Advancing police use of force research and practice: urgent issues and prospects

Leading police scholars and practitioners were asked to reflect on the most urgent issues that need to be addressed on the topic of use of force. Four themes emerged from their contributions: use of force and de-escalation training needs to improve and be evaluated; new ways of conceptualizing use of force encounters and better use of force response models need to be developed; the inequitable application of force, and how to remediate biases, needs to be more fully understood; and misconceptions about police use of force need to be identified and corrected. The highlighted topics serve as an agenda for future research. Such research should provide greater insight into when, where, and why force is used by police officers, and how it can be applied appropriately. If implemented, the practical recommendations included in the contributions should have a positive impact on police performance, public trust and confidence in the police, and citizen and officer safety.     

Is Britain Facing a Crisis of Democracy?

This article contributes to the debate in this journal about the state of British democracy. I criticise the tendency to use a ‘demand–supply’ dichotomy in interpreting the strong distrust experienced by institutions and politicians, and especially the idea that all the blame for current problems is to be attributed to the inadequateness of the British political tradition (BPT). By referring to international data on democracy and to recent British trends in both public attitudes and institutional innovations, a more nuanced picture on the state of democracy emerges. I argue that the BPT is not incompatible with incremental changes that have already introduced innovations in the way politics works in Britain today, and that the task of empowering citizens is one of the most delicate aspects in this process of innovation.     

First‐Hand Experience and Second‐Hand Information: Changing Trust across Three Levels of Government

Little is known about how different sources of information drive citizen trust in government. To address that gap this article compares disaster evacuees to observers, noting how trust differs as attention to media coverage increases. First‐hand experience supplies information to update trust through biological and personal processes and performance assessments, while secondary sources provide information about other people's experiences, filtered through lenses that take an active role in crafting information. These two types of information have varying effects depending on the level of government being trusted. Using surveys administered a year after Hurricane Katrina, I find that Katrina evacuees have the highest trust in federal government, until they start paying attention to media coverage, and that attention to coverage has the most dramatic effect on these evacuees compared to all other groups. I also find that increasing attention to second‐hand information corresponds with higher trust in local officials, and that this effect decreases as the level of government increases. It appears media coverage creates a comparison in the mind of hurricane evacuees, causing them to update their performance assessments based on comparing their own experience to that which they observe, thereby updating their political trust.     

犯罪过失阻断事由——信赖原则研究

根植于新犯罪过失理论的信赖原则,是社会发展的必然.它在阻断犯罪过失方面具有极其重要的作用,也正是因为信赖原则的存在,方使得近现代社会的危险业务得以全面地展开.就该理论在国外的确立、发展、理论基础及其适用的条件来看,信赖原则在我国完全存在着全面引进的可能性,而且在其适用的范围方面还具有较大的拓展空问,即在行为规范化、社会化程度较高且存在多数人有组织性地分工协作、共同实行有危险性作业的领域,均存在适用该原则的余地.     

PROFILING AND POLICE LEGITIMACY: PROCEDURAL JUSTICE,ATTRIBUTIONS OF MOTIVE,AND ACCEPTANCE OF POLICE AUTHORITY*

This paper reports the results of four studies that investigate racial profiling as an attribution about police motives. Each study explores, first, the types of police behavior that heighten or lessen the occurrence of profiling attributions and, second, the consequences of such attributions. Results support prior studies in finding that judgments about whether the police are profiling are associated with the level of public support for the police. The studies then extend the analysis of subjective profiling judgments by examining their antecedents. The findings support the procedural justice hypothesis that the fairness with which the police exercise their authority influences whether members of the public view the police as profiling.     

政府守信与诚信社会建设

政府诚信是社会信用体系的核心,也是建设社会信用体系的保障,政府信用缺失必然会给社会造成极为严重的后果,为此,有必要从信用行政、转变政府职能、增强政府透明度、依法行政上对政府诚信加以规范.     

论德国法中的第三人缔约过失责任

德国法中长期由判例发展出的由第三人承担缔约过失责任的做法已借助新债法的修订正式纳入民法典中,这一对传统意义上理解的缔约过失责任的突破昭示了该责任信赖保护的宗旨,可以对正确认识缔约过失责任提供启示。     

社会资本视角下地方政府行政潜规则与信任危机刍议

行政规则的规范和信任资本的积累是地方政府治理的重要基础,行政规则的运作会影响信任资本的发展,而信任资本的状况也会影响行政规则的效力。行政潜规则的存在会弱化显规则的效力,削弱地方政府的公信力。因此,必须完善行政规则体系,提升信任资本,通过行政规则和信任资本的良性互动循环增进地方合作治理的绩效。     

用新安全观的视角看加强国际警务合作的必要

冷战后,中国提出以“互信、互利、平等、协作”为核心的新安全观,努力营造长期稳定、安全可靠的国际安全环境。新安全观需要新思维。在以合作求安全、以协商求安全,建立新的安全机制维护安全和坚持反霸反恐并重的思维。新安全观强调重视非传统安全威胁的因素,而国际警务合作是对付恐怖主义和跨国犯罪的有力武器之一,因此,应该用新安全观的视角来看加强国际警务合作的必要。     

信访问题与处置研究

我国改革开放过程中积压的各种矛盾,集中体现为信访活动.信访事件所产生的负面影响,在一定程度上危及了社会的稳定,不利于社会主义和谐社会的顺利构建.国务院新颁布的<信访条例>,以保障人民群众合法权益为核心,创新地确定了信访处置的工作机制和责任追究制度,初步构建了信访处置的治本之路.但一部行政法规的作用毕竟有限,要解决信访问题仍然存在许多需要下大力气逾越的障碍.