PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN FROM SEX OFFENDERS: HAVE WE GONE TOO FAR?

On July 27, 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. This federal statute was created to serve as a tougher, more modern improvement of its predecessor in the ongoing effort to protect children from dangerous sexual predators. However, the Act did not amend the controversial federal mandate that all 50 states include the crimes of kidnapping and false imprisonment against a minor, committed by a nonparent, and without any sexual motivation or misconduct, as a crime requiring a wrongdoer to register as a sex offender. This Note demonstrates how the kidnapping and false imprisonment requirements of the Adam Walsh Act have led to a misuse of state sex offender registries to the detriment of the children they claim to protect. The solution that this Note proposes will provide each individual state with the freedom to decide how, if at all, these contentious offenses will fit into its sex offender registry, taking into consideration the state's unique statutory language, available child protective resources, and constitutional limitations. As a result, petty criminals who do not pose any real or specific threat to children will no longer be grouped with the most dangerous and violent sexual predators, child protective funds will be better utilized, and the public's attention will be refocused on the real threats to children, thereby satisfying the spirit and purpose of the Adam Walsh Act.     

域外医疗纠纷ADR制度对我国医疗纠纷人民调解制度的启示

本文采用比较研究的方法,通过介绍域外医疗纠纷非诉讼法律制度的创新之处,从中借鉴其合理设置,为进一步完善我国医疗纠纷处理机制,优化我国医疗纠纷人民调解制度,构建和谐医患关系提供一个较为开阔的视角和思路。     

A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS: Citizen Predisposition to Intervene in Spouse Abuse

Since victims' opportunities to seek help are constrained, observers can play an important role in aiding vicitims of spouse abuse. Many witnesses, however, are reluctant to act. By examining some of the reasons for this reluctance, this paper attempts to provide information that can be used to structure attempts to increase the propensity of observers to intervene—either personally or by summoning outside help. Hypotheses derived from a review of the literatures on crime reporting and helping behavior were tested in a random-digit dialed general population telephone survey of 1, 208 Chicago households. Measures of perceptions of crime, experiences with and opinions of the police, community ties, and standard demographic variables were included. In conjunction with census data on respondents' neighborhoods, this permitted an examination of the individual and joint influences of experiential, attitudinal, structural, and contextual effects on observer responses. Following presentation of findings, research and policy implications are discussed.