Confidence in the police by race: taking stock and charting new directions

The current study reflects a narrative mega-review of confidence in the police by race. This review has led to two conclusions. First, blacks and whites have different levels of confidence in the police, but the difference between races is a matter of degrees. Second, race is not the strongest predictor of confidence in the police in most multivariate analyses. When variables, such as police contacts and concentrated disadvantage, are controlled for, the effect of race tends to be attenuated and/or sometimes disappear. These results prompt us to urge scholars to chart new directions for future research: fairness and its flip side – injustice – rather than race should be the focus of empirical and analytical gaze. The practical implications derived from this review are twofold. First, central to improving minority confidence in the police is to treat people of all racial groups fairly and equitably. Second, the police and the policed must come to terms and have faith in our democratic system and reform. This review is the first of its kind. We conclude by proposing a template of explaining confidence in the police by race with fairness as the tying knot.     

Public confidence in the police: tests of instrumental and expressive models in a developing country city

This paper examines the effect of instrumental and expressive concerns on public confidence in the police in three different residential areas in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana’s third largest city. The study was important because of the knowledge vacuum that existed in regard to the empirical validity of the instrumental and expressive theoretical framework within the Ghanaian context. Data for the study was drawn from a baseline survey conducted in three residential areas in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis. The findings revealed that instrumental factors played a more significant role in influencing confidence in the police in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis compared to expressive factors. More importantly, instrumental factors played a more significant role in influencing confidence in the police at Anaji compared to the other two residential areas used in the study. The paper recommends that there should be more investment in police infrastructure and services to enhance police effectiveness and efficiency. Additionally, the authors also suggest that interventions aimed at improving security at the community level should be guided by periodic safety audits since this will provide a better understanding of the criminogenic problems within these residential settlements.     

Confidence in the Police: Where does Taiwan Rank in the World?

The study of public opinion toward the police in Taiwan has not, heretofore, included comparative research. The current study fills this void in the literature by analyzing the data from the World Values Surveys. It was found that Taiwanese confidence in the police was reasonably good for a society experiencing democratic transition. Although lower than many more mature democratic societies such as Finland and the USA, confidence in the police is among the top one-third of fifty countries and is significantly higher than those found in other Asian and European countries that also experienced democratic transition. Further regression analyses of data from the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan indicated that the differences between those three countries are substantive and cannot be explained away after the demographic social and attitudinal variables have been controlled.An early version of this paper was presented at “The Second International Conference in Crime and Its Control,” Taiwan, April 2005. We would like to thank Professors Susyan Jou and Lanying Huang, for providing information on Taiwan, and Professor Alethea Helbig, for polishing the languages of the paper. The views expressed in the paper are all ours.     

Educational tracking and juvenile confidence in the police in China

Juvenile confidence in the police (JCP) has become an important research topic in policing. In spite of an increasing amount of research literature on JCP, the influence of educational tracking especially vocational tracking on juveniles’ confidence in the police has received limited scholarly attention. Extant literature suggests a noticeable difference in family backgrounds, attitudinal perceptions, and problematic behaviours between vocational school students and regular high school students. Using the survey data of 3628 students collected from these 2 distinctive segments of educational tracking in a southwestern Chinese city, this study examines if and how youths in vocational schools perceive the local police differently from their regular high school counterparts. The findings indicate that vocational school students had more confidence in the police than their regular high school peers. In addition, school contexts played a significant role in shaping their respective attitudes toward the police. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Job satisfaction among frontline police officers in China: the role of demographic,work-related,organizational and social factors

This study was intended to add to information about the underinvestigated policing studies in China. The possible impact of demographic characteristics, work-related variables, and organizational management and social variables on police job satisfaction was investigated. Data were collected through a self-report survey administered to a sample of sworn police officers training in a national police university in China (N?=?393). Results indicated that work-related characteristics associated with variety and stress, and organizational variables associated with professional development and peer cohesion were the most important predictors of job satisfaction in this sample of police officers.     

八议成制于汉论考

法律史学界通说认为八议制度始于曹魏。但经深入挖掘、分析史料后可以发现:从周之八辟到汉之八议的名称变化,表明了一种新的法律制度在汉代萌生;在两汉法律遗存中能够寻找到八议的大部分内容;在汉代司法活动中,八议也已成为断案议罪必须遵循的法律准据。以此可证,八议制度的确立时间当在汉代。     

严格依法办事：经由形式正义的实质法治观

依法办事理念作为法治公信力建设的关键所在,应当受到认真对待,在解释学的阐述下,其将展现出全新的、非简单化的意蕴。在严格依法办事的主体上,应在执法者、司法者之外增加公民与其他社会主体,并坚持一种“交互主体性”的法律实施观。在严格依法办事的过程中,应把握好严格规则主义与法律解释、法律效果与社会效果、形式正义与实质正义的关系,并创新法律实施机制。在严格依法办事的对象上,应处理好“恶法”实施问题及法律体系与体系外规范的关系,并开展依法治法、法典化运动,重点解决有法难依问题。严格依法办事的良性运作需要我们在法治现实主义的引导下,坚持良法之治,走一条“经由形式正义的实质法治”之路。     

徽州田野调查的个案分析——从“杀猪封山”看习惯的存留与效力

在中国传统的乡土社会里,法律渊源呈现出多元化的特征,除朝廷律令之外,传统习惯曾经是调整人们日常生活和民事行为的重要渊源。近几十年来,随着社会结构和社会性质的根本性转变,中国社会的法律与秩序也发生了深刻的变革。传统习惯在当代中国农村是否还存在?习惯是否与现代国家制定法相冲突?其在农村法治建设中的地位和作用怎样?这些问题都应引起我们法学研究的重视。通过对徽州农村民事习惯调查中的个案分析发现,在当今徽州农村仍然存留着大量的传统习惯,有些习惯甚至发挥着重要的法律效力。在当代中国农村的法治建设中,我们应当承认和重视发挥习惯的法律效力,探究那些“被冷落的真实”,为农村法治建设的发展寻找传统的动力。     

缺乏对抗的“被告人说话式”审判——对我国“控辩式”刑事审判的实证考察

我国立法机关于1996年在吸收了对抗式刑事审判合理因素的基础上,创设了"控辩式审判"方式,以解决庭审走过场的弊端和实现控辩审职能的分化。从司法实践来看,改革者的目标并没有得到实现。我国的刑事审判在实际运作上是一种缺乏对抗的"被告人说话式"审判,具体表现在:庭审上趋于消极但不中立的法官,公诉人对审判的单方面主导,被告人是法庭上的"主角","说话权"受限的量刑辩护人,法庭调查的书面化等。由此导致我国刑事审判制度的双高现象:高效率和高定罪率。     

协商民主与农村基层民主自治制度创新——一种完善农村民主政治建设的有效路径

经过多年的实践,我国农村基层民主自治制度取得了一定程度上的进步,但是仍然存在许多问题。从政治学的角度来说,加强农村基层民主协商机制的建设是完善农村民主政治建设的有效途径,是对农村基层民主自治制度的一种创新,有利于发挥农村村民的积极性和创造性,提高农民的参政质量,增进村民和基层政府的互动,构建和谐的党政关系,从而有利于社会主义和谐农村的建设和完善。     

权利的张扬与追寻——2006年中国权利问题研究综述

2006年的中国权利研究,著述颇丰,学术研讨频率密集且范围广泛,呈现了多元化、立体化的趋势。人权研究生机勃勃,平等权是当下社会生活和权利研究中的一个关键词,农民、农民工等弱势群体的权利保护则是与平等权密切相关的热点问题。传统的权利研究继续深入,新兴权利的研究与日俱增,权利本位理论正在向现实论证扩展,有关权利的理论日益丰满。