Science in the Courtroom: Vital to Best Interests and Reasonable Efforts

This essay was adapted from a speech presented by the author on February 12, 2008 at a Colloquium entitled “What's Best for Children? How Judges Use Neuroscience to Break the Cycle of Child Maltreatment.” The colloquium was sponsored by the Harvard Center on the Developing Child and held at Harvard Law School. It focuses on the wealth of knowledge that has been discovered about infant and child development and the importance of incorporating that knowledge into judicial decision making in child maltreatment cases.     

Managing the knowledge asset: America's competitive challenge

The American Economy may still be ridiag on economic legacies that are either outmoded or ill-suited to affect the contemporary competitive environment. One legacy is the managerial dependence of scientific management principles; another is a continued belief in the linear concept of science-driven technology. A second theme discussed in this article is the belief that firms must conceptualize outcomes of their operations. Achieving them will then better focus technological research agendas as well as the need to treat management itself as a technology. Finally, the article suggests that the phenomenon of consortia may be one of the most important economic experiments of the latter part of the century. The potential and pragmatic influence of the consortia is considered and its potential is suggested as problematic.     

The Failure of the Spectacle: The Voices Within

This article offers an ethnobiographic analysis of one of the most marginalized populations in contemporary US society: impoverished individuals with schizophrenia, schizoaffective or mania hallucinatory bipolar disorder who are imprisoned, first within their minds, and secondly by the state, what I term “the spectacle.” Punishment for their disease, rather than treatment, forces many of them into constant drift-transition between shelters, seedy motels and the streets: the spectacle’s disposable trash. I argue that to be recognized as a rights-worthy human being within the neoliberal spectacle individuals are required to have the financial, social and cultural resources necessary to actively participate in the labor market and the profit-generating activities of consumption and consumerism. The limited economic resources of the mentally ill keep them from being sufficiently active participants to be viewed as socially worthy. Consequently, they become socially unworthy—the socially dead. The seriously mentally ill experience both spatial and moral dislocation. They are cast out as flawed consumers and failed workers, and more importantly, due to the stigmatization of mental illness, they are disavowed of their humanity, rendering them socially dead.     

秘密侦查措施的立法构想

针对刑事犯罪具有的隐蔽性和暴露性特点,各国都采取了秘密侦查和公开调查相结合的双重方式,我国也不例外。文章论述了秘密侦查具有存在的现实基础,秘密侦查手段存在的合理性,以及秘密侦查措施的正当性;考察了外国在秘密侦查措施方面的立法情况,提出了在我国刑事诉讼法中规定秘密侦查措施的构想。     

Electronic gatekeepers: Locking out the marketplace of ideas

The Hutchins Commission was concerned that the small minority of the people controlling the press as an instrument of mass communication could misuse their gatekeeping power. Due to new communication technologies the abundance of media outlets has increased choices available to the public far beyond anything commission members could have envisioned. This, in turn, has led to the development of a second layer of electronic gatekeepers between information originators and the public. The effect these electronic gatekeepers will have on the evolution of the press will be as great as, if not greater than, that of the human gatekeepers who were the commission's focus. This article suggests there will be an increasing equation of the public interest with what the public is interested in, a reduction in people's knowledge of public affairs and a decrease in the exposure of individuals to new ideas or ideas that contradict their existing beliefs. The article concludes by questioning whether government regulation is capable of addressing these concerns.     

环境损害:环境法学的逻辑起点

学科理论体系的逻辑起点必须是针对学科研究对象中最广泛最普遍现象的最简单、最抽象的本质规定,它与历史的起点是辩证统一的。照此原则所确定的逻辑起点包含了对学科理论体系的规定性。环境损害是环境法学逻辑起点的必然选择,它对环境法学理论体系的规定性在以往的环境法学研究中已初见端倪,以后将更加充分地表现出来。     

Women Who Participate in Illegal Pyramid Selling: Voices from Female Rural Migrant Offenders in China

Asian Journal of Criminology - Mainly through a case study, this article examines Chinese women’s involvement in one form of organised crime—illegal pyramid selling—which is...     

论子女最佳利益原则

子女最佳利益原则已发展成为各国家庭法在处理父母离婚后子女监护案件时的最高准则。虽然该原则其概念本身含有不确定性 ,具有多种可以不同明确表达的空间 ,但采用该原则的世界各国仍致力于列出若干决定子女最佳利益的具体准则。本文作者主张我国婚姻法应引进“子女最佳利益”原则作为处理子女监护问题时的最高指导原则 ,摒弃父母权利本位思想     

Finding the Best Epistemic Fit for International Criminal Tribunals: Beyond the Adversarial-Inquisitorial Dichotomy

This article considers how well evidentiary processes withinthe international criminal tribunals match up to the challengeto provide fair and reliable verdicts. Rather than using theadversarial–inquisitorial dichotomy as the basis for exploringthis question, the article takes as its reference point thewell recognized norms of equality of arms and the right to adversarialprocedure. It is argued that although the tribunals have metthe minimum standards of fairness required by these norms, thecombination of adversarial party presentation and free admissionof evidence, within an evidentiary context in which it is difficultfor the defence to make their own inquiries, has restricteddefence access to information and its ability to challenge evidence.The article goes on to argue that some of these shortcomingshave been addressed within the International Criminal Courtby the establishment of a Pre-Trial Chamber but that the Chamberneeds to be developed further to promote a truly participativeapproach to fact-finding between the parties.     

农民工维权重在推进制度建设

《国务院关于解决农民工问题的若干意见》下达后,农民工维权已成为全社会普遍关注的热点问题。笔者通过对江苏省太仓市农民工法律援助工作的调研,分析了太仓市农民工的现状、特点、农民工法律援助需求以及农民工法律援助工作的改进和存在问题,提出了“农民工维权重在推进制度建     

悲悯与守护:论佛学之于开明派的精神建构

开明派文人与佛学文化之间存在着深刻的联系.他们通过对佛教人生观念、道德观念的吸收和改造,在出世与入世之间形成了一种平衡:一方面以超脱的姿态去抵拒无常的侵袭,抚慰心灵的创痛;另一方面在对病态社会的批判和"童心"的赞美中着力于人性的守护,并以对人生的慈悲胸怀贯穿自己的社会实践.     

Treatment Decisions for Critically Ill Infants: The Abrogation of the Best Interests Standard

The issue of withholding or withdrawing medical treatment from seriously ill newborns first gained the attention of the American public in 1982 when Baby Doe was allowed to die without surgery. Since that time, the predominant ethical, medical, and legal approach has been one that allows informed parents to make a reasonable medical treatment decision in the best interests of their infant with the concurrence of the health care providers. There has always been a minority that believes every infant should receive full medical treatment without regard to pain and suffering, until that infant dies a natural death. This viewpoint is reflected in recent judicial and legislative proceedings that have either already drastically changed the prevailing standard of care or threaten do so. This article reviews the significance of these changes.     

Relative Placement: The Best Answer for Our Foster Care System

This article briefly traces the history of the placement of children out of their homes because of parental abuse or neglect. The preference for relative placement is a recent occurrence. The advantages of relative placement instead of foster or group care are summarized as well as the disadvantages. Relative placement rates across the country are about 32%. Several jurisdictions have much higher placement rates including Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Los Angeles, California, is experimenting with social work practices that have produced over 80% relative placement rates during the past year. How both of these jurisdictions accomplish high relative placement rates is described in detail. Judges should persuade their own social service agencies to adopt these practices.     

Institutions and the Growth of Knowledge: Evidence from International Environmental Regimes

This article argues that institutions not only reflect ideas prevalent at the time of their creation, but also play vital roles in driving the growth and dissemination of knowledge. Because institutions are not actors in their own right, however, it is essential to identify the mechanisms through which they influence the behavior of those who are producers and consumers of knowledge. The central section of the article explores three distinct mechanisms or families of mechanisms that come into play in this context:(1) framing the research agenda, (2) privileging certain types of knowledge claims, and (3) guiding the application of knowledge to specific policy concerns. The article's concluding section examines the policy implications flowing from the proposition that institutions play significant roles in creating knowledge regarding the issues they address. Throughout, observations relating to international environmental or resources regimes provide a source of illustrations.