Demography of the Legal Profession and Racial Disparities in Sentencing

The demography of the legal profession has changed rather dramatically in recent decades, yet the consequences of a more racially and ethnically diverse pool of lawyers for the administration of justice have not received significant attention. The present research examines how the racial composition of the local legal profession affects one facet of criminal law: the sentencing of convicted defendants. Building on prior work in the fields of law, stratification, and mobility, we hypothesize that racial and ethnic disparities in sentencing are mitigated where the legal profession is more diverse. In line with this hypothesis, analysis of data from a sample of large urban counties taken between 1990 and 2002 shows that the black-white racial disparity in sentencing attenuates as the number of black attorneys in the county increases, net of the percent black in the county and other possible confounding variables. Comparable results are found for Hispanics. The findings are discussed in the context of a demographically changing legal profession and prior work on racial disparities in the justice system.     

中国南海U形线的法律地位

比照现代国际海洋法所确立的各种海域制度,U形线的法律地位不明确。关于U形线的法律地位有各种学说,这些论证对于确定南海岛屿及其海域权属,具有重要的理论意义和实用价值。然而,只有结合历史背景、现代国际海洋法和台海两岸相关立法,才能准确阐释U形线的法律地位。     

法律论证中的逻辑理性

法律论证中的逻辑理性,是指追问以及追求法律的逻辑性或法律在逻辑上的合理性。逻辑理性在法律论证中有重要的作用,它既可以为法律思维提供基本的思维框架和模式,具有建构性功能;也可以为法律论证提供公正的平台。但是,逻辑理性在法律论证中也有一些局限性,这说明在法律论证中,只有逻辑理性是不够的：还需要实践理性和价值理性的补充。它们三者既有联系又有区别,它们的关系体现了合理与合法的关系,其有机统一对构建以法治为基础的和谐社会有积极的意义。     

Profiling the mobile customer – Privacy concerns when behavioural advertisers target mobile phones – Part I

Mobile customers are being tracked and profiled by behavioural advertisers to be able to send them personalized advertising. This process involves data mining consumer databases containing personally-identifying or anonymous data and it raises a host of important privacy concerns. This article, the first in a two part series on consumer information privacy issues on Profiling the Mobile Customer, addresses the questions: “What is profiling in the context of behavioural advertising?” and “How will consumer profiling impact the privacy of mobile customers?” The article examines the EU and U.S. regulatory frameworks for protecting privacy and personal data in regards to profiling by behavioural advertisers that targets mobile customers. It identifies potential harms to privacy and personal data related to profiling for behavioural advertising. It evaluates the extent to which the existing regulatory frameworks in the EU and the U.S. provide an adequate level of privacy protection and identifies key privacy gaps that the behavioural advertising industry and regulators will need to address to adequately protect mobile consumers from profiling by marketers. The upcoming second article in this series will discuss whether industry self-regulation or privacy-enhancing technologies will be adequate to address these privacy gaps and makes suggestions for principles to guide this process.¹     

Once a Criminal, Always a Criminal?: ‘Redeemability’ and the Psychology of Punitive Public Attitudes

Several studies have sought to link punitive public attitudes to attribution style and/or lay theories of crime. This research finds that those who believe criminal acts are the result of freely chosen and willful behavior are more likely to be punitive than those who feel crime is the result of external circumstances and constraints. These analyses focus on only one dimension of attributions: locus of control (internal/external). In this analysis, we include a second dimension, thought to be a better predictor of attitudes in social psychological research: stability/instability. In addition to measuring lay theories of crime causation, we also test for “belief in redeemability” (or beliefs about the ability of deviants to change their ways). Our hypothesis is that this other dimension of personal attributions (stability/instability) may be as critical in explaining support for highly punitive criminal justice policies as beliefs about criminal responsibility. We find evidence supportive of this model in an analysis of data from postal survey of residents of six areas in England.     

合作双赢共同发展——《2050年:中国-俄罗斯共同发展战略》评析

这是俄罗斯两位资深学者--俄罗斯科学院经济战略研究所所长、经济学博士、俄罗斯科学院通讯院士鲍利斯·尼古拉耶维奇·库济克和俄罗斯科学院远东所所长、哲学博士、俄罗斯科学院院士季塔连科合作撰写的一部研究中国改革开放以来在各方面取得的发展和变化,预测中国今后几十年的发展前景,并论述中俄战略协作伙伴关系对两国的重大意义,说明中俄采取长期共同发展战略符合两国人民共同需要和根本利益的专著.     

论社会主义政治文明与资本主义政治文明之间的区别

社会主义政治文明与资本主义政治文明是人类文明发展史上两种不同类型的政治文明,二者既对立又统一,既相区别又相联系,在竞争和比较中共同生存和发展。本文重点讨论社会主义政治文明与资本主义政治文明的九点不同,即从:起源、演进发展、历史形态、经济基础和阶级基础、内涵、本质特征、价值选择、理论品质、前景与发展方向九方面区分两者不同。     

试析现实与价值整合中的"社会和谐"

马克思和恩格斯把他们的理论和实践的任务规定为改变资本主义社会,“并使之革命化”。所以,他们的理论也就是关于这个制度的认识和改变的理论。但是,这不能说明在马恩的理论体系中不包含社会和谐的思想。事实是他们关于资本主义的批判的理论同关于代替这一社会形态的未来社会构想是联系在一起的,他们关于未来社会建设的构想在一定程度上包含了他们的关于未来社会和谐的思想。而他们关于社会革命的理论实际又是他们未来社会和谐的思想基础。