Exploring the mens rea requirements of the Serious Crime Act 2007 assisting and encouraging offences

This article examines the mens rea requirements of the new assisting and encouraging offences set out in Part 2 of the Serious Crime Act 2007. Analysing the case of Rv.S&H [2011] EWCA Crim 2872, a case in which the Court of Appeal attempted to clarify this complex and troublesome area, it is demonstrated how and why the court (as well as other academic commentators) have erred in their interpretations of the statute. Moving to clarify these areas of uncertainty, the article then seeks to cast light on concerns about the future operation of these offences, concerns previously hidden by that uncertainty

Automatism is never a defence

The central aim of this article is to set out and justify the contention that automatism is never a defence, not even exceptionally. Where D is not at fault for her lack of voluntariness, the term ‘automatism’ is simply a shorthand explanation that D does not satisfy an essential element of every offence: voluntary conduct. Where D is at fault for her lack of voluntariness, the automatism rules (within the current law) become an inculpatory tool through which to substitute the missing offence elements and construct liability. Having recognised that automatism plays an inculpatory role within the law, we analyse this role and conclude that it is defective: prior fault automatism lacks the equivalent blameworthiness necessary to fairly substitute for even missing basic intent offence elements. It is from here that we discuss the possibility of a new automatism offence, to recognise the criminal blameworthiness of D’s conduct in certain cases, but to do so in a coherent manner that appropriately criminalises and labels the defendant. Looking at the outline of the potential new offence we are in a much better position to evaluate the future role of automatism in the criminal law. If we do not believe that such an offence is deserving of criminalisation, then the current law must be changed to prevent prior fault automatism constructing liability under any circumstances. If we do believe that such an offence has a place within the criminal law, then the current law should be changed to reflect this more clearly, and we must focus on exactly how it should be defined

Child migrants in Africa

Child Migration in Africa explores the mobility of children without their parents within West Africa. Drawing on the experiences of children from rural Burkina Faso and Ghana, the book provides rich material on the circumstances of children's voluntary migration and their experiences of it. Their accounts challenge the normative ideals of what a 'good' childhood is, which often underlie public debates about children's migration, education and work in developing countries The comparative study of Burkina Faso and Ghana highlights that social networks operate in ways that can be both enabling and constraining for young migrants, as can cultural views on age- and gender-appropriate behaviour. The book questions easily made assumptions regarding children's experiences when migrating independently of their parents and contributes to analytical and cross-cultural understandings of childhood. Part of the groundbreaking Africa Now series, Child Migration in Africa is an important and timely contribution to an under-researched area

Rule Value Reinforcement Learning for Cognitive Agents

RVRL (Rule Value Reinforcement Learning) is a new algorithm which extends an existing learning framework that models the environment of a situated agent using a probabilistic rule representation. The algorithm attaches values to learned rules by adapting reinforcement learning. Structure captured by the rules is used to form a policy. The resulting rule values represent the utility of taking an action if the rule`s conditions are present in the agent`s current percept. Advantages of the new framework are demonstrated, through examples in a predator-prey environment

Research 2.0 : improving participation in online research communities

Web 2.0 thinking and technologies create a number of new opportunities to conduct research broadly labeled as Research 2.0. Research 2.0 is a growing area of academic and commercial interest, which includes research undertaken in online research communities. This research in progress paper explores the practice of online research communities using a case study example operated by the commercial market research company Virtual Surveys Limited (VSL) in the UK on behalf of their client United Biscuits UK Ltd. The preliminary findings are based on VSL and academics working together to improve the online research community participants’ response rate and the quality of contributions. Data collected for this study is based on meetings, participant observation, and a pilot survey of United Biscuits online research community (snackrs.com) members. Using the responses of 112 snackrs.com community members, a preliminary typology of motivational factors is proposed. This can be used to refine the recruitment and development of activities in an online research community. Also, a model for supporting online research communities to ensure longitudinal engagement based on an adaptation of Salmon’s (2004) 5 Stage Model for e-moderation is proposed, extending the 5 stages to 7 – adding the stages of selection and disengagemen

Summary of Findings from the Child Labor Surveys in the Cocoa Sector of West Africa

International Child Labor Program - Bureau of International Affairs (ILAB)ChildLaborCocoaFindings.pdf: 1028 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020