Personal budgets in adult social care: the fact and the fiction of the Care Act 2014

ABSTRACT

Personal budgets have been heavily promoted in government policy in England as a means of increasing the personalisation of public services, particularly in the field of adult social care. The Care Act 2014 for the first time creates a statutory requirement for personal budgets to be allocated to all individuals using state funded social care. This article examines how a particular rhetoric has developed in social care policy around personal budgets, which draws freely on the language of the disabled people’s movement and suggests that grassroots ideas are the central purpose for the introduction of personal budgets into policy. It considers whether the promises made in policy are embedded in the 2014 Act and finds that there is a mismatch between claims in social care policy on the one hand and the model of personal budgets created by the 2014 Act on the other. It concludes that the policy rhetoric around personal budgets directly appropriates the language and ideas of the disabled people’s movement while promoting a wholly distinct agenda of public sector marketisation.     

Swedish crime scene technicians: facilitations,epistemic frictions and professionalization from the outside

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the role of crime scene technicians in the Swedish criminal justice system, and particularly how Swedish crime scene technicians not only examine crime scenes but also facilitate the criminal justice system’s joint production of forensic evidence. It proposes thinking about the criminal justice system as a conglomeration of epistemic cultures, that is, of communities with different ways of producing and understanding forensic evidence. Such a perspective makes it possible to understand interprofessional frictions as epistemic frictions as well as to draw attention to the facilitations, mediations and translations that crime scene technicians perform. This perspective also makes it possible to illuminate how the crime scene technicians’ professionalization – a professionalization from the outside – affects both their future crime scene work and their facilitations.     

‘That splendid body of women’: nursing,professional registration,and suffragette militancy

ABSTRACT

In the decades before World War One, a group of women fought for their right to control their own futures, claiming that their governance was in the hands of men whose interests lay in keeping women subservient. Initially articulated by an educated, middle-class few, the women's demands were embraced by widening numbers of both women and men. They saw their hopes dashed on several occasions by political manoeuvring, and only after WWI did their demands begin to be met. This is not an account of the women’s suffrage movement, but rather of the fight for the registration of trained nurses. Both movements claimed the right of women to be actors in their public lives and both faced public condemnation for transgressing social boundaries. The two movements interacted, with nurses connecting their struggle to the wider call for women's rights, and with the suffrage movement foregrounding nurses as disenfranchised women professionals.     

从融合到分立:儿童网络色情信息犯罪的刑事规制

儿童网络色情信息犯罪侵害的法益是"直接层法益"与"间接层法益"双重法益。"直接层法益"为儿童的身心健康权利与以"免受性剥削和性虐待"为核心的被动性的性权利,"直接层法益"为个人法益;"间接层法益"为性道德等社会法益。而成年人网络色情信息犯罪侵害的主要是基于"性的隐秘性"善良性风尚和性道德的社会法益。法益具有立法检视功能和区分功能,客观上需要将儿童网络色情犯罪与成年人网络色情犯罪分离,进而设置独立的刑事规范,并对儿童网络色情信息范围、犯罪行为类型及网络服务提供商的责任重新进行建构。     

Chasing ghosts: An investigation of the ghosting phenomenon in footprints

Ghosting is a phenomenon that has been identified in dynamic (walking) footprints. There is sparse research on the occurrence of ghosting; however, due to the forensic value of footprints and their use in other scientific fields, the phenomenon of ghosting warrants further study. Ghosting can be used to determine if a footprint is static (standing) or dynamic, which can help forensic investigators create a sequence of events at a crime scene. Furthermore, this can help in footprint comparisons from this determination, as “like versus like” comparisons of dynamic or static footprints can be made. The purpose of this research was to determine the prevalence and locations of the ghosting phenomena in dynamic footprints.136 dynamic footprints from 68 volunteers were collected using an inkless collection system. Each footprint was visually inspected for ghosting as well as examined using software.Ghosting was present on at least one location in all footprints. The highest prevalence occurred at the tip of the great toe, followed by the second digit and the heel. To a lesser extent, ghosting appeared at the tips of the other three digits. Ghosting often occurred at two or more areas in a given footprint.     

日本的皇位继承制度与《皇室典范》

《皇室典范》是基于宪法制定的天皇皇位继承等有关皇室事务的法律。明治时代出于建立天皇专制主义政权的需要,于1889年颁布的《皇室典范》结束了皇位继承混乱无序的历史,作为与宪法具有同等效力的最高法规,确立了天皇至高无上的地位。第二次世界大战结束后,根据新宪法制定的新《皇室典范》,天皇的地位和性质发生了本质变化,但在皇位继承制度方面依然沿袭了明治《皇室典范》的基本原则。这一战后改革不彻底的后果,束缚了皇室的发展,也是当今日本皇室出现继承危机的根源。     

Casting Aside Clanking Medieval Chains: Prerogative,Statute and Article 50 after the EU Referendum

This article confronts the controversies surrounding Article 50 by analysing the relationship between statute and prerogative in the UK. The piece focuses on domestic constitutional issues and suggests a new way of classifying the relationship between statute and prerogative into two types falling under ‘the abeyance principle’ or ‘the frustration principle’. The abeyance principle means that where statute and prerogative overlap, the prerogative goes into abeyance. The frustration principle means that where statute and prerogative give rise to potential inconsistencies, but do not overlap, the prerogative cannot be used inconsistently with the intention of parliament as expressed in the relevant legislation. It then argues that Article 50 has the status of primary or ‘primary‐equivalent’ legislation which could justify applying the abeyance principle. This would mean that the trigger power would be exercised on statutory authority rather than through prerogative powers. If the courts are unable thus to construe the relevant legislation it argues EU law requires the courts to bridge the gap. Alternatively, if the abeyance principle is not applicable, it argues the frustration principle could apply but the circumstances in this litigation fall outside it. In the further alternative, EU law could require the frustration principle itself to be set aside in this case.     

《反恐法》中的境外反恐问题研究

恐怖主义犯罪已成为当今世界各国面临的头号安全问题。恐怖主义犯罪不仅造成严重的人员伤亡、财产损失,还对民族团结和国家统一带来了恶劣影响。为此,我国颁布了《反恐怖主义法》以严厉打击恐怖主义犯罪。其中,境外反恐成为一大亮点。境外反恐具有多方面的必要性。当前,我国在境外反恐上存在反恐合法性、管辖权、恐怖主义犯罪认定与程序、证据交换、境外侦查与引渡等现实难题。对此,我们可以通过建立新型反恐刑事司法合作机制,完善国内立法与司法,以及加强与他国反恐合作等方式予以解决。     

由青少年严重刑事犯罪的现场透视其犯罪心理

青少年严重刑事犯罪已经引起有关专家学者的高度重视,但是其现场特征及由此折射出的青少年犯罪心理却常被人们所忽视。因此,有必要透过青少年严重刑事犯罪的现场,分析其犯罪心理的产生、特点,并在此基础上提出矫正建议。