古典中国的死刑:一个文化史与思想史的考察

<正>2001年9月17日,法国哲学家雅克·德里达(J.Derrida)应邀在香港中文大学崇基学院会堂作了题为《全球化与死刑》(Globalization and Capital Punishment)的公开讲演,对全球化语境下的死刑问题有过非常深刻而又独到的阐述。姑且撇开德里达讲演的精彩内容不谈,据我观察,全球化事实上也是眼下国内学者思考死刑问题的基本视野。而对那些提倡我国也应该尽快地废除死刑的学者来说,尤其如此;在他们看来,全球化乃是一种可资利用的论证策略。这与清末修律运动期间借着收回治外法权的理由提出废除酷刑的论证策略,颇有异曲     

POWER IN THE AMERICAN ECONOMY: A REVIEW AND COMMENTARY

The two books I have been reviewing have made a number of points about the nature of power in the American economy. Our economic society is dominated by large institutional actors. Supporting this reality are layers of traditional reasons, some of which are myth-like. These institutions are not necessarily as efficient or as innovative as these traditional beliefs inform us, and they coalesce to form an interconnected whole that operates to serve institutional interests first. In the process, large business corporations come to see natural persons as roles. This perception at once increases the individual's mobility and her irrelevance. Many of us are leading meaningless lives as we serve the objectives of others in our work. Overall, the large American business corporation has brought a new form of social organization that substantially truncates us as natural, whole persons. In the process, these organizations are challenging the family as a dominant form of organization in our society. Rights in our society accrue to the actor with productive capacity. Through the use of political power, market research, and advertising, we can discern a type of power that subtly conditions us to believe that this reorganization of our environment is proper and right. As we pursue our own “free will,” therefore, we actually submit to the objectives of the large business corporation. Generally speaking, Adams, Brock, and Coleman agree on this fundamental point: the dignity of individual purpose and meaning that we share and that define us as human beings is thwarted by a set of institutional arrangements that have fundamentally reoriented our society to serve the institutions' own objectives of profit and growth. Why is this important? It seems that in social systems, like mechanical systems, something is lost when mass is increased. As our important institutions become larger, what is lost is a kind of knowledge about our own environment and how it works. In the place of this first-hand knowledge, we come to rely on second-hand knowledge provided by social-science experts. Without this first-hand knowledge, we lose the confidence that we have the ability to see for ourselves what has meaning and to bring about desired changes in our lives. With the loss of confidence, we lose power, a form of power that each of us is told from childhood that we, by nature, should have. Our individual wills and perceptions atrophy without use. We come to believe that our place in the social order is inevitable and natural. In short, the individual, the source of both knowledge and political rights, has become secondary to the will and strength of large private and public institutions. How can natural, individual actors regain–or perhaps realize for the first time –power in their own lives? In reaching for an answer to this question, I believe Adams, Brock, and Coleman have overlooked some essential features of our modern political economy.     

SEX AND HISTORY

California requires mediation of almost all child custody disputes. The effects of the variables of client and attorney gender, obtaining settlements, and prior mediation and litigation history were examined in a sample of 150 parents who completed surveys after mediating at the Los Angeles County Conciliation Court mediation service. Clients of female attorneys were more likely to respond negatively after failing to settle and were adversely affected by prior family law litigation. Female attorneys were more likely to treat fathers and mothers differently. Clients of male attorneys became negative after prior mediation but not litigation. Clients represented by attorneys of either sex found mediation procedures more helpful than did unrepresented parents. Having an opposite-sex attorney was correlated with communicating with the other parent. Both sexes expressed strong support for the mediation process regardless of whether they settled, although disputants who did settle reported a higher rate of satisfaction than did those who did not. Attorney support for the mediation was important to its success, and having opposite-sex attorneys may promote settlement.     

A NATURAL LAW DEFENSE TO THE EMPLOYMENT LAW QUESTION: A RESPONSE TO RICHARD EPSTEIN

Every individual is continually exerting himself to find out the most advantageous employment for whatever capital he can demand. It is his own advantage, indeed, and not that of the society which he has in view. But the study of his own advantage naturally, or rather necessarily, leads him to prefer that employment which is most advantageous tothe society. ¹
The modern laborer, … instead of rising with the progress of industry, sinks deeper and deeper below the conditions of existence of his own class. He becomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly than population and wealth. ²
Eveyone has the right to work to free choice Of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Eveyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented if necessary, other means of social protection. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. Evereyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holiday with pay. ³     

A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY TO CRIME: EFFECTS OF RESIDENTIAL HISTORY ON CRIME LOCATION CHOICE*

Many offenses take place close to where the offender lives. Anecdotal evidence suggests that offenders also might commit crimes near their former homes. Building on crime pattern theory and combining information from police records and other sources, this study confirms that offenders who commit robberies, residential burglaries, thefts from vehicles, and assaults are more likely to target their current and former residential areas than similar areas they never lived in. In support of the argument that spatial awareness mediates the effects of past and current residence, it also is shown that areas of past and present residence are more likely to be targeted if the offender lived in the area for a long time instead of briefly and if the offender has moved away from the area only recently rather than a long time ago. The theoretical implications of these findings and their use for investigative purposes are discussed, and suggestions for future inquiry are made.