Guns and Drugs: Case Studies on the Principled Limits of the Criminal Sanction

Law and Philosophy -     

两岸紧急采购制度之比较分析

政府采购法乃是市场经济国家管理政府公共支出的一种基本途径，祖国大陆、我国台湾（以下简称“两岸”）均透过政府采购法规定相关政府采购行为，借以保障采购质量和有效控制预算支出并提升采购效率及效能，营造公平市场经济。近年来由于气候异常全球暖化现象世界各地灾情不断，台湾地区近年发生921大地震、莫拉克风灾、H1N1疫情蔓延等灾害；祖国大陆亦遭遇舟曲泥石流、四川汶川大地震，及各地发生之洪涝、旱灾等，接连考验两岸＇-3局危机应变能力，并彰显出紧急采购之重要性。在遭遇各种灾害紧急状况下，因应紧急采购所需，两岸均有制订相关法律规定。本研究比较两岸之紧急采购制度，并参照相关实务案例，说明台湾采购法实施偏重法治化，但辅以行政部门采购稽核作业，及监察部门的审计稽查，均可对采购作业进行防杜弊端，避免不法情事产生积极作用。祖国大陆在政府采购法规范下，则较偏向因地制宜之弹性方式实施，可因应不同之地方需求，快速反应并确实符合实际灾害抢救需求，惟需注意相关稽核制度之管控。     

WTO Government Procurement Rules and the Local Dynamics of Procurement Policies: A Malaysian Case Study

This article examines efforts to create binding internationalrules regulating public procurement and considers, in particular,the failure to reach a WTO agreement on transparency in governmentprocurement. The particular focus of the discussion is the approachtaken by Malaysia to these international procurement rules andto the negotiation of an agreement on transparency. Rules governingpublic procurement directly implicate fundamental arrangementsof authority amongst and between different parts of government,its citizens and non-citizens. At the same time, the rules touchupon areas that are particularly sensitive for some developingcountries. Many governments use preferences in public procurementto accomplish important redistributive and developmental goals.Malaysia has long used significant preferences in public procurementto further sensitive developmental policies targeted at improvingthe economic strength of native Malays. Malaysia also has politicaland legal arrangements substantially at odds with fundamentalelements of proposed global public procurement rules. Malaysiahas, therefore, been forceful in resisting being bound by internationalpublic procurement rules, and has played an important role indefeating the proposed agreement on transparency. We suggestthat our case study has implications beyond procurement. Thedevelopment of international public procurement rules appearsto be guided by many of the same values that guide the broadereffort to create a global administrative law. This case study,therefore, has implications for the broader exploration of theseefforts to develop a global administrative law, in particularthe relationship between such efforts and the interests of developingcountries.     

Communicating Dissent in Judicial Opinions: A Comparative,Genre-Based Analysis

To date, there has been surprisingly little research on separate opinions in legal linguistics literature. Scarce attention has been paid to the linguistic and communicative aspects of how judges frame their disagreements. This paper serves as one of the early attempts to examine the institution of votum separatum, or separate opinion, from a comparative, cross-language perspective using a linguistic methodology. The evidence indicates a clear similarity in terms of how separate opinions are integrated within the respective macrostructures of the US SC opinions and the Constitutional Tribunal judgments. This study demonstrates how judges tend to employ highly formulaic expressions to signal their disagreement despite the absence of clear guidelines to communicate such stances. The analysis of their frequent phraseology demonstrates that declaring votum separatum and providing its justification are two different acts, not only legally but also linguistically, especially in terms of their formulaicity. The Polish and American justifications differ in the degree to which the frequent phraseology reveals peculiarities of judicial argumentation in addition to the presence of strong evaluative concerns.

     

Corrections in Israel and the United States: A Comparative Analysis

The general underlying philosophical intent of corrections in both Israel and the United States is the restoration of the offender to a productive role in the community. Since the correctional intent is essentially the same, it is not surprising that the systems established to implement this aspiration are rather similar and exhibit many of the same ambiguities, weaknesses, and frustrations. The focus of the paper is on two correctional alternatives: incarceration and probation.

As in America, Israel's prisons are overcrowded; most of the correctional facilities are unfit for human habitation; sanitary conditions are poor; occupational, vocational, and educational opportunities are virtually non-existent; and rehabilitation exists in name only. The recidivist rate of criminal offenders is as high in Israel as in the U.S. Various Israeli commissions in recent years have decried the prison conditions and have called for reform but, again as in the U.S., the problem has defied an acceptable solution.

Israel's probation services are part of the country's social services delivery system rather than the penal or judicial systems. That is the case because, unlike the U.S. conception, probation in Israel is not considered a punishment. Probation services are utilized by the Criminal Justice System, but organizationally they are not part of it. Still, the functions carried out by the Israeli probation officers very much resemble those of their counterparts in the U.S. Probation services in Israel have not expanded in recent years, even though the number of incarcerated offenders has increased.

Corrections has never been a priority in Israel and will not be so long as the country remains preoccupied with security matters. On the other hand, the crime rate continues to increase and so does the prison population. Consequently, the country's correctional problems and policies, in all their dimensions, should be re-examined, and the sooner the better.     

Deceptive Utopias: Violence, Environmentalism, and the Regulation of Multiculturalism in Colombia

Multiculturalism, constructed as a liberal utopia intended to recognize marginal populations, commonly draws upon deceptive mechanisms that reify the old trope of anthropological "savage slots" (a term borrowed from Trouillot 2003 ). Such slots configure the relationship between politics and places: the fixation of ethnicity in a territory and the creation of strong frontiers—both physical and symbolic—between grantees and nongrantees of differential citizenships. In the case analyzed in this article, those frontiers reify the distinction between peasants and indigenous peoples; two group categories widely mobilized in the context of indigenous land expansion in the northern region of Colombia (South America). This article explores how an environmental "utopic space" used by state institutions and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), has turned into a fetish that hides a segment of Colombia's most dramatic reality: the violent context wherein paramilitary threats force small peasant landholders to sell and leave their land.     

Analysis of STR loci in Cartagena, a Caribbean city of Colombia

Allele frequencies, together with some parameters of forensic interest were estimated for nine STRs included in the AmpF/STR Profiler kit (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D13S317, FGA, TH01, TPOX and vWA) in a sample of 215 unrelated individuals from Cartagena (Colombia). For all loci, no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed. Comparative analysis results between our data and those from other Colombian and African population samples revealed significant differences, except with two Colombian Caribbean Coast sub-regions.     

Analysis of STR loci in Cartagena, a Caribbean city of Colombia

Allele frequencies, together with some parameters of forensic interest were estimated for nine STRs included in the AmpF/STR Profiler kit (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D13S317, FGA, TH01, TPOX and vWA) in a sample of 215 unrelated individuals from Cartagena (Colombia). For all loci, no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed. Comparative analysis results between our data and those from other Colombian and African population samples revealed significant differences, except with two Colombian Caribbean Coast sub-regions.     

Quantifying Uncertainty in Estimations of the Total Weight of Drugs in Groups of Complex Matrices

In case practice at forensic drug departments, multiple items from one seizure are sometimes sent in with the question: what is the total amount of drugs in the seizure? This may be complicated especially if impregnated material is involved such as clothes or rubber. Measurement uncertainty is typically stable on drug percentages, not weights, and subsampling may take place. It is recognized more and more that determination and reporting of uncertainty on estimators are an essential part of obtaining scientifically sound results in the forensic field. Methodology is described to quantify uncertainty on estimations of the total drug weight in groups of complex matrices, given simple statistical models, along a subdivision of five types of cases. Given each of these types, case examples are given where uncertainty is quantified in estimations of drug weights, by means of confidence intervals. The described models are statistically sound and relatively easy to implement.     

Popular Perceptions of Income Tax Law in the Nineteenth Century: A Local Tax Rebellion

The Exeter tax rebellion of 1871 is taken as a model to examine popular perceptions of income tax law at a time of national discontent. The discontent was with the administration of the tax rather than its substance. In a complex commercial society the statutory system of local lay Commissioners, possessing neither sufficient time nor expertise, was inadequate to make assessments or determine appeals. In practice the expert Crown official, the Surveyor, dominated the process, though the law gave him merely a supervisory role. The popular resentment of the Commissioners paradoxically confirmed the desire to retain that body as an independent buffer between the State and the taxpayer. The rebellion reflected the tensions of the age, illustrating the confidence of the Victorian middle class and its questioning of the traditional property-owning classes in the lay administration of justice.     

Religion, State Power, and Domestic Violence in Muslim Societies: A Framework for Comparative Analysis

This article focuses on the issue of domestic violence in Muslim societies in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The analytical framework is comparative, emphasizing four factors and the interplay among them: shari'a (Islamic law), state power, intrafamily violence, and struggles over women's rights. The comparative approach historicizes the problem of domestic violence and impunity to consider the impact of transnational legal discourses (Islamism and human rights) on "local" struggles over rights and law. The use of shari'a creates some commonalities in gender and family relations in Muslim societies, notably the sanctioning and maintenance of male authority over female relatives. However, the most important issue for understanding domestic violence and impunity is the relationship between religion and state power. This relationship takes three forms: communalization, in which religious law is separate from the national legal regime; nationalization, in which the state incorporates religious law into the national legal regime; and theocratization, in which the national legal regime is based on religious law.     

State Politics and the Right to Counsel: A Comparative Analysis

One of the most significant recent developments in the study of crime and justice is the emergence of theoretical explanations for the dramatic changes in criminal justice policy over the past few decades. These theoretical accounts address not only highly visible developments, such as the meteoric rise in incarceration rates, but also less-conspicuous shifts in due process and civil liberties, and they do so by attributing more-repressive policies to the emergence of a political culture that has substantially redefined crime and justice. This article focuses on an important due process issue, the legal representation of indigent defendants in criminal courts. We describe the state of indigent defense policy, particularly structure and funding, across the states in 2002, and analyze variation on two dimensions where states may exercise discretion: the extent to which states assume responsibility for funding services (rather than relying on local governments), and the generosity with which these programs are funded overall. We test hypotheses that link funding for services with the ideology of state political leadership, public values about tolerance and race relations, and states' public welfare policy climates. We find little support for the prediction that a welfare climate shapes more progressive indigent defense policies. However, the results suggest that the racial threat hypothesis helps account for spending on indigent defense, and that Republican control of the statehouse results in the perpetuation of local responsibility for program funding. Normative literature on indigent defense suggests that the patterns we observe may have important consequences for the quality of indigent defense services across states. Further, the findings reported here suggest that the politics of the punitive turn, as it has played out across the states, may be responsible not only for shifts in crime control policy, but for due process policy as well.     

Patent Enforcement in Commonwealth Countries: A Comparative Analysis

The article addresses the legal basis of the circumstances surrounding the recording of confessions and how the circumstances may adversely impact on human rights. Recent examples of how the Courts have rejected confessions call for a fresh approach. Although most cases are resolved through confessions taken by the police, still there ought to be safeguards prior to such recording. It is suggested that the procedure which obtains in India would ensure that confessions are unchallengeable. At the end of the day what matters is that the criminal justice system does not become a licence by the police to undermine human rights.     

The Significance of Seniority in Layoffs: A Comparative Analysis

The role of seniority in decisions about layoffs when firms have to downsize is discussed on the basis of comparative studies from five countries: Brazil, France, Germany, Norway, and the United States. The relevance of seniority is viewed in relation to pure norms of allocation, such as equality, contribution, needs, and productivity. Seniority is shown to have strong adherence in Norway and the United States, while it has a rather weak position in Brazil and France. Germany ranked as an intermediate between these two extremes. Reasons for the variation in the strength of the seniority principle are sought in general legal regulations, in wage agreements, and in the structure of the bargaining situation between employees and management. The future of the seniority principle is briefly discussed and it is assumed that it may lose importance due to organizational changes in the workplace.     

中国与德国民事司法的比较分析

与德国相比，中国的民事司法在裁判质量、审判效率以及程序公正等方面都有一定差距。德国的民事诉讼法自从2002年1月1日改革以来，不断推陈出新，日新月异。而我国的民事诉讼法律规范在制订与革新方面则显得过于谨慎与犹豫，2007年10月《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》的最新修订也仅仅囿于改革审判监督和执行程序的范围。无论从法官总数的设定、法官独立原则在实践中的贯彻，还是从法院执行官和司法辅助人员的配置，乃至简易程序、督促程序、和解与调解等制度的完善与改进等方面看，德国的民事诉讼法都能在一定程度上为我国的诉讼制度改革提供思路。     

Violence,Guns, and Suicide in New Orleans: Results from a Qualitative Study of Recent Suicide Decedents

Many Americans own guns to protect themselves against other people, but there is evidence that both victimization and gun access increase suicide risk. We conducted qualitative interviews with informants of 17 suicide cases in New Orleans of the 60 who died between January 2015 and April 2016 to understand the relationship between past trauma, gun access and storage, and suicide. Nine cases had experienced a past trauma, including three who had recently had a family member killed by homicide. Eight died via firearm; of those, seven owned the guns they used to take their lives and stored them locked (but loaded) at home or in their cars. Preventing community violence and addressing its sequelae may be important for reducing suicides. A multi‐pronged strategy consisting of policies, education, and marketing will likely be needed to address the risk of suicide conferred by gun access.     

Medicinal Marijuana,Inc.: A Critique on the Market-led Legalization of Cannabis and the Criminalization of Rural Livelihoods in Colombia

Critical Criminology - In Colombia, Law 1787 of 2016 legalized marijuana for medicinal and scientific purposes. The law promotes social inclusion in two ways: (1) establishing mechanisms to...