Certain Problems of State Administration under the Conditions of the Socialist State of the Entire People

Soviet state administration, constituting the activities of state bodies in the daily and direct guidance of economic and socio-cultural development, retains its importance in full in the period of the comprehensive building of communism. The direct relationship between this form of state activity and the developing economic and cultural processes defines the role of the administrative machinery in the establishment of the material and technological foundations for communism and of all the conditions needed for socialist social relationships to undergo transition to communist relations. "Along with problems of economic development," N. S. Khrushchev remarked at the 21st Congress of the CPSU, "there arise pressing problems concerning the political organization of society, the state structure and administration during the period of the comprehensive building of communism."     

On the Nature of State Committees in the USSR

The reorganization of the structure of the agencies of state administration in accordance with the decisions of the November, 1962, Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee constituted a further development of the Leninist principle of administration of the economy with allowance for the "vast qualitative changes that had occurred in industry, construction, and agriculture, and with consideration of the gigantic increase in the volume of production." (1)     

The Impact of Leadership Removal on Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations

Objectives

Has the Mexican government’s policy of removing drug-trafficking organization (DTO) leaders reduced or increased violence? In the first 4 years of the Calderón administration, over 34,000 drug-related murders were committed. In response, the Mexican government captured or killed 25 DTO leaders. This study analyzes changes in violence (drug-related murders) that followed those leadership removals.

Methods

The analysis consists of cross-sectional time-series negative binomial modeling of 49 months of murder counts in 32 Mexican states (including the federal district).

Results

Leadership removals are generally followed by increases in drug-related murders. A DTO’s home state experiences more subsequent violence than the state where the leader was removed. Killing leaders is associated with more violence than capturing them. However, removing leaders for whom a $30m peso bounty was offered is associated with a smaller increase than other removals.

Conclusion

DTO leadership removals in Mexico were associated with an estimated 415 additional deaths during the first 4 years of the Calderón administration. Reforming Mexican law enforcement and improving career prospects for young men are more promising counter-narcotics strategies. Further research is needed to analyze how the rank of leaders mediates the effect of their removal.     

Social Interests and the Competence of Administrative Organs

A complex system of interests may be seen in socialist society. (1) With respect to the subject matter of this article, they may be classified as the interests of the country as a whole; the individual republics and territorial administrative units; branches of the economy, economic agencies and enterprises; and personal interests. Moreover, each of these may be comprised of long-range and immediate interests. Socialist property, the fact that state power is in the hands of the working people, and the leadership role played by the Communist Party create the foundation for a harmonious combining of diverse interests and a profound internal unity. The system of Soviet state administration is structured to reckon with all these interests and assures that they will be harmonized in a manner best facilitating the further forward development of society.(2)     

State crises and the crackdown on crime under Reagan

This article explores the United States' crackdown on crime in light of other state agency policy shifts under the Reagan administration, such as those affecting the poor, the unemployed, the rich, and the corporate world. Actions across these realms manifest continuity, as identified through the investigation of the state's duel roles of accumulation and legitimation. The fiscal and legitimation crises that develop corollary to state functioning in advanced capitalistic societies are drawn upon to interpret the creation of a new crime problem and get tough response across the United States over the 1980s. Different state policy directions are discussed as they have operated for the accumulation of the few at the expense of exacerbated inequality and injustice for all. Conclusions suggest that such developments hold the potential to call forth new callenges and change.     

State Power and Penal Rhetoric: A Historical Analysis of the Prison System in Taiwan

The aim of this study is to present a construction of the history of the prison system in Taiwan in the context of the intertwined structures of penal discourses and the governmentality of the state. The prison system in Taiwan has been subject to different ruling political regimes, ranging from colonised, authoritarian to liberal-democratic systems between 1895 and the present. The history of imprisonment can be divided into six stages, each of which consists of distinct governmental strategies that shape prominent penal discourses. My purpose was to uncover the exercising power of governmentality, further shaping, guiding and affecting the penal discourses via rationalities and technologies upon which prison administration depends.

法·治·与·行·政——德国行政法在法治国背景下的展开

德国现代行政法的建立与发展很大程度上是在法治国背景之下完成的。法治国思想从最初提出之际,就是对国家行为的法律规范要求。在此背景下,奥托.迈耶提出“依法律行政”,并以此为基础建构起德国现代行政法。德国法治国思想其后经历了从自由法治国到社会法治国,以及从形式法治国到实质法治国的演变。作为对社会法治国的回应,给付行政理论开拓了德国行政法的新视野;而形式法治国到实质法治国的演变,则在实质法治观下对德国行政法进行了重新塑造。     

Reframing Political Freedom In The Analytics Of Governmentality

What distinguishes studies of government (gouvernamentalité) from histories of administration, historical sociologies of state formation and sociologies of governance is their power to open space for critical thought. According to Michel Foucault, studies on government are studies of a particular stratum of knowing and acting, of the emergence of particular ‘regimes of truth’ concerning the conduct of conduct, ways of speaking truths and the costs of so doing, and of the inventing and assemblage of particular apparatuses and devices for exercising power and intervening in particular problems. The key point of this paper is that in the analytics of governmentality political freedom no longer depends on the systemic logic of the balance between government and governed, but on subjects’ obstinate and wild desire to live freely and on the ethos of those who intend to govern themselves and their like autonomously, which obstructs that logic even with extreme consequences. This capacity of resistance comes from life, from the sum of its functions that are useful in resisting death and no longer from a core of subjective rights, or from the will of individuals who oppose the state or the market.

Correctional destabilization and jail violence: The consequences of prison depopulation legislation

Purpose

This study explored the effects of prison depopulation on local jail violence through a general systems perspective – where an abrupt shift in the processing of offenders had the potential to create ripple effects through other organizations – of the criminal justice system.

Methods

In 2011, California passed the Criminal Justice Realignment legislation aimed to reduce prison population by making low-level felony offenders ineligible for state incarceration and diverting those already in state prison for the included offenses from state to county-level community supervision once paroled. This study incorporated bivariate and negative binomial regression analyses to model officially-recorded county jail panel data to estimate the effects of state prison depopulation on California county jails.

Results

Findings demonstrated support for the general systems framework as there was a significant decrease in jail utility in the bivariate analysis and a significant increase in jail violence in the multivariate analysis associated with passage of California’s prison depopulation legislation.

Conclusions

The results supported the notion of an interconnected criminal justice system. Policy implications include the consequences of increased violence on jail operations, the potential for a cadre of habitual offenders, and generalizing these findings to the community.     

Civil asset forfeiture, equitable sharing, and policing for profit in the United States

Purpose

Critics of asset forfeiture claim that forfeiture laws create financial incentives that inappropriately influence police behavior. The present study examines the relationship between measures of the financial incentive and legal burdens for civil asset forfeiture on federal equitable sharing payments to local law enforcement to determine whether police behavior is affected by different statutory incentives for forfeiture activity.

Methods

Using LEMAS and DOJ forfeiture data, this study addresses some of the limitations of previous research by using a multi-year average for forfeiture activity, an improved measure of financial incentives for law enforcement, and multiple measures of statutory burdens to law enforcement to determine the impact of forfeiture laws on forfeiture activity.

Results

Consistent with anecdotal reports and limited prior research, findings indicate that agencies in jurisdictions with more restrictive state forfeiture laws receive more proceeds through federal equitable sharing.

Conclusions

Results suggest that state and local law enforcement agencies use federal equitable sharing to circumvent their own state forfeiture laws when state laws are more burdensome or less financially rewarding to these agencies, providing additional evidence that police operations are influenced by financial incentives.     

基本权利在特类民事行为领域的适用

"特类民事行为"即指与国家公权力有关联的民事行为。它主要适用于给付行政领域,可以分为两种类型:其一,国家以私法主体身份所为的民事行为,具体可以分解为3种形式。该类行为必须受到基本权利的限制,但这仅仅指向于其中的行政私法行为。而且,基本权利对该种行为的适用与对传统高权行政行为的适用不同,前者具有明显的层次性。其二,私人在传统公共行政领域所为的私法行为。该行为属于"公共行政民营化"中的第3种形式,即"实质民营化",主要集中在给付行政领域。该类行为要受到基本权利的约束。而且,应该受到法律保留原则的约束,但是,法律保留原则在该领域的适用和在秩序行政领域的适用具有本质的不同。     

国家调节权:第四种权力形态

中国的改革已进入攻坚阶段,下一轮改革的关键是改政府。长期以来,我们的改革一直致力于"政企分开",即国家行政管理权与国家所有权分开,却将国家调节权长期混同在行政权之中。国家调节权与行政权有明显的区别,是一种独立于传统的立法权、行政权、司法权之外的第四种权力形态。实现"十一五规划"政府职责的科学化目标,将改革深入下去,必须进一步分权,将国家调节权从行政权中分离出来。     

Court Sentencing Patterns for Environmental Crimes: Is There a “Green” Gap in Punishment?

Objectives

This study examines sentencing patterns for environmental crimes and tests the assumption that “green” offenders receive more lenient treatment from criminal courts than non-environmental offenders.

Methods

We present two sets of analyses. First, we present an empirical portrait of environmental felony offenses convicted in a single state (Florida) over a fifteen-year period and the resulting criminal sanctions. Second, we use a precision matching analysis to assess whether environmental offenders receive more lenient treatment when compared to non-environmental offenders with the same characteristics and offense severity scores.

Results

Findings indicate that an overall small percentage of felony convictions in state courts stem from environmental crimes. We also find that punishments for environmental crimes are more lenient than sanctions assigned to comparable non-environmental offenses when the environmental crime is ecological, but that punishments are sometimes harsher when the environmental crime involves animals.

Conclusions

The findings provide general support for the argument that courts and other formal institutions of social control treat environmental crimes more leniently than non-environmental crimes. This paper also raises important questions about citizen and state actors’ perceptions of crimes against the environment and, more generally, about the ways in which theories of court sentencing behaviors apply to environmental crime sanctioning decisions.

     

That Was Then, This Is Now, What About Tomorrow? Future Directions in State Crime Studies

Research and theorizing on state crime has come to play an important role in the fields of criminology and criminal justice for understanding the worst of crimes: those of powerful state agencies and agents. Since William Chambliss’ (1989) ASC presidential address, scholars of state crime have made advances in theoretical modeling and analyzing core enactment and etiological factors of crimes of the state (e.g., Barak 1991; Friedrichs 1998; Grabosky 1989; Kauzlarich and Kramer 1998; Kramer and Michalowski 2005; Kramer et al. 2005; Michalowski and Kramer 2006; Mullins and Rothe 2008a, b; Pearce 1976; Ross 1995, 2000; Rothe 2009; Rothe and Mullins 2006, 2008). Nonetheless, the study of state crime still has a long way to go before it ever reaches the magnitude or legitimacy afforded to the study of traditional street crime. It is with this in mind that several leading scholars of state criminality have come together and reevaluated the state of state crime and the ways in which the field must move forward. This kind of inventory, where scholars examine the past, present and future of the field, is not without precedent. For example, almost a decade ago (Ross et al. 1999) explored the difficulty of conducting state crime research and made a series of recommendations on how it could be improved. Nearly 7 years later (Rothe and Friedrichs 2006) re-evaluated the state of state crime and called for more attention to those beyond US crimes of the state and include crimes of globalization and also international controls such as the International Criminal Court (Friedrichs and Friedrichs 2007; Rothe and Mullins 2006; Rothe et al. 2006, 2008). Since that time, there has been substantial movement by scholars of state crime in these other areas, yet, as we note, there still remains key issues that need to be addressed and overcome: it is with this that we again revisit the field of state crime. We wish to thank all of those that contributed to our discussions and thoughts during the American Society of Criminology Roundtable on State Crime I and II, November 2007.

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“Curiosity and a Pimp”: Exploring Sex Trafficking Victimization in Experiences of Entering Sex Trade Industry Work Among Participants in a Prostitution Diversion Program

This mixed-methods study explored entry into the sex trade industry and experiences of sex trafficking victimization among 478 adult women enrolled in a prostitution diversion program in a large southwestern state. Written responses to several open-ended survey questions were coded using a template approach to content analysis wherein a priori codes were identified based on characteristics of sex trafficking victimization identified in the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (U.S. Department of State, 2000 U.S. Department of State. (2000). Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/61124.htm [Google Scholar]). Findings revealed that approximately one third of participants (n = 161) described sex trafficking experiences on entry into the sex trade industry, and quantitative analysis revealed that women who experienced sex trafficking as part of entering the sex trade industry were more likely to report abuse during childhood and adulthood, to report gang involvement, and to be involved in multiple types of sex trade industry work. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Proposals Regarding the Laws on Housing-Construction Cooperatives

The fundamental legal document regulating the activity of the housing-construction cooperative in the RSFSR is the Model Charter approved by decree No. 1143 of the RSFSR Council of Ministers, October 2, 1965 (SP RSFSR, 1965, no. 23, item 144). As a consequence of the broad scope of cooperative housing construction, life has posed many new questions that are not regulated by the Model Charter or require changes in provisions of the law. Some of its provisions are actually in conflict with the prevailing legislation. For example, Point 3 states that the charter of a cooperative adopted by a meeting shall be recorded in the housing administration (or department) of municipal services of the executive committee of the local soviet, whereas, according to Article 19d of the RSFSR law "On the District Soviet of Working People's Deputies of the RSFSR" and Article 16 of the RSFSR law "On the City and Urban District Soviet of Working People's Deputies of the RSFSR," recording of a charter is by the executive committee. Point 7 of the charter forbids government enterprises from participating with their funds in the construction of housing by a cooperative, while in accordance with the joint decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers (Pravda, September 18, 1977), the councils of ministers of the union republics have the right to permit the heads of state farms and other state enterprises in agriculture, water-control enterprises, and the Agricultural Equipment Association, located in rural places, to make good, under certain conditions, up to 50 percent of the state credit issued to equipment operators who are members of housing-construction cooperatives.     

国家环境保护义务的溯源与展开

"因雾霾状告环保局第一案"暴露出环境保护领域法律判断与社会认同的矛盾,需要对政府环境保护职责之根源——国家环境保护义务问题予以理论回应。国家环境保护义务的证立,不能简单根据保障基本权利之国家义务体系进行演绎推理,而应从国家任务的现实需要出发进行归纳推理。环境基本国策是国家环境保护义务的宪法规范形态,是对所有国家权力构成约束的"国家目标条款"。国家环境保护义务在内涵上包括:现状保持义务、危险防御义务、风险预防义务。"立法+行政"是我国实现国家环境保护义务的基本路径。现行宪法第26条和第9条第2款共同表述了环境基本国策,并具有"国家目标条款"的规范效力。现阶段我国环境保护领域的国家任务,应围绕新修订的环境保护法的规定,从现状保持、危险防御、风险预防三个方面展开,共同推进国家环境保护义务的实现。     

基本权利的国家保护义务——以德、中两国为审视对象

近代立宪主义以保证"国家不得为非"为目的,现代立宪主义在福利国家等思潮背景下使得现代国家职能大幅扩张,发展出基本权利的国家保护义务。基本权利的防御权功能和客观秩序功能是德国基本权利普遍具有的两项功能,防御权功能为核心功能。现代国家职能基本化约为立法、行政与司法三种职能,国家保护义务相应地表现为立法者制定完善法律的义务;行政权切实执行法律的义务和司法机关提供完善的司法救济义务。国家保护义务存在一定的界限,我国现行宪法在基本权利的规定与现实保障方面存在诸多不足,需加以改善。     

Exploring the Effect of Exposure to Short-Term Solitary Confinement Among Violent Prison Inmates

Objectives

This study tracked the behavior of male inmates housed in the general inmate populations of 70 different prison units from a large southern state. Each of the inmates studied engaged in violent misconduct at least once during the first 2 years of incarceration (n = 3,808). The goal of the study was to isolate the effect of exposure to short-term solitary confinement (SC) as a punishment for their initial act of violent behavior on the occurrence and timing of subsequent misconduct.

Methods

This study relied upon archival longitudinal data and employed a multilevel counterfactual research design (propensity score matching) that involved tests for group differences, event history analyses, and trajectory analyses.

Results

The results suggest that exposure to short-term solitary confinement as a punishment for an initial violence does not appear to play a role in increasing or decreasing the probability, timing, or development future misconduct for this particular group on inmates.

Conclusions

Upon validation, these findings call for continued research and perhaps a dialog regarding the utility of solitary confinement policies under certain contexts. This unique study sets the stage for further research to more fully understand how solitary impacts post-exposure behavior.

     

Not ‘Islands,Entire of Themselves’: Exploring the Spatial Context of City-level Robbery Rates

The current study examines spatial dependence in robbery rates for a sample of 1,056 cities with 25,000 or more residents over the 2000–2003 period. Although commonly considered in some macro-level research, spatial processes have not been examined in relation to city-level variation in robbery. The results of our regression analyses suggest that city robbery rates are not spatially independent. We find that spatial dependence is better accounted for by spatial error models than by spatial lag models. Further exploration of various spatial weights matrices indicates that robbery rates of cities within the same state are related to robbery rates of other cities within the same state, regardless of their proximity. Our analyses illustrate how systematic inquiry into spatial processes can alert researchers to important omitted variable biases and identify intriguing problems for future research.