Using Blogs in Teaching Negotiation: A Technical and Intercultural Postscript

This article reexamines an earlier experiment in the use of blogs in teaching negotiation when undertaken in a different cultural environment. I briefly examine two core factors — technical competence and cultural preferences in communication — as well as a student preference to reserve the use of social media for purely social and informal communications. Parallels are also drawn with the technical and cultural contexts of developments in online dispute resolution.     

Changing the meaning of ‘vulnerable’ under the homelessness legislation?

The Supreme Court judgement in Hotak v Southwark London Borough Council (Equality and Human Rights Commission and others intervening) [2015] UKSC 30; [2015] 2W.L.R. 1341 appears to have significantly altered prevailing understandings of the meaning of ‘vulnerability’ within the homelessness legislation’s concept of priority need. This paper analyses Hotak’s doctrinal effects, and questions both the adequacy of the court’s reasoning and the likelihood of those formal doctrinal changes leading to a concomitant alteration to the content of the decisions that local authorities reach.     

Universal Basic Services: A Theoretical and Moral Framework

The case for Universal Basic Services (UBS) is a recent idea that is attracting much attention. This article provides a theoretical justification for extending the delivery of public services, as an alternative to the longer‐standing argument for Universal Basic Income (UBI). It rests on human need theory and the concept of provisioning systems. Both recognise the irreducible heterogeneity of consumption, the multi‐faceted nature of human needs and the variety of systems on which we all depend. Both recognise the importance of shared systems and mutual benefits. The final part restates the case for social rights or entitlements to the satisfaction of basic needs and for collective responsibilities to meet them to serve the values of equality, efficiency, solidarity and sustainability.     

The Dissemination of Criminological and Criminal Justice Knowledge and Practice: A Profile of People's Republic of China Scholars Who Earn Doctorates in the United States

Policies and practices in countries do not exist in a vacuum. There are many sources of ideas for change. One of the most important is exposure to foreign ideas through international scholarly exchange. This article briefly reviews the history and causes that have contributed to this process with scholars from the People??s Republic of China who have chosen to obtain doctorates in the United States and study Criminology and/or Criminal Justice. In particular, over the past two decades, close to two dozen scholars have come to the United States to earn masters and PhD degrees in the fields of Criminology/Criminal Justice or related fields. This article uses a survey methodology to understand this complex process.     

Integrity management in post-1997 Hong Kong: Challenges for a rule-based system

Unlike some of its Western counterparts, where the first line of defence against corruption and unethical behavior has been a reliance on a public service ethos, the Hong Kong government has traditionally relied on strict compliance with rules and regulations in its successful drive against bureaucratic malpractices. Since 1997, however, a changing political, economic and administrative environment has also seen efforts to introduce a more value-based approach to integrity. This article examines the factors that have led to the modification of the Hong Kong government??s strategy and evaluates its success in the wider theoretical context of the relationship between a predominantly rule-based and a value-based approach to integrity management.     

Suing "the welfare": the diminishing immunity for child protection authorities

Until recently, child protection authorities enjoyed significant levels of immunity in respect of civil actions arising from their action or inaction. However, the tide has turned in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The decision of Redlich J of the Victorian Supreme Court in the complex case of SB v New South Wales (2004) 13 VR 527; [2004] VSC 513 consolidates the trend in Australia with a further repudiation of the assertion that child welfare authorities should be specially advantaged. It appears that henceforth actions will regularly be able to be brought against the state by persons who have been harmed by the negligent discharge of child protection duties. In the future, plaintiffs' biggest impediment will lie in the evidentiary challenge of establishing the extent of the harm flowing from the breach of the state's duty as against the harm wrought by previous and supervening events.     

Heterodoxy, iconoclasm and spuriousness: the limits of novel expert evidence

A difficult issue arises for courts' decision-making at common law and under statutory evidentiary regimes when expert opinions are significantly unorthodox, iconoclastic or methodologically flawed. This editorial analyses the relevant evidentiary principles and the Australian jurisprudence on the subject, giving particular attention to the decisions of the South Australian Supreme Court in R v Parenzee [2007] SASC 143 and R v Parenzee [2007] SASC 316 in which expert opinions about the existence, identifiability and transmissibility of HIV and its relationship to AIDS adduced on behalf of the defence in a criminal trial were found to be seriously wanting. A variety of factors indicative of low probative value in expert opinions are distilled.