HIGH‐CONFLICT CONTACT DISPUTES: EVIDENCE OF THE EXTREME UNRELIABILITY OF SOME CHILDREN'S ASCERTAINABLE WISHES AND FEELINGS

This article challenges an increasing orthodoxy regarding the weight which courts might place upon the expressed views of children in a specific situation—high‐conflict contact disputes. I am a child psychiatrist who acts as an expert witness within the family courts of England & Wales. I have conducted a statistical analysis of cases in which I have conducted assessments of children caught in such disputes between their separated parents. Fifty‐eight children met the criteria for inclusion in the study—the child's consistent opposition to contact with the non resident parent (NRP), despite the court having determined that there was no good reason to constrain contact. My assessment routinely included attempted observation of the child at a visit with the NRP. Despite their stated views most children had a positive experience in those visits that took place, and despite the fact that most had not seen the NRP for a long time. Overall there was a statistical association between increased resistance to contact and the greater age of the child and the longer the time during which no contact had occurred. However, the responses of children and young people were unpredictable and it was impossible to conclude that apparent maturity or intelligence was a guide to the reliability of their expressed resistance. The possible reasons for this unreliability are discussed. I emphasize that my sample of children is unusual as many of the cases had involved serious, though unfounded, allegations of abuse. In addition most of the children showed indications of having become “alienated” from the NRP. I conclude that courts might exercise caution when evaluating the views of children and young people in this situation, and emphasises that assessors should consider including at least one observation of the child at a prolonged visit to the NRP. Because of the new orthodoxy some parents may be tempted to misuse their child's right to a “voice” in court in order to achieve their own ends. Practitioners who advise courts may need to be more aware of these difficulties.     

A population genetic database of cat breeds developed in coordination with a domestic cat STR multiplex

A simple tandem repeat (STR) PCR-based typing system developed for the genetic individualization of domestic cat samples has been used to generate a population genetic database of domestic cat breeds. A panel of 10 tetranucleotide STR loci and a gender-identifying sequence tagged site (STS) were co-amplified in genomic DNA of 1043 individuals representing 38 cat breeds. The STR panel exhibits relatively high heterozygosity in cat breeds, with an average 10-locus heterozygosity of 0.71, which represents an average of 38 breed-specific heterozygosities for the 10-member panel. When the entire set of breed individuals was analyzed as a single population, a heterozygosity of 0.87 was observed. Heterozygosities obtained for the 10 loci range from 0.72 to 0.96. The power for genetic individualization of domestic cat samples of the multiplex is high, with a probability of match (p(m)) of 6.2E-14, using a conservative θ = 0.05.     

The Exclusion of (Failed) Asylum Seekers from Housing and Home: Towards an Oppositional Discourse

‘Housing’– the practical provision of a roof over one's head – is experienced by users as ‘home’– broadly described as housing plus the experiential elements of dwelling. Conversely, being without housing, commonly described as ‘homelessness’, is experienced not only as an absence of shelter but in the philosophical sense of ‘ontological homelessness’ and alienation from the conditions for well‐being. For asylum seekers, these experiences are deliberately and explicitly excluded from official law and policy discourses. This article demonstrates how law and policy is propelled by an ‘official discourse’ based on the denial of housing and the avoidance of ‘home’ attachments, which effectively keeps the asylum seeker in a state of ontological homelessness and alienation. We reflect on this exclusion and consider how a new ‘oppositional discourse’ of housing and home – taking these considerations into account – might impact on the balancing exercise inherent to laws and policies concerning asylum seekers.     

Police services detention centres: a proposed solution for action

Police services face daily challenges dealing with the health issues displayed by individuals in their custody. They often find themselves isolated from the services that can help the most. This paper scopes relevant literature on these challenges and some of the interprofessional interventions which have emerged to address them, such as the diversionary practices of crisis intervention teams, street triage, nurses in custody suites, and court liaison and diversion. Remote presence technology is proposed to be an innovative solution that can help to provide more efficient and effective pathways for care in Police Detention Centres. Remote presence technology has the ability to significantly affect the way interprofessional collaboration can take place for those in police custody.     

Matching and partially-matching DNA profiles

The DNA profiles of two individuals can have 0, 1, or 2 pairs of alleles that are the same at each locus. These events may be called mismatches, partial matches or matches, respectively, and they have probabilities that depend on the population proportions of alleles as well as the population structure parameter theta. The observed and expected numbers of pairs of individuals with various numbers of matching or partially matching loci in FBI and Australian databases are found to be in good agreement provided theta is set equal to some small value greater than zero. The likelihood ratios for two individuals having a specified degree of relationship versus being unrelated also depend on the numbers of matching and partially matching loci, but even unrelated pairs of individuals can have likelihood ratios that support hypotheses of relatedness. Matching probabilities allow predictions to be made for the sizes of databases that are expected to contain a pair of individuals with high numbers of matching loci. It is very likely that two individuals with at least 9 matching loci among the 13 CODIS loci have already been typed.     

DNA typing results from two urban subpopulations of Pakistan

A population genetic characterization of the Araeen and Raajpoot ethnic subpopulations of Lahore City, Pakistan was undertaken in order to assess the utility of DNA typing for forensic purposes in Pakistani populations. One hundred unrelated individuals from each group were genotyped for four independently assorting loci: HLA DQAI, CSF1PO, TPOX, and TH01. Allele frequencies were calculated, one- and two-locus tests for association were conducted, and the samples were compared by contingency table tests and F-statistic estimation. Although there is expected to be some genetic divergence between the two groups, forensic needs may be satisfied with a single Pakistani database of DNA profiles. The present data suggest that nine independently assorting loci will be sufficient to provide estimated profile probabilities of the order of 10(-9) but a set of 13 loci, as employed in the U.S., would better compensate for the dependencies introduced by family membership and evolutionary history.     

'What's in a name?' The curious tale of the office of high commissioner

Members of the Commonwealth do not use the title 'ambassador' for the heads of diplomatic missions which they send to one another. Instead, they use the title 'high commissioner'. This article firstly examines how the office of high commissioner emerged to meet the representational needs of states owing allegiance to a common sovereign. Secondly, it explains why the office survived the transformation of the British empire into the modern Commonwealth of sovereign states. Thirdly, the article considers the factors that continue to make the office appealing to its holders and a diplomatic asset to their states.     

Digital Privacy and Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

This article considers the impact of digital technologies on privacy and, specifically, the issues arising from metadata. It takes the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act as an exemplar and argues, by reference to European case law, that while data arising from new technologies undoubtedly fall within the scope of privacy protections, there are questions as to the level of protection awarded. Questions arise from how the nature and intensity of intrusion is understood against a backdrop of ‘dataveillance’, as well as the underlying issue of whether ex post controls—through oversight mechanisms—are sufficient to safeguard privacy.     

Financial Advice,Differentiated Consumers,and the Regulation of Equity‐release Transactions

In an asset‐based welfare context, which encourages the drawdown of housing equity to meet financial needs in later life, it is anticipated that the use of equity‐release products will become increasingly prevalent. In the last decade, and reflecting the strategic significance and high risk associated with this section of the home finance market, targeted equity‐release products (lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans) have come under the regulatory remit of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA's approach to equity release is geared around professional financial and legal advice. Drawing on findings from a new qualitative study, purposively sampled according to socioeconomic circumstances at the time of the transaction, this article explores the role of financial advice within the factors that shape equity‐release decision making, and considers the implications of the FCA's regulatory commitment to the ‘advice paradigm’ in meeting (or not) the needs of a differentiated consumer population.