Culture and Formal Social Control: The Effect of the Code of the Street on Police and Court Decision-making

Objectives. Drawing on several interrelated lines of scholarship, we argue that cultural beliefs at individual and neighborhood levels may affect police and court decisions. We hypothesize that individuals who more strongly adhere to the code of the street or reside in areas where the street code culture is more strongly embraced will be more likely to be arrested and convicted, and that neighborhood-level effects will amplify the effect of street code adherence. Methods. To test these hypotheses, data from the Family and Community Health Study are examined using multilevel modeling. Results. Blacks who more strongly adhered to street code beliefs were more likely to be arrested and convicted; this effect was greater among those who resided in areas where the code of the street belief system was more entrenched. Conclusions. The findings highlight the potential usefulness of a focus on culture for understanding the exercise of formal social control.     

非法人组织在民事实体法和程序法上法律地位之冲突及协调

关于非法人组织(即公民、法人以外的第三民事主体)之法律地位在实体法和程序法上存在着诸 多冲突与矛盾。造成冲突与矛盾的原因之一,就是由于我们在民事实体法与民事程序法的理论 认识上存在着不一致。要消除二者之间的矛盾与冲突,就必须统一理论界的认识:一方面应赋予 某些非法人组织以民事主体资格和诉讼主体资格;另一方面,有必要对可以成为民事主体的非法 人组织的资格条件从构成要件方面加以限制。     

Surveillance of environmental movements in Canada: critical infrastructure protection and the petro-security apparatus

A convergence of post-9/11 security governance practices and a dependence on extractive economies has resulted in changes to the way Canadian policing agencies classify environmental movements. We detail how the category of ‘critical infrastructure protection’ (CIP) now enables surveillance of environmentalists under the banner of national security. We examine the growth of CIP as a security category, its changing character from the Cold War to the present, and the role of threat entrepreneurs. We demonstrate that CIP networks have institutionalized collaborations between national security agencies and energy corporations, creating a petro-security apparatus that aims to suppress dissent. We conclude with reflections on what surveillance regimes driven by the petro-security apparatus mean for debates about national security and social movements.     

Emotional responsiveness in convicted fraudsters: a study on baseline activation of the anterior insula and its influence on moral decision-making

Low emotional responsiveness promotes utilitarian decision-making on moral dilemmas. Based on the assumption that fraudsters use their emotional competence to deceive their victims, their emotional responsiveness is not expected to be protective against utilitarian decision-making. The present study investigates the key role of emotional responsiveness in relation to moral decision-making in 11 imprisoned fraudsters, 10 imprisoned violent offenders, and 11 non-offenders. Participants’ neural baseline activation of bilateral anterior insula (AI) was used as an indicator for emotional responsiveness. Results indicate that fraudsters and non-offenders have a higher right AI baseline activation than violent offenders. Yet, fraudsters and violent offenders show a stronger tendency towards utilitarian decisions than non-offenders. The predictive power of AI baseline activation on moral decision-making reaches significance only for fraudsters. Results give evidence that fraudsters are highly sensitive to their emotional state of mind, which, contrary to our expectation, exerts a strong influence on their moral decisions.     

继承制度与社会保障制度的协调--兼论法定继承制度的重新构建

我国大陆地区继承法在设计法定继承制度时 ,受当时社会生产力不发达、财富较少等特殊国情所导致的社会保障制度不完善的影响 ,于是在确定法定继承人的范围和顺序时 ,注重了对弱者的社会保障 ,使之具有了社会保障的功能。然而 ,随着大陆地区社会保障制度的逐步健全 ,笔者认为 ,将来继承法中的法定继承制度重新设计时应放弃以往所担负的社会保障功能 ,恢复其原貌。