AIM To evaluate the impact on smokers' behavior of public health activity related to a religious event such as Lent in a predominantly Roman Catholic country. METHODS "Smoke out day" was organized on the first day of Lent, a period of self-denial for Roman Catholics, combining cultural and religious significance for Croatian people. The day was covered by a massive media campaign. Smoking beh...

This paper addresses the issue of the optimal standard of proof in criminal law. It is assumed that people in society care about both fairness and deterrence. It is important to punish those who are guilty and only those. However, error is unavoidable and hence a trade-o¤ emerges between the three aims of punishing the guilty, not punishing the innocent and deterring potential criminals. It is ...

∗ The authors would like to thank the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement and the Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center for financially supporting the visits that enabled this international collaboration. We also would like to thank seminar participants at the NSCR and the 2008 annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology as well as Robert Brame, Megan...

Modern Greek society appears to be split regarding the legalization of euthanasia. The Greek Orthodox Church maintains a negative attitude. Research shows that some forms of euthanasia are carried out "behind closed doors". There is no specific legal provision. The government avoids bearing the political cost of regulating this marginal issue. According to the dominant view of Criminal Law juri...

Of 2110 adult cigarette smokers originally recruited to a study of the effect of antismoking advice in general practice, 429 who reported at follow up after one year that they had tried unsuccessfully to stop smoking were offered "a special antismoking chewing gum," either nicotine gum or a placebo gum, in a double blind study. Of 200 who were willing to try the gum, 101 were randomly allocated...

This article compares the M’Naghten Rules and some of the principal variations found in the Commonwealth of Nations for the purpose of formulating the best possible provision on the defence of insanity. The discussion is enhanced by evaluations of the concept of diminished responsibility operating in the Commonwealth, and of the provision on insanity in the Statute of the International Criminal...

For decades, many studies have linked maternal smoking to an increased risk of preterm birth. As a result, the scientific community has long hypothesized that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), commonly referred to as second-hand smoke, is also associated with an increased risk of preterm birth. Multiple studies have examined this proposed association through different strategies an...