Testing Toxicity: Proof and Precaution in Canada's Chemicals Management Plan

This article explores questions of proof and precaution in the context of Canada's new Chemicals Management Plan. That plan includes a bold initiative known as the 'Challenge', under which the government has identified 200 high priority chemicals for which it is 'predisposed' to a finding of toxicity. The presumption will operate unless the challenged stakeholders submit 'information' sufficient to rebut it. Through comparison with the European REACH regulation, this article explores exactly what burdens have been shifted, to whom and why. It also evaluates the significance of this move for the governance of chemicals in Canada and for the health of Canadians. It looks specifically at the case of Bisphenol A, which was one of the 200 chemicals included in the Challenge, and was recently declared toxic under that process. The Challenge forces us to confront the 'dilemma of industry data', which complicates the debate over a shifted burden of proof in the context of chemicals management .     

The effect of faith program participation on prison misconduct: The Life Connections Program

Faith-based programming is one of many potential tools for preparing inmates for successful reentry into society. The current study used official records of inmate misconduct and attitudinal survey data to investigate whether participation in a faith-based program reduced the likelihood of prison misconduct. The results indicated that program participation did lower the probability of engaging in serious forms of misconduct. No effect was discovered, though, for less serious forms of misconduct or for both types of misconduct considered simultaneously.     

Collegial Influence and Judicial Voting Change: The Effect of Membership Change on U.S. Supreme Court Justices

Understanding the source of voting changes by appellate judges provides an important window into the factors that shape the votes of the judges more generally. We argue that membership changes, by altering the collegial context in which judges make their choices, affect the information environment, long-term collegial considerations, and short-term strategic calculations. As a result, membership change should lead to greater uncertainty and more frequent voting changes among continuing justices in the term following a replacement. We test this proposition by looking at vote change by justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in two separate analyses: justices' votes on search-and-seizure cases since Mapp v. Ohio (1961) and on the progeny of Miranda v. Arizona (1966) . Our results support the argument that the collegial context helps explain changes in voting choices. Our analysis suggests that collegial considerations are an important component of judges' behavior and merit further evaluation in a cross-national context.     

The tension between empathy and assertiveness

This article explores two central dimensions of negotiation behavior: empathy and assertiveness. Empathy refers to the process by which negotiators demonstrate an understanding of their counterpart. Assertiveness refers to the process by which a negotiator articulates and advocates her interests. Although many people experience empathy to be incompatible with assertion and vice-versa, the authors suggest that the most effective negotiators develop expertise along both dimensions. Robert H. Mnookin is the Samuel Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Chair of the Steering Committee of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and Director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project. Scott R. Peppet is a Lecturer on Law and Graduate Fellow in Law and Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Andrew S. Tulumello is a law clerk to Judge Pamela Ann Rymer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This article is part of an ongoing negotiation project focusing on the roles lawyers play in negotiation.     

The Process-Outcome Connection in Foreign Policy Decision Making: A Quantitative Study Building on Groupthink

This article investigates whether certain factors pertaining to the process of foreign policy decision making have a measurable, qualitative effect on foreign policy outcomes . The research is grounded in the groupthink literature but incorporates different dimensions of similar underlying notions from other international relations areas as well. Three different types of process factors are investigated: situational factors, such as stress and time constraints; factors associated with the structure of the group; and information processing factors. We test the influence of these factors on two types of outcomes—a decision's effect on national interests and its effect on the level of international conflict. We investigate this link in 31 cases of decision from 1975 through 1993. Scores for the outcome variables are based on survey responses from 21 foreign policy experts. For the process variables, we develop sets of operational definitions and then code each case based on extensive reading of case-study materials. OLS regression models are used to assess the hypotheses. We find that situation variables matter very little in terms of affecting outcomes and quality of information processing. On the other hand, both group structural factors and information processing are significantly related to outcomes in terms of national interests and level of international conflict.     

On the Role of Process Forensics in the Characterization of Fugitive Gasoline

The need to determine the source(s) of fugitive gasoline in the environment is common when multiple candidate sources co-exist nearby to the discovery or when gasoline is discovered subsequent to a property transfer. Process forensics is the component of environmental forensics that relies upon a detailed understanding of the current and historic refining and engineering practices and how these practices would predictably have affected the chemical composition of the automotive gasoline manufactured at different refineries at different times. Since not all gasoline is ‘created equal’, when the detailed “chemical fingerprint” of a fugitive gasoline in the environment is interpreted in light of process forensics, a more thorough understanding of the production practices used to refine the fugitive gasoline can emerge. In some circumstances this knowledge can help to implicate a particular source(s) of the gasoline.     

Gun violence and police problem solving: A research note examining alternative data sources

This article uses gun seizure data from the gun lab of the St. Louis Police Department to examine a problem-solving approach to seizing illegal firearms. Further, it explores narrative data from the police reports to understand the context surrounding 113 firearms seizure. The most important findings are that most illegal firearms are seized by the police department in the course of routine patrol, and that many seemingly nonviolent technical law violations (e.g., the unlawful carrying, use, or concealment of a firearm) often occur under violent circumstances. Given the paucity of gun research, future studies should use multiple data sources to further explain the gun/crime relationship. These findings are discussed in the context of routine policing.     

Developmental and Validation of The Illustrated Version of The Home Inventory for Dangers and Safety Precautions: Continuing to Address Learning Needs of Parents in Injury Prevention

This paper describes the development and validation of the Home Inventory for Dangers and Safety Precautions – Illustrated Version to be used with parents whose children are at significant risk for home injury. Because illustrations are useful in facilitating learning by parents who have difficulty ensuring child and self home safety, colored illustrations representing 6 home rooms or areas were empirically developed for assessment purposes. The dangers depicted were selected from previous work and represented those associated with the majority of family home injuries. Score-sheets contained dangers and associated precautions administered to 62 referred young parents. Administration and psychometric characteristics were examined; specific hypotheses were tested. Obtained measures of internal consistency for dangers and precautions for all illustrations (except for Stairway) and for totals were satisfactory. Administration was suitable for use with this population. Parents were able to identify approximately half of the depicted dangers while being able to provide a suitable precaution for 40%. Reading comprehension was predictive of danger identification whereas reading recognition was predictive of precautions given. The HIDSP-IV is useful in assessing a parent's knowledge of dangers and precautions from which more individualized home safety instruction can occur.     

‘A Monstrous and Unjustifiable Infringement’?: Political Expression and the Broadcasting Ban on Advocacy Advertising

This paper considers the legality of the broadcasting prohibition on 'advocacy advertising'– the use of advertising space to communicate social, political and moral arguments to a wider public – in the light of the growing jurisprudence on the freedom of political expression. The prohibition is currently found in the Broadcasting Act 1990, and the Government has proposed its reiteration in the forthcoming Communications Bill to fall within the regulatory ambit of OFCOM. The paper begins by introducing and illustrating advocacy advertising and the restrictions upon it. It proceeds to review the relevant jurisprudence on political expression, to analyse the familiar arguments in favour of retention of the prohibition, and to weigh the counter-arguments. The paper concludes that the purported justifications sit ill against existing legal rulings, and evidence a poor understanding of the critical sophistication of the public as a broadcasting audience. It suggests that a continuation of the prohibition would be unlawful.