Evaluating the Role of Race in Sentencing: An Entropy Weighting Analysis

The current study builds on prior research examining racial disparities in sentencing. Entropy weighting is introduced as a new method for estimating racial disparities that has several advantages over traditionally used methods. Entropy weighting is compared to regression and propensity score methods in estimating Black-White disparities in incarceration sentences. Although all methods find non-significant racial disparities in incarceration sentences, regression and propensity score methods underestimate disparities in incarceration sentence lengths. Entropy weighting provides comparable estimates to propensity score methods, but assures that the samples are identical on all covariates aside from race. The method offers researchers a useful and flexible approach for estimating racial disparities in criminal justice, and its use may lead to alternative conclusions about the size and presence of racial disparities in sentencing.     

Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, Title IV, as amended (The Black Lung Benefits Act); payment of benefits--withholding Part B benefits where Part C payments are made for the same period. Social Security Administration. Final rule

This regulation confirms the interim rule authorizing the Social Security Administration to withhold payment of Part B Black Lung benefits where Part C Black Lung benefits administered by the Dept. of Labor are paid for the same period. We are doing this by expanding the definition of "overpayment" in 20 CFR 410.560(a) to include these duplicate payments under Part C. This regulation provides a quick and efficient means of avoiding unjustified duplicate payments.     

Performance of functions; claims for compensation under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, as amended. Final rule

On June 8, 2005, the Department of Labor (DOL) published interim final regulations that govern its responsibilities under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, as amended (EEOICPA or Act). Part B of the Act provides lump-sum payments of $150,000 and medical benefits to covered employees and, where applicable, to survivors of such employees, of the Department of Energy (DOE), its predecessor agencies and certain of its vendors, contractors and subcontractors. Part B also provides lump-sum payments of $50,000 and medical benefits to individuals found eligible by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for $100,000 under section 5 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) and, where applicable, to their survivors. Part E of the Act provides variable lump-sum payments (based on a worker's permanent impairment and/or calendar years of qualifying wage-loss) and medical benefits for covered DOE contractor employees and, where applicable, provides variable lump-sum payments to survivors of such employees (based on a worker's death due to a covered illness and any calendar years of qualifying wage-loss). Part E also provides these same payments and benefits to uranium miners, millers and ore transporters covered by section 5 of RECA and, where applicable, to survivors of such employees. At the same time the Department published the interim final regulations, it also invited written comments and advice from interested parties regarding possible changes to those regulations. This document amends the interim final regulations based on comments that the Department received.     

Performance of functions; claims for compensation under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. Interim final rule; request for comments

This document contains the interim final regulations governing the administration of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, as amended (EEOICPA or Act) by the Department of Labor (Department or DOL). Part B of the Act provides uniform lump-sum payments and medical benefits to covered employees and, where applicable, to survivors of such employees, of the Department of Energy (DOE), its predecessor agencies and certain of its vendors, contractors and subcontractors. Part B of the Act also provides smaller uniform lump-sum payments and medical benefits to individuals found eligible by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for benefits under section 5 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) and, where applicable, to their survivors. Part E of the Act provides variable lump-sum payments (based on a worker's permanent impairment and/or years of established wage-loss) and medical benefits for covered DOE contractor employees and, where applicable, provides variable lump-sum payments to survivors of such employees (based on a worker's death due to a covered illness and any years of established wage-loss). Part E of the Act also provides these same payments and benefits to uranium miners, millers and ore transporters covered by section 5 of the RECA and, where applicable, to survivors of such employees. The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) administers the adjudication of claims and the payment of benefits under EEOICPA, with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimating the amounts of radiation received by employees alleged to have sustained cancer as a result of such exposure and establishing guidelines to be followed by OWCP in determining whether such cancers are at least as likely as not related to employment. Both DOE and DOJ are responsible for notifying potential claimants and for submitting evidence necessary for OWCP's adjudication of claims under EEOICPA.     

Social context and racial disparities in punishment decisions

Although the social context of a court is often claimed to be important to understanding the effect of the offender's race on punishment decisions, the links between context and racial disparities in punishment decisions are not well understood. I propose and test four hypotheses involving elements that may link social context to racial disparities in punishment decisions: urbanization, racial threat, economic threat, and crime control. I test these four hypotheses with sentencing data from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing for the period 1991 to 1994. The main findings are as follows: (1) punishment severity varies by court jurisdiction, even after controlling for offender and case characteristics; (2) racial disparities vary by court jurisdiction, with controls for other offender and case characteristics; (3) measures of social context explain little of the contextual variation in punishment decisions for all offenders; and (4) measures of social context do not explain racial disparities in punishment decisions. Thus, I find convincing evidence of contextual variation in punishment decisions, but typical indicators of social context do not explain these variations.     

Prejudice and the Medical Profession: A Five-Year Update

Over the past decades the mortality rate in the United States has decreased, and life expectancy has increased. Yet a number of recent studies have drawn Americans' attention to the fact that racial and ethnic disparities persist in health care. It is clear that the U.S. health care system, which is the envy of the world, is not only flawed by basic injustices, but may be the cause of both injury and death for members of racial and ethnic minorities. Progress has been made in several areas since the original Institute of Medicine 2002 report. However, five years later, the 2007 National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) reported that overall, disparities in quality and access for minority groups and poor populations have not been reduced since the original report. The three key themes that have emerged from this report are the following: (1) overall, disparities in health care quality and access are not getting smaller; (2) progress is being made, but many of the biggest gaps in quality and access have not been reduced; and (3) the problem of persistent uninsur-ance is a major barrier to reducing disparities. Unless measures are taken to address this racism, unless a new sense of trust is established between the medical establishment and racial and ethnic minorities, these injustices will continue to deepen and expand, and more lives will be placed in jeopardy. What is needed is a comprehensive, multi-level, culturally relevant strategy that contains interventions that target individuals, communities, and the nation as a whole. This will entail understanding the causes of racism in the medical profession, identifying practical interventions that address racism in individuals, communities, and the nation as a whole, and forming partnerships that will work to develop a new sense of trust between the medical establishment and the minority communities.     

The devil is in the details: Managed care and the unforeseen costs of utilization review as a cost containment mechanism

This article addresses issues of liability when a single-payor in a national health care system makes a decision based on a utilization review program that injures the patient as a result. In Part I, the history of Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) is discussed to establish an understanding of the current health care landscape. Part II explains MCOs' use of utilization review to contain costs and analyzes the manner in which courts have addressed the issue of MCO liability for patient injuries sustained from denial ofcoverage. Finally, Part III concludes that current case law may limit a patient's access to a remedy for injuries sustained from a utilization review decision in a single-payor national health care system.     

美国量刑理论中的关注焦点理论

关注焦点理论是美国刑事司法领域解释量刑差异的主流理论。该理论认为,法官和其他刑事司法系统的决策者在作出量刑决定时有三个关注焦点:罪犯的可谴责性、人身危险性,以及实践中的可操作性。由于法官在量刑时缺乏完整的信息,因此使用"感官速记"把对这三个焦点的关注转化为对性别、年龄、种族等表面信息的关注,导致"类案不同判"。对关注焦点的研究,在理论上有助于理解司法过程中量刑差异的产生原因,在实践中有助于解决量刑不规范的问题。通过介绍美国的关注焦点理论,以及这个理论框架下的实证研究和对关注焦点理论的评论,反思对我国量刑理论和实践的借鉴意义。     

U.S. policy on health inequities: the interplay of politics and research

What is the relationship between scientific research and government action in addressing health inequalities in the United States? What factors increase the impact of scientific research on public policy? To answer these questions, we focus on racial and ethnic disparities in health status and health care in the United States. We first review the history of the disparities issue to elucidate how the continual and persistent interplay between political action and scientific research drives government policy. We then analyze two recent government-sponsored reports about racial and ethnic disparities to understand the strategic consequences of issue framing. We draw lessons about how disparities research can have a greater impact on public policy.     

Medicare program; special enrollment period and Medicare premium changes. Final rule

This final rule provides a special enrollment period (SEP) for Medicare Part B and premium Part A for certain individuals who are sponsored by prescribed organizations as volunteers outside of the United States and who have health insurance that covers them while outside the United States. Under the SEP provision, qualifying volunteers can delay enrollment in Part B and premium Part A, or terminate such coverage, for the period of service outside of the United States and reenroll without incurring a premium surcharge for late enrollment or reenrollment. This final rule also codifies provisions that require certain beneficiaries to pay an income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA) in addition to the standard Medicare Part B premium, plus any applicable increase for late enrollment or reenrollment. The income-related monthly adjustment amount is to be paid by beneficiaries who have a modified adjusted gross income that exceeds certain threshold amounts. It also represents the amount of decreases in the Medicare Part B premium subsidy, that is, the amount of the Federal government's contribution to the Federal Supplementary Medicare Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund.     

THE CENTRAL PLACE OF RACE IN CRIME AND JUSTICE—THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY'S 2011 SUTHERLAND ADDRESS*

In the United States and elsewhere, racial and ethnic disparities in crime and criminal justice are relatively ubiquitous. Yet the meaning of such disparities is not well understood. To address this concern, periodically there have been calls for research that takes into account the broader structural context of the racially and ethnically inequitable crime and justice patterns. However, a comprehensive approach to understanding such inequality is seldom applied in research. In this article, I review findings from a program of research on crime across race–ethnic neighborhoods that I have undertaken with Lauren J. Krivo and other colleagues to provide, and assess, such a framework. The starting point of our approach is that ethnoracial inequality in neighborhood crime is an outgrowth of a racialized social structure maintained largely through racial residential segregation. As anticipated, the findings illustrate the value added from research that embeds its assessment of crime and justice within an understanding of structured societal inequality. From these results, I call for placing race and ethnicity at the center of the study of crime and justice.     

The Meanings of the Logical Constants in Deontic Logic

If deontic logic is to cast light on any of the normative sciences, such as legal reasoning, then certain problems regarding its logical constants must be faced. Recent studies in the area of deontic logic have tended to assume that it is our responses to the "paradoxes" of deontic implication which are fundamental to resolving problems with the use of deontic logic to investigate various branches of normative reasoning. In this paper I wish to show that the paradoxes are of secondary importance; that they are merely by-products of the central issue, namely the ability of certain syntactic forms to embody natural language structures used in reasoning about norms. An investigation of modal syntax is proffered as the best starting-point from which to tackle the questions that still dog the legitimacy of deontic logic. Part I provides some philosophical background to the discussion of deontic logical constants. Part II addresses in greater detail issues concerning the representation of normative concepts; and Part III offers a few remarks on the general issue of deontic logic's fruitfulness as an analytical tool.     

Proactive Policing: a Summary of the Report of the National Academies of Sciences,Engineering, and Medicine

This paper provides a summary of our report for the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on proactive policing. We find that there is sufficient scientific evidence to support the adoption of many proactive policing practices if the primary goal is to reduce crime, though the evidence base generally does not provide long-term or jurisdictional estimates. In turn, we conclude that crime prevention outcomes can often be obtained without producing negative community reactions. However, the most effective proactive policing strategies do not appear to have strong positive impacts on citizen perceptions of the police. At the same time, some community-based strategies have begun to show evidence of improving the relations between the police and public. We conclude that there are likely to be large racial disparities in the volume and nature of police–citizen encounters when police target high-risk people or high-risk places, as is common in many proactive policing programs. We could not conclude whether such disparities are due to statistical prediction, racial animus, implicit bias, or other causes.

     

HOW JUDGES THINK ABOUT RACIAL DISPARITIES: SITUATIONAL DECISION‐MAKING IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM*

Researchers have theorized how judges’ decision‐making may result in the disproportionate presence of Blacks and Latinos in the criminal justice system. Yet, we have little evidence about how judges make sense of these disparities and what, if anything, they do to address them. By drawing on 59 interviews with state judges in a Northeastern state, we describe, and trace the implications of, judges’ understandings of racial disparities at arraignment, plea hearings, jury selection, and sentencing. Most judges in our sample attribute disparities, in part, to differential treatment by themselves and/or other criminal justice officials, whereas some judges attribute disparities only to the disparate impact of poverty and differences in offending rates. To address disparities, judges report employing two categories of strategies: noninterventionist and interventionist. Noninterventionist strategies concern only a judge's own differential treatment, whereas interventionist strategies concern other actors’ possible differential treatment, as well as the disparate impact of poverty and facially neutral laws. We reveal how the use of noninterventionist strategies by most judges unintentionally reproduces disparities. Through our examination of judges’ understandings of racial disparities throughout the court process, we enhance understandings of American racial inequality and theorize a situational approach to decision‐making in organizational contexts.     

The terrorist mind: II. Typologies, psychopathologies, and practical guidelines for investigation

Part I of this two-part article presents a psychological and political analysis of the terrorist mind. Part II describes the major current psychological classifications and typologies of domestic and foreign terrorism. Explanations are offered in terms of our current understanding of the personality and psychopathology of terroristic violence. A heuristic model of classifying terrorism in terms of personality and psychopathology is presented. In addition to guiding further research and theory on the psychology of terrorism, this model has immediate practical application to the investigation and interrogation of terrorist suspects.     

Redressing wounds: finding a legal framework to remedy racial disparities in medical care

In recent years, numerous medical studies and reports have documented startling disparities between the health status of African Americans and White Americans. The literature is replete with evidence that one of the main causes of these racial disparities is the different treatment of patients of different racial groups. This Comment addresses the possibility that implicit cognitive bias, in the form of implicit attitudes and stereotypes, significantly contributes to these racial disparities in medical treatment. Finding existing legal frameworks inadequate to address current disparities in health care, this Comment recommends avenues for the reworking of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, it suggests that disparate-treatment provisions that encompass claims arising from unintentional discrimination should be incorporated into Title VI, and it offers the employment law frameworks of Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act as models for such reform.     

Conceiving Parents Through Law

Who a child's parents are is a question that might be answereddifferently by a jurist than by the child concerned. Law directsus to look at particular rules to determine parentage. Yet theserules might not reflect actual relationships within familiesthat extend care, nurturing and support to children, particularlywhen conception has occurred through assisted procreation. Thisarticle is prompted by the discordance between legal and sociallocations of parenthood in these contexts. Examining Canadiancommon law and Quebec civil law, it considers whether legalstrictures imposed on families created through assisted reproductionhinders children from developing relationships that foster self-awarenessand a meaningful sense of ‘place’ within their communities. Part I considers the manner in which law searches for parentsand finds them, discussing cultural and social forces at playin shaping parent–child relationships. Part II sets outa taxonomy for understanding law's location of parenthood wherechildren have been conceived through donated genetic materialor surrogacy. Part III highlights factors that have driven theseassessments of parental status, namely, biological connections,the intentions of participants in assisted procreation arrangements,and social relationships formed with the children produced bysuch arrangements. Potential difficulties with relying on thesefactors are identified, signalling the need for a more coherentand equitable framework for determinations of parental status.     

DOES IMPRISONMENT ALTER THE LIFE COURSE? EVIDENCE ON CRIME AND EMPLOYMENT FROM A NATURAL EXPERIMENT

Ex‐prisoners consistently manifest high rates of criminal recidivism and unemployment. Existing explanations for these poor outcomes emphasize the stigmatizing effects of imprisonment on prisoners seeking postrelease employment as well as the deleterious effects of imprisonment on prisoners’ attitudes and capabilities. However, these explanations must be distinguished from selection effects in the criminal sentencing process, which also could explain some or all of these poor outcomes. To distinguish between criminogenic and selection explanations for ex‐prisoners’ postrelease experience, I analyze data from a natural experiment in which criminal cases were assigned randomly to judges with sizable sentencing disparities. Using these exogenous sentencing disparities, I produce unbiased estimates of the causal effects of imprisonment on the life course. The results of this analysis suggest that selection effects could be sufficiently large to account for prisoners’ poor postrelease outcomes because judges with large sentencing disparities in their use of imprisonment had similarly high caseload unemployment and criminal recidivism rates.     

情事变更制度在与离婚相关的财产协议中的参照适用——以婚前协议为例

基于与离婚相关的财产协议本身所具有的特殊性和情事变更制度的规范意旨,在与离婚相关的财产协议中引入情事变更制度是十分必要的。《民法典》第464条第2款为在与离婚相关的财产协议中参照适用合同编的情事变更制度提供了规范基础。在参照适用情事变更制度时,需要把握与离婚相关的财产协议的家庭伦理属性及该种协议相较于一般商业交易协议的不同特点,对情事变更的构成要件和法律效果进行有针对性的法律解释。情事变更制度在参照适用于与离婚相关的财产协议时,主要存在以下值得探讨的事由类型:子女出生;一方因残疾或严重疾病丧失劳动能力;一方经济能力大幅变化。据此,可以分别针对协议中的离婚财产分割、家务劳动补偿和经济帮助条款总结出情事变更制度参照适用的可能性。