The Law of Assembly in China

This paper is a comparative study of the law of assembly between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) vs. the Republic of China (ROC). The comparison is achieved by looking at how these two Chinese societies structure police powers during assembly, procession, and demonstration; textually and contextually. Particularly, it investigates into how the forces of history, constitution and politics converge to define and shape the law of assembly. This comparative project is conducted with a view to understand the relative development in police powers in the two Chinese societies, once linked by history and culture and now divided by geography and ideology. In a still larger context, this research rides the tide of comparative policing in exposing and explicating how police in two closed societies, ROC (Confucianism) and PRC (Socialism), come to terms with social protests and political challenges; more broadly how to balance the forces of reform and control with the use of law.

Population study of 11 Y-chromosomal STR loci in Singapore Chinese

In this study of 212 unrelated Singapore Chinese males, allelic frequencies and gene diversities of 11 Y-chromosome specific STR loci (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385a/b, DYS438 and DYS439) were established. A total of 184 haplotypes were observed in the 212 individuals studied, of which 165 (89.67%) were unique. The most common haplotype was observed in five (2.35%) individuals. The overall haplotype diversity for the 11 Y-STR loci was 99.81%, and the discrimination capacity was 86.79%.     

Concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) in postmortem human tissues: effect of environmental CO exposure

We studied how carbon monoxide (CO) is distributed within the human body through quantitation of CO concentrations in postmortem tissue samples from fatalities including possible CO exposure. Stored, frozen tissues were diced, sonicated in water, and 0.01-8.0 mg wet weight (ww) tissues were incubated with sulfosalicylic acid in CO-purged, septum-sealed vials. CO released into the headspace was quantitated by reduction gas chromatography. Mean tissue CO concentrations (pmol/mg ww) from subjects diagnosed to have no known CO exposure (control, N=14), died from fire (N=13), and CO asphyxiation (N=7), respectively, were: adipose (2;13;9), brain (3;13;65), muscle (15;97;297), heart (30;99;371), kidney (22;432;709, lung (54;690;2638), spleen (73;1366;3548), and blood (162;2238;5070). Carboxyhemoglobin concentrations were 1.4%, 25.2%, and 69.1% of total hemoglobin, respectively. We conclude that measurements of CO concentration in a variety of tissues can be used as markers for the degree of exogenous CO exposure and the identification of possible causes of death.     

Kwok Cheuk Kin v Lam Cheng Yuet Ngor: Government Chastisement of Dissidents and Judicial Review That Never Was?

The Hong Kong Government issued a strongly-worded official statement, subsequently adopted by the Chief Executive, to publicly condemn an outspoken constitutional law scholar for expressing views which the Government considered unconstitutional. Leave to judicially review the statement was refused by the Court of First Instance of the High Court of Hong Kong on the grounds, inter alia, that a statement lacking in direct legal consequences was outside the ambit of judicial review and, further, the Chief Executive was in any event entitled to comment on public affairs. This note argues that, on a proper understanding of the supervisory jurisdiction of the Court and the theory of the ‘third source’ of governmental power, neither ground should have precluded judicial review.     

Keeping promises: A systematic review and a new classification of gang control strategies

Purpose

We argue that inadequate frameworks to compare similar gang control strategies, and the scarcity of well-designed evaluations have hindered our ability to determine the effectiveness of existing programs. This article proposes a new typology of gang control strategies to use with logic models as tools to improve gang program evaluation.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review of gang control strategy evaluation reports and created a typology from the studies identified. Studies were selected on the basis of methodological quality in order to reflect only rigorous evaluations with credible research findings.

Results

Forty-five studies were selected and reviewed. Studies were classified in homogeneous categories based on the targeted population and the objective of the strategy. We infer logic models that consider the activities, outputs, and outcomes of each type of strategy.

Conclusion

A better framework for the comparison of similar studies may allow meta-analyses to be conducted, thereby improving our knowledge of what works. Logic models can move the field forward by allowing researchers to understand why some programs work and others do not. The improvement, both in quality and quantity, of program evaluation in gang research is crucial in order to move beyond claims of promising approaches.