Multiculturalism and the Willingness of Citizens to Defer to Law and to Legal Authorities

A key problem in trying to manage diverse societies is finding social policies that will be acceptable to all individuals and groups. Studies suggest that this problem may not be as intractable as is often believed, since people's acceptance of policies is shaped to an important degree by the fairness of the procedures used by authorities to make policy. When policies are fairly made, they gain widespread support, even among those who may feel that the consequences of the policy for them or their group are undesirable or even unfair. These findings support an optimistic view of the ability of authorities to manage diverse societies. On the other hand, research suggests that the ability of procedural justice to bridge differences among individuals and groups may not be equally strong under all conditions. People's willingness to accept policies is more influenced by procedural justice judgments when they identify with the society that the authorities represent and view them as representing a group of which they are members. They are less influenced by procedural justice judgments when they identify more strongly with subgroups than with society and/or view the authorities as representatives of a group to which they do not belong.     

The tendency of individuals to transfer DNA to handled items

This research investigates factors influencing the transfer of DNA to handled objects and the process known as 'shedding'. Volunteers were recruited to hold sterile plastic tubes using experiments originally designed by Lowe et al. [A. Lowe, C. Murray, J. Whitaker, G. Tully, P. Gill, The propensity of individuals to deposit DNA and secondary transfer of low level DNA from individuals to inert surfaces, Forensic Sci. Int. 129 (2002) 25-34]. Transferred cellular material was collected from the tubes and STR profiles generated using the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus multiplex with 28 and 34 PCR cycles. Volunteers were asked to hold the tubes with each hand, and to participate in a series of handwashing experiments. The DNA profiling results obtained from the transferred skin cells were compared. An attempt was made to characterize the volunteers as 'good' or 'bad' shedders and to establish which, if any, of the experimental variables were associated with 'good' shedding. Our results suggest that many factors significantly influence shedding, including which hand an individual touches an item with and the time that has elapsed since they last washed their hands. We have found that it may be more complicated than previously reported to categorise a person as being either a 'good' or a 'bad' shedder and that if truly 'good' shedders exist they may be significantly rarer than some have estimated. In the current research no 'good' shedders were observed in a group of 60 volunteers. Given these results, it seems that rather than being applied to individual forensic cases, knowledge of shedding characteristics will be most useful in providing general background data for the interpretation of trace DNA evidence.     

Reflexive Adaptation of Business to Regulation and Regulation to Business

Regulatory change is driven by competitive struggle. Regulatees struggle with each other for customers and with regulators to lessen the burden of the rules being enforced. Regulators compete for regulatees and for the confidence of customers and the general public.
Competition among regulators is imperfect. Along with better rules, new entrants must offer reputational capital, financial strength, and recognized enforcement powers. These entry requirements have supported a secular expansion of government suppliers relative to private suppliers. Principal-agent conflicts inherent in representative democracy establish incentives for this expanding sector to produce regulatory services of poor quality. Finding ways to make top government regulators economically accountable for acts of misregulation is a critical problem.     

允诺禁止反言原则在涉外合同中的适用

<正> 允诺禁止反言原则(promissory estoppel)源于“禁止反言”原则(the doctrine of equitable estoppel)。禁止反言原则是英美法中一项古老的原则,首先在合同领域展露锋芒,之后在保险法、公司法、合伙法和知识产权法等领域均得到广泛适用。在其发展过程中,禁止反言原则不断细化,现已形成允诺禁止反言、误述禁止反言(the doctrine of estoppel by representation)、财产所有人禁止反言(Propertary estoppel)和习惯禁止反言(Estoppel by convention)四种并列形式。允诺禁止反言原则最初以判例形式确立,此后在     

关于按TRIPS协定的要求改进我国著作权制度的建议

我国正在进行“入世”谈判,并会在不久的将来加入世贸组织。这意味着我国将履行《与贸易有关的知识产权协定》(下称“TRIPS协定”)规定的保护知识产权的义务,其中包括按TRIPS协定的要求改进我国著作权制度的义务。当然,所谓“改进我国著作权制度的义务”,是指改进“对外保护”制度的义务;所谓“改进”,也仅就入世而言,并不是说我国著作权制度在符合TRIPS协定的要求后,就不存在需要进一步解决的其他问题。改进我国著     

领导干部提高应对突发事件能力的思考

本文分析了领导干部应对突发事件应当具备的洞察和鉴别能力、统御全局能力、组织协调能力、快速反应和决断能力,提出了提高领导干部应时突发事件能力的对策,即应当充分认识提高领导干部应对突发事件能力的重要性,切实加强学习,重视在实践演练中提高,增强服务意识,不断对突发事件应对工作进行深刻的反思和总结.     

从传统走向现代：社会保障权司法救济的检省与矫正

社会保障权是社会保障法的核心,是现代社会的一项基本人权,其本质是社会权。有权利就应当有救济,其中司法救济又是权利救济途径中最权威、最行之有效的方式,是保障公民社会保障权利恒久不易的追求。由于社会保障权的特殊性质,传统的民事和行政救济体系已不能适应社会保障争议的需要,打破传统的普通诉讼程序,借鉴国外成熟经验,完善和创设符合社会保障权特征的现代的特殊司法救济机制已成为必然之选。     

证人拒绝作证之对策研究

证人拒绝作证是困惑司法实践特别是刑事侦查的突出问题,这与依法治国的基本方略和建设和谐社会的要求格格不入,必须予以彻底改变.然而,证人拒绝作证的原因是多方面的,因此应从安全保护、经济补偿、法律制裁、改进方法以及强化观念等方面着手,使证人及时作证,从而尽快结束诉讼.     

试论诱惑侦查

现代社会在各种高度的隐蔽性、组织性、复杂化以及高超的反侦查手段等无被害人犯罪日益增多的情况下,对传统的侦查方法提出了巨大的挑战。诱惑侦查作为一种特殊的侦查方法以对付那些使用传统的侦查手段已无法或难以侦破的犯罪案件,其作用显得尤为突出。本文试从诱惑侦查的有关问题出发,对其进行分析。     

精神病人受审能力评定标准的制订

目的制订符合中国刑事法律体系的精神病违法者受审能力评定标准。方法根据自己的法医精神病学实践,结合国外已有的标准和中国刑事法律,研究者首先创建了称为“受审能力评定表”的评定工具,然后在实践中运用该工具;最后通过诊断性实验,对该工具的信度、效度及实用性进行了检验。结果该工具的分半信度和同质性信度分别为0.9366和0.9213,工具评定与专家评定的一致性为0.704,除了敏感性为0.6097,其他所有的诊断性指标均大于0.80。结论受审能力评定表具有较好的实用性。     

Factors related to willingness to help survivors of intimate partner violence

Although researchers have found that survivors of intimate partner violence seek support from a multitude of sources, ranging from professionals to informal support networks, little is known about the extent to which community members reach out to help survivors. This study explored the type of support provided to survivors and various factors that relate to individuals' willingness to help. Survivors were more likely to be helped by women, younger individuals, those who strongly endorsed criminal justice interventions for perpetrators, and those who perceived intimate partner violence as a frequently occurring issue in their communities. Two additional factors were found to relate to an individual's likelihood of assisting others, including witnessing intimate partner violence as a child and prior victimization. Further research is needed in this area to explore helper, survivor, and contextual characteristics that may affect one's likelihood to offer assistance to survivors.     

析WTO规制技术性贸易壁垒之实效性缺乏

WTO对技术性贸易壁垒的规制主要是通过《TBT协定》和《SPS协定》加以体现的。两协定实施12年来,尽管在立法和司法层面上均围绕其有效实施作出了不懈的努力并取得一些进展,但囿于立法中极其有限的推进和司法裁决中所面临的两难境地,很难对遏制技术性贸易壁垒产生根本性的影响;而且,有迹象表明,各该协定所确立的"实体标准+程序要求"之司法裁判并重模式,已开始往"程序导向"之单轨偏行,因而其实效性还有被进一步削弱的可能。