Entrepreneurship during a pandemic

European Journal of Law and Economics - Commercial and social entrepreneurs are likely to help communities combat public health crises. Research on responses to pandemics has underappreciated the...     

Ontario's Integrated Justice Project: profile of a complex partnership agreement

Abstract: This article is a practitioner's perspective on the Integrated Justice Project and presents the underlying value premise for the creation of this public-private partnership to transform Ontario's justice system. It presents an insider's view of the negotiations to establish a “contractual alliance” between the public and private sectors in the emerging field of alternative service delivery. The issues of business arrangement and risk management faced by both sides in reaching a balanced agreement, wherein both parties undertake to share the risks and rewards, are highlighted. Sommaire: Cet article expose le point de vue des praticiens concernant le Projet de justice intégrée et présente les justificatifs ayant présidé a G la création de ce partenariat public-privé qui vise à transformer le système de justice de l'Ontario. II présente une perspective interne des négociations visant àétablir une ‘ alliance contractuelle ’ entre les secteurs public et privé dans le domaine naissant de la prestation de services par des moyens de rechange. On y met en évidence les questions d'entente et de gestion du risque auxquelles font face les deux interlocuteurs lorsqu'il s'agit de conclure un accord équilibré, permettant aux deux de partager à la fois les risques et les gains.     

The law of incidental findings in human subjects research: establishing researchers' duties

Research technologies can now produce so much information that there is significant potential for incidental findings (IFs). These are findings generated in research that are beyond the aims of the study. Current law and federal regulations offer no direct guidance on how to deal with IFs in research, nor is there adequate professional or institutional guidance. We advocate a defined set of researcher duties based on law and ethics and recommend a pathway to be followed in handling IFs in research. This article traces the underlying ethical and legal theories supporting researcher duties to manage IFs, including duties to develop a plan for management in the research protocol, to discuss the possibility of and management plan for IFs in the informed consent process, and to address, evaluate, and ultimately offer to disclose IFs of potential clinical or reproductive significance to research participants when they arise.     

European governance and the transfer of 'new' environmental policy instruments (NEPIs) in the European Union

This article examines the use of 'new' environmental policy instruments (NEPIs), particularly market-based instruments (for example, eco-taxes) and voluntary agreements, in the European Union (EU). It focuses on the actor motivation behind the recent increase in the adoption of new and innovative instruments in EU (and member state) environmental policies while also taking account of the external international arena. The article assesses whether new ideas put forward by policy entrepreneurs, such as member governments, EU institutions, expert groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), are the main motivation behind the EU adoption of NEPIs, or whether market and harmonization pressures are the main driving forces. It concentrates on eco-taxes, voluntary agreements and eco-labels, using the following three theoretical perspectives: (1) policy learning and transfer/ideational; (2) garbage can; and (3) institutional approaches.     

The predictive validity of the Depression Hopelessness Suicide screening form for self-harm among prisoners

The Depression Hopelessness Suicide Screening Form (DHS) includes 12 ‘critical items’, which have not been validated for the prospective prediction of self-harm. We conducted a retrospective cohort study (N = 4196) to validate the ability of the DHS critical items to prospectively predict inmates with at least one incident of self-harm during the first six months of imprisonment. While the critical items were highly sensitive (89.5%) at predicting incidents of self-harm, 51.3% of the inmates endorsed at least one item. Five items reflecting more recent and specific risk factors reduced the referral rate to 17.7%, while maintaining high sensitivity (84.2%). While the DHS has high sensitivity to predict inmates at risk of self-harm, treating all items as equally critical results in excessive numbers of false positives that likely exceed the capacity of prison resources for professional assessment and intervention. Referral rules based on recency and specificity of risk factors are proposed.