Choice of law and the home-court advantage: evidence

This paper tests three separate hypotheses about inherent biasesin the application of modern choice of law rules: (1) Brilmayer's1980 hypothesis that such rules camouflage 'pro-resident, pro-forum-law,pro-recovery' biases, (2) Borchers's 1992 hypothesis that courtsdo not consistently apply the principles of the choice of lawrule they claim to be applying, and (3) an economic hypothesis,presented in the paper, that only a 'pro-forum-law' bias isunambiguously consistent with economic efficiency, simply becauseit conserves the resources of the court and bar in the forumstate. I find relatively strong support for the 'pro-recovery'bias of courts, weaker support for 'pro-forum-law' bias, andreject the 'pro-resident' bias. If anything, states retainingthe rigid choice of law rules are more likely to favor theirresidents. Moreover, I reject Borchers's claim that courts donot take the modern approaches seriously. Indeed, in general,they follow Borchers's own predictions.     

Stopping the revolving door: a meta-analysis on the effectiveness of interventions for criminally involved individuals with major mental disorders

Faced with high and increasing rates of mental disorder within the criminal justice system (CJS), a range of interventions have been implemented in an effort to prevent continued involvement in criminal activities among this population. A meta-analytic review was undertaken to consider the effectiveness of interventions for criminally involved adults with a mental disorder targeting either improved criminal justice or mental health outcomes. Furthermore, characteristics that were hypothesized to predict better outcomes were examined. Studies that considered sex offender interventions, or focused solely on antisocial personality, intellectual and cognitive, or substance use disorders were excluded. Results assuming a fixed-effects model combining 37 effect sizes from 25 studies (N = 15,678) support the effectiveness of these interventions in terms of reductions in any CJS involvement (d = 0.19 excluding one outlier). Interventions had no significant effect on an aggregate mental health outcome (d = 0.00). However, when considering distinct mental health outcomes, intervention participants had significantly better functioning (d = 0.20) and fewer symptoms (d = 0.12). There were no significant effects of the interventions on mental health service or medication use. Moderator analyses identified seven sample, intervention, and design characteristics that were related to the magnitude of the effect sizes for criminal justice outcomes, and suggest implications for service provision, policy, and research. Results suggested some relationship between intervention effects on mental health and criminal justice reinvolvement, although future research is needed in this area, especially given the absence of mental health outcome data in many studies.     

‘The Right to Live with Dignity’: Politicising Experiences of Precarity through ‘Popular Economy’ in Argentina

This article takes an ethnographic perspective to analyse the ways in which social movements in Buenos Aires, Argentina, politicise experiences of precarity through the creation of popular economy initiatives. I argue that we cannot understand these organising processes exclusively in relation to the pursuit of ‘formalisation’ or the improvement of working conditions. In the context of new forms of State intervention, the notions of ‘rights’—to labour and to the city—that these movements put forward, express ways of envisioning full inclusion in society that encompass notions of worthiness and ‘dignified life’, forged over the course of grassroots political action.