State Law Research Articles

جرائم النشر في قانون الصحافة البحرينية المرسوم بقانون رقم (47) لسنة 2002: دراسة مقارنة مع قوانين دول مجلس التعاون لدول الخليج العربية

The study aims to examine publication crimes under Bahraini press law and compare them with the laws of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, focusing on the similarities and differences. It seeks to understand the criminal liability within Bahraini press law, analyze these legal frameworks, and identify legislative gaps that can contribute to amending the law's provisions. A descriptive-analytical and comparative methodology was employed to analyze legal texts and compare the similarities and differences between press laws in Bahrain and relevant GCC states concerning publication crimes and criminal liability. The findings concluded that there are legislative gaps in Bahraini press law that have not been addressed by the legislator. The current law restricts press freedom, does not serve the public interest, and is inconsistent with international best practices. The study recommends the repeal or amendment of provisions criminalizing publication to align with freedom of opinion and expression. It advocates for the abolition of imprisonment penalties for journalists, which constitute a severe infringement on journalistic freedom, and emphasizes the need for a new press law that meets the desired aspirations.

Die Behandlung von Zentralen Orten im kommunalen Finanzausgleich unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Funktionsteilungen am Beispiel des möglichen Oberzentrums Harz

This research paper addresses the role of central places in communal fiscal equalisation and, in particular, the question of whether and, if so, how the additional burden associated with the provision of central place functions for the inhabitants of third municipalities is. For this purpose, the fiscal equalisation laws of the federal states are evaluated comparatively. While the role of central places in communal fiscal compensation is widely discussed in the spatial and financial literature, this does not apply to the specific question of the distribution of the additional burden on the municipalities involved in a function-sharing central place. The paper discusses this using the example of the proposed function-sharing upper centre consisting of the City of Halberstadt, World Heritage City Quedlinburg and the City of Wernigerode in the Harz planning region, Germany. This region has so far lacked an upper centre that is reasonably accessible and could help to ensure equal living conditions. It is argued that the distribution of the additional burden equalisation should not only consider the fiscal capacity of the municipalities involved but also their contribution to the joint fulfilment of functions, based on the respective upper-central supply function.

Impact of State Medical Licensure Exemptions and Telehealth Registries on College Students' Access to Psychiatric Care.

This study examined the impact of state medical licensure exemptions and telehealth registries on college students' access to psychiatric care. The authors attempted to contact 901 psychiatrists who advertised online on Psychology Today by using a simulated patient, described as a student attending college in a state with a medical licensure exemption or telehealth registry. Contact was established with 282 (31%) psychiatrists across 10 states. Of the 143 contacted psychiatrists who were accepting new patients, seven (5%) were aware of state medical licensure exemptions, 43 (30%) were willing to establish care with students attending college in another state regardless of state laws, 42 (29%) were willing to learn about licensure exemptions, and 51 (36%) were unwilling to care for students in another state even when permitted by law. Given psychiatrists' lack of awareness of licensure exemptions and telehealth registries, interstate access to and continuity of care may be limited.

An analysis of offence patterns and legal response to one-punch fatalities in Australia.

One-punch deaths draw considerable legal and media attention due to the nature of catastrophic events and their impact on victims and families. Empirical research on the sentencing outcomes and offence categories faced by the perpetrators is non-existent. This Australian study examined judicial sentencing reviews to unpack perpetrator characteristics, offence patterns and sentencing outcomes for one-punch fatalities over a 30-year period. Two hundred and eighty-seven perpetrator convictions were reported by various parameters such as median sentencing length, injury mechanism and maximum sentencing categories. Secondary outcomes were details of concentrations of alcohol and illicit drug usage and usage of one-punch specific laws, hitherto unelucidated for one-punch assaults. Nearly all perpetrators were male with a median age of 26 years, with 61% charged in New South Wales and Victoria alone. The median sentence length of imprisonment was 3.8-11.5 years for a manslaughter conviction. Median sentence length when categorized by injury mechanism demonstrated variation in both life sentence and one-punch offence categories. About 40% of Australian perpetrators were convicted under one-punch laws in states where these were introduced. The study will increase knowledge and public awareness regarding the impact of one-punch violence and outcomes.

Employee Speech in the United States: The Two Regimes

This article explores the two distinct regimes that protect employee speech in the United States: one for public-sector workers under the First Amendment and one for private-sector workers under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). While both regimes provide certain speech protections, they operate in fundamentally different ways, shaped by their underlying legal and policy frameworks. Public sector workers’ speech is protected by a limited version of the First Amendment, with protections only extending to speech on matters of public concern and subject to the government's interest in managing the workforce. In contrast, private-sector employees are protected by the NLRA, which focuses on speech related to workplace conditions and union activities. However, private-sector protections do not extend to broader political speech or matters of public concern. The article discusses how these two regimes reflect different priorities—protecting democratic discourse in the public sector versus safeguarding collective bargaining rights in the private sector—and how, despite occasional overlap through state laws, they rarely intersect. It also examines how modern developments, such as the rise of social media, challenge the adequacy of these speech protections and may require legislative or administrative action to better address the realities of contemporary communication. Ultimately, the article highlights the limited and targeted nature of employee speech protections in the U.S., consistent with the broader trend of limited employment protections due to the legacy of at-will employment.

US State and Territorial Indigenous Consultation Laws: A Potential Strategy to Improve the Social Determinants of Health.

The United Nations (UN) has articulated the right to self-determination as a human right for Indigenous people; however, US states and territories have been slow to operationalize this aspect of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous consultation laws require all federal executive agencies to consult with tribal nations before implementing policies that have a "tribal implication," and these form the cornerstone of US efforts to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Despite these federal efforts, less is known about the degree to which state and territorial laws require consultation with Indigenous communities. We reviewed all Indigenous consultation laws identified through a search of 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and 5 territories to provide a holistic picture of how jurisdictions have regulated Indigenous consultation efforts. Of the 56 states, 49 (87.5%) had at least 1 Indigenous consultation law; the remaining 7 jurisdictions had none. States engaged in Indigenous consultation in various ways, generally falling into 1 of 3 categories: (1) centralized consultation facilitated through an agency or department, (2) indirect consultation through a designated commission, and (3) fragmented Indigenous consultation through discrete laws. Important gaps were identified, including the lack of a definition for Indigenous consultation, the absence of an appeal process, and the need to train state officials on existing policies. The results provide a baseline on the degree to which US states and territories consult with Indigenous communities and can be used to identify gaps in US compliance with UN human rights mandates.

An In-Depth Analysis of the State Laws That License International Medical Graduates Without American Residency Training.

International medical graduates (IMGs) have been integral to the United States (US) healthcare system and have helped tackle physician shortages for over a century. Current data suggest that by 2030, almost half the states will suffer from physician shortage and estimate a deficit of almost 139,000 physician jobs nationally. These numbers raise concern and call for innovative strategies to mitigate the potential problem. Against this background, the state of Tennessee has passed a law that allows IMGs licensed in a foreign country to obtain provisional licensure to practice in the United States, without the completion of a US-based residency. After the Senate bill SB 1451 was passed in Tennessee, several other states (including Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Virginia, and Wisconsin) have followed suit and started the legislative process to pass laws that provide a new entry point for IMGs seeking to practice medicine in the United States. Each of these laws comes with a unique set of stringent specifications and requirements for individuals who wish to use these novel pathways. Through this article, we highlight the pathways that have opened for IMGs to directly enter clinical practice in the United States (without residency or fellowship training) and explore their implications on patient care and diversity of physician workforce in America.

Acute stroke care coordination in the United States: Variation in state laws for Emergency Medical Services and hospitals.

Lack of care coordination between Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and hospitals contributes to delay of acute stroke (AS) treatment. In the United States, states have adopted laws to improve the quality of EMS and hospital care; the degree to which these laws create regulatory incentives to promote care coordination between them is less well known. We examined state variation in attributes of laws that may influence AS care coordination between EMS and hospitals. We selected ten law "dyads" across seven domains of EMS and hospital AS care informed by published risk assessments of critical steps for improved door-to-needle time and door-in-door-out time. We assessed concordance in prescriptiveness (degree to which levels were similar) and in adoption (degree to which laws were adopted concurrently) of the laws in effect between January 2002 and January 2018 in the United States. The proportion of states with prescriptiveness concordance ranged from 47 % (e.g., inter-facility transfer agreements, comprehensive, primary stroke center certification) to 75 % (e.g., Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) for EMS and hospitals). Adoption concordance ranged from 31 % (e.g., inter-facility transfer agreements, Acute Stroke Ready Hospital certification) to 86 % (e.g., CQI for EMS and hospitals). Laws for EMS triage were less prescriptive than laws for stroke center certification in 22 %-35 % of states adopting both laws, depending on stroke center type. Subsequent policy implementation and impact studies may benefit from assessing concordance and prescriptiveness in policy intervention adoption, particularly as a foundation for evaluating delays in AS treatment due to inefficient care coordination.

Increasing Access to Abortion: ACOG Committee Statement No. 16.

Legal and accessible abortion care is a necessary component of comprehensive health care. Access to abortion is threatened by local, state, and federal government restrictions; limitations on insurance coverage of abortion care; restrictions on funding for training; restrictions imposed by hospitals and health care systems; stigma; violence against health care professionals who provide abortion care; and a subsequent dearth of health care professionals who provide this care. Since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, the abortion landscape is an ever-changing and shifting map of abortion restrictions and protections based on state-level interpretations and definitions of abortion care. This is confusing and chilling to both patients and health care professionals, who must learn to navigate a web of conflicting and varying state laws. Legislative restrictions fundamentally interfere with the patient-health care professional relationship and decrease access to abortion, particularly for individuals with low incomes and those living long distances from health care professionals. This Committee Statement continues the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' previous calls for advocacy to oppose and overturn restrictions, to improve access, and to affirm abortion as an essential component of health care.

The Rights of the Palestinian Woman between Sharia and Its Application in the Palestinian constitution

The Islamic religion is interested in regulating woman's rights and respecting her dignity, where Islam divided woman's rights into public rights and political rights. Indeed, this is evident in the current study entitled "The rights of the Palestinian woman between Sharia and its application in the amended Palestinian constitution of 2005". There is a variation among the international documents related to woman's rights from one county to another based on the political and social conditions of countries; accordingly, the Palestinian constitution approved the rights and freedoms of the Palestinian woman in accordance with the social and political context. Despite the superiority of constitution over all the regular legislations, we can see that the regular laws varied in terms of protection of woman's rights, as stated in the Jordanian penal law of 1960, which is applied in Palestine and the personal status law of 1976, which will be addressed in this study.

Is the Digital Services Act Here to Protect Users?

The regulation of social media platforms continues to be a hotly debated issue in policy and academic circles. In these discussions, the Digital Services Act (DSA) is widely seen as a major piece of an architecture under construction. However, much of the current academic discussion focuses on the content of its new rules and their implementation, with very little work examining the context in which the DSA was passed. This paper explores this context by focusing on the strategic litigation by social media platforms against the Austrian Communication Platforms Act, a member state law adopted during the transition period from the E-Commerce Directive (ECD) to the DSA. The paper's case study shows how social media platforms successfully used EU internal market principles to challenge the Austrian law, paradoxically aligning their interests with the European Commission's goal of preventing legal fragmentation within the EU. This highlights an alliance between corporate interests and the EU regulatory framework and raises questions about the objectives of the DSA. The paper argues that it is important to challenge the narrative that the DSA represents a radical shift towards user protection in the digital sphere. Indeed, the Austrian case study shows how the ECD has been constructed in a way that is very favourable to companies. It is therefore doubtful whether the new compliance-based regulatory tools of the DSA, which are supposed to ensure user protection, can be effective forms of counter-power, given that the dominant paradigm of the ECD, which favours corporate interests, has largely been retained in the DSA.

Law Enforcement Response to Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review of Literature From 2012 to 2023

Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, many states enacted legislation criminalizing most forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) and necessitating law enforcement to shift to treat IPV as a potentially criminal, and thus arrestable, offense. These legislative changes include mandatory arrest laws (i.e., laws that require police to make an arrest if they believe there is a probable cause that a crime occurred) and dual-arrest policies (e.g., laws that require both individuals involved in the IPV incident to be arrested if law enforcement cannot determine who is primarily at fault). In 2012,Partner Abusepublished a comprehensive review, the Partner Abuse State of Knowledge project, which included consideration of how state law and law enforcement policies impact IPV. The current systematic review serves to update the literature published from 2012 to 2023 regarding law enforcement response to IPV cases. A review of 27 papers identified the following themes: characteristics of the offense, IPV dyad demographic characteristics, officer-specific characteristics, and diversion programs/alternatives to arrest. Consistent with prior research, this review suggests the IPV victim’s sex may serve as a salient factor with law enforcement responding more punitively in cases involving female victims. However, research regarding other extralegal factors (e.g., IPV dyad race) generally produced mixed results. Finally, this review highlights alternatives to arrest, like citations and diversion programs that offer promising avenues for future exploration.

Role Incongruity of Women in United States Law Enforcement: A National Survey Exploring Global and Specific Resistance in a Gendered Organization

ABSTRACTSince the 1990s, there has been a lot of research on women in policing and resistance to their entry into the field. Much of the research has examined specific resistance (i.e., individualized resistance based on perceived performance), whereas fewer studies today examine global resistance (i.e., resistance to women police in general). Applying role congruity theory, global and specific resistance by men coworkers, administrators, and the public was examined for a national sample of 358 women in United States law enforcement. It was found that women in law enforcement received slightly more global resistance from the public, whereas men coworkers displayed more specific resistance, and specific resistance was more likely to occur in areas related to the perceived ability of women to handle a masculine job. Multivariate analyses revealed that law enforcement remains a gendered organization with continued role incongruity for women.

Interfaith Marriage in Islamic Law and Positive Law in Indonesia: A Study of the Conditions and Pillars

Interfaith marriage is one of the controversial legal issues in Indonesia. Islamic Law and Indonesian Positive Law regulate the conditions and pillars of marriage differently, especially concerning the legitimacy of marriage between adherents of different religions. This research aims to compare the provisions of Islamic Law and Indonesian Positive Law regarding the conditions and pillars of interfaith marriage in Indonesia. The two main variables of the research are the valid conditions of marriage and the pillars of marriage. Through a normative juridical approach and comparative law analysis, this research examines primary legal sources such as the Qur'an, Hadith, fiqh books, and legislation, as well as secondary data from literature studies and court decisions related to the issue. The research results show convergence and divergence in these two legal systems. Islamic Law is stricter in limiting interfaith marriage, especially for Muslim women. At the same time, Indonesian Positive Law provides more flexible interpretation through administrative mechanisms such as marriage registration and temporary religious conversion. This research highlights the importance of synergy between religious law and state law in addressing interfaith marriage issues in Indonesia, as well as the social and legal impacts arising from the differences in regulations. Thus, this research contributes to developing more comprehensive marriage regulations in Indonesia. Keywords: Interfaith marriage, Islamic Law, Positive Law, marriage requirements, pillars of marriage.

Vybrané problémy kolizního práva pracovního

This paper is the result of research which the author's team conducted on Czech, European and international labour law, specifically in regards to cases in which an employment relationship contacts two or more legal systems of different states. "Conflict of law" rules have led to the development of specific conflict rules that determine the applicable law in a particular case. The most favoured criterion for determining the applicable law is the place of permanent workplace. The conflict rules governing the conflict of different labour law systems also implement the principle of employees' protection, which is significant for the entire body of labour law. The legal approach to determining the appropriate law is complicated in civil law because of several problems. The first issue concerns the scope of labour law. To give context to this problem, it must be considered that certain law systems, the Czech Republic including, conceive labour law as an important part of the social protection system. The labour law in such states contains a large number of rules set forth in the name of public good (overriding rules). These legal systems are reluctant to allow the application of foreign law. Therefore it is important to determine whether the legal relationship in question falls within the scope of labour law or not. The Czech Labour Code set forth its scope using the concept of dependent work. The legislature has shaped the concept by the following words: the work performed by an employee in the relation of inferiority to an employer, when an employee works personally, respecting the employer's instructions, in the employer's name, for payments, in working hours or at another stipulated time, at the work place or some other agreed upon location, at the employer's expense and responsibility. The Czech Labour Code must be applied to govern the legal relationship in the performance of dependent work. Parties shall not violate this rule. The second issue is the qualification problem. What is in the Czech Republic understood as an employment relationship may be classified as a private relationship in another law system. The same is true for the determination of private and public law. States usually do not allow application of foreign public law on their territory. Thus, it is vital to know whether the legislature considers labour law as a part of public or private law. However, some legal systems do not follow such classification at all. That is the reason why this article concentrates on the comparative research of German, Greek, Russian and Slovak labour law conflict rules.

Velké oblasti harmonizace trestního práva – základy srovnání

The presence of fifty-two separate criminal processes in the United States would be much less significant if those processes all were subject to a single law that mandated an exclusive comprehensive regulation for all fifty-two jurisdictions. The U.S. Constitution is not such a law. It is only source of substantial legal regulation that is applicable to all fifty-two jurisdictions. It locks those fifty-two jurisdictions into a basic procedural structure that guarantees a commonality in most overarching principles reflected in the fifty-two different processes. In Australia there are nine different sets of criminal laws operating. Each of the six states, the two territories and the federal jurisdiction has its own criminal laws. Each state or territory has control over crimes occurring with its borders and a corresponding duty not to interfere with the affairs of other jurisdictions. Criminal Codes do not supersede the system of precedent as the provisions are not free of all ambiguity and need to be interpreted. Such a situation is quite similar to the European Union where separate twenty-seven jurisdictions reflect different systems of criminal procedure based on exclusive rights of each Member State to perform criminal justice on its own territory. Nevertheless the process of “europeisation” of criminal law launched after the ratification of EU Treaty in 1993 and in particular after its amendment through Amsterdam Treaty in 1999 opened a bulk of theoretical problems in this area. The criminal law in the U.S. is not a subject as to which there is a natural pressure to achieve uniformity. One factor said to lead to individuality in each state's criminal law is the diversity from state to state of the administrative environments in which that law is applied. Such differences exist in the EU as well but in general administrative a judiciary structure of European states does not differ that much as this is the case among some states in the U.S. In Australia the traditional territorial theory has been challenged by the rise of international offences. There are many offences where federal, state and territory legislatures have exercised their sovereign powers to apply the criminal law beyond their territories. There is as well a growing global interest in expanding the ambit of what are known as extraterritorial offences to include crimes against human rights such as torture, terrorism and sexual trafficking in women and children. There can be found other factors that encourage lawmakers of the different states to look to common sources in shaping criminal procedure of their individual state. All U.S. or Australian states started with the common heritage of the English common law. This is obviously not the case for Europe where we have a heritage of continental criminal procedure and English common law tradition. The American or Australian criminal Jaw thus has more common principles for its jurisdictions than we can find for twenty-seven jurisdictions in Europe. Concerning the instruments of criminal law harmonisation in Europe we definitely have a more formalised system (EC directives, EU framework decisions) than in the U.S. The American or Australian systems seem to be more voluntary for individual states to adopt common principles but less burdensome as to its effects.

Violence, change and continuity in times of transition

Abstract This article discusses how analyses of conflict often overlook competing interpretations of violence in times of change and transition. As a result, in historiography as well as in public discourse, wars just ‘end’ while neglecting the phenomena that are overlapping war and peaceful periods. This article argues that, along the dimensions of state domination, economy and law, alternative periodizations are required to do justice to actors whose politics are often not very strategic yet important for the political dynamics of transitions. Violence, we argue, can be used as a marker and entry point into the complex politics of change, which are motivated by ideology, opportunity, societal dynamics and lack of coherent control by the state or other institutions.

Impact of Pattern-or-Practice Investigations on Crime Rates in Large Cities

In recent decades, the conduct of city police departments has come under increased scrutiny. In response to high profile police actions, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) initiated investigations into the “pattern or practice” of state, local and other law enforcement authorities. In theory, federal oversight can lead to less police abuse, enhanced citizen satisfaction with police, and less crime. Alternatively, federal intervention can correspond to “de-policing” and higher levels of crime. This study explores why some cites are more likely to become a focus of federal investigations and the apparent impact of those investigations on crime. The data suggests that federal investigations are more likely to be launched in higher crime jurisdictions and that investigations do not lead to reduction in the rate of violent or property crime. Statistically significant increases in property crimes after a pattern-or-practice investigation were found compared to similar sized cities.

Digital Disputes: Minimizing Legal Vulnerability in the Information Age.

This project aims to provide guidance for surgeons' online interactions by reviewing key legal decisions. The Nexis Uni database was queried to search for state and federal case law and law journal articles. Search terms were "social media" AND (facial w/s plastic!) and internet AND advice AND "plastic surgery." The first query returned two cases and a law review article. The second returned 39 cases. The 17 most relevant results were included. On surgeons' websites, increased interactivity or opportunities for the sale of products or services make out-of-state courts more likely to have personal jurisdiction over them. There are also many cases involving plastic surgeons filing defamation complaints against patients who reviewed them negatively online. Success in these cases has been limited. Surgeons are instead vulnerable to the "Streisand Effect," where legal action can bring attention to patient complaints. Unique cross-complaints may require the plaintiff to pay the defendant's legal fees if no defamation is proven. Surgeons who appear on "Top Doctor" lists, publish articles, or otherwise display their expertise may unknowingly make themselves "limited purpose public figures." This adds the burden of proving false patient claims were made "with actual malice" rather than through negligence. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Pembentukan Perda Berbasis Syari’ah dalam Bingkai Negara Hukum Pancasila

This research attempts to explore the validity basis (philosophical, sociological juridical, historical, and conceptual) of the formation of Sharia Regional Regulations or Regional Regulations that have a Sharia orientation, which is mostly drawn up in various regions in Indonesia. As for this research, normative juridical analyzes the problems in the formation of Sharia regulations within the framework of the Pancasila state law. Of the seven legal research approaches, the statute approach, conceptual approach, and historical approach are used to find answers to the problems posed in this study. The results of the study stated that the establishment of a Sharia-inspired Regional Regulation has a philosophical foundation in Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, particularly Article 18, Article 18A, Article 18B, Article 25, and Article 29. Sociologically, the cultural pluralism of the Indonesian nation is always related to religion. Juridically, the provisions in Article 10 paragraph (1) letter f of Constitution Number 23 of 2014 concerning Regional Government have been amended several times, most recently by Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation and their explanations. The provisions of Article 2 and Article 3 of Presidential Regulation Number 83 of 2015 concerning the Ministry of Religion also provide clear boundaries regarding the authority of the central and regional governments in the field of religion. This provision provides an opportunity for the regions to form regional regulations with sharia nuances. In the Jakarta Charter (Piagam Jakarta)as a historical document, the government also recognizes and legitimizes the formation of a Sharia Regional Regulation. Then based on conceptual (theoretical), the concept of asymmetric decentralization, it is possible for the Government to implement different autonomy for several regions in Indonesia which allows the development of the unique potential of each region.