Providing service--or aiding and abetting discrimination?

Even though federal antidiscrimination laws do not include third-party liability, a number of states now have statutes containing aiding-and-abetting provisions that may provide a basis for causes of action. For instance, in a recent decision, the Colorado Supreme Court held that a third-party insurance company will be held liable along with the employer for providing health insurance coverage that does not cover normal pregnancy expenses. Similarly, cases involving newspapers have shown that newspaper classifieds may occasion liability solely to the newspaper, and not the advertiser, even absent intent. The author provides a full discussion of such issues as standard of proof and exactly who is liable and offers solutions to these new liability problems.     

The Legislative Role of Juries

Is it possible that jurors, in the process of evaluating the evidence against a defendant, act to some degree as legislators by assessing the soundness of policies they perceive the criminal law to be supporting? To test the hypothesis that jurors reflect public opinion in making such judgments, the author correlated changes in public opinion on war policy with fluctuations in the proportion of jury trial defendants found guilty of violating selective service laws. It was found that juries convicted those accused of draft evasion at a higher rate when a war was in progress than during peacetime and that during the Korean and Vietnam wars the conviction rate was directly correlated with public approval of American military actions, A breakdown of regional differences showed that the South was somewhat more supportive of the Vietnam War and more prone to convict in selective service cases than the rest of the nation was, but the results of this comparative analysis were inconclusive. Although the correspondence between public opinion and verdict tendencies was far from perfect (perhaps in part because of the skewed composition of juries), the study does sup port the notion that jurors draw on prevailing popular sentiments about laws and the public policies the laws further.     

Do Standards of Proof Affect Decision Making in Child Protection Investigations?

Every state investigates child maltreatment reports. Some states use a lower standard of proof of some credible evidence (or similar terms) to substantiate cases after investigation. Other state legislatures prescribe a higher standard of preponderance of the evidence. Legislatures use these terms of art as a matter of policy to control the risk of false-positive errors. A lower rate of substantiation should follow from a higher standard of proof. There was no statistically significant difference in the percent of substantiated and the percent of unsubstantiated cases in the two groups of states. If state policy to reduce the false-positive error rate is to be effective, something more is required than simply manipulating the verbal formula in legislation.     

同性恋的婚姻、生育和亲属制度

人类学理论时于新的亲属关系实践的深层含义,特别关注时同性恋与辅助生育的研究.同性恋这一行为不仅创造了极为有意思的亲属关系和家庭网络,还遵循抑或挑战了传统文化对家庭生活的期待.欧美社会中出现的新生育技术对于传统亲属制度提出了新的难题,与亲属关系相连的文化意识和价值相应地塑造了生育技术的转变,这些技术又被应用到其他社会和文化之中.     

Reflections on the Mutual Impact of Violence and Religious Change in Latin America

The mutual impact of violence and religious transformation in the recent experience of Latin America has reshaped the public presence of churches (both Catholic and Protestant) and altered their discourse and appeal. Many churches turned to promotion of human rights, protection of victims, and opposition to authoritarian rule. Others allied with repressive regimes in the name of a kind of Christian nationalism. The violence at issue ranges from the massive violence of repression, torture, and revolutionary struggle to the institutionalized violence of poverty, disease, and injustice, which is often accompanied by the violence of daily life and linked with migration, drugs, gangs, and domestic abuse. Religion itself has changed: the Catholic monopoly has been replaced by pluralism, as Protestant and Pentecostal churches reach new populations and offer potential converts a way of opting out of the violence of daily life through rebirth in a new religious community.     

Gorbachev's Economic Reform: A Soviet Economy Roundtable

The proceedings of a panel of American specialists devoted to the recent economic reform are summarized. The panelists noted that the most substantial changes to date have accompanied efforts to restructure the decisionmaking hierarchy—in particular, a recentralization of authority through the creation of biuros and state committees and legislation on individual economic activity. Changes in the systems of economic planning and incentives, on the other hand, have been minor, suggesting a continuing debate over the extent to which price reform and various economic incentives should be implemented. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 113, 124.     

The Aftermath of the 19th Conference of the CPSU: A Soviet Economy Roundtable

The aftermath of the 19th Conference of the Communist Party, held in Moscow from June 28 to July 1, 1988, is analyzed by eight Western observers. The discussion covers impacts of the Conference on Soviet society and abroad, General Secretary Gorbachev's speech at the Central Committee Plenum on July 29, 1988, and reviews results of his policies since 1985. It proceeds to look at the current transitional period of Soviet reforms, including the formation of new enterprise forms and horizontal links in the economy. Finally, the discussants view prospects for political and economic development in the future. journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 124, 113.