Delinquency and Crime Among Youths in the Philippines: A Test of Legal Cynicism

The construct of legal cynicism is gaining currency in the United States and other western developed countries in explaining why people break the law. This construct is viable in societies with strong economies and mature political and criminal justice institutions. This paper asks whether the construct of legal cynicism is applicable in societies with differing economic, political and social conditions. Specifically, the paper investigates whether legal cynicism can explain the delinquent behaviors of youths in the Philippines. Despite diligent efforts to duplicate the measures of legal cynicism, the paper finds that this construct is a weak predictor of youth delinquent behaviors. This contradictory finding is explained by looking at the historical and sociopolitical conditions of the country.     

Legal Elites and the Shaping of Corporate Law Practice in Brazil: A Historical Study

Brazil today has a legal market that allows for foreign lawyers and foreign firms, but existing regulations are restrictive. Foreign lawyers cannot practice domestic law or litigation, nor can Brazilian‐licensed lawyers working for foreign firms or partnering with foreign lawyers. This was not always the case, however. Until 1963, there was little regulation of the legal profession. Beginning in 1913, elite US lawyers traveled to Brazil, with some even becoming prominent domestic practitioners. They partnered with local elite lawyers (who maintained their domestic privileges) and served as key brokers for US businesses seeking market entry. Drawing on the elite theory literature, and on ethnographies, interview data, and over 1,000 pages of rare Portuguese and English archival sources, this study's thesis is that sophisticated US and Brazilian legal elites capitalized on the lack of regulation to advance their financial interests, and in the process transformed Brazil's corporate legal sector.     

Adolescent Delinquency and Social Control in Finnish Schools: A Multilevel Analysis

The importance of local community in the prevention of juvenile delinquency has often been emphasized from the theoretical, practical, and political points of view. The role of the school in particular has recently gained attention along with the growing field of research on local communities and crime. This study examined the significance of school‐related social control in preventing adolescents' active delinquent behaviour. The study is based on a random cluster sample of Finnish 15–16‐year‐olds and conducted by employing multilevel logistic regression analysis. Results indicate that social control in schools, as a community characteristic, helps reduce boys' active delinquency even after crucial individual‐level characteristics have been taken into account. However, if there is wide variation in how social control is perceived, the positive effect diminishes. In the case of girls the meaning of the school‐level social control was insignificant. Both the average and standard deviation indicated that the effect would be similar to that of the boys, but statistically they were insignificant. The study affirms the earlier studies of the meaning of the school as a shared social environment and emphasizes the different dimensions in school‐level phenomena.     

犯罪后的第三种法律后果:保护处分

保护处分即少年犯罪处遇中具有替代(并非补充)刑罚性质的措施,它具有超越刑罚亦超越保安处分的鲜明特点,有犯罪之后的“第三种法律后果”之称。保护处分应当遵循三大基本原则,即处分法定原则、处分优先原则和处分相称原则。保护处分包括机构性保护处分和非机构性保护处分两大基本类型。各国(地区)对于保护处分的类型设计及其运用无不以社区性保护处分为原则,而以拘禁性保护处分为例外。保护处分是现代少年刑法的核心内容,仍然停留于报应主义阶段的我国少年刑法急需加快改革,建立保护处分制度。     

Self-Reported Delinquency and Alienation: A Study of Juvenile Crime

Based on a probability sample of 7542 from the seventh, ninth, 11th grade students of the Toledo metropolitan area, this study, using self-reported delinquency, investigated the relationship between alienation and deviant behavior. A positive association between alienation (normlessness and societal estrangement) and self-reported delinquency were observed. The degree of association and the direction still maintained when controlled for the age and sex of the students.     

Effects of Delinquency on Alcohol use Among Juveniles in Europe: Results from the ISRD-2 Study

The existence of a correlation between the use of alcohol and juvenile delinquency has long been acknowledged. In order to evaluate the strength and the characteristics of this association in various cultural contexts, we analysed data collected as part of the International Self-Report Delinquency Study- 2 (ISRD-2). The sample consisted of of young people (N?=?57,771) of both sexes, aged between 12 and 16 years, in 25 European countries. After estimating the prevalence of alcohol consumption among young people involved in property offences and violent offences, we assessed the degree to which these types of delinquency were associated with the use of alcohol in the 25 countries. In addition, we attempted to ascertain the influence of belonging to various types of deviant groups on alcohol use. To this end, we used a Mokken Scale Analysis. With this method, we constructed a scale of “gangness” and correlated the scores with alcohol use among juveniles. The results yielded by the present study indicate that alcohol use and delinquency are closely related with one another. In particular, we observed that alcohol consumption seems to be strongly influenced by involvement in delinquent activities. The nature and characteristics of these relationships suggest that the associations between alcohol use and delinquency are reciprocal rather than one-directional. Consequently, alcohol use constitutes a risk factor for criminal behaviour. Likewise, involvement in delinquency increase the risk of alcohol consumption and, especially, of alcohol abuse.     

Contextualizing the Impact of Legal Representation on Juvenile Delinquency Outcomes: A Review of Research and Policy

This study examines the empirical research on legal representation in delinquency proceedings and situates it in the broader investigation of how states provide legal assistance to juvenile defendants. Our review of empirical studies found that attorney presence was an aggravating factor in dispositional decisions. After closely examining state statutory provisions on legal representation in juvenile delinquency proceedings, we suggest that the penalty effect of attorney presence is an artifact of the variation in state laws governing access and oversight of juvenile counsel. We conclude with suggestions for future research, policy, and practice.     

The Freedom to Circulate Documents: Regulating Contracts in Europe

Abstract:  Evidence collected by the European Commission indicates that insofar as the diversity between laws of national legal systems presents an obstacle to trade in the Internal Market, the problem consists of the inability of businesses to use their standard terms of business in cross-border trade with confidence. It is suggested that the solution to this problem lies not in legal integration through harmonisation of the private law of contract, but rather through the creation of procedures for autonomous agreements under which representatives of parties to standard types of contracts can agree upon model contracts containing fair ancillary terms.     

The Ethics of Corporate Legal Strategy: A Response to Professor Mayer

In this issue of the American Business Law Journal, Professor Don Mayer continues an important conversation regarding the ethics of corporate legal strategy. 1 Addressing several of my published works, Mayer offers two primary criticisms: (1) the works are too sanguine with regard to the appropriate scope of the strategic decision to “breach‐and‐pay,” and (2) the works offer too little guidance for the well‐intentioned corporate executive. In this response, I briefly restate my views, address Mayer's two criticisms, and offer concluding remarks.     

Mexico: Cartels,corruption and cocaine: A profile of the Gulf cartel

This text constructs a profile of one of Mexico's most powerful organised crime groups, the Gulf cartel. The text analyses the power of the cartel in the international system, the effects globalisation has had on its operations, the threats it poses to the state, and the obstacles the state faces in countering transnational organised crime groups.     

我国公司法人代表制论纲

公司法人代表与人格化了的公司相伴而生,其对外代表公司法人的相关理论包括代理说和机构说,并因法人拟制说与实在说的对峙而纷争不止。公司法人代表制作为公司法人治理结构的一项重要制度安排而为各国所重视,并由法律设定为一元制、多元制和折衷制等不同形式。我国采用一元制的法定代表人制,尽管合乎历史规律但却不符当今现实。在法人本质理论上采取拟制说,将私法自治引入《公司法》,采多元制的法人代表制,明确代表权只是对外代表法人进行活动的身份资格而非公司事务的执行权,不失我国目前公司法人治理结构的一种良性尝试。     

Regulating Legal Misconduct in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Abstract

This research reviews malfeasance committed by legal actors in Virginia over a four-year time period, and examines the corresponding sanctions imposed on them. The inquiry entails the review of disciplinary cases reviewed by the Virginia State Bar. These cases cover a vast spectrum of misconduct ranging from those seemingly venial to those that are flagrantly criminal. The sanctions imposed are examined as well as the reasons for the sanctions. Further, the study examines if rates of misconduct and severity of sanctions vary by gender. Implications that arise from the study are also discussed.     

Girls and Culture˜ in Delinquency Intervention: A Case Study of RYSE

Given the growing trend of girls in the juvenile justice system, there has been increasing attention toward providing gender‐specific programming. The Reaffirming Young Sisters' Excellence (RYSE) program was one of Alameda County, Calif., Probation Department's intervention programs designed to address both gender and cultural factors in girls programming. ANCOVA analyses of 350 randomized girls did not provide support for the gender‐specific hypothesis that girls who received RYSE intervention will have a lower recidivism score than girls who received traditional probation services. However, the cultural hypothesis was partially supported with African American girls who participated in the RYSE intervention faring better than Hispanic, White, and Asian RYSE girls, and their African American control counterparts.