The impact of economic theories on the law in market relations

The impact of economic theories on legal development, thinking and practice is undeniable. This is particularly true for neo-classical and institutional economics. Neo-classical economics are based on model assumptions of human behaviour such as pursuit of personal advantage, individualistic goals, complete information and at the same time law obedience which are the foundations of the functioning of the market mechanisms. The assumption leads to an almost mystical belief in the self-regulatory power of the market and a strong disdain and disapproval of the State. The concepts of a minimal State and de-regulation of all social relations follow from there. This article argues that model assumptions are valid scientific tools, as long as they are not taken to reflect the real world which is populated by real people that are not necessarily behaving like homines oeconomici. Preaching de-regulation and the dismissal of the State can prove simplistic and even dangerous and may lead to financial and economic crises like the ones witnessed in recent years. Institutional economics part from these empirical findings. They do not question individualism and the pursuit of egoistic objectives of market-participants, but they insist on inherent risks of this mechanism which stems from opportunistic behaviour, lack of information and transparency and the limits of trust. Property economists deduct from there that sustainable and dynamic economic development is unthinkable without well defined property title, the distinction of property and possession and credit securities. These institutions cannot be self-regulatory but need a clear legal frame, in other words rules established by a State. Transaction costs economists understand the danger of opportunistic behaviour and a corresponding systemic lack of trust in the negotiation, conclusion and execution of contracts. They underline the necessity of institutions which are capable of limiting these dangers and thus reducing transaction costs. Institutions may be customs, informal arrangements and formal law. At the end two examples are presented-real estate transactions and post-patriarchal family relations-to test the utility of these considerations.     

Internet of Things – New security and privacy challenges

The Internet of Things, an emerging global Internet-based technical architecture facilitating the exchange of goods and services in global supply chain networks has an impact on the security and privacy of the involved stakeholders. Measures ensuring the architecture's resilience to attacks, data authentication, access control and client privacy need to be established. An adequate legal framework must take the underlying technology into account and would best be established by an international legislator, which is supplemented by the private sector according to specific needs and thereby becomes easily adjustable. The contents of the respective legislation must encompass the right to information, provisions prohibiting or restricting the use of mechanisms of the Internet of Things, rules on IT-security-legislation, provisions supporting the use of mechanisms of the Internet of Things and the establishment of a task force doing research on the legal challenges of the IoT.     

Staff members’ evaluation of inpatients’ motivation for aggression – the roles of staff restrictions and aggression severity

Improved understanding of inpatient aggression can come from systematic assessment of motivation for aggressive incidents. This study investigates staff members’ evaluation of motivation for aggressive incidents, and how such evaluations are influenced by staff restrictions and aggression severity. Staff reports of aggressive incidents in a secure psychiatric unit were collected in clinical practice over a ten-year period (2006–2015). Motivation for aggression was assessed with the Aggressive Incident Motivation Evaluation Scale, measuring irritable, instrumental, and defensive dimensions. Information about staff restrictions was collected with the Staff Observation Aggression Scale – Revised, and severity was rated with the Visual Analog Scale. Multilevel analyses of 2649 aggressive incidents, committed by 67 inpatients, revealed greater variation in aggression motivation across incidents than between individual patients. Staff restrictions preceding the aggressive incident and rating of severity were positively related to staffs’ evaluation of motivation for aggression, but their impacts differed across motivational dimensions. Staff reports of motivation provide important additional information beyond current standard report forms. Systematically evaluating motivation is essential to risk management, and may contribute to develop more fine-tuned interventions for preventing and managing aggression in inpatient settings.     

CHIKUNDA

for Karl-Albrecht and Siglinde von Maltzahn     

A new method for the evaluation of matches in non-recombining genomes: application to Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (STR) haplotypes in European males

A 9-locus microsatellite framework (minimal haplotype), previously developed for forensic purposes so as to facilitate stain analysis, personal identification and kinship testing, has been adopted for the establishment of a large reference database of male European Y-chromosomal haplotypes. The extent of population stratification pertaining to this database, an issue crucial for its practical forensic application, was assessed through analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) of the 20 regional samples included. Despite the notion of some significant haplotype frequency differences, which were found to correlate with known demographic and historic features of Europeans, AMOVA generally revealed a high level of genetic homogeneity among the populations analyzed. Owing to their high diversity, however, accurate frequency estimation is difficult for Y-STR haplotypes when realistic (i.e. moderately sized) datasets are being used. As expected, strong pair-wise and higher order allelic associations were found to exist between all markers studied, implying that haplotype frequencies cannot be estimated as products of allele frequencies. A new extrapolation method was therefore developed which treats haplotype frequencies as random variables and generates estimates of the underlying distribution functions on the basis of closely related haplotypes. This approach, termed frequency 'surveying', is based upon standard population genetics theory and can in principle be applied to any combination of markers located on the Y-chromosome or in the mitochondrial genome. Application of the method to the quality assured reference Y-STR haplotype database described herein will prove very useful for the evaluation of positive trace-donor matches in forensic casework.     

Relative improvement over chance (RIOC) and phi as measures of predictive efficiency and strength of association in 2×2 tables

In a 2×2 table, phi measures the strength of the relationship and relative improvement over chance (RIOC) measures the predictive efficiency. A simplified formula for RIOC is derived. From the linkage between RIOC and the adjusted standardized residual, the variance of RIOC is calculated, thereby allowing its statistical significance to be tested. A disadvantage of phi is that its maximum value can be less than 1. A corrected phi correlation, obtained by dividing phi by the maximum possible phi, is shown to be mathematically identical to RIOC. Hence, there is a linkage between the percentage of correct predictions and the percentage of variance explained. RIOC is unchanged even when the social costs and benefits of the different outcomes are differentially weighted. RIOC is also mathematically identical to a corrected kappa calculated in a similar fashion to the corrected phi. Therefore, RIQC has distinct advantages over phi and kappa.     

The Prediction of Young Homicide and Violent Offenders

Aim was to investigate a range of potentially modifiable risk factors for boys in late childhood for later violence and homicide convictions. Boys from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (N = 1,517) were measured through self-reports and official records in late childhood (ages 11–13) on a large number of potentially modifiable risk factors, and were followed up in juvenile and adult criminal records in terms of violence and homicide. Predictors of conviction for homicide largely overlapped with predictors of conviction for violence. Twenty three out of 28 possible risk factors significantly predicted later violence convictions. Regression analysis identified four significant modifiable risk factors in late childhood for any violent offenders: physical abuse, parental stress, bad friends and low school motivation. The higher the number of early risk factors, the higher the probability of later conviction for violent offenses including homicide. The discussion focus on single-, and multi-modal interventions in late childhood to reduce later violence and possibly homicide.     

Psychopathy and affect consciousness in young criminal offenders

A key characteristic of psychopathy is the individual's problematic relation to certain affects, particularly shame. Previous research has studied relations between expressed shame and psychopathy. In this study, the author analyzes potential associations between psychopathy and consciousness of feelings (i.e., participants' ability to recognize and tolerate the feeling and describe how they believe it is expressed in their posture and verbal expressions). Psychopathy is assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version, and affect consciousness is assessed with a semistructured interview. Additionally, risk for criminal behavior, moral reasoning, cognitive distortions, and attachment style in the participants was assessed. The participants are 47 adolescent boys who were treated at juvenile delinquency homes. The results indicate that boys with higher ratings of psychopathy had lower consciousness of shame feelings and lower empathy scores. The results in combination with qualitative analyses of the interview answers are interpreted as indicating that consciousness of shame is specifically problematic for psychopathic adolescents.