Protecting the public and our employees in our hearing process. Final rule

We are clarifying our regulations to ensure the safety of the public and our employees in our hearing process. Due to increasing reports of threats to our hearing office employees, we are taking steps to explicitly increase the level of protection we provide to our staff and to the public during the hearing process. We expect these changes to result in a safer work environment for our employees, while at the same time ensuring that our claimants continue to receive a full and fair hearing on their claims for benefits.     

技术性贸易壁垒给我国企业出口带来的困境及应对措施

技术性贸易壁垒严重制约了我国企业出口贸易的进一步拓展,削弱了我国企业出口产品的国际竞争力,严重阻碍了我国企业的持续发展。技术性贸易壁垒给我国企业出口带来的困境既有外部环境的影响,也有我国政府与企业内部的原因。根据技术性贸易壁垒发展的趋势以及我国的实际情况,我们必须从企业自身、政府机构和非政府机构等层面寻找应对措施,促进我国企业稳步健康的发展。     

Requiring use of electronic services by certain claimant representatives. Final rules

We are revising our rules to require that claimant representatives use our electronic services as they become available on matters for which the representatives request direct fee payment. In the future, we will publish a notice in the Federal Register when we require representatives who request direct fee payment on a matter to use our available electronic services. We are also adding the requirement to use our available electronic services on matters for which the representative requests direct fee payment as an affirmative duty in our representative conduct rules. These revisions reflect the increased use of technology in representatives' business practices. We expect that the use of electronic services will improve our efficiency by allowing us to manage our workloads more effectively. These rules do not require claimants to use our available electronic services directly; they only require their representatives to use the services on matters for which the representatives request direct fee payment.     

Revisions to rules of conduct and standards of responsibility for representatives. Final rules

We are revising our rules of conduct and standards of responsibility for representatives. These revisions further clarify our expectations regarding representatives' obligations to competently represent their clients and constitute official notice concerning our requirements and procedures. We are also updating other rules about the representation of parties. These changes are necessary because our current regulations are insufficient to address some representative conduct that is inappropriate, but has technically fallen outside the scope of our regulations. These changes will allow us to better protect the integrity of our administrative process, ensure that claimants receive competent and effective representation, and further clarify representatives' responsibilities in their dealings with us and with claimants.     

A reflection on 30 years of complementary collaboration

This article, invited by the editors, provides us with an opportunity to reflect on a scholarly collaboration of more than 30 years. Looking backwards, we believe our success has come in part from the different backgrounds that we bring to our collaboration. It also comes from the fact that neither of us at the time we met was comfortable with the scholarly models that we were intellectually programmed to pursue in our individual careers. We discuss not only what our collaboration has produced, but also the pragmatic and serendipitous elements that have gone into working out and defining our research approach, and how that approach has changed in relation to the shifting scholarly context and related changes in the global political economy, our own ambitions, and opportunities and obstacles that have at times shifted our focus. Our individual and collective career trajectories also say something about the scholarly fields in which we have operated.     

Human Genetics Studies: The Case for Group Rights

In this essay, the author focuses on an underlying theoretical issue which she believes seriously affects our collective response to the idea of group rights in the genetic-control context. That issue is to what extent are our responses to claims of group rights hampered by our bringing to the table (consciously or unconsciously) a model which is structured to acknowledge only individual concerns? Put another way, to what extent are our objections to group rights in this context a product of our inability (or refusal) to imagine the idea of group rights, rather than the product of truly substantive concerns?     

Sex Discrimination,Personal Denial,and Collateral Damage

Many social scientists, especially those interested in social justice, have bemoaned the election of Donald Trump as president of the USA and have decried similar right-wing victories around the globe. We wish our research would have more of an impact. I argue that if we want our conclusions to have more application outside academia, we must first put our own house in order. As illustrated by a personal narrative, we are guilty of the sexism that we decry in others, although we can see that with clarity only in hindsight. Connected to our sexism are some epistemological shortcomings: our false insistence on the primacy of basic research and our false claim to conduct “value-free” research.     

证据制度在行政程序法中的地位探析

分析各国行政程序法可以发现,证据制度是行政程序法的核心制度。我国行政程序法应当围绕证据制度来展开。在我国即将制定行政程序法的今天,应当将研究视角调整到对行政程序中证据制度的研究,用证据学的视角分析各国行政程序法中的各种行政程序制度和我国应当建立的行政程序制度,认清我国应当采用这种制度而不采用那种制度的深层次原因。     

我国海上犯罪体系亟需健全与完善

我国海上犯罪体系指由国际刑法规范和我国刑法规范所调整的各种具体涉海犯罪构成的统一体。我国现行海上犯罪体系存在诸多缺陷和不足,难以适应我国实施海洋发展战略、履行国际条约义务和维护我国海洋权益之需要,亟需健全与完善。     

Data protection legislation: What is at stake for our society and democracy?

The author starts by questioning the main privacy challenges raised by our present and future information society viewed as a “global village”. Apart from a comparison with the traditional village of our parents, he identifies the two complementary and not dissociable facets of our privacy: the right to seclusion and the right to participate fully in our society. According to the first German Constitutional Court recognizing the right to informational self-determination as a new constitutional right, he underlines the need to analyse the data protection as a tool for ensuring both the citizens' dignity and our democracy.     

我国保障性住房研究

保障性住房是关系到人民群众切身利益的重大民生问题,自我国住房制度改革实施以来,为解决人民群众的住房困难做出了很大贡献,但因我国保障性住房制度制定时间较短,在实施过程中不可避免地存在这样那样的问题,这需要在实践中不断修正提高。作为省社科联的研究课题,课题组试图从当前存在的问题入手,并对这些问题存在的原因进行分析,并借鉴国外保障性住房的一些成功经验,提出在坚持住宅市场化方向的前提下,结合我国现状,积极、稳定、协调地推进保障性住房建设,在推进过程中遵循"尽力而为"和"量力而行"的行动准则,构建公正、合理、有效且可行的住房保障制度。     

个人信息的刑法保护探析

个人信息对个人生活和发展有重要意义，随着信息技术的普及，个人信息流动为社会带来了巨大的福祉，但也使个人信息容易被侵犯，我国刑法将侵犯个人信息的行为入罪化。本文对首先探讨侵犯个人信息行为入罪化的理由，指出我国现行刑法规定还存在不足，并提出了完善我国刑法规定的建议。     

党和国家领导制度的改革与完善

江泽民指出:“各级党委要学会在宪法和法律的范围内加强和改善党的领导”。因此,党和国家领导制度的改革和完善,要形成“四权统一、两权平衡”的政治格局,要正确处理执政党和参政党的关系,要理顺党和人大的关系,要理顺党和政府的关系。     

法律与道德关系新论

当今我国的法制建设已经面临着两大任务:一是国内法律体系与 WTO 的衔接、协调与统一,使国内法接受WTO 的检测并与国际接轨;二要与国内接轨,要求现行的法律接受新时期社会主义道德的检测,使得我国的法律与社会主义道德相协调,并使我国的社会主义法律具有更加广阔的道德基础与人性内涵,从而使我国社会主义法律真正代表我国法律文化的最先进的方向。     

马克思收入分配公平观与我国收入分配关系的调整

目前,我国的收入分配已由过去的平均主义开始转向收入分配差距扩大阶段。如何坚持以马克思的收入分配公平理论为指导,正确处理我国现阶段的公平与效率的关系,已成为构建社会主义和谐社会的一个重要内容,也是中国特色社会主义的本质要求和具体体现。     

Exemption of work activity as a basis for a continuing disability review. Final rules

We are publishing these final rules to amend our regulations to carry out section 221(m) of the Social Security Act (the Act). Section 221(m) affects our rules for when we will conduct a continuing disability review if you work and receive benefits under title II of the Act based on disability. (We interpret this section to include you if you receive both title II disability benefits and title XVI (Supplemental Security Income (SSI)) payments based on disability.) It also affects our rules on how we evaluate work activity when we decide if you have engaged in substantial gainful activity for purposes of determining whether your disability has ended. In addition, section 221(m) of the Act affects certain other standards we use when we determine whether your disability continues or ends. We are also amending our regulations concerning how we determine whether your disability continues or ends. These revisions will codify our existing operating instructions for how we consider certain work at the last two steps of our continuing disability review process. We are also revising our disability regulations to incorporate some rules which are contained in another part of our regulations and which apply if you are using a ticket under the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency program (the Ticket to Work program). In addition, we are amending our regulations to eliminate the secondary substantial gainful activity amount that we currently use to evaluate work you did as an employee before January 2001.     

加强我国网络虚拟社会有效管理的若干思考

经济社会的快速发展,为我国网络虚拟社会的不断成长提供了强劲动力,也给我国网络虚拟社会管理带来了新的、更多的问题。面对当前我国网络虚拟社会的违法活动有增无减、网络失范现象越来越严重、网络群体性事件多发、网络虚拟社会管理薄弱等一系列棘手问题,当务之急是切实加强对我国网络虚拟社会的有效管理。要按照加快社会建设与强化社会管理相结合、政府负责主导与社会协同参与相结合、网络技术管控与社会综合管治相结合的基本思路,不断提高我国网络虚拟社会管理的法治化水平,建立健全我国网络虚拟社会自律机制,加大对我国网络虚拟社会的高科技化管理力度,提高我国网络虚拟社会管理队伍的专业化水平,建立并完善我国的网络公共危机应急管理体制。     

Do Harsher Prison Conditions Reduce Recidivism? A Discontinuity-based Approach

We estimate the causal effect of prison conditions on recidivismrates by exploiting a discontinuity in the assignment of federalprisoners to security levels. Inmates housed in higher securitylevels are no less likely to recidivate than those housed inminimum security; if anything, our estimates suggest that harsherprison conditions lead to more post-release crime. Though smallsample sizes limit the precision of our estimates, we arguethat our findings may have important implications for prisonpolicy, and that our methodology is likely to be applicablebeyond the particular context we study.     

Continuing disability review failure to cooperate process. Final rules

We are amending our regulations to provide that we will suspend your disability benefits before we make a determination during a continuing disability review (CDR) under title II and title XVI of the Social Security Act (the Act) when you fail to comply with our request for necessary information. Should you remain non-compliant for a period of one year following your suspension, we will then terminate your disability benefits. Although our current title XVI regulations generally provide for the termination of payments after 12 months of suspension, we are amending our regulations by adding this policy to our title II regulations and by restating it in the title XVI CDR regulatory provisions.     

司法职业资格考试制度及其相关问题研究

我国司法职业资格考试制度的确立对于提升我国司法职业群体的职业素质和推动司法职业群体的职业化进程具有重要意义.但从司法职业资格考试制度和司法制度以及高等法学教育的关系的维度分析,我国司法职业资格考试的制度设计存在明显缺陷.因此,借鉴国外有关国家的有益经验,进一步完善我国司法职业资格考试制度是十分必要的.