Edem v. The Information Commissioner and The Financial Services Authority [2014] EWCA Civ 92

From time to time the Court of Appeal feels the need to steer inferior courts and tribunals away from an over-enthusiastic application of a particular direction of travel signposted by its own previous decisions. In the Edem judgment, published on 7 February 2014, the court has taken the opportunity to restrict significantly the application of its decision more than a decade ago in Durant v. Financial Services Authority, ¹ a case that has been relied on by many commercial data protection practitioners to deny subject access or the wider application of the Data Protection Act 1998 on the grounds that the data were not personal in that they did not relate to the individual in question even though the individual's name appeared as part of the data.     

试析我国刑事被害人补偿制度

从国家层面分析,国家救济体系是指基于法律、政策的保障,对遭受破坏的社会秩序的恢复,其目的旨在填补社会成员遭受侵害之后合法权益的损失。在上述由国家财力支持的救济体系中,刑事被害人救济制度则主要将帮扶对象限定为遭受犯罪侵害的刑事被害人,是指由国家主导并有统一立法,以缓解刑事被害人因受犯罪行为侵害而遭受到的困难、抚慰其精神创伤、减轻其合法权益所受到的损失为主要目的的救济制度。出于我国当前刑事被害人的巨大基数及保护现状,及早完善立法有着现实的必要性。     

养老护理员劳动权益的法律保障研究

随着人口老龄化程度的日益加深,我国对于专业性老年护理的需求也逐渐增加。目前由于我国养老护理行业存在工资福利和劳动付出不对等、缺乏职业培训和发展规划、维权渠道不畅通等问题,愿意从事养老护理的劳动力相对较少,从业人员专业素质偏低,难以满足老年人对于养老服务的实际需求。涉及的诸多因素中,最主要的原因在于现有法律法规未能适应现行养老服务业发展的需要,因此国家有必要设计和制定出符合养老护理员职业特点的法律规范,从法律层面为养老护理员提供劳动权益保障。     

Informing regional taphonomy research using retrospective forensic anthropology cases in the Western Cape,South Africa

The post-mortem interval (PMI) is important in death investigations as it can assist in reconstructing the context of the case and the identification of the unknown individual. However, in some instances the PMI is challenging to estimate due to the absence of regional taphonomy standards. To conduct accurate and locally relevant forensic taphonomy research, investigators require insight into the regional hotspot recovery areas. Thus, forensic cases examined by the Forensic Anthropology Cape Town (FACT) in the Western Cape (WC) province of South Africa between 2006 and 2018 (n = 172 cases; n = 174 individuals) were retrospectively reviewed. In our study, a considerable number of individuals did not have the PMI estimations (31 %; 54/174) and the ability to estimate a PMI was significantly associated with skeletal completeness, unburnt remains, absence of clothing and the absence of entomological evidence (p < 0.05 for each). Significantly fewer cases had the PMI estimated after FACT was formalised in 2014 (p < 0.0001). One third of cases with PMI estimations were made with large open-ended ranges, making them less informative. Factors significantly associated with these broad PMI ranges were fragmented remains, absence of clothing and absence of entomological evidence (p < 0.05 for each). Most decedents (51 %; 87/174) were discovered in police precincts from high crime areas, yet a considerable number (47 %; 81/174) were also found in low crime and sparsely populated areas regularly used for recreational activities. Common sites of body discovery were vegetated areas (23 %; 40/174), followed by the roadside (15 %; 29/174), aquatic environments (11 %; 20/174) and farms (11 %; 19/174). Decedents were discovered exposed (35 %; 62/174), covered with items such as bedding or shrubs (14 %; 25/174) or buried (10 %; 17/174). Our data highlight gaps in forensic taphonomy studies and clearly informs what regional research is needed. Overall, our study demonstrates how forensic case information can inform regional forensic taphonomy studies to locate common areas and contexts for the discovery of decomposed bodies and encourages similar studies in other areas of the world.