defender of a social order that is fundamentally illegitimate. Under the Law is qualitatively different from existing conceptualizations of legal consciousness and reaffirms the mutually constitutive nature of law and society.     

Pervasive developmental disorders and criminal behaviour: a case control study

The prevalence and pattern of criminal behaviour in a population of 313 former child psychiatric in-patients with pervasive developmental disorders were studied. The patients were divided into three subgroups and compared with 933 matched controls from the general population. Age at follow-up was between 25 years and 59 years. An account of convictions in the nationwide Danish Register of Criminality was used as a measure of criminal behaviour. Among 113 cases with childhood autism, .9% had been convicted. In atypical autism (n=86) and Asperger's syndrome (n=114) the percentages were 8.1% and 18.4%, respectively. The corresponding rate of convictions in the comparison groups was 18.9%, 14.7%, and 19.6% respectively. Particular attention is given to arson in Asperger's syndrome (p= .0009).     

Variability of bodily measures of normally dressed people using PhotoModeler Pro 5

Photogrammetry is used in forensic science to help identify perpetrators from crime scenes by way of surveillance video, but the reproducibility of manually locating hidden body-points such as the joints remains to be established. In this study, we quantified the inter- and intra-observer variability of bodily measures of clothed individuals in two different poses and examined whether body segment lengths could be used to distinguish between people of similar stature. Stature was reproduced within +/-1.5 cm in both the intra- and inter-observer study. Segment lengths were best reproduced when flexion in the joints was present in the intra-observer study, but only the length of the trunk could be used to distinguish between people of similar height. The reproducibility between the two poses was low. Other measures than stature should be used with caution and with the perpetrator and suspect in the same pose. Consistent guidelines for locating body-points should be developed.