Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society

Reviewed Book: Peters, Ted. Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; London: Fowler Wright Bks, 1994

Justice for War Criminals: The Trials of Nazi Concentration Camp Guards at Dachau

This paper will seek to explore whether or not Nazi war criminals tasked with manning and staffing the various concentration and death camps were in any way entitled to due process of law upon their capture and trial. This concept is debated among international Holocaust scholars and often discussed with purely apodictic arguments based upon a lack of understanding of military law. This paper will discuss in detail the rights, liberties, and treatment of Nazi war criminals after World War II in relation to the trials of concentration camp guards. It will also necessarily explore and explicate the misunderstood military legal environment in which these trials occurred as well as identify the international and domestic laws upon which these trials were based. By drawing upon primary source documents like memoranda, trial records, and other notes by officials and parties involved in trying these war criminals, this paper will argue that Nazi concentration camp guards were not entitled to due process nor could they claim any rights independently of those charitably granted them by their captors. This paper will reference the flawed conceptions of international law held by dissenting scholars and juxtapose them with the letter of the law at the time of the trials. This will serve as proof that the concentration camp guards were afforded the proper rights and will also present a cogent and strong argument that promotes understanding of a complex military legal system while simultaneously refuting and quantifying the rights of the concentration camp guards in question

The Persistence of Segregation in Buffalo, New York

Debates about the causes of segregation continue to consider the role that own-race preferences have in understanding the persistence of racial residential segregation in American cities. In this paper, I offer an alternative to the own-race preference model. I argue that segregation of low-income Black households from Whites persists in Buffalo, New York, because the spatial rootedness of Blacks’ survival strategies leads households to choose housing in the central city, where their social networks and most Black households live. I illustrate this argument by exploring the multiple reasons for why a group of African American households, who were prompted to move through the settlement of a high-profile housing discrimination lawsuit, chose to relocate to neighborhoods in the central city in Buffalo. I adopt a context-sensitive perspective in making the argument and further argue that such approaches are ultimately useful in capturing the complex reasons that underlie the persistence of segregation

Effects of parent-child affective quality during high school years on subsequent substance use

The literature indicates that the quality of affective relationships between youth and parents is associated with lower levels of a range of problem behaviors during childhood, early and late adolescence. While the protective effect of parental monitoring on substance use in the high school and post high school years has been demonstrated, there is a knowledge gap concerning effects of parent-child affective quality (PCAQ) during the same periods. We tested a conceptual theoretical model to examine the effects of PCAQ on substance use following high school. The sample was from a RCT that assessed adolescents in rural Iowa from the seventh grade through two years after high school (N=456). We specified direct effects of PCAQ in 12th grade on drunkenness, smoking and illicit drug use during the two years immediately following high school graduation. We also specified the effects of early substance use initiation (alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use reported at baseline) on later use. The direct effect of PCAQ in 12th grade on substance use was significant for all substances during at least one of the two years past graduation (ypg). Results were: drunkenness 1 ypg, β=-.126, p<.05; smoking 1 ypg, β=-.119, p<.05; 2 ypg, β=-.146, p<.05; illicit drug use 2 ypg, β=-.165, p<.05. Some significant indirect effects of PCAQ at baseline, via PCAQ at 12th grade, were found. Results also indicated significant direct effects of early initiation on two of the three substances, albeit with a different pattern of effects over time for each substance by years post high school. Importantly, while early initiation remains the strongest predictor of long-term tobacco and illicit drug use, results show how PCAQ might reduce its harmful effects.peer-reviewe

La responsabilité civile du pollueur : de la théorie de l'abus de droit au principe du pollueur-payeur

Les règles de responsabilité civile du droit commun — et en particulier la théorie de l'abus de droit—s'avèrent dans la plupart des cas insuffisantes pour assurer la réparation des dommages de pollution. Les difficultés de preuve et l'absence de prise en considération du préjudice écologique constituent les principaux obstacles à une indemnisation adéquate des dommages liés aux activités polluantes. Rendu populaire depuis une vingtaine d'années dans les pays industrialisés, le principe économique du pollueur-payeur a servi d'inspiration dans l’élaboration de nouveaux régimes statutaires de responsabilité civile pour dommages de pollution. L'auteure examine dans un premier temps les conséquences juridiques du principe du pollueur-payeur et fait état d'un modèle théorique de responsabilité civile basé sur la coexistence d'une responsabilité sans faute et d'un fonds d’indemnisation financé par les pollueurs potentiels. Dans un deuxième temps, deux régimes de responsabilité statutaire qui appliquent partiellement ce modèle sont brièvement décrits : le régime américain mis en place par la loi CERCLA et les dispositions québécoises prévues dans la section IV.2.1 de la Loi sur la qualité de l'environnement.The rules governing civil liability — and especially the theory of the abuse of rights —frequently prove to be inadequate in most cases involving remedies for damages resulting from pollution. The main obstacles to having adequate indemnification for damages related to polluting activities may be found in the difficulty of adducing evidence and the lack of taking ecological harm into account. Made popular over the past twenty years in industrialized countries, the « polluter pays » principle has served to inspire the development of new statutory regimes of civil liability for pollution damages. The author first examines the legal consequences of the «polluter pays » principle and presents a theoretical model of civil liability based on the co-existence of no-fault liability and a compensation fund financed by potential polluters. Then two statutory regimes that apply partially to this model are briefly described : the American regime set up under the CERCLA Act and Quebec provisions provided under section IV.2.1 of the Environment Quality Act

La précaution en cas d'incertitude scientifique : une des interprétations possibles de l'article 20 in fine de la Loi sur la qualité de l'environnement ?

L'article 20 in fine de la Loi sur la qualité de l'environnement est sûrement l'article le plus important de tout le droit de l'environnement québécois. En prohibant l'émission de contaminants qui sont « susceptibles » de porter atteinte à l'environnement, cette disposition concerne tant les situations où un dommage effectif à l'environnement a été constaté que les situations de risques de dommages pour l'environnement. Par le présent texte, l'auteure veut démontrer que, en raison de sa formulation et du but qu'il vise, l'article 20 in fine pourrait être interprété comme s'appliquant non seulement aux situations de risques connus ou prouvés pour l'environnement, mais aussi aux situations de risques incertains pour l'environnement, c'est-à-dire de risques qui font l'objet d'un début de preuve scientifique mais dont l'existence ne peut être démontrée de façon certaine compte tenu de l'état actuel des connaissances scientifiques. Ainsi, l'article 20 in fine pourrait comporter en lui-même certains des préceptes du principe de précaution qui impose, en cas d'incertitude scientifique quant aux risques que fait courir à l'environnement l'utilisation d'une substance ou d'un procédé, une obligation de tenir compte de ces risques, même s'ils ne sont pas prouvés.Section 20 in fine of the Environment Quality Act is certainly the most important section in all of Québec environment law. By prohibiting the discharging of contaminants that « may » harm the environment, this provision addresses both situations in which effective damage to the environment has been observed as well as others that are a threat to the environment. In this paper, the author seeks to demonstrate that owing to its formulation and the objective pursued, section 20 in fine could be interpreted as applying not only to known hazardous or environmentally documented situations, but also to uncertain environmentally hazardous situations, i.e. risks that are undergoing scientific tests for evidence but are not sufficiently conclusive in light of current scientific knowledge. As such, section 20 in fine could by itself contain some of the precepts underlying the precautionary principle that imposes an obligation to take these hazards into account even if they have not been proven

L’arbitrage des griefs au Canada : Plaidoyer pour une réforme devenue nécessaire

[À l'origine dans / Was originally part of : Fac. Droit - Coll. facultaire - Droit professionnel, Droit du travail et Déontologie]L’élargissement récent de la compétence de l’arbitre de griefs remet en cause le mode de fonctionnement privé d’arbitration. En plus des conflits découlant de l’interprétation ou de l’application d’une convention collective, les arbitres doivent aujourd’hui décider, souvent de manière exclusive, des litiges découlant directement de la loi, y compris ceux relatifs aux droits fondamentaux des salariés. L’auteur soulève la nécessité de revoir les règles de fonctionnement de l’arbitrage des griefs pour les rendre davantage compatibles avec les nouvelles caractéristiques de la compétence arbitrale