Over the last few years, legal scholars, policy-makers,activists and others have generated a vast andrapidly expanding literature concerning the ethicalramifications of using artificial intelligence,machine learning, big data and predictive softwarein criminal justice contexts. These concerns can beclustered under the headings of fairness,accountability and transparency. First, can we trusttechnology to be fair, especially given that thedata on which the technology is based are biased invarious ways? Second, whom can we blame if thetechnology goes wrong, as it inevitably will onoccasion? Finally, does it matter if we do not knowhow an algorithm works or, relatedly, cannotunderstand how it reached its decision? I arguethat, while these are serious concerns, they are notirresolvable. More importantly, the very sameconcerns of fairness, accountability andtransparency apply, with even greater urgency, toexisting modes of decision-making in criminaljustice. The question, hence, is comparative: canalgorithmic modes of decision-making improve uponthe status quo in criminal justice? There isunlikely to be a categorical answer to thisquestion, although there are some reasons forcautious optimism.

In the context of a technology-driven algorithmicapproach to criminal justice, this paper responds tothe following three questions: (1) what reasons arethere for treating liberal values and human rightsas guiding for punitive justice; (2) is preventivejustice comparable to punitive justice (such thatthe guiding values of the latter should be appliedto the former); and (3) what should we make ofpreventive measures that rely not so much on rulesand orders, but on ‘technological management’ (wherethe preventive strategy is focused on eliminatingpractical options)? Responding to the firstquestion, a Gewirthian-inspired theory of punishmentis sketched – a theory that is, broadly speaking,supportive of liberal values and respect for humanrights. What makes this theory apodictic for anyhuman agent is that it demands respect for the veryconditions on which any articulation of agency ispredicated. With regard to the second question, weindicate how a Gewirthian view of the relationshipbetween punitive and preventive justice supports thelogic of referring to the principles that guide theformer as a benchmark for the latter; and we suggestsome particular principles of preventive justicewhere the restrictions are targeted at individualagents (whether in their own right or as members ofclasses). Finally, we suggest that, althoughtechnological management of crime changes thecomplexion of the regulatory environment in waysthat might be a challenge to a Gewirthian moralcommunity, it should not be categorically rejected.Crucially, technological management, like otherpreventive strategies, needs to be integrated intothe community's moral narrative and authorised onlyto the extent that it is compatible with thegoverning moral principles.

This paper examines the application of the latestiterations of EU data protection law – in theGeneral Data Protection Regulation, the LawEnforcement Directive and the jurisprudence of theCourt of Justice of the EU – to the use ofpredictive policing technologies. It suggests thatthe protection offered by this legal framework tothose impacted by predictive policing technologiesis, at best, precarious. Whether predictive policingtechnologies fall within the scope of the dataprotection rules is uncertain, even in light of theexpansive interpretation of these rules by the Courtof Justice of the EU. Such a determination wouldrequire a context-specific assessment thatindividuals will be ill-placed to conduct. Moreover,even should the rules apply, the substantiveprotection offered by the prohibition againstautomated decision-making can be easily sidesteppedand is subject to significant caveats. Again, thispoints to the conclusion that the protection offeredby this framework may be more illusory than real.This being so, there are some fundamental questionsto be answered – including the question of whetherwe should be building predictive policingtechnologies at all.

One of the main objections against effective altruism (EA) is the so-called institutional critique, according to which the EA movement neglects interventions that affect large-scale institutions. Alexander Dietz has recently put forward an interesting version of this critique, based on a theoretical problem affecting act-utilitarianism, which he deems as potentially conclusive against effective altruism. In this article I argue that his critique is not as promising as it seems. I then go on to propose another version of the institutional critique. In contrast to Dietz's version, it targets not the core principles of effective altruism but rather some important methodological assumptions made in EA research, namely diminishing marginal returns and low-hanging fruits. One key conclusion is that it may be time for critics of effective altruism to shift their attention from the theoretical core principles of effective altruism towards the methodological tools actually employed in practice by the EA movement.

À travers l’examen des contours intonatifs d’une variété de français parlée au Nouveau-Brunswick (FNB), nous cherchons d’abord à vérifier l’hypothèse prédisant que l’intonation du français est sous-tendue par le patron sous-jacent /LHiLH*/, tel que décrit par Jun et Fougeron (2002) dans le cadre de la théorie métrique-autosegmentale. Notre but second est de déterminer si le FNB présente des particularités intonatives le distinguant du français québécois (FQ), la variété la plus parlée et la plus documentée au Canada. Pour ce faire, la parole semi-spontanée de trois locuteurs de chaque variété est analysée. Nous comparons les types de contours intonatifs, la fréquence d’apparition de ces contours, ainsi que deux propriétés phonétiques (soit la hauteur de la fréquence fondamentale et la durée) des syllabes accentuées dans les deux variétés. Les contours répertoriés démontrent qu’effectivement, l’intonation du FNB est régie par le patron /LHiLH*/, mais que cette variété fait état d’une prédominance de continuités descendantes. L’analyse des paramètres phonétiques des syllabes accentuées révèle que le FNB privilégie l’usage de la durée à la frontière des syntagmes accentuels non finaux, tout en exhibant des variations de durée syllabique importantes en fonction de la position du syntagme accentuel dans la phrase.

Although previous research has documented dislocations in which a dislocated noun phrase (NP) occurs with the co-referent pronoun ça (e.g., Carlier, 1996; Jones, 1996), this study represents the first corpus-driven examination focused on this syntactic construction. In examining examples identified in both an oral and a written corpus, the investigation serves to nuance the association between dislocation and orality (McLaughlin, 2011). The research also interrogates the relationship between dislocations featuring co-referent clitic ça and genericity. The extent to which this construction more frequently signals a pejorative attitude towards certain groups of animate NPs than others is also explored. Finally, this study advances methodological considerations for research on rare syntactic forms.

This article introduces a special issue on Ukrainian statehood. Based on the conference “A Century of Ukrainian Statehoods: 1917 and Beyond” at the University of Toronto, the special issue examines the relationship between the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1920 and the Soviet Ukrainian state over the long term. The authors survey the history of the Ukrainian SSR and propose two points of emphasis: the need to study the promises of “national” and “social” liberation in tandem and the persistent presence of an “internal other” in Soviet Ukrainian history.

Despite facing manifold social and educational barriers, British asylum nurses across the long nineteenth century articulated distinctive professional identities as a means of leveraging their position in the medical hierarchy. This article draws upon a corpus of previously unattributed contributions to the Asylum News (1897–1919) – one of the first journals produced for the edification of asylum workers – to illustrate the diversity of medical personae developed and disseminated by these employees in the Edwardian era. Through scientific and creative works, nurses engaged with the pressing social and medical debates of the day, in the process exposing a heterogeneous intellectual culture. Moreover, as their writings attest, for some ambitious nurses these pretensions to intellectual authority prompted claims for medical autonomy, driving agitation on the hospital wards. The article thus strengthens claims for the ‘cultural agency’ of asylum workers and offers new insights into the cultural antecedents of professionalisation and trade unionism.