Teaching Dissent in the Law School: Have Students Learned to Disagree?

This paper offers an analysis of the qualitative evidence obtained from a research project in relation to the teaching of a module on the Trials of Dissenters in the context of an undergraduate law degree. It will consider whether a pedagogically innovative course has encouraged and enabled undergraduate law students to think more creatively on the issues raised by specific historic trials and to be prepared to construct more critical and open ended arguments. The study of the Trials of Dissenters, we hoped, would encourage our students to dissent both from the standard model of legal education and from the acceptance of what lecturers say as “true”. We here consider the success of our project in relation to how students view dissent.     

Strawson,Shoemaker, and the Hubris of Theories

David Shoemaker’s Responsibility from the Margins is chock full of valuable insights on the nature of our responsibility, and it has more in common with P.F. Strawson’s approach in “Freedom and Resentment” than the accounts of most philosophers who call themselves Strawsonians. On one central issue of interpretation, however, Shoemaker gets Strawson wrong. Like many interpreters, Shoemaker sees Strawson as defending a “quality of will” theory of responsibility. This idea fundamentally misunderstands Strawson’s aims in “Freedom and Resentment.” Strawson does not defend a theory of any kind in that essay. On the contrary, Strawson tries to caution his fellow philosophers away from the theorizing impulse. The urge to develop comprehensive theories, he argued, inevitably leads philosophers away from the natural facts about responsibility and the related emotions. So, Strawson offers an alternative way of understanding responsibility, one that takes the facts into account “in all their bearings.” This interpretive disagreement is instructive, I’ll argue, because it illuminates several weaknesses in Shoemaker’s own “tripartite” theory of responsibility. Where his account goes astray can be remedied in large part by embracing the spirit of Strawson’s approach in full.     

Tell Me Who is Your Enemy...

The purpose of the article is to show through the analysis of some recent publications, art exhibitions, trials and other types of discourse, who is considered to be “an enemy” in Russia today and how law enforcement and the judiciary respond to so called “threats,” emanating from the constructed enemies. The analysis reveals some dangerous tendencies in the formation of a common identity for people living in Russia. For instance, search for a “national idea,” “traditional roots,” “patriotism,” and “distinctive nature,” aimed at the formation of this common identity and strengthening the state, is implemented in a way, which leads to the exclusion of ‚others’ and thus undermines the possibility to lay the foundation for the multicultural state based on peace, harmony and tolerance. Russia must become a common house for all ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities living in it, and no one representing them should be in a position of the less favored and less protected. National identity in a multinational state can be only a plural identity, providing for the possibility of living in several communities simultaneously.     

A Framework for Thinking About Oppression and Its Change

This paper provides a framework for thinking about oppression and how to overcome it. It considers the value premise underlying the use of the term “oppression.” It then discusses the nature of oppression, the forms it takes, and what keeps it in place. In its final two sections, it focuses on awakening the sense of injustice and the strategies and tactics for overcoming injustice. An earlier version of this paper, entitled “Oppression and Conflict,” was presented as a plenary address at the Annual meeting of the International Society of Justice Research in Skovde, Sweden on June 17, 2002. This paper was the starting point of an ongoing, informal seminar on social justice held at Teachers College, Columbia University. The other participants in the seminar included Peter Coleman, Michelle Fine, Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Janet Gerson, Eric Marcus, Susan Opotow, Ellen Raider, Esther Salomon, Janice Steil, and Melissa Sweeney. From the discussions of theory, research, and practice during the meetings of the seminar, emerged plans for a Conference on Interrupting Oppression and Sustaining Justice. Its aim was to stimulate interaction about overcoming oppression among scholars from different academic fields, social and political activists, and graduate students in different disciplines. The Conference took place on February 27 and 28, 2004 at Teachers College. This issue of Social Justice Research presents some papers that were prepared before the Conference (and revised afterwards) and some that emerged from the Conference. Other papers from the Conference can be found under the heading of IO&SJ at the website of the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution of Teachers College: http://www.tc.edu/icccr/.     

Willing Suspension of Disbelief: A Study in Online Learning Through Simulation,and Its Potential for Deeper Learning in Higher Education

This article describes the replacement of a “traditionally taught” law of probate course (lectures and workshops/tutorials) with an on-line collaborative learning exercise using simulation and role-play which is referred to hereafter as the Transactional Learning Project (TLP). The article considers the theory that the emotional engagement that comes about through role play in simulation leads to deeper learning, a process (Maharg in Simulation and the affective domain, Cambridge, 2010) has dubbed as the “integration of the cognitive and the affective”. The article includes statistical analysis of student feedback on the TLP in an attempt to measure how easy it is to carry students predisposed to expect information to be “given” rather than “acquired” along the journey leading away from traditional didactic teaching. The project was motivated partly by the dearth of such learning practices on the Legal Practice Course. It is suggested that the findings of the project add to the body of research (Keats and Boughey in High Educ 27:59–73, 1994) which tends to illustrate the success in terms of student learning from working in leaderless (i.e where the Tutor is absent from the collaborative group) groups engaged in practical tasks involving simulation.     

Self-control Depletion and the General Theory of Crime

Criminological research on self-control focuses mainly on self-control failure. Such research has not, however, investigated the consequences of exercising self-control for the individual doing so. The present study investigates this issue within the framework of both criminological self-control theory and research on self-control depletion from social psychology, which depicts self-control as akin to a “muscle” that is “depletable” by prior use [Muraven and Baumeister (2000) Psycholog Bull 126:247–259]. Results are presented from a laboratory experiment in which students have the opportunity to cheat. Both “trait self-control,” as measured by the Grasmick et al. [(1993) J Res Crime Delinq 30:5–29] self-control inventory, and “self-control depletion” independently predicted cheating. The implications of these findings are explored for criminological perspectives on self-control and offender decision-making.

The sociopathic police personality: Is it a product of the “Rotten Apple” or the “Rotten Barrel?”

The “Rotten Apple” theory states that deviant police officers are those who psychological testing fails to screen out. This concept is favored by police administrators because it offers a quick and easy solution to police deviant behavior. However, there is a growing body of literature that suggests that it is the stressful occupation that is policing that is the fertile soil from which police deviant behavior springs otherwise known as the “Rotten Barrel” theory. This article shall explore police deviant behavior from the perspective that it is the “Rotten Barrel” that leads to police deviant behavior.     

The “Conventionalization” of Safety Crimes in the Post-Communist New Member States of the European Union

This article begins by presenting a brief overview of the neglected area of “safety crime” in the post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. Quantitative and qualitative evidence is reviewed, suggesting both the widespread nature of safety crimes, and a deteriorating work environment, in which safety crimes are routinely tolerated. Evidence of the “institutionalized tolerance of non-compliance” is provided through a case study of labor inspection in the new member states, focusing on Latvia, currently the worst performer in health and safety in Europe. Against a background of general violations of labor rights, current innovations in European-level regulatory strategies are critiqued, in particular, the shift towards “soft law” and compliance-based strategies, relying on appeals to corporate social responsibility, together with the encouragement of various forms of voluntary initiatives. It is suggested that such (self)-regulatory strategies may be inappropriate as forms of crime control in the new member states of the European Union. In effect, a convergence domestic and European Union policies may open the door to the further “conventionalization” of safety crimes in the new member states.This article is based on a paper first presented to a seminar, “Regulating Corporate Crime and White-Collar Crime: Developments across Europe”, Finnish Police College, Helsinki, 3–4 September, 2004. Financial support for the research was provided by a European Commission Marie Curie chair award (no: 509727). The author would like to thank Kit Carson and Steve Tombs, as well as the participants in the Helsinki seminar for their helpful comments. Any errors remain those of the author alone.     

Credit card fraud under Chinese criminal law

Credit card fraud is a new type of fraud amended into the Criminal Law of China in 1997. The “credit card” under credit card fraud is interpreted as a very board concept, which includes debit card and virtually all electronic payment cards used in ordinary payment, credit loan, transfer and settlement of account, cash deposit and withdrawal. Therefore, it is necessary for the legislature to revise “credit card” under this special fraud into “electronic payment card,” and “credit card fraud” into “electronic payment card fraud,” which will be understood easily and precisely. “Use” and “fraudulent use” of credit card under this fraud is defined as ordinary use of credit card, including withdrawal cash with authentic or forged credit card from ATMs. It is unreasonable to define “malicious overdraft” as a form of credit card fraud under the Chinese Criminal Law. In the future amendment, this kind of criminal conduct shall be separated as independent named as “malicious overdraft” or “abuse of credit card” under the Criminal Law with less stiff statutory punishment than that of credit card fraud. Besides, under the Chinese Criminal Law, stealing credit card and using it is held as “theft,” which is neither reasonable nor logical. Therefore, it should be revised in the future criminal law.     

Adaptating American adult-education methods in lesotho

This article deals with a project sponsored by the US Agency for International Development that was designed to transfer American adult-education techniques to the developing nation of Lesotho in southern Africa. The goal of the transfer was to improve the quality of education in Lesotho at the primary-school level by creating a nation-wide program to improve teacher skills. Intensive, after-hours, in-country, college-level training was offered to the country's teachers. Although this approach is common in developed countries, it was a first-time innovative technique for Lesotho. More than 400 primary school teachers participated in the program. The transfer was initially difficult to implement because of a lack of institutional and governmental interest and a “gap” between project implementation requirements and the Ministry of Education's management capacity. A contingency approach was developed that partially bypassed local institutions. In the short term, the project has succeeded in producing 334 “graduates” and in raising the level of local interest. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Southern Illinois University in 1967. He served as dean of the School of Business at the University of Tennessee from 1975 and continued as dean at Tennessee State University upon the merger of the two schools in 1979. Completing his deanship in 1985, he assumed a teaching and research position in international business and development. Masten has served in Africa as a technical advisor in both small business and education projects. He recently returned from a two-year consultancy in Lesotho for the Academy for Educational Development.     

Campaign finance reform legislation in the United States Congress: A critique

Legislation to reform campaign funding in the United States must produce a system which reduces the potential for corruption, real or perceived, and creates greater equality of fund raising opportunity between incumbents and challengers. Bills before the 104th Congress would require bureaucratic and arbitrary systems of regulation; they would not produce workable reform. Within the existing full disclosure system,two reforms would be most effective: setting maximum dollar amounts for “soft money” contributions; and limiting fund raising by lobbyists. An even more effective system would be to “blind” contributions made to the campaign committees of individual candidates. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The underworld of gemstones

In recent decades prices of high-end “colored gemstones” (trade jargon for precious stones other than diamonds), like almost all “collectibles,” have risen dramatically. Demand has been spreading to economic classes formerly excluded at the same time the supply of high-quality material from natural sources falls, leading to constant searches for as yet undiscovered sites, which may take on the character of gold-rushes. While no doubt criminogenic factors have always existed within the gemstone business, periods of rapid price rise mean stronger temptation for illegal activities. The potential list of economic offenses, civil, regulatory and criminal, associated with the gemstones business includes: illegal mining, environmental offenses, bribery, gun-running, smuggling, “terrorist”(i.e. insurgent) financing, commercial fraud, mining-share swindles, money laundering and, not least, simple theft along with recycling stolen goods. This paper represents an attempt to understand the criminogenic factors in light of the history and current structures of the business. It fits the gemstone trade into a commercial, geo-strategic and sociological matrix, the three often interacting in mutually reinforcing ways. It asks whether, given the incentives and opportunities for illicit activity, relying primarily on industry self-regulation makes sense. But it questions whether the international regulatory regime now in place for diamonds can be applied to the far more diffuse supply-side of the colored gemstone market. The paper is divided into three parts. The first, “Under the Rainbow,” examined the shady side of gemstone mining in a geo-political context. The current one, the second in the series, entitled “In the Eye of the Beholder,” looks at fraud in cutting and polishing of rough gemstones into finished gems. The third “Hot Rocks, Cold Cash” will focus on illicit activity in the retail jewelry trade.     

Young Children’s Competency to Take the Oath: Effects of Task,Maltreatment, and Age

This study examined maltreated and non-maltreated children’s (N = 183) emerging understanding of “truth” and “lie,” terms about which they are quizzed to qualify as competent to testify. Four- to six-year-old children were asked to accept or reject true and false (T/F) statements, label T/F statements as the “truth” or “a lie,” label T/F statements as “good” or “bad,” and label “truth” and “lie” as “good” or “bad.” The youngest children were at ceiling in accepting/rejecting T/F statements. The labeling tasks revealed improvement with age and children performed similarly across the tasks. Most children were better able to evaluate “truth” than “lie.” Maltreated children exhibited somewhat different response patterns, suggesting greater sensitivity to the immorality of lying.     

我国刑事赔偿制度之改革

In reference to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (hereinafter referred to “the Covenants”), the state compensation system of China in criminal justice shall be reformed as such: Compensation for a miscarriage of justice should not be determined by the results of first instance or second instance, but no guilty through retrial in the final trial upon finding of new evidences. If policemen, prosecutors and judiciaries take lawful measures, causing loss to the suspected due to arrest, detention or other enforcement in the criminal proceedings, the suspected should not get the state compensation for that even if he is decided no guilty in the final trial. If the suspected is cooped up illegally, he should get the state compensation even if being decided guilty finally. The measures of search and seizure should be included in coercive measures, hence differentiating the lawful search and seizure and the unlawful infringement of the property rights. Yang Yuguan, Professor of the Procedure Law Institute in China University of Political Science and Law, whose research mainly covers procedure law and human rights law. He wrote many books and essays, for instance, “Computer and Crime” (1986), “On Plea Bargaining” (1986), “Basic Education in Prisons in China” (1995), “The United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Policy” (1996), “On the Ratification and Implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” (2000), “On Hearsay” (2001), “On Exclusionary Rule” (2002), “Human Rights Law: Study On International Covenant on Civil and Political Right” (2003), “The International Criminal Court: Idea, reality and Prospective” (2007), “Death Penalty Control with Procedural Law” (2006), “On Due Process of Law and Human Rights Protection” (2005). He was once a researcher fellow of Ministry of Justice of China, a member of the Crime Prevention Branch of the United Nations Office at Vienna, and an editor-in-chief in some books, such as “The United Nations Criminal Justice Norms and Standards”, “The United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies and their Comments”, “A Study On UN Convention of Anti-corruption”.     

The underworld of gemstones

In recent decades prices of high-end “colored gemstones” (trade jargon for precious stones other than diamonds), like almost all “collectibles,” have risen dramatically. Demand has been spreading to economic classes formerly excluded at the same time the supply of high-quality material from natural sources falls, leading to constant searches for as yet undiscovered sites, which may take on the character of gold-rushes. While no doubt criminogenic factors have always existed within the gemstone business, periods of rapid price rise mean stronger temptation for illegal activities. The potential list of economic offenses, civil, regulatory and criminal, associated with the gemstones business includes: illegal mining, environmental offenses, bribery, gun-running, smuggling, “terrorist” (i.e. insurgent) financing, commercial fraud, mining-share swindles, money laundering and, not least, simple theft along with recycling stolen goods. This paper represents an attempt to understand the criminogenic factors in light of the history and current structures of the business. It fits the gemstone trade into a commercial, geo-strategic and sociological matrix, the three often interacting in mutually reinforcing ways. It asks whether, given the incentives and opportunities for illicit activity, relying primarily on industry self-regulation makes sense. But it questions whether the international regulatory regime now in place for diamonds can be applied to the far more diffuse supply-side of the colored gemstone market. The paper is divided into three parts. The first, “Under the Rainbow,” examined the shady side of gemstone mining in a geo-political context. The second “In the Eye of the Beholder” looked at fraud in cutting and polishing of rough gemstones into finished gems. The third, the current one, entitled “Hot Rocks, Cold Cash,” focuses on illicit activity in the retail jewelry trade.     

Law,Genre and the Voice of the Friend

The article attempts to think friendship in its relation to law and justice and provides some arguments for the importance of this concept in Derrida’s ethical, legal and political philosophy. It draws on early texts such as Of grammatology and reads them in conjunction with later texts such as The animal that therefore I am. The relation of friendship to law and justice is explored by means of Derrida’s notion of “degenerescence” understood as the necessity or law of indeterminateness that cuts across, both limiting and de-limiting, all laws, types and generic partitions, for instance, juridical (natural and positive right), humanistic (human and animal), anthropological (sexual difference), philosophical (physis and nomos). Drawing on Derrida’s readings of “sexual difference” in Heidegger and the latter’s evocation of “the voice of the friend” in Being and time, the article addresses the theme of Geschlecht and articulates the exigency to think sexual difference beyond duality together with the exigency to rethink law and right otherwise than on the ground of nativity and “natural fact” and in terms of what Derrida calls “a friendship prior to friendships” at the origin of all law and socius.     

The Role of Beliefs,Attitudes and Adverse Childhood Experiences in Predicting Men’s Reactions Towards Their Spouses’ Violence

The purpose of the present article was to determine the ability of cognitive factors (beliefs and attitudes) and adverse childhood experiences to predict men’s reactions towards their spouses’ violence. To do so, 120 males who had referred to family court to seek divorce due to spouses’ violence were randomly selected and an author’s -made questionnaire containing 27 subscales was administered to them. Four of the 27 subscales comprised of 22 questions regarding “types of reactions towards spouses’ violence”, “attitudes towards spouse”, and “experiencing family violence during childhood”. Our results showed that witnessing violence during childhood could positively predict reactions such as “cessation of relationship” and “reprisal”. Men’s beliefs regarding “permission to use violence” could positively predict reaction such as “cessation of relationship”. Furthermore, factors such as “Believing his wife is more knowledgeable” and “Wife’s Physical Appearance” negatively predicted reactions such as “Cessation of relationship” and “Tolerance”. Also “Man’s perceived career success” positively predicted the reaction of “Attempts to Resume Relationship”. These results are discussed in the context of the existing literature.     

The fight against terrorism and crime in the context of National, Regional, and Global security

The large quantity of illegal drugs remaining in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime presents an opportunity for both drug dealers and terrorists. The potential for generating vast sums of money could lead to“ narcoterrorism,” sustaining and financing terrorism over the long term. Narcoterrorism is not specifically recognized as a crime in many countries, nor is“ state sponsored terrorism.” The Republic of Georgia is currently drafting legislation to do this. That project, described here, is managed by the National Security Council of Georgia and includes several tasks to determine the causes and nature of the threats as well as the development of tools to combat them.     

The Impact of Psychological Consequences of Rape on Rape Case Attrition: The Police Perspective

This paper examines whether the psychological sequelae of rape relate to rape case attrition by leading police to see the victim as less reliable. A mixed methods approach with two linked studies, one qualitative and one quantitative, was used. In Study 1, the qualitative study, interviews with 12 specialist police officers were analysed using Framework Analysis. In Study 2, the quantitative study, 76 specialist officers completed an online questionnaire to assess the generalisability of Study 1’s findings. In Study 1, officers’ perceptions of victims clustered into three stereotypes, which we label “the real victim”, “the mad discloser”, and “the bad discloser”. Victims who exhibited signs of shame, self-blame, and post-traumatic stress reactions which impeded their ability to give a coherent account of the rape were perceived as less reliable “mad” or “bad” victims. The findings of Study 2 supported these results. Although police interview strategies have improved in recent years, there is evidence that signs of trauma and shame in the victim are sometimes misinterpreted as signs of lying. This may affect attrition by impacting on victim-officer relationships. Further training on recognising trauma and understanding its consequences is recommended both for specialist officers and front-line staff.