An unusual case of pseudo rape.

A case has been reported which adds a new and unusual dimension to false rape allegation and gives a heretofore unknown motive for a woman to claim a bogus rape. A female newspaper reporter entered a hospital, stated falsely that she had been sexually assaulted, allowed herself to be interviewed and then examined by the author, and accepted and took medication, all because she wanted to "find out how a rape victim is treated at the new Rape Center and I was pretending to be a rape victim." Rape center workers must be alert to spurious claims of unprincipled and deceitful women.     

A Story of Miscarriage: Law in the Media

This article utilizes the work of the sociologist Niklas Luhmann in order to examine the relationship between law and the media. Luhmann views both law and the media as closed systems of communication, systems which cannot duplicate the meaning of each other's communications. After introducing Luhmann's approach to media reporting, and applying this to the relationship between law and media reporting on law, the article analyses a recent miscarriage of justice case. The case is that of the solicitor Sally Clark who was convicted of a double child killing. Although her first appeal was rejected she succeeded in a second appeal. Media reporting of Sally Clark's case is contrasted with the trial and Court of Appeal judgments to demonstrate the different basis upon which law and the media each construct communications about the same events     

Guilt and Innocence in the Criminal Justice System: A Comment on R (Mullen) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

The House of Lords upheld the Secretary of State's right to deny compensation under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the ex gratia scheme to Mullen, whose conviction for conspiracy to cause explosions had been quashed by the Court of Appeal solely by reference to actions by the authorities (securing his illegal deportation to the UK) that constituted an abuse of process, without impugning the fairness of his trial or the accuracy of the verdict The note discusses the different judgments in the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal in terms of their implications for the respective roles of legal and political systems in determining guilt and innocence. In particular, the note explores the nature of the legal principle of the presumption of innocence as it operates in the context of successful appeals.     

Representative democracy and cabinet selection: The determinants of ministerial appointment in territorial government

In Westminster parliamentary democracies like Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, research has found that cabinet composition is driven mainly by longstanding norms and practices that privilege older, white males with certain educational and political experiences. Do these trends apply at the subnational level where the demographic make-up can be quite different? To answer this question, we draw upon an original dataset of all members of the legislative assembly and cabinet in three Canadian territories from 1979 to 2022. These territories are unique given that Indigenous communities loom large in their governments and societies. Using an event history model, we find that territorial cabinets very much reflect the demographic make up of their legislatures, similar to what occurs at the federal level. We also observe important differences between the territories, which suggest that the influence of Westminster structures and norms are likely mediated by factors unique to each territory.