The Law-Forensic Science Disciplinary Divide - The Canadian Experience

In this report we seek to provide a comparison between the learning and teaching of Forensic Science at university level in UK with that in Canada. The choice of Canada for such a comparison is due to the fact that forensic-legal policing education has been developing there with the building of stronger relationships between practitioners and HEIs

Strengthening Cross-border Law Enforcement Cooperation: the Prüm Network of Information Exchange

The Prüm network was established to provide mechanisms and the infrastructure to achieve a closer cooperation between the EU member states in combating terrorism, organised crime and illegal immigration through the cross border exchange of DNA profiles, fingerprints and vehicle registration data. While Prüm offers clear benefits for cross-border policing, it continues to present challenges of a technical and scientific nature as well as legal, ethical and socioeconomic concerns. This article reviews these challenges as well as the existing safeguards. It argues that, in order to achieve Prüm benefits and maximise its potential, it is important to enhance the necessary dialogue and cooperation between member states so as to confront the above concerns and address challenges posed by Prüm through balanced measures

How can socioeconomic inequalities in hospital admissions be explained? A cohort study

Objectives To investigate which antecedent risk factors can explain the social patterning in hospital use. Design Prospective cohort study with up to 37 years of follow-up. Setting Representative community sample in the West of Scotland. Participants 7049 men and 8353 women aged 45–64 years were recruited into the study from the general population between 1972 and 1976 (78% of the eligible population). Primary and secondary outcome measures Hospital admissions and bed days by cause and by classification into emergency or non-emergency. Results All-cause hospital admission rate ratios (RRs) were not obviously socially patterned for women (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.10) or men (RR 1.0, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.06) in social classes IV and V compared with social classes I and II. However, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke in women, and respiratory disease for men and women were socially patterned, although this attenuated markedly with the addition of baseline risk factors. Hospital bed days were generally socially patterned and the differences were largely explained by baseline risk factors. The overall RRs of mental health admissions in contrast were socially patterned for women (RR 1.77, 95% CI 1.38 to 2.27) and men (RR 1.51, 95% CI 1.11 to 2.06) in social classes IV and V compared with social classes I and II, but the pattern did not attenuate with the addition of baseline risk factors. Emergency hospital admissions were associated with lower social class, but there was an inverse relationship for non-emergency hospital admissions. Conclusions Overall admissions to hospital were only marginally socially patterned, and less than would be expected on the basis of the gradient in baseline risk. However, there was marked social patterning in admissions for mental health problems. Non-emergency hospital admissions were patterned inversely according to risk. Further work is required to explain and address this inequitable gradient in healthcare use. </p

Use of Criminal Pleas in Aid of Private Antitrust Actions

Few fields of law have experienced a more dramatic pace of development in recent years than has that of the private antitrust action. After several decades of relative quiescence, the action for treble damages has grown in significance as an antitrust enforcement device at a rapidly accelerating rate since World War 11. Especially since the advent of the multitude of Electrical Industry Antitrust Cases in 1960, such private antitrust litigation has occupied a large segment of the time and effort of many judges and of many more lawyers throughout the country. Although few have come to trial, 3 this set of cases has already produced procedural innovations 4 and preliminary rulings which will be major factors in structuring the future course of antitrust litigation. Perhaps of even greater importance, however, is the fact that the mere filing and costly preparation of more than eighteen hundred such actions has created an acute awareness among the business community and the Bar of the possibilities and the threat which the treble damage claim may represent

Eliciting student teacher's views on educational research to support practice in the modern diverse classroom: a workshop approach

Teachers’ professionalism includes using educational research to support their work in the modern diverse classroom. Student teachers’ views as they enter the profession are therefore important. Within a Higher Education Academy social science priority research strand, ‘Supporting research-informed teacher education in a changing policy environment’, this study developed workshops to ascertain student teachers’ views on educational research, preparing materials suitable for primary and secondary sectors. These could be updated, and used by other higher education courses. Face-to-face or email workshops asked participants about their current uses of educational research, and to read and comment upon one policy research extract and one ‘what works’ research review. Small-scale piloting suggested the workshops readily elicited views, and students identified some personal changes following participation. Participants were generally unfamiliar with the principles of ‘what works’ research. Thematic analysis suggested students considered educational research was often inaccessible, but wanted accessible research to inform their practice

A school-commissioned model of speech and language therapy

Many speech and language therapy (SLT) services have limited capacity for providing school-based input. Some offer commissioned SLT input, to enhance the service provided by the UK National Health Service (NHS), giving schools the option to increase the amount and scope of SLT intervention. This two-tiered model of service provision is relatively new and has not been researched. This study investigated the experiences of schools who had commissioned input from the local SLT service, in terms of (1) describing how this was utilized and (2) exploring perceptions of its value. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCos) from 11 schools and were thematically analysed using Framework Analysis. SENCos reported many positive aspects of the commissioned model, including better communication with Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) and improved outcomes for children. SENCos felt that the numbers of children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) had reduced following commissioned input. Very few disadvantages of the model were identified. SLTs delivered a range of activities, including training staff and providing direct input for children. SENCos would recommend the service, and perceived the cost to be moderate. These data suggest that SENCos place a high value on SLT in schools, and welcome the opportunity to purchase additional input

Forging a Stable Relationship?: Bridging the Law and Forensic Science Divide in the Academy

The marriage of law and science has most often been represented as discordant. While the law/science divide meme is hardly novel, concerns over the potentially deleterious coupling within the criminal justice system may have reached fever pitch. There is a growing chorus of disapproval addressed to ‘forensic science’, accompanied by the denigration of legal professionals for being unable or unwilling to forge a symbiotic relationship with forensic scientists. The 2009 National Academy of Sciences Report on forensic science heralds the latest call for greater collaboration between ‘law’ and ‘science’, particularly in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) yet little reaction has been apparent amid law and science faculties. To investigate the potential for interdisciplinary cooperation, the authors received funding for a project: ‘Lowering the Drawbridges: Forensic and Legal Education in the 21st Century’, hoping to stimulate both law and forensic science educators to seek mutually beneficial solutions to common educational problems and build vital connections in the academy. A workshop held in the UK, attended by academics and practitioners from scientific, policing, and legal backgrounds marked the commencement of the project. This paper outlines some of the workshop conclusions to elucidate areas of dissent and consensus, and where further dialogue is required, but aims to strike a note of optimism that the ‘cultural divide’ should not be taken to be so wide as to be beyond the legal and forensic science academy to bridge. The authors seek to demonstrate that legal and forensic science educators can work cooperatively to respond to critics and forge new paths in learning and teaching, creating an opportunity to take stock and enrich our discipline as well as answer critics. As Latham (2010:34) exhorts, we are not interested in turning lawyers into scientists and vice versa, but building a foundation upon which they can build during their professional lives: “Instead of melding the two cultures, we need to establish conditions of cooperation, mutual respect, and mutual reliance between them.” Law and forensic science educators should, and can assist with the building of a mutual understanding between forensic scientists and legal professionals, a significant step on the road to answering calls for the professions to minimise some of the risks associated with the use of forensic science in the criminal process. REFERENCES Latham, S.R. 2010, ‘Law between the cultures: C.P.Snow’s The Two Cultures and the problem of scientific illiteracy in law’ 32 Technology in Society, 31-34. KEYWORDS forensic science education legal education law/science divid