Dodd-Frank’s Extension of Criminal Corporate Liability through the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Enabling Whistleblowers and Monitoring Conflict Minerals

In a sense, through its whistleblower provision, the Dodd-Frank Act has enabled the government to use corporate employee whistleblowers to support criminal prosecutions. That position finds agreement in this article, but the conclusion reached is that the results to be obtained from the whistleblower provision will be positive. Through an analysis of the Dodd-Frank Act, this article discusses further the new reach of the FCPA, particularly in light of the whistleblower and conflict-minerals provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act. Finally, this article concludes that although the new provisions can be costly, the provisions are beneficial. The traditional corporate model is now more open, as firms and individuals are required to act with greater care and, in effect, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has greater vitality

Truth and Innocence Procedures to Free Innocent Persons: Beyond the Adversarial System

Through innocent pleas and innocence procedures, this Article urges a fundamental change to the adversarial system to minimize the risk that factually innocent persons will be convicted of crimes. The current system, based on determining whether the prosecution can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, results in acquittals of guilty persons when evidence is sparse and convictions of innocent persons when evidence is abundant. It might be easier philosophically to accept that guilty persons will go free than to know that some innocent persons will be convicted and imprisoned, especially in the American justice system where erroneous jury verdicts based on factual determinations are virtually never reversed. Thus, where defendants claim to be factually innocent, the adversarial system should provide for a plea of innocent, as opposed to only a not guilty plea, as well as innocence procedures through which to search for the truth of the prosecution\u27s allegations. Innocence procedures would require the defendant and the prosecution to engage in a truth-seeking function. The prosecution would have to investigate with a view toward finding exculpatory evidence, rather than expecting the defendant to produce it. The defendant would have to submit to interrogation, and his attorney would have to affirm that the defendant is innocent. Jury instructions at trial would ensure that the prosecution and defendant acted in good faith, and where a defendant pleaded innocent, submitted to interrogation, and then still faced trial the prosecution would be required to prove guilt to a standard higher than beyond a reasonable doubt. By introducing a truth-seeking function into the adversarial system prior to trial, innocent persons would have a more realistic opportunity to save themselves, when in the current system their fates are virtually irrevocably sealed when a jury returns a guilty verdict

Antenatal thyroid hormone therapy and antithyroid drug use in Norway from 2004 to 2018

Objective Thyroid disease during pregnancy is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes and suboptimal fetal development. During the last decades, guidelines for diagnosing thyroid disease during pregnancy have changed considerably and there has been increased awareness. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of thyroid disease treatment over time among pregnant women in Norway. Design Nationwide register-based study. Methods We combined historical data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway and the Norwegian Prescription Database, identifying pregnant women using thyroid therapy from 2004 to 2018. Results A total of 855,067 pregnancies were included in the analyses. The proportion of women using thyroid hormone replacement therapy during pregnancy increased from 1.46% (n  = 800) in 2004 to 3.57% (n  = 1940) in 2018. The proportion of women using antithyroid medications also increased from 0.04% (n  = 20) in 2004 to 0.10% (n  = 56). During these 15 years, the mean maternal age increased by 0.9 years. When adjusting for age, the risk for being on thyroid hormone replacement therapy during pregnancy increased by an average of 5% per year (odds ratio: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.05–1.05). Conclusion During the recent 15 years, there has been a substantial increase in the use of thyroid hormone therapy in Norwegian pregnant women. We speculate that this could be due to an increased awareness in combination with overdiagnosis because of inappropriate diagnostic criteria. To truly understand the possible causes and consequences of this development, further research is warranted.publishedVersio