Engendering Imprisonment: The State and Incarcerated Female Subjects in Taiwan

In International feminist perspectives in criminology, Rafter and Heidensohn in International feminist perspectives in criminology: Engendering a discipline. Open University Press, Buckingham, (1995: 4) contended that current mainstream criminology was the most masculine of all social sciences. A look at arguments about penal development confronts us with the fact that most historical studies are not gender-specific. Whether female offenders were victimized or acted as their own agents in the penal institutions can be determined with reference to two considerations: first, women prisoners have persistently been treated differently from their male contemporaries; second, female offenders have typically been burdened with formal penalties and informal gender disciplines as punishments for their wrongdoings. The relationship between women and the state provides some clues regarding how penal institutions, which are authorized to act for the state in imposing penalties, treat female offenders and why women’s imprisonment has taken the forms that are evident historically. This study traces the unique political and social conditions of Taiwan’s history to determine what reformations penal institutions have sought to enforce upon female prisoners and which body-types of female inmates have been ‘docile’, ‘obedient’, and ‘useful’ to the state. From the establishment of women’s care homes and the practice of separating the genders in penal institutions, to the implementation of independent women’s prisons, the state in Taiwan has played a dominant role in penal reforms in various historical contexts. This investigation aims to provide a critical and unique perspective of the penalization of women.     

A review of the role of radical feminist theories in the understanding of rape myth acceptance

Abstract

Research into rape myth acceptance (RMA) first emerged in the 1970s, when authors such as Brownmiller (1975) and Burt (1980) proposed that rape was a mechanism that allowed men to exert power over women and that the endorsement of rape myths justified this sexual dominance. These influential theories have meant that subsequent definitions of rape myths have failed to acknowledge male victims of serious sexual assault, despite an increase in prevalence rates. More recent research has attempted to explore RMA in relation to male victims, with results suggesting that men are more likely than women to endorse rape myths regarding male victims when the victim is assumed to be homosexual, or when the victim is heterosexual and the perpetrator is female. Brownmiller's theory is challenged and a more holistic view of the importance of sex-role traditionality is explored, while acknowledging the contribution of individual factors relating to the development of RMA.     

Muslims,South Asians and the British mainstream: A national identity crisis?

Current popular opinion assumes that Muslims and South Asians in Britain develop anti-mainstream identities because they live in impoverished and segregated ghettos, participate in non-mainstream religions, and politically organise via ethnically and religiously motivated networks. This article uses survey data from the 2003 Home Office Citizenship Survey to challenge each of those points. First, it shows that Muslims and South Asians are almost as likely as whites to identify themselves as British. Second, it argues that discrimination is more important than simple socio-economic difficulties for British identification. In addition, it claims that despite living in ethnically segregated neighbourhoods and retaining ethnic and religious social and political networks, Muslims and South Asians have actively built integrated networks, have trust in mainstream political institutions, and are committed to being a part of the larger British community.     

Latin America's Left Turns: beyond good and bad

In rapid succession leftwing parties have been elected to government in some of the most important countries in the Latin American region. I challenge the view that there are two distinct variants of the left—one populist, the other social democratic—and argue that variation on the left reflects the diverse conditions under which these forces emerge and evolve. I outline common features shared by the left in Latin America; suggest how the concept of populism and analysis of social movements can help explain this variation; and show how the left's commitment to egalitarianism, balancing markets, and, in some cases, its appeals to the constituent power of the people enabled it to benefit from disillusionment with the results of neoliberalism, the poor performance of democratic governments in Latin America, and the evolving international context.     

一种面向利益分析的政策研究方法

构建社会主义和谐社会,对政策制定的科学化和民主化提出了新的更高的要求,即必须更加重视各方利益的表达和协调,以实现共赢。本文在综合分析软科学和政策科学两个相对独立的学科现状的基础上,讨论当前政策研究在利益分析上存在的不足及其根源,指出政策研究需要超越先前主流的实证主义范式,发展面向利益分析的理论和方法。针对我国政策制定中利益分析和协调的现实需求,本文介绍了一种基于讨论式博弈和综合集成支持的公共政策实验方法(EPRM),论述了该方法的基本思路、运用过程和若干焦点问题。     

Are hypnotically induced pseudomemories resistant to cross-examination?

Two experiments examined the effects of hypnotic procedures in response to interrogation and crossexamination in subjects who viewed a simulated robbery. Experiment 1 found that hypnotic and nonhypnotic leading interrogations were equally likely to produce misattributions and misidentification of mug shots. Moreover, under cross-examination subjects who had been given an hypnotic interrogation and those given nonhypnotic interrogations were equally likely to disavow their earlier misattributions and misidentifications. In both hypnotic and nonhypnotic treatments high hypnotizables were more likely than low hypnotizables to misattribute characteristics during interrogation and to disavow earlier misattributions during cross-examination. In Experiment 2 high hypnotizables given a cross-examination that legitimated their earlier errors as honest mistakes and that enabled them to disavow earlier testimony without discrediting themselves (hidden observer treatment) showed the highest and most consistent rates of disavowel. A stringent cross-examination that implied that subjects had been careless or dishonest during interrogation produced the lowest rates of disavowel.