Reasonable Doubt Research Articles

The Logic and Value of the Presumption of Doli Incapax (Failing That, an Incapacity Defence).

Children who do not understand the serious wrongness of their actions lack criminal capacity and cannot be convicted. At common law, children under seven are deemed to lack criminal capacity, children over 14 possess full capacity and children between seven and 14 are rebuttably presumed to lack capacity; the prosecution must prove capacity beyond reasonable doubt. Australia has increased the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to 10 and is considering a further increase. England & Wales and Northern Ireland have raised the MACR to 10 but have abolished the rebuttable presumption: at age 10, all children are assigned full criminal capacity. This article agrees with international calls for the MACR to be raised but argues that it is more important that the rebuttable presumption should be retained and extended. Children's brains and decision-making capacities continue to develop throughout their teenage years at different rates. The rebuttable presumption provides individualised justice for children facing developmental difficulties. To wrongfully convict a child who lacks capacity will unjustly damage their life chances. Where a child does have capacity, a variety of evidence may be available to the prosecution to prove it. If the prosecution fails to discharge the burden, the child should be acquitted. The acquittal may be mistaken, but this error is far less harmful than a wrongful conviction.

Waste Management and Environmental Conservation: An Overview

Managing waste and conserving the environment confronts the government, the community, the people and the industry. There is a conceptual and sustainable framework to be imbibed in tackling the menace of waste. The waste management profile at hand and environmental status quo defeats the strides of conservation of wastes which debar any stainable economy. However, beyond all reasonable doubts, best practices for waste management gives most-sought results in the future ahead. At large, a beam of global light into the radical and rational trend of waste management programs leads to economic sustainability based on the capacity of innovation; Nigeria vies to make a mark in innovation outcome in the direction of appropriately curtailing wastes at all levels. Despite being tagged an under-developed nations, Nigeria still positions itself as a great and conscious manager of wastes of all sorts in Africa. This study assessed the cultural management of wastes in Nigeria.

Lie Detection: What Works?

A reliable lie-detection method would be extremely useful in many situations but especially in forensic contexts. This review describes and evaluates the range of methods that have been studied. Humans are barely able to pick up lies on the basis of nonverbal cues; they do so more successfully with systematic methodologies that analyze verbal cues and with physiological and neuroscientific methods. However, the rates at which people are able to detect lies are still well below the legal standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This means that the utmost caution must be exercised when such methods are employed. In investigations where independent evidence exists, there is emerging evidence that interviews based on a free account followed by the gradual introduction of the evidence by investigators can reveal inconsistencies in a guilty interviewee’s account. Automated machine-learning methods also hold some promise.

Investigation of the impact of PSO, ABC, BFO and Cuckoo search optimization techniques on UPFC device for sustainable voltage stability margin improvement

This paper investigates the enhancement of voltage stability margin using Unified Power Flow Control (UPFC) device tuned with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Bacterial Foraging Optimization (BFO) and Cuckoo Search techniques (CS) on Nigerian 330 kV 56-bus practical network. In order to have a voltage stable power system, it is good to keep voltages within the acceptable limits. This is achieved using continuation power flow embedded in Power System Analysis Toolbox (PSAT). The optimal location and tuning of the UPFC device is determined using line stability index and the met-heuristics techniques. The effects of UPFC and the proposed optimizing techniques on voltage stability margin are examined. The results so obtained for tuning PSO, ABC, BFO and Cuckoo Search with UPFC device are compared to know the technique that yields the best loading parameter for Nigerian 56- bus power system for voltage stability margin enhancement. It is found that UPFC tuned with Cuckoo Search outperforms the other techniques in terms of the increased loading parameter of the Nigerian power system with margin improvement of 86.6%, 90% and 88.6% for Adiabor (Bus 45), Jalingo (Bus 34) and Jos (Bus 13). The tuned UPFC device has proved beyond reasonable doubt that it can improve voltage stability margin of the entire Nigerian 330 kV Network as envisaged from results before and after optimization.

To Disclose or Not to Disclose: Lessons from a Eulogy’ Observations from Port Autonome de Douala v. Douala International Terminal (Paris Court of Appeal No. RG 20/18330)

In January 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal set aside a partial award issued in an ICC arbitration on the basis that an eulogy delivered by the presiding arbitrator (‘President’) to counsel in the arbitration gave rise to reasonable doubts as to the President’s independence and impartiality. Arbitration awards, setting aside

연속적 간격법의 타당성

The current study aimed to confirm the validity of the method of successive intervals (SI) as a scaling method for stimuli and attributes. In order to achieve this research objective, the measurement of stimuli and attributes calculated by SI and item response theory (IRT) were compared. The blameworthiness of 33 behaviors (stimuli) was measured, and based on the measurement, the psychological attribute of ‘representation of innocence’ was measured. The correlations between the measurements calibrated by SI and IRT were estimated for the blameworthiness and the ‘representation of innocence.’ The theoretical relationship among ‘representation of innocence,’ legal threshold for a guilty verdict (beyond a reasonable doubt), the individual practical threshold for a guilty verdict, and the difference between the two thresholds estimates. These analyses were conducted on the 300 participants (survey sample) collected for this study and replicated on the 360 participants (cross-validation sample) obtained from previous research data. As a result, it was found that the two lists of measures for the blameworthiness of behaviors measured by SI and IRT were positively correlated. However, the correlation of measures of ‘representation of innocence’ from the two methods was observed only in the survey sample. In addition, the ‘representation of innocence’ measured by SI showed a theoretically predicted relationship with the legal conviction standard, and the measurement by the IRT showed the relationship predicted by theory with the actual conviction criteria only in the cross-validation sample. In the discussion, the author demonstrated the validity of SI as a scaling method for stimulus and attribute and suggested the direction for further research.

GERMAN EXPERIENCE IN REGULATING PROCEDURE FOR DISMISSAL OF CIVIL SERVANTS: AREAS OF APPLICATION IN NATIONAL LABOUR LEGISLATION

The relevance of the article is due to the need to optimise and review for compliance with European standards the institution of dismissal of civil servants. Therefore, the modernisation of the civil service in line with the European experience is one of the priority tasks facing the national legislator, and the institution of dismissal of civil servants is one of the issues that, in our opinion, could be improved on the basis of the legislation of European countries. The experience of those countries, which have the civil service modernised and reformed already in the last century, and today have a stable and sustainable system where each element functions properly is certainly useful for Ukraine. Such countries include the Federal Republic of Germany, which is traditionally considered by domestic researchers as a model for reforming any civil service institution. The article analyses the specifics of German legislation regulating the procedure for dismissal of civil servants. The author presents the legislative provisions of Germany in the context of the area under study. The article reveals how the specificities of the national legal framework for the procedure for dismissal of civil servants differ. The positive aspects of progressive foreign legislation are noted. Specific proposals are made to adopt the positive German experience into national labour legislation. It is found that since German law does not set minimum time limits for a civil servant to notify the appointing authority of his/her dismissal, this way the interests of the State are protected if the dismissal of a civil servant will harm them in the short term. An alternative to such changes may be to grant the appointing authority the right to postpone the dismissal of a civil servant if his or her dismissal within the timeframe specified in the application would harm the public interest. For example, in case a civil servant performs certain official tasks that cannot be transferred to another employee, or if the head of the civil service has reasonable doubts about finding an adequate replacement for the civil servant within the time limits established by law.

Pitfalls of Using NIR-Based Clinical Instruments to Test Eyes Implanted with Diffractive Intraocular Lenses

The strong wavelength dependency of diffractive elements casts reasonable doubts on the reliability of near-infrared- (NIR)-based clinical instruments, such as aberrometers and double-pass systems, for assessing, post-surgery, the visual quality of eyes implanted with diffractive multifocal intraocular lenses (DMIOLs). The results obtained for such patients when using NIR light can be misleading. Ordinary compensation for the refractive error bound to chromatic aberration is not enough because it only considers the best focus shift but does not take into account the distribution of light energy among the foci which strongly depends on the wavelength-dependent energy efficiency of the diffractive orders used in the DMIOL design. In this paper, we consider three commercial DMIOL designs with the far focus falling within the range of (-1, 0, +1)-diffractive orders. We prove theoretically the differences existing in the physical performance of the studied lenses when using either the design wavelength in the visible spectrum or a NIR wavelength (780 to 850 nm). Based on numerical simulation and on-bench experimental results, we show that such differences cannot be neglected and may affect all the foci of a DMIOL, including the far focus.

The administrative grotesquerie of pandemic revanchism: propag(and)ating COVID-19 and the operational banalities of alt-health

ABSTRACT This paper addresses U.S. pandemic-related propaganda, as a mode of administering society, selves, and the COVID-19 virus relevant to other national contexts. The paper examines what I call pandemic revanchism, which, in order to stoke U.S. culture wars, propag(and)ates the COVID-19 epidemic by sensationalizing the trivial and normalizing the extraordinary or absurd. Banal forms of administrative grotesquerie mobilize a community of alt-health (non)sense and tie freedom to a viral and literally infectious resentment and retaliatory collateral mortality. The paper first develops the framework of FOOB (‘folklore of operational banality’) to scrutinize how ordinary health/medical administration and reactionary power relations alike level sense and non-sense. It then offers a performative analysis that shows human geographies of routinized anti-establishment refusal and conspiratorial organizing related to the pandemic. The FOOB approach refuses to simply admonish pandemic revanchism and, instead, tracks how this form of administration consolidates social terrains and quotidian online activity. The analysis seeks to level criticism in a way that undermines social division. It does so by remaining open to reasonable doubts about biomedicalization that are swept up in alt-health and pandemic-related propaganda, and by foregrounding how policy, affect, and storylines routinize extremisms within the American public terrain.

Reasonable doubt

Reasonable doubt

Forced Organ Harvesting

Forced Organ Harvesting

Previously reported and here added cases demonstrate euploid pregnancies followed by PGT-A as “mosaic” as well as “aneuploid” designated embryos

BackgroundAfter the longest time opposing all transfers of embryos by preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) diagnosed as “chromosomal-abnormal,” the field has over recent years slowly been moving toward selective transfers of by PGT-A as “mosaic” diagnosed embryos, but is still rejecting transfers of embryos by PGT-A defined as “aneuploid.”MethodsUpon review of the literature, we report published cases of euploid pregnancies following transfers of PGT-A as “aneuploid” diagnosed embryos and add several additional, ongoing cases at our center.ResultsAmong the published cases from our center, we identified seven euploid pregnancies from “aneuploid” embryos, four of which preceded the PGT-A industry’s 2016 switch from binary “euploid” – “aneuploid” reporting to “euploid,” “mosaic,” and “aneuploid” reporting. That those four cases post 2016 PGT-A definition involving “mosaic” embryos, therefore, cannot be ruled out. Since then, we recently established three additional ongoing pregnancies from transfers of “aneuploid” embryos which still await confirmation of euploidy after delivery. A recent fourth pregnancy from the transfer of a trisomy 9 embryo miscarried before a fetal heart. Outside our own center’s experience, the literature revealed only one additional such transfer, involving PGT-A as a “chaotic-aneuploid” diagnosed embryo with six abnormalities, leading to normal euploid delivery. In reviewing the literature, we furthermore demonstrate why current PGT-A reporting that differentiates between “mosaic” and “aneuploid” embryos based on relative percentages of euploid and aneuploid DNA in a single trophectoderm biopsy of on average 5-6 cells, is biologically non-sensical.ConclusionBasic biological evidence and a clinically still very limited experience with transfers of PGT-A as “aneuploid” labeled embryos demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that at least some “aneuploid” embryos can lead to healthy euploid births. Therefore, this observation establishes beyond reasonable doubt that the rejection of all “aneuploid” embryos from transfer reduces pregnancy and live birth chances for IVF patients. Whether (and to what possible degree) pregnancy and live birth chances differ between “mosaic” and “aneuploid” embryos, remains to be determined. The answer will likely depend on the aneuploidy(ies) of an embryo and to what degree percentages of “mosaicism” in a single, on average 5/6-cell trophectoderm biopsy can reflect the ploidy-status of a complete embryo.

James Bradley Thayer i problem „niekonstytucyjności ponad wszelką wątpliwość”

The main purpose of this paper is the presentation of Harvard Law School scholar James Bradley Thayer and his famous article The Origin and Scope of the American Doctrine of Constitutional Law, published in Harvard Law Review in 1893. Thayer formulated therein his theory of judicial restraint based on the formula unconstitutionality beyond reasonable doubt. This theory influenced such eminent judges and scholars like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, Learned Hand and, last but not least, Felix Franfurter, and is still broadly discussed in contemporary American constitutional jurisprudence. In conclusion the author proposes to make American experiences in this area useful for the current debate concerning Polish constitutional crisis.

Rate Expectations: Jurors and the Self-Reinforcing Effect of Conviction Rates

We examined whether jurors who know that a prosecutor has a high conviction rate are more inclined to convict a defendant than jurors who know that the prosecutor has a low conviction rate. Using simulated criminal cases, we conducted two experimental studies with jury-eligible participants. Study 1 (N = 200) tested whether information about prior conviction rates (high or low) affected jurors’ estimations of the probability of guilt in the context of a robbery. Study 2 (N = 205) used another criminal trial context (murder) and another dependent variable (dichotomous guilty/not guilty verdicts). Study 2 also incorporated jury instructions on the reasonable doubt standard and included a control condition in which no information regarding the conviction rate was provided. In both studies, jurors in the high conviction rate treatment were significantly more likely to convict the accused than jurors in the low conviction rate treatment. When jurors are aware of a prosecutor's prior conviction rates, a self-reinforcing cycle may arise in which conviction rates determine conviction rates.

Intime conviction’ in Germany: Conceptual Foundations, Historical Development and Current Meaning

The paper analyses the concept of «intime conviction» from the perspective of the German reformed inquisitorial criminal procedure. It starts off with the discussion of the foundations of the concept and explains how it – in essence, a flexible method to assess the available evidence – is integrated in the larger topic of the law of evidence, especially its production and evaluation (infra 1.). One key issue in this regard is how much freedom is given to the adjudicator to carry out the evidentiary evaluation and how this freedom relates to the applicable standard of proof (Beweismaßstab, estándar probatorio), being «beyond any reasonable doubt» (BARD) the most popular one. At any rate, in a (reformed) inquisitorial system all persons involved in the evidentiary process should be guided by the search for truth. To fully understand «intime conviction» and how it operates in the reformed inquisitorial procedure it is necessary to take a look at the historical development and the different factors influencing this development (2.). Here again the importance of the fact-finding authority (professional judges vs. laypersons, especially jury) comes to light and its dependence or at least relationship with the system of evidentiary evaluation. It will be seen that while the current system is based on the historical precedents the historical development has not been linear. This current system is then analysed in the following section (3.). It will be shown that it moves somewhere between the former system of legal proof and free evaluation. An expansive appeals jurisprudence has increasingly turned the «free conviction» into a sort of «conviction raisonnée», the lack of remaining (reasonable) doubts as a basis for a conviction makes clear that it is the BARD standard which effectively informs the intime conviction method in substantive terms. The paper closes with some further considerations on the justification of the (high) standard and the (formally not necessary) proof of defences (4.).

Constraining the Cosmic Merger History of Intermediate-mass Black Holes with Gravitational Wave Detectors

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) have not been detected beyond any reasonable doubt through either dynamical or accretion signatures. Gravitational waves (GWs) represent an unparalleled opportunity to survey the sky and detect mergers of IMBHs, making it possible for the first time to constrain their formation, growth, and merger history across cosmic time. While the current network LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA is significantly limited in detecting mergers of IMBH binaries, the next generation of ground-based observatories and space-based missions promise to shed light on the IMBH population through the detection of several events per year. Here, we assess this possibility by determining the optimal network of the next generation of GW observatories to reconstruct the IMBH merger history across cosmic time. We show that Voyager, the Einstein Telescope, and Cosmic Explorer will be able to constrain the distribution of the primary masses of merging IMBHs up to ∼103 M ⊙ and with mass ratio ≳0.1, while LISA will complementary do so at higher mass and smaller mass ratios. Therefore, a network of next-generation ground-based and space-based observatories will potentially reconstruct the merger history of IMBHs. Moreover, IMBHs with masses ≲5 × 103 M ⊙ could be observed in multiband up to a redshift of z ≈ 4, ushering in a new era of GW astronomy.

Combatting Domestic Violence under International Law: Assessing the Various Legal Inconsistencies Frustrating the Protection of Women's Rights in Cameroon

The notion of violence especially on the rights of women has been plagued with lots of plausible euphoria jeopardising the initial rationale and objective of the human rights placement, that of ensuring that everyone should be treated with respect and fundamental dignity. The situation has become appalling and frustrating as women encounter violations of their various status and rights, making them become subjects of ridicule. Willing to ensure the recognition and protection of women, Cameroon has adopted a series of international, regional and national laws aiming at ensuring a safe and secured environment for the protection of women's rights and status. Regardless of the various measures set by the country, the notion of domestic violence appears to be more of a pandemic than a curable substance as issues of women protection are concerned. This article is of the opinion that the concept of domestic violence in Cameroon is accelerating as most women are still treated as an object of commodity in the eyes of many. There is a continuous violation of women's rights especially in aspects of sexual violence and discriminatory practices meted out on women. This situation has become worrisome, as many question the future of women's rights in Cameroon as issues of sexual violence escalate, thus affecting tremendously the prestigious status to be occupied by women in the society. In answering the above question and hypothesis, there will be the need to evaluate the domestic violence climate in Cameroon by questioning the complexities in the country on issues related to combating domestic violence and examining the way forward. It is convenient beyond all reasonable doubt that, sexual violence continues to be a hard nut to crack notwithstanding all the impressive efforts put in place by the government of Cameroon in ensuring its fight. To this end, it is advisable that more efforts, mechanisms and methods should be invested by the government of Cameroon to establish a favourable climate and environment in the protection and preservation of women's rights and status in the country.

Forceful counteraction to juvenile delinquency: overcoming taboos

According to the official statistics, juvenile delinquency continues to decline steadily, which, of course, raises reasonable doubts both among scientists involved in the issue under consideration and some citizens. In their socially dangerous manifestations, they are becoming more and more daring and aggressive, the share of violent crimes in the overall structure of juvenile delinquency is only increasing. Fundamental approaches to the analysis and reassessment of the situation have not changed for a long time, creating the illusion of positive dynamics and sufficiency of measures taken to prevent juvenile delinquency. At the same time, countering socially dangerous manifestations of minors is left to the mercy of citizens who are directly confronted with such manifestations of gross uncontrolled aggression, teenagers who feel their impunity perfectly, most often acting in a group. In front of them even law enforcement officers often look powerless. However, recently more and more attention has been paid to the capabilities of citizens and law enforcement officers to legally resist criminal expansion. The authors do not call for strengthening the criminal responsibility of minors, given the already punitive beginnings of modern Russian criminal legislation, but it is still necessary to act decisively. It is advisable to tighten administrative legislation, which to some extent will reduce the feeling of impunity among adolescents and will obviously contribute to the prevention of socially dangerous manifestations on their part in the future. At the same time, it is necessary to change the attitude of both the legislator and the law enforcement officer to persons who show civil initiative in forcibly (by causing harm) countering socially dangerous acts, including those committed by minors or with their participation.

ԱՊԱՀՈՎՄԱՆ ԻՆՍՏԻՏՈՒՏԻ ԱՌԱՆՁՆԱՀԱՏԿՈՒԹՅՈՒՆՆԵՐԸ ՎԻՃԱՐԿՄԱՆ ՀԱՅՑԻ ՀԻՄԱՆ ՎՐԱ ՀԱՐՈՒՑՎԱԾ ԳՈՐԾԵՐՈՎ

One of the effective methods stipulated by the legislation, which ensures the implementation of judicial decisions, is by establishing a distinct mechanism for securing rights during administrative proceedings. This mechanism, referred to as “preliminary protection of rights,” operates separately from the method used to secure claims. The latter method is applicable only to three specific types of claims and does not extend to dispute claims. Notably, this study focuses on the suspension of administrative acts as a unique form of preliminary protection. It sheds light on the distinctions between this suspension and the general claim securing process. Furthermore, it underscores legislative strategies, identifies legal gaps in the current framework, and suggests legal remedies. The research explores the differences between suspending the execution of an administrative act and suspending its operation. It emphasizes the necessity of empowering courts to employ protective measures while investigating the factual context of a case, guided by terms such as “significant damage,” “reasonable doubt,” and “ impossibility of rights protection.” The interpretation of these terms forms the foundation for suspending administrative acts. The investigation delves into varying interpretations of the term “impossibility” and advocates for uniformity in its application. It also delves into instances where immediate execution of administrative acts is mandated, both as a legal requirement and as a rationale for their swift execution by administrative bodies. This analysis considers the interplay between public and private interests in these scenarios. In this pursuit, the study draws insights from international practices, as well as domestic legislative and judicial experiences. It pinpoints legal gaps and introduces potential legal remedies within this framework.

A Red Giants’ Toy Story. II. Understanding the Red-giant Branch Bump

The Red-Giant Branch Bump (RGBB) is one of the most noteworthy features in the red-giant luminosity function of stellar clusters. It is caused by the passage of the hydrogen-burning shell through the composition discontinuity left at the point of the deepest penetration by the convective envelope. When crossing the discontinuity the usual trend in increasing luminosity reverses for a short time before it increases again, causing a zig-zag in the evolutionary track. In spite of its apparent simplicity the actual physical reason behind the decrease in luminosity is not well understood and several different explanations have been offered. Here we use a recently proposed simple toy model for the structure of low-mass RGs, together with previous results, to show beyond reasonable doubt that the change in luminosity at the RGBB can be traced to the change in the mean molecular weight of the layers on top of the burning shell. And that these changes happen on a nuclear timescale. The change in the effective mean molecular weight, as the burning shell approaches the discontinuity, causes a drop in the temperature of the burning shell which is attenuated by the consequent feedback contraction of the layers immediately below the burning shell. Our work shows that, when applied correctly, including the feedback on the structure of the core together with the increase in the mass of the core, shell-source homology relations do a great quantitative job in explaining the properties of full evolutionary models at the RGBB.