Some individual differences in perception of the evidence and the verdict choice

Abstract

For the last century, social research has provided evidence that contradicts the idea of objectivity in judicial procedure. As a result, research on jurors' potential bias has emerged. We propose an alternative to traditional jury, one in which social researchers collaborate with judges and lawyers, providing them with information on the juror bias. Legal authoritarianism is one of the characteristics of personality, which seems to be linked to juror verdicts. We present two studies, which develop a specific measure for this variable. The first study shows the relevance of legal authoritarianism as a variable to describe the psychological profile of juror-eligible respondents. The second study explores the relationship between legal authoritarianism and interpretation of the evidence, as well as the potential of this variable to predict verdicts.     

Reflexiones sobre la dignidad humana en la actualidad

The concept of human dignity has its origin in ancient Greece, but is enriched in meaning and scope throughout the development of human history. From being a concept linked to social position, to express the autonomy and moral capacity of people, making it the undisputed foundation of human rights. Human dignity has special relevance, as an element to confront and develop standards for social transformations caused by scientific and technological development. In this paper we focus on addressing those concerning the beginning of human life and its end.     

La dignidad del matrimonio en el siglo XXI. Amor como paradigma

The author studies the perception of marriage in the twenty first century, as a fundamental human right, declaring the value and dignity of all human beings, without any discrimination and its self-determination. The author analyzes the legal nature of marriage as an institution and as a contract, addressing an analysis of the reasons and purposes of marriage, and the phenomenon of arranged marriages (matrimonios por complacencia). Thereupon, she studies and reflects on the importance to inform the future spouses that love is the value that sustains the permanence of marriage and the fulfillment of its purposes in the twenty first century.     

On Value Security and the Overall National Security System

The universality of human nature determines the universality of values and its particularity determines the diversity and plurality of values that is the fundamental determinant of security problems among different value systems. In a narrow sense, value security refers to a situation in which value concepts of a state, region, or a nation, social class are not under threat from the external adversaries, which is called conceptual value security. In a broad sense, value security refers to the consistency between the system of realistic value security and that of conceptual value security. National value security encompasses both value security in a nation-state and security of national values, in which the former is featured by the recognition and acceptance of a prevailing value in a nation-state, and the latter is characterized by the sovereignty of national values. Due to the fact that the issue of value system is a meta-theoretical one and the security of conceptual value system is part of cultural security, value security holds a core position in cultural security and is an important component of overall national security system. Additionally, value security embodies the security of value pursuits and value criteria in different spheres of the overall national security system and therefore, it is also an indispensable and flexible support to the overall national security.     

Networks as ‘laboratories of experience’: exploring the life cycle of the suffrage movement and its aftermath in Ireland 1870–1937

ABSTRACT

Applying an innovative conceptual framework this article presents an interdisciplinary re-appraisal of the suffrage movement and its aftermath in Ireland throughout the years 1870–1937. New social movement theory is utilised to consider how, in the words of the Italian sociologist Alberto Melucci ‘the submerged networks of social movements are laboratories of experience’. Going beyond the previously published work of each author, this article uses the sociological lens of ‘laboratories of experience’ to re-analyse aspects of the suffrage movement, female activism and the wider women's movement in Ireland. This application of social movement theory to female networks, their origins, aims and strategies, along with their interconnectedness, provides a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the ‘life-cycle’ of this movement. The article aims to demonstrate how an analysis of network dynamics and application of the concept of ‘latency’ is useful in further understanding the significance, impact and longevity of the women's movement in Ireland.