This paper explores the extent to which nurses can use statutory and common law provisions as lawful authority to detain informal psychiatric patients. The power of a nurse to detain informal psychiatric patients received statutory recognition for the first time in the Mental Health Act (1983). Section 5(4) of this Act, the 'Nurses Holding Power', provides for nurses of the 'prescribed class' t...

We cannot expect perfection from the criminal justice system. Inevitably, some innocent people will be punished and many guilty unpunished. We can and must, however, expect a good-faith effort to address systematic flaws which predictably produce injustice. A long and growing literature establishes and seeks to explain the surprising prevalence of false confessions. The question arises: are tho...

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 sought to end the monopoly that once existed in the telecommunications industry. Since its adoption, the telecommunications industry has been undergoing a period of rapid change and development. The entry of new players into the market encouraged them to seek new ways to attract and keep customers. These changes have led to a rapid influx of new technology and...

Tornado ratings from the 1950s into the early 1970s were based almost entirely upon remote, post-event review of media articles and photographs (Schaefer and Edwards 1998). Starting in the middle 1970s, local National Weather Service (NWS) offices have assigned F-scale ratings to most tornadoes based on a blend of f irst-hand surveys by their meteorologists and anecdotal evidence from news medi...

Corporate criminal liability puts a serious challenge to the economic theory of enforcement. Are corporate crimes different from other crimes? Are these crimes best deterred by punishing individuals, punishing corporations, or both? What is optimal structure of sanctions? Should corporate liability be criminal or civil? This paper has two major contributions to the literature. First, it provide...