Testing Legal Assumptions Regarding the Effects of Dancer Nudity and Proximity to Patron on Erotic Expression

A field experiment was conducted in order to test the assumptions by the Supreme Court in Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. (1991) and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Colacurcio v. City of Kent (1999) that government restrictions on dancer nudity and dancer–patron proximity do not affect the content of messages conveyed by erotic dancers. A field experiment was conducted in which dancer nudity (nude vs. partial clothing) and dancer–patron proximity (4 feet; 6 in.; 6 in. plus touch) were manipulated under controlled conditions in an adult night club. After male patrons viewed the dances, they completed questionnaires assessing affective states and reception of erotic, relational intimacy, and social messages. Contrary to the assumptions of the courts, the results showed that the content of messages conveyed by the dancers was significantly altered by restrictions placed on dancer nudity and dancer–patron proximity. These findings are interpreted in terms of social psychological responses to nudity and communication theories of nonverbal behavior. The legal implications of rejecting the assumptions made by the courts in light of the findings of this study are discussed. Finally, suggestions are made for future research.     

Developing a therapeutic environment for boys in secure settings who have sexually offended

Abstract

The role of secure units in helping sexually abusive adolescent boys to change their behaviour and attitudes is examined. The problems presented by 23 adolescent sex offenders at Glenthorne Youth Treatment Centre were used to identify issues for management and treatment. These boys had committed a variety of non-sexual offences, and were responsible for 691 recorded crimes. Many had committed violent offences and had emotional, educational, relationship and substance-abuse problems. In contrast to the situation in community settings, the use of offence-focused groupwork and individual psychological therapy is limited in secure units. Many of these boys are not suited to this kind of work, or are not yet ready to benefit from it. Secure units also have difficulty resourcing these types of intervention. Nevertheless, the secure unit environment can be organised and structured to effect changes in behaviours and attitudes associated with sexual offending. Attention should be given to particular aspects of residential practice, including anti-discriminatory practice, organisational values, establishing behavioural boundaries, challenging unacceptable behaviour and language, reinforcing appropriate behaviour, encouraging interpersonal problem-solving, providing effective supervision based on an evaluation of risk, and education to raise victim awareness and respect for others. Liaison with community programmes for sexually abusive adolescents should be encouraged.     

Social License and Environmental Protection: Why Businesses Go Beyond Compliance

This article examines the concept of the corporate "social license," which governs the extent to which a corporation is constrained to meet societal expectations and avoid activities that societies (or influential elements within them) deem unacceptable, whether or not those expectations are embodied in law. It examines the social license empirically, as it relates to one social problem–environmental protection–and as it relates to one particular industry: pulp and paper manufacturing. It shows try the social license is important, the circumstances in which it may encourage companies to go "beyond compliance" with regulation, how its terms are monitored and enforced, and how it interacts with what we term the regulatory and economic licenses. Overall, this research demonstrates that corporate environmental behavior cannot be explained purely in terms of instrumental threats and moral obligations to comply with the law, and that the increasing incidence of "beyond compliance" corporate behavior can be better explained in terms of the interplay between social pressures and economic constraints.     

Bound feet: How sexy were they?

In lore and literature, footbinding is thought to have been maintained by its erotic attraction for Chinese men. Interviews with hundreds of living village and small-town women who were footbound in their childhood prove this to be an unsustainable myth. In addition to my extensive fieldwork in many Chinese regions, graphic and portable erotic art, and classical erotic novels all reveal a low level of sexual attentiveness to bound feet and shoes even among the literate. Since most commoner marriages were arranged by parents, and since Chinese mothers-in-law were unlikely to seek sexually distracting brides for their sons, it is clear that while Chinese culture produced some bound foot fetishists, the erotic aspect of the practice was of minimal, if any, importance to the huge population of ordinary couples. This finding clears the way for more effective explanations of its remarkable endurance and spread.     

区分加重构成与量刑规则——罪量加重构成概念之提倡

法定刑升格条件确有区分加重构成与量刑规则的必要。不具备违法推定机能、不是故意认识内容的首要分子、作为报酬的违法所得等升格条件是典型的量刑规则;具备犯罪个别化、违法性推定与故意规制三大机能的时间地点、行为方式、加重结果等升格条件是典型的(罪体)加重构成要素;而多次、数额巨大等升格条件,仅表征违法程度、不体现行为类型变异,虽是故意的认识内容,却无法发挥犯罪个别化机能,既非典型的加重构成要素,也非典型的量刑规则,应属于罪量加重构成要素。罪量加重构成有行为规模类与结果程度类之分,结果程度类罪量加重构成是基于基本犯结果的危险性而加重刑罚的,当基本犯未遂时,即丧失加重之依据,不能论以加重犯的未遂犯。情节严重作为升格条件,则应当根据具体化的情节事实,依据上述标准判断各具体事项的归属。     

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

This report describes the findings from a study of 79 mediation sessions tape-recorded at five sites in England: three independent agencies and two probation services. Mediators were found to have extensive power to influence both process and outcome, although this is restrained by the need to depict their role as formally neutral. This power is used both positively to encourage some options and negatively to discourage others. The content of settlements is not controlled exclusively by the parties. References to children's interests seem to be rarer than might be expected. They appear to arise more as a means of sanctioning parents than as a way of focusing discussion on what would be best for their children. There are few differences between the behavior of probation officers holding joint interviews with couples in the course of preparing a welfare report and the behavior of mediators working for independent agencies. Those that do occur seem to be more related to local contingencies than to some fundamental difference between court-associated and independent work. While co-working sometimes achieves the benefits claimed by its proponents, especially in the provision of additional insights into disputants' problems, it brings greater risks of unacceptable pressure from the concerted action of two mediators. This report does not undermine the case for seeing mediation as a useful addition to the means by which people may choose to arrange their divorces. However, it does argue that there is a need for clients to be given much clearer information about exactly what they should expect and to have a freer and more informed choice about whether or not to participate. It also underlines the need for mediators to have adequate training, especially in understanding the practical implications of divorce, and to be made properly accountable.     

Discipline, Assault, and Justice: Violent Parents and the Law

This article calls attention to an unacceptable double standard in American law: the lenient treatment of parental violence against children when compared to other forms of physical assault. Parts II and III critique the generous privilege of physical discipline extended to parents and the differential state response to violence when the victim is a child in the assailant's family. Appeals to family privacy and parental autonomy to justify the current double standard are examined and found wanting. Clearer and much stricter limits on corporal punishment are recommended and defended as constitutional. We further recommend that parental violence which falls outside these limits should be treated no differently than other misdemeanor and felony assaults. These two proposals give children the protection against domestic violence to which they are entitled as a matter of right and prudence.     

Case commentary: anonymisation is not exoneration

This case commentary analyses a ruling that any use of information given in confidence for unconsented purposes is a breach of confidence capable of supporting a legal action (even if the information has previously been anonymised and aggregated). The ruling is being appealed. It is argued that, while it is reasonable to delineate a narrower duty of confidentiality (not to disclose personal information, against breach of which anonymisation protects), this must be within a broad duty of confidence (not to use private information, which using anonymous information can still breach). Thus, the ruling is fundamentally correct in holding that anonymisation does not permit information obtained in confidence to be used for unconsented purposes. This, however, implies that information obtained for a patient's treatment may not be used lawfully for medical research or NHS management purposes without consent, even if it is anonymised. Such a consequence is unacceptable as a matter of public policy. However, it is equally unacceptable to seek an exemption through the idea that patients give "implied consent" for medical research and NHS management purposes. It is also unacceptable to maintain that the public interest in medical research (regardless of its aims) justifies unconsented use of information obtained in confidence, even if the information is anonymised. The way in which Section 33 of the Data Protection Act 1998 creates an exemption to its Second Data Protection Principle provides a ready-made model for a public interest based exemption for medical research and statistical NHS purposes.     

美国网络色情言论管制的“空间”标准——从ACLU案到ALA案

在网络色情言论管制中，美国司法机关通过案例建立起“空间”标准，以及对“空间”标准的审查基准。“空间”标准是指在网络色情信息和成年人之间形成封闭空间，避免未成年人轻易接触网络色情信息。“空间”标准的建立，是保障特定人群免遭色情言论污染的一个重要运用。网络的虚拟性和开放性决定了这一封闭空间很难做到完美，而有可能侵害非色情信息发布者的言论自由。ACLU案和ALA案是美国最高法院建立和完善“空间”标准的两个里程碑式的案例。经过案例的积累和发展，美国最高法院逐渐形成了立体化的“空间”标准。为保障未成年人免遭色情言论侵扰提供了法制上的保障，也缓解了网络色情言论管制与言论自由之间的张力。     

行为功利主义违法观

刑法绝对排斥对正当行为的处罚;评价行为正当与否,应当以行为功利主义为原则,因而应当采取结果无价值论;在两种法益存在冲突的情况下,应当通过法益的衡量判断行为正当与否;符合构成要件的行为,即使违反了某种规则,但只要保护了更为优越或者同等的法益,就应成为正当化事由;行为正当与否与行为人应否受谴责不是同一个问题,因此,刑法理论必须严格区分违法与有责。     

Development of the Observation Scale for Aggressive Behavior (OSAB) for Dutch forensic psychiatric inpatients with an antisocial personality disorder

The Observation Scale for Aggressive Behavior (OSAB) has been developed to evaluate inpatient treatment programs designed to reduce aggressive behavior in Dutch forensic psychiatric patients with an antisocial personality disorder, who are "placed at the disposal of the government". The scale should have the sensitivity to measure changes in the possible determinants of aggressive behavior, such as limited control of displayed negative emotions (irritation, anger or rage) and a general deficiency of social skills. In developing the OSAB 40 items were selected from a pool of 82 and distributed among the following a priori scales: Irritation/anger, Anxiety/gloominess, Aggressive behavior, Antecedent (to aggressive behavior), Sanction (for aggressive behavior) and Social behavior. The internal consistency of these subscales was good, the inter-rater reliability was moderate to good, and the test-retest reliability over a two to three week period was moderate to good. The correlation between the subscales Irritation/anger, Anxiety/gloominess, Aggressive behavior, Antecedent, Sanction was substantial and significant, but the anticipated negative correlation between these subscales and the Social behavior subscale could not be shown. Relationships between the corresponding subscales of the OSAB and the FIOS, used to calculate concurrent validity, yielded relatively high correlations. The validity of the various OSAB subscales could be further supported by significant correlations with the PCL-R and by significant but weak correlations with corresponding subscales of the self-report questionnaires. The Observation Scale for Aggressive Behavior (OSAB) seems to measure aggressive behavior in Dutch forensic psychiatric inpatients with an antisocial personality disorder reliably and validly. Contrary to expectations, a negative relationship was not found between aggressive and social behavior in either the OSAB or FIOS, which were used for calculating concurrent validity.     

房屋拆迁权的滥用与预防

房屋拆迁权的行使是否合法 ,是一个被立法和理论研究遗忘的问题 ,其合法性应从实体要件和程序要件两个方面评定。拆迁行为是否符合社会公共利益 ,是判定拆迁是否符合实体要件 ,以及是否被滥用的唯一标准。公共利益的层次性 ,是解决房屋拆迁权冲突的法理依据。行政救济是房屋拆迁权合法的程序要件 ,应当在房屋拆迁前实施行政听政制度 ,并允许拆迁当事人提出行政复议和行政诉讼。     

Effect of psychopathy on physical aggression toward gay and heterosexual men

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effect of psychopathy on antigay aggression. Participants were 84 heterosexual men who competed in an aggression paradigm in which electric shocks were received from and administered to a randomly determined fictitious opponent (heterosexual male, gay male) during a competitive reaction time task. Aggression was operationalized as shock intensities administered to the opponent. Prior to the task, all participants completed measures of psychopathy, sexual prejudice, and state anger; viewed a male-male erotic video; and reported state anger a second time. After controlling for sexual prejudice, analyses revealed that psychopathy significantly predicted aggression toward the gay, but not the heterosexual, male confederate. Psychopathy was not associated with increases in anger in response to the erotic video. These findings indicate that psychopathy is a significant marker for antigay violence, though anger experienced in response to homosexuality does not seem to underlie this association.     

论强制医疗启动程序决定主体

强制医疗制度是国家医疗保健制度的有机组成部分,强制医疗有广义与狭义之分。狭义的强制医疗,如实施危害行为的精神病患者、甲类传染病患者等;广义的强制医疗,包括预防接种、指定医保单位就医等。强制医疗程序启动的决定主体必须是国家赋予相应权力的机关,其他任何单位不具有这样的权力,因而无权决定强制医疗程序启动。强制医疗主体的确定取决于强制医疗对象的危害程度、广度及时间等因素。     

论环境标准的法律地位——对主流观点的反思与补充

环境标准不同于环境标准法律规范，也不同于环境标准法律制度。从形式上看，它无构成法律规范所需的完整结构，也无独立的法律效力，故其属性只可属于行政规范性文件，而不应归于环境法的渊源，但环境标准可经法律规范的援引而成为构成该规范的“条件假设”或“行为模式”的组成部分。从而才被赋予相应的法律效力和法律意义。在裁判实践中，环境标准可作为判断环境行为违法与否的法律事实——“超标”或“这标”的依据，但不能单独作为环境行为是否违法的判断准则，违法与否还必须结合相关法律规范的具体规定才能做出正确判断，即达标不一定合法,超标也并不必然违法。     

Psychosocial characteristics of criminals committing incest and other sex offenses: a survey in a Taiwanese prison

The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychosocial characteristics of criminals who had committed incest or other sexual offenses. The participants, 240 criminals serving sentences for sex offenses in a Taiwanese prison, were divided into two groups: incest offenders (20.4%) and other sex offenders (79.6%). The psychosocial characteristics taken into consideration included age, parental survival, education, marital status, previous crime records, drug and alcohol abuse, diagnosed mental disorders, and victim abuse at the time of the offense. After an analysis of the data, the authors concluded that even though incest offenders showed fewer mental disorders, they needed psychiatric treatment and that this treatment should be focused not only on their mental disorder and related symptoms but especially to correct their abnormal behavior. Also, attention should be given to their psychosocial characteristics.     

Sexual abuse and anti-wrinkle cream: evidence from octocrylene

In a case of a driving ability assessment, hair analysis for ethyl glucuronide (EtG) was requested by the authorities. The person concerned denied alcohol consumption and did not present any clinical sign of alcoholism. However, EtG was found in concentrations of up to 910pg/mg in hair from different sampling dates suggesting an excessive drinking behavior. The person declared to use a hair lotion on a regularly base. To evaluate a possible effect of the hair lotion, prospective blood and urine controls as well as hair sampling of scalp and pubic hair were performed. The traditional clinical biomarkers of ethanol consumption, CDT and GGT, were inconspicuous in three blood samples taken. EtG was not detected in all collected urine samples. The hair lotion was transmitted to our laboratory. The ethanol concentration in this lotion was determined with 35g/L. The EtG immunoassay gave a positive result indicating EtG, which could be confirmed by GC-MS/MS-NCI. In a follow-up experiment the lotion was applied to the hair of a volunteer over a period of six weeks. After this treatment, EtG could be measured in the hair at a concentration of 72pg/mg suggesting chronic and excessive alcohol consumption. Overnight incubation of EtG free hair in the lotion yielded an EtG concentration of 140pg/mg. In the present case, the positive EtG hair findings could be interpreted as the result of an EtG containing hair care product. To our knowledge, the existence of such a product has not yet been reported, and it is exceptionally unusual to find EtG in cosmetics. Therefore, external sources for hair contamination should always be taken into account when unusual cosmetic treatment is mentioned. In those cases, it is recommended to analyze the hair product for a possible contamination with EtG. The analysis of body hair can help to reveal problems occurring from cosmetic treatment of head hair. As a consequence, the assessment of drinking behavior should be based on more than one diagnostic parameter.     

Violent behavior in cancer patients--a rarely addressed phenomenon in oncological treatment

Dealing with violent cancer patients can be particularly challenging. The purpose of this study was to collect data on the frequency, quality, and underlying variables affecting violent behavior as well as to examine the role played by this behavior in the premature interruption of treatment. A total of 388 cancer inpatients were examined by liaison psychiatrists. The data were assessed using the Staff Observation Aggression Scale (SOAS-R) and Psycho-Oncological Basic Documentation (PO-BADO); the quality of psychiatric disturbances was measured with a three-level rating according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) criteria. Nineteen of 388 patients (4.9%) displayed violent behavior. The variable "cognitive limitations" was clearly associated with aggressive behavior. The interaction factor "constantly bedfast, nonterminal phase, and strong feelings of helplessness or subjection," was associated with aggressive behavior as a trend statistically. Eight of 19 inpatients showing aggressive behavior were prematurely released from the treatment facility. In a multivariate model the association of the variable "aggressive behavior" to premature interruption of treatment with unfinished diagnosis and therapy was weighted rather strong. Despite their methodological limitations, these results suggest that members of oncological teams should be able to identify violent behavior and its precursors at an early stage as important factors, which may decrease patient cooperation.     

Psychotropic Medication and Competence to Stand Trial

At any given time, as many as 15,000 persons are hospitalized for study or treatment regarding their competence to stand trial. Although most of the defendants found incompetent to stand trial "could rapidly be returned to competence and so maintained were the facilities and treatments of modern psychiatry made available to them", the impact of recent advances in psychiatry—particularly drug therapy—has not been fully absorbed by the legal system. Defendants restored to competence by psychotropic drugs frequently require ongoing medication. Some courts, mistakenly assuming that psychotropic drugs produce a "chemical sanity" that is unacceptable for participation in a trial, have adopted a practice—the "automatic bar rule"—of automatically prohibiting the return for trial of defendants under the influence of such drugs. A lack of statutory, regulatory, or judicial guidance leaves the question largely to the discretion of individual trial judges. This article critically examines the automatic bar rule in light of the effects of various psychotropic drugs and of the consequences of the rule both to defendants and to the state.     

危险犯的形态及其法条适用

危险犯是既遂犯的通说观点存在诸多缺陷,因而不可取。由于在主观方面可以将行为人的故意分为危险故意和实害故意,在客观方面可以将危害结果分为危险结果与实害结果,因此,简单地认为危险犯是相应侵害犯的未遂形态或者说危险犯包括侵害犯的预备、未遂和中止三种形态的看法也不尽合理。对于危险犯的形态问题及其法条适用应当通过具体分析后再确定。