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Vulnerability acts as a touchstone in this issue as we find our contributors reflecting on its intersection with gender and sexuality in different ways. Saeidzadeh draws out the significance of misrecognition in her consideration of responses to transsexuality in Iran, while Doonan highlights the potential pitfalls of relying on situational vulnerability in her critique of anti-trafficking legal discourse in the US. Lindsey considers the legal potential of situational vulnerability as a tool to address the 'persistent failure to take action against abuse' in the UK. Durojaye and Oluduro contribute to the recent revitalisation in asking 'the woman question' by drawing on African law and literature to flesh out the development of a gender-sensitive, substantive equality approach from the jurisprudence of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights as it addresses vulnerability to violence. The reviewers continue this international conversation as they address recent contributions on sexuality, family formation and social security.

This article addresses child maltreatment law's use of cultural evidence. Such evidence, offered by immigrant and nonmainstream parents accused of child maltreatment, serves to mitigate intervention in families or to minimize punishment for the offense. The article explores how the two areas of law that currently regulate child maltreatment—criminal and child welfare law—approach the use of such evidence. Civil, child welfare law tends to formally accept and allow for the use of cultural evidence. Criminal law rejects cultural evidence to mount a formal cultural defense that would automatically exempt individuals from punishment for criminal acts, but the system still allows cultural evidence to affect legal decisions. How both systems actually use cultural evidence in practice, however, remains to be determined. The article offers an approach to encourage both legal systems to evaluate and consider cultural evidence more systematically and critically. The analysis also addresses likely objections to the proposed alternatives.

This article considers changes in how legal rules reflect attitudes towards children with Down Syndrome between the early 1980s and the present day. In the early 1980s children with Down Syndrome did not have the same access to medical treatment and education as other children, and were not fully included in their local communities. Some children and adults lived in state-run institutions. As a result of case-law and legislative changes, children with Down Syndrome are now unlikely to be denied medical treatment and they are included in mainstream education. Most children live with their own parents and there is support for adults who wish to live independently. Both adults and children with Down Syndrome are visible members of the community. However, despite changes in the law and in public attitudes towards disability generally and Down Syndrome in particular, the majority of parents who receive a pre-natal diagnosis of Down Syndrome terminate the pregnancy. This reflects concerns about the child's quality of life and also the effect that bringing up a child with a disability would have on the quality of life of other family members. These concerns are legitimated by the government policy of supporting and extending pre-natal testing, with the explicit goal of detecting serious disability. Further legitimation is provided by abortion legislation which permits termination on the ground of serious disability at any stage in pregnancy. The article concludes that although there have been many changes in the lives of those with Down Syndrome since the early 1980s, there are still socially constructed barriers to their full participation in society and their lives are considered less worth living than those of normally developing children.

"The proliferation of information systems throughout the criminal justice system has prompted many universities supporting criminal justice programs to add criminal justice information systems technology to their curriculums. Several universities have gone so far as to hire professors with specializations in information technology and to offer criminal justice information systems as an area of concentration. Introduction to Criminal Justice Information Systems gives an overview of the various software systems and technologies currently used in the criminal justice environment. The book covers a variety of topics critical to each member of the criminal justice system: police, prosecutor, courts, and corrections. It details the current systems in use, how they are used, and how separate systems interact with others. It also suggests how the current technology and the processes built upon it will evolve. While designed as a textbook to meet the needs of an introductory criminal justice information technology course, Introduction to Criminal Justice Information Systems is also a flexible resource useful to professionals in relevant areas of the criminal justice system. With rapidly increasing development and use of technology in modern law enforcement, this book provides a much-needed reference for those who are responsible for its implementation as well as an essential introduction to those who will become responsible for it. An instructor's manual is available as an electronic download upon request."--Provided by publisher

Foundations of legal research and analysis -- The research process : strategies and techniques -- Researching secondary sources -- Constitutions and statutes -- Legislative history research and bill tracking -- Administrative law -- Court systems and reporters -- Finding and updating cases -- Researching court rules and other practice rules -- Legal citation.