A Multidisciplinary Approach to Detecting and Responding to Elder Mistreatment: Creating a University-Community Partnership

As the aging population grows, the problem of elder mistreatment is escalating. Cases of elder mistreatment are anticipated to increase further as the—baby boomers age and the number of elderly individuals living and receiving care at home increases (Stiegel 2006; Kennedy 2005; Meeks-Sjostrom 2004). While there has been increasing attention placed on understanding the dynamic of elder mistreatment, advancement of public policy and scholarly work has been hampered due to the fact that much of this work occurs in disciplinary silos. This paper spotlights one example in which university scholars from various disciplines partnered with social service providers, legal professionals, and healthcare educators in the community to enhance the development of a sustainable comprehensive elder justice network.     

Toward an Empirical Approach to Evidentiary Ruling

This paper responds to criticisms/misconstruals of our measure of the maximum probative value of evidence (D. Davis & W. C. Follette, 2002), and our conclusions regarding the potentially prejudicial role of intuitive profiling evidence, including motive. We argue that R. D. Friedman and R. C. Park's (2003) criticisms and example cases are largely based on inappropriate violation of the presumption of innocence. Further, we address the merits of our absolute difference measure of probative value versus those of the Bayesian likelihood ratio championed by D. H. Kaye and J. J. Koehler (2003). We recommend methods for presentation of measures of evidence utility that convey complexities of interdependence between new and existing evidence. Finally, we propose a probable cause standard for admission of potentially prejudicial evidence, dictating that admissibility of such evidence should be contingent upon other substantial evidence of guilt.     

A New Twist on an Old Approach: A Random-Interaction Approach for Estimating Rates of Inter-Group Interaction

There are numerous instances in which researchers wish to measure the rate of intra- or inter-group interactions (whether positive or negative). When computing such measures as rates there is great uncertainty regarding the appropriate denominator: we analytically illustrate how the choice of the denominator when calculating such rates is not trivial and that some existing strategies create a built-in relationship between the computed rate and the group composition within the entity. Another strand of prior work only focused on the relative occurrence of intra- versus inter-group events, which does not account for the important theoretical possibility that both types of events might increase in certain social contexts. Our approach provides an advance over these earlier strategies as it allows one to take into account the relative frequency of interaction between members of different groups, but then translates this into per capita rates. We also provide an empirical example using data on inter- and intra-group robbery and aggravated assault events for block groups in a section of the city of Los Angeles to illustrate how our procedure works and to illustrate how other approaches can lead to dramatically different conclusions.     

A Socio-Legal Approach to Administrative Justice

The first part of this article outlines two complementary approaches to enhancing administrative justice. Internal mechanisms, which can be put into place by government departments and public bodies themselves, are contrasted with external mechanisms, which result in the imposition on government departments and public bodies of principles enunciated by courts, tribunals, and ombudsmen. Lawyers are all too familiar with the external approach but tend to be much less familiar with the internal approach. The article seeks to redress this imbalance. It emphasizes the importance of the internal approach, not as an alternative but, rather, as a complement to the external approach and develops a framework for analyzing administrative justice in terms of "trade-offs" between different normative models of administrative decision-making. The second part of the article demonstrates how this approach to the study of administrative justice has informed research on the impact of computerization on social security in the United Kingdom; on decision making in the Scottish prison system; on the assessment of special educational needs in England and Scotland; and on the computerization of social security in thirteen countries. The article concludes by attempting to show that this approach to the study of administrative justice satisfies all the defining characteristics of the socio-legal paradigm.     

A Philosophical Approach to Norm Logic

The author outlines his views on the essence of philosophical logic. There are two means of philosophical argumentation: intuition and analysis of the problem situation under examination. Logical intuition can be replaced by improved intuition based on new intellectual constructions. Then the author explains—in opposition to von Wright—the main philosophical traits of his conception of norm logic. The structure of the information processing determining action justifies the application of dichotomous semantics in action theory and in practical philosophy. The theory of action and institutions is based on three anthropological features of man: our capacity of acting, our being a zoon politikon , and our capacity to form institutions. These features determine our ontology, our semantics and the logics of practical thinking. The action-theoretical approach leads to a formal and finalistic theory of action in which action is not only analysed as an element of the norm content, but as the essential basis of the whole field of practical philosophy. In the frame of this action theory a conception of freedom of will is provided which does not contrast with determinism. The formalism of action is applied in two different problem situations: in action deliberation and in motive interpretation. Jørgensen's dilemma is discussed and overcome by the introduction of a generalised notion of inference. Deontic logic is confronted with the idea of a genuine logic of norms. The main principles of norm logic are discussed and a normative conditional is introduced. Von Wright's conception of a genuine norm logic is confronted with the present author's conception. The author shows that norm-logical skepticism would be detrimental to analytical jurisprudence.     

A Legal Conventionalist Approach to Pollution

There are no moral entitlements with respect to pollution prior to legal conventions that establish them, or so I will argue. While some moral entitlements precede legal conventions, pollution is part of a category of harms against interests that stands apart in this regard. More specifically, pollution is a problematic type of harm that creates liability only under certain conditions. Human interactions lead to harm and to the invasion of others’ space regularly, and therefore we need an account of undue harm as a basis of assigning legal protections (rights) and obligations (duties) to different agents, which creates standards for holding those agents responsible for harm. Absent such positive standards with respect to pollution at the domestic or international level, it does not make sense to hold agents responsible. This fact has two fundamental implications. First, contrary to what some defenders of environmental justice argue, we cannot hold people responsible for polluting without a system of legal rights in place that assigns entitlements, protections, and obligations, and second, contrary to what opponents of environmental regulation claim, the lack of moral entitlements to pollute creates room for quite extensive legal restrictions on people’s ability to pollute for the sake of the environment and human health. Indeed the scope of those restrictions is wide and open-ended.     

Criminal Behavior: A Real Option Approach With an Application to Restricting Illegal Insider Trading

Traditionally, criminal behavior is analyzed within an expected utility framework. This paper offers an alternative model to analyze criminal behavior based on real option models. It is shown that all criminal decisions can be analyzed as real options, in a sense that they confer the possibility but not the obligation to commit a crime in the future. The criminal option model is a richer model compared to conventional economic models of crime, because it takes into account four additional variables. As such, the conventional economic analysis of crime is a special case of criminal option models. The criminal option model is then applied to the enforcement of illegal insider trading. Based on the six value-drivers of criminal options, an active management strategy can be developed for the criminal as well as for the legislator.     

多元翻译理论初探

本文在比较中西典型译论的基础上指出,翻译的本质是涉及诸多要素的交流活动,而这些译论仅侧重反映了其中的某些方面,因此,提倡通过“对话”,吸收其合理内核,使其共存,从而建立一种多元对话的翻译理论新体系非常必要。     

A Normative Approach to the Quistclose Trust

This is the first article to undertake a sustained analysis of normative justifications for the Quistclose trust. Whilst much of the existing writing on this topic has focused on the better classification of such trusts – for instance, whether they are express, resulting, constructive or sui generis – this article asks why the law should recognise a trust in addition to any underlying legal relationship. Four key justifications are addressed, based on respecting party intention, unconscionability, fairness, and the incentivisation of desirable transactions. It will be argued that: (i) there are difficulties with each of these justifications, although an intention‐focused explanation is probably the most convincing; and (ii) the existing law and commentary lacks coherence and consistency, as seen in the mismatch between normative and doctrinal analysis, and the failure to properly address the ramifications of the Quistclose trust during insolvency.     

Bioterrorism meets privacy: an analysis of the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act and the HIPAA privacy rule

Ms. Bruce's paper analyzes the interplay between the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act and the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The article begins by examining specific relevant provisions of the Act and Rule. Next, it traces the history of public health law through the court system and then uses this foundation to discuss how the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act and the HIPAA Privacy Rule could co-exist, protecting Americans in the case of a bioterror attack, while being appropriately sensitive to the confidentiality of private health information.     

法官职业道德建设的文化障碍及路径转向

法官职业道德建设是人民法院遏制司法腐败,加强队伍建设的重要举措,但长期以来,法官职业道德建设的成效却差强人意,主要原因在于对中国传统人情文化障碍缺乏充分认识,因此,解决问题的路径必须建立在实现三个转向的基础之上。     

中国古代族刑的嬗变及存在根由分析

族刑作为中国古代一种残酷的刑罚种类,其产生和发展有其思想和制度上的根源。中国古的社会特点和结构,以及统治者的反人民性的本质,决定了族刑得以延续。对刑法的工具主义和刑罚的镇慑功能的追求,使得统治者历来信奉重刑治国。现代法治社会,对人权的保障,必须确立"罪止其身"的刑罚原则。     

A Systems Approach to the Concept of Demographic Legislation

In the Report of the CPSU Central Committee to the Twenty-fifth Congress, it is stated that "development of an effective demographic policy is an important task for a whole range of natural and social sciences." Jurisprudence has a considerable role to play in developing and reinforcing the major propositions of a national demographic policy. The present period is characterized by the spread of family planning, i.e., conscious control of the number of children in the family in accordance with the reproductive attitude of the parents. The character of the attitude - the felt psychological need to have a given number of children - is in many respects governed by social norms. The demographic effect of the totality of normative documents influencing population dynamics and comprising demographic legislation cannot be assured, in our opinion, without taking into account the concepts and requirements of the systems approach. The systems approach to legal regulation of social relationships facilitates thorough analysis of the interrelations between legal and other social phenomena and provides the opportunity to discover the integrative connections, consideration of which in many ways determines the effectiveness of the requirements stated in norms. Systems analysis as a methodological approach identifies the systems concepts inherent in the object under study. Its basis is the proposition that "the specific character of a complex entity (system) is not exhausted by the features of the elements comprising it but is rooted above all in the nature of the connections and relations among particular elements," and the object of research itself is "a hierarchical, polystructural, multilevel entity." (1)     

称呼模式的跨文化研究

对人的本质的不同界定是中西文化模式差异的根本所在 ,也是造成英汉称呼模式区别的深层缘由。称呼模式的跨文化研究旨在以称呼语作为切入点 ,深入剖析中西文化深层结构的差异 ,进而为跨文化交际的理解和沟通提供参照     

The Right to Privacy: A Discourse-Theoretical Approach

The relative importance of the right to privacy in constitutional democracies is reconsidered on the basis of discourse theory. To this end the author does not regard privacy as an aim in itself but as a provider of freedom, and concentrates on the key role that freedom plays in discourse-theoretical constructions of constitutional democracies.