Classic strain theory and gender: the case of Turkey

A test of classic strain theory on gender in relation to assault, school delinquency, and public disturbance is investigated in high schools in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. Data for the study, including class variables, involve a two-stage stratified cluster sample of high school students. The findings show that various strain and class measures do not appear to be associated consistently with delinquency and gender, except for perceived blocked opportunity for females. The effects of strain and class variables on delinquent acts are similar for both genders, except for the middle social class of males. The most striking finding is that social class is associated positively with juvenile delinquency: Lower-class youth are less likely to commit assault, school delinquency, and public disturbance.     

Competition by regulation in energy markets: the case of Turkey

A fundamental question facing the regulatory and competition authorities is whether to delegate competition policy issues of utilities to regulatory agencies or competition authorities. While, some countries prefer ‘light handed regulation’ by competition authorities, others grant substantial power to independent regulatory agencies. Turkey followed the liberalization wave in electricity with a regulatory reform in 2001. Recently, a slight shift of tide has appeared in previously liberalized markets. Electricity markets are the forefront example of this change of course. A similar trend is apparent in Turkey as well. Increasing pressures on prices and excess demand have created more reasons for active government involvement. As political factors weigh in, economic considerations take a secondary place in electricity markets. In order to show the tension between political and economic preferences, we use the Pareto and Kaldor-Hicks criteria of welfare economics metaphorically. This paper discusses the scope of competition policy in the Turkish electricity industry. We focus on the issue of regulatory governance. The absence of a well established institutional environment reduces the potential role of competition policy in the industry and increase political meddling in all segments of the Turkish electricity market. By looking into changes in prices, market power and new entry closely, we discuss the relative success of the regulatory reform in the electricity industry. We conclude by emphasizing the consequences of a passive competition authority in establishing a competitive electricity market.     

Methods of sex trafficking: findings of a case study in Turkey

The underground sex industry in Turkey has increasingly become dependent on the foreign women, predominantly coming from the former Soviet Union. Some of these women became victims of sex trafficking. However, little is known about how they are recruited, transferred to, and exploited in Turkey. This article attempts to enlighten this process and makes use of police-recorded victim interviews (N?=?430), as well as key personnel interviews (N=?18) as primary data. Various methods and tactics are found to be used in sex trafficking operations in Turkey. Most victims are recruited by persons known to them proposing attractive job possibilities, especially in the entertainment business. The majority of victims enter Turkey with legal documents and with various transportation means. Traffickers obtain girls and sell them to customers in public and private settings using methods to control the victims, such as debt bondage, violence, confinement, confiscation of travel documents, and threats.     

孤独的法官与法官的孤独——法官的自主性研究

法官需要孤独,孤独不是寂寞,而是一种凝结了真善美的高贵品质。法官的孤独并不是与这个世界的分离,相反法官的孤独是关注这个世界发展的命运基础上的孤独。正是因为法官把握和感受到了这个世界的整体命运,所以法官的孤独才可能对这个世界产生一种推动的力量。法官的孤独是一种具有高度自主性的美好品德。     

Access, accountability and authority: Corruption and the democratic process

Democratic systems face the challenge of sustainingtheir political authority while simultaneouslyproviding access to the political system for theircitizens, and ensuring existence of mechanisms for theformal and political accountability of those inoffice. The connections between these threecomponents, and between them and corruption, arecomplex. The paper suggests ways in whichaccountability may undermine authority through theblurring of distinctions between formal and politicalaccountability, by ham-stringing politicalinstitutions, by creating incentives for corruptpractices, and by politicising accusations ofcorruption. Access can be similarly destabilising andcorrupting, where trust is low and compliance withrules weak; and a basic problem with securing highlevels of trust is that the materials from which suchtrust is manufactured are often the very things whichaccountability mechanisms regard as corrupt – localnetworks, clientelism, and personal loyalties andfriendships. In democratising states, attackingthese elements can eradicate rather than enhance thebasis for well-regulated access.Different democratic systems have evolved differentways of balancing these three components. Theparticular institutional form the balance takes willhave a major impact on the types of corruption thesystem will face, and on the solutions which areappropriate. However, the tendency in internationalcircles is for one highly idiosyncratic understandingof this balance to hold sway, with potentiallydestabilising consequences when applied to theanalysis of corruption, especially in democratisingstates. The paper concludes that attempts to reduce corruptionand increase accountability by increasingparticipation and access are flawed. Access mayincrease the risk of corruption, while accountabilityremains a classic public good on which free-ridingwill be widespread. Corruption control in democracieswill not be solved by more democracy – indeed, itmight need less.     

Simple rules for a complex regulatory world: the case of financial regulation

European Journal of Law and Economics - Twenty-five years ago Richard Epstein published Simple Rules for a Complex World, which would go on to become one of Epstein’s most influential works....     

Toward the safety society: Police agencies and environmental planning

The authors of this paper outline one approach to crime prevention which has recently become available - participation by police agencies in the environmental planning process. Two environmental management devices, the environmental impact assessment process and the general plan, are described and opportunities for police agency involvement are detailed. The contribution of public safety personnel to environmental management is seen as residing in two areas: precicting the effects of a project on the demand for police services, and suggesting ways in which a project may be designed with a view to the prevention of crime. In the latter context, the literature in environmental design and environmental psychology is reviewed for findings relevant to the creation of a safe environment.     

Expert evidence accountability: new developments and challenges

A series of developments in relation to the accountability of expert witnesses and the admissibility of their opinions is taking place. This extends to encroachments in the United Kingdom on expert witness immunity, the imposition of disciplinary liability for registered health practitioners in Australia and the United Kingdom, and recommendations from the United Kingdom Law Commission for a systematised procedure for reliability determination as a prerequisite for admissibility rulings. This combination of measures is indicative of international concern about the contemporary role of expert witnesses. It highlights the need for both empirical information about whether the anecdotal and experiential concerns about expert evidence are well-founded and for the provision of better and clearer guidance to experts and litigators alike about the underpinnings and methodologies that are permissible for admissible and probative expert opinions.     

Cooperation in the shadow of regulatory competition: the case of asylum legislation in Europe

Traditional analysis considers that the granting of protection to refugees is an international public good, and thus explains both the heterogeneousness in refugee protection in Europe and the spiral that has hardened the EU Member States’ asylum legislation from the mid-1980s onwards as the result of free riding in the provision of the good. In contrast, the paper considers that the heterogeneousness in refugee distribution is best explained by the joint product model and that the spiral of restriction is best explained by the common pool resource model and regulatory competition theory. The paper explains, and gives empirical evidence of the emergence and development of a competitive game among the EU Member States, and shows the result and the consequence of this upon cooperative attempts among States.     

Police accountability and the Irish law of evidence

Common law courts have differed on whether and to what extent an exclusionary rule should be used as a tool to impose standards on the police. The Irish courts have pursued an uncompromising approach in this area. Basing themselves on the imperative of upholding the constitutional rights of the accused, they have been willing to exclude relevant and cogent evidence on the basis that it was obtained by the police in breach of those rights. This article locates the Irish constitutional exclusionary rule in the broader context of the role of the law of evidence in police governance. Citing specific examples from the Irish legislation and case law, it shows how recent legislative interventions and some judicial hesitancy have fuelled inconsistent and contradictory trends. It concludes that there is now a pressing need for reflection on the respective roles of the legislature and the courts in this area.     

欧洲中央银行:独立性及其司法解读

《建立欧洲共同体条约》赋予了欧洲中央银行在货币政策、组织与人事安排、财政等方面的高度独立性,其目的在于保障欧洲中央银行货币政策职能的顺利实现.欧洲法院的司法裁决表明,欧洲中央银行的独立地位是一种有限的、功能性的独立,并不是绝对的独立.欧洲中央银行不能在欧盟法律框架之外独立存在,但在该法律框架下,欧洲中央银行的货币政策职能的独立行使会得到有效保护.     

Prosecution independence and accountability: principles,challenges and recommendations

This paper examines the independence and accountability of the prosecutor and the prosecution agency, principles that apply in those areas, challenges that may arise and recommendations for action that enable jurisdictions to comply with best practice in the field, strengthening the rule of law and contributing to good governance. The prosecution agency, through the conduct of its head and of individual prosecutors, plays a fundamental role in the proper administration of criminal justice. For it to operate efficiently and effectively, both government and the community must have confidence in it. That requires that it operate independently, according to well-established principles, and accountably. Challenges to those requirements may be met legislatively, structurally, managerially and operationally. A central issue discussed – especially in the context of small jurisdictions – is the desirability of having an independent Director of Public Prosecutions.