The Urban Criminal Justice System Can Be Fair

This essay contains perspectives on fairness in the criminal justice system. It is written by a prosecutor with experience in an urban setting. He touches on topics such as racism, jury selection, the Rodney King case, the Howard Beach Case

Fiduciary Duties and RUPA: An Inquiry Into Freedom of Contract

The Revised Uniform Partnership Act of 1994 (RUPA) section 404 establishes a comprehensive definition of partnership fiduciary duties and includes an express recognition of the unique position of a partner. The approach taken by RUPA endorses too great an invasion of the principle of freedom of contract among partners, and a change in the language of RUPA is proposed with the goal of expanding freedom of contract without abandoning the requirement of good faith

United Nations Financing of the Law of the Sea Preparatory Commission: May the United States Withhold Payment?

In this Note, the legal basis of the United States position will be evaluated. After an overview of the events surrounding the controversy, the sources of the General Assembly\u27s budgetary and apportioning authority and the United Nations\u27 budget procedures will be considered. There will follow a discussion of an International Court of Justice advisory opinion upon which both the United States and its opponents rely. Finally, the financial arrangement between the United Nations and the Preparatory Commission (Commission) will be examined in light of the formal relationship between those two bodies

The 1996 outburst of GRO J1655-40: disc irradiation and enhanced mass transfer

We show that the 1996 outburst of the X-ray binary transient system GRO J1655-40 can be explained by the standard dwarf-nova type disc instability, followed by an episode of enhanced mass transfer from the secondary if the mass transfer rate in GRO J1655-40 is within a factor < 10 of the stability limit. We argue that irradiation of the secondary during the onset of the outburst driven by the thermal instability in the outer disc can increase the mass transfer rate above the minimum value required for stable accretion. This will then produce the period of near-constant X-ray emission seen in this system. This scenario can also explain the observed anti-correlation between the optical and X-ray fluxes. It is generally accepted that optical emission in low-mass X-ray binaries is produced by irradiation of the outer disc by X-rays. There is also strong circumstantial evidence that in order for the outer disc to see the irradiating flux, it must be warped. Depending on the warp propagation mechanism, either a burst of mass from the secondary or viscous decay are likely to decrease the degree of warping, thereby causing the decrease in the observed optical flux while the X-ray flux remains constant or even increases, exactly as observed in GRO J1655-40. Finally, the decrease of the disc warping and, therefore, irradiation will cause the disc to become unstable once again, terminating the outburst.Comment: Astronomy and Astrophysics - in pres

Tackling child sexual exploitation: a study of current practice in London

This report was commissioned by London Councils and the London Safeguarding Children Board and written by Beckett, H; Firmin, C; Hynes, P and Pearce JIn autumn 2013, London Councils commissioned a team of researchers from the University of Bedfordshire to map current responses to child sexual exploitation (CSE) across London. This summary report presents an overview of the key findings of the study; please refer to the full report for further details on, and context to, the study.1 The study was conducted in October / November 2013. The findings are drawn from an in-depth quantitative survey (completed by 30 London boroughs and local safeguarding children boards) and eight semi-structured interviews with statutory and voluntary sector providers. The report provides a snapshot of current responses to CSE across London, in relation to: Local scoping of the issue; Local policies and procedures; Training and awareness raising; Identification and early intervention (re. victims and perpetrators); Responding to cases of CSE (re. victims and perpetrators); and Overarching reflections on progress and challenges. Although there is still much progress to be made, the report encouragingly demonstrates that significant work is underway within this field, with pertinent learning emerging from a number of different boroughs

The X-ray Transient XTE J2012+381

We present optical and infrared observations of the soft X-ray transient (SXT) XTE J2012+381 and identify the optical counterpart with a faint red star heavily blended with a brighter foreground star. The fainter star is coincident with the radio counterpart and appears to show weak H alpha emission and to have faded between observations. The RXTE/ASM lightcurve of XTE J2012+381 is unusual for an SXT in that after an extended linear decay, it settled into a plateau state for about 40 days before undergoing a weak mini-outburst. We discuss the nature of the object and suggest similarities to long orbital period SXTs.Comment: 5 pages, 7 postscript figures included, uses mn.sty. Accepted for publication in MNRA