PREVENTIVE DETENTION

The authors suggest that the probability of an arrestee engaging in violent crime before trial should be recognized as on independent and legitimate concern of the courts. Some of the major practical and legal considerations in implementing a pretrial detention option are discussed. A model is proposed which would give prosecutors a uniform basis for the decision to request a judicial order to detain pending trial. The model is based upon a modification of the Sellin-Wolfgang index of seriousness.     

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN TRIAL COURT ELECTIONS: Possibilities for Accentuating the Positive and Eliminating the Negative

A large part of the debate over state judicial selection has focused upon the lack of voter interest in and knowledge about judicial elections. This study investigates voter participation in the contested nonpartisan elections for California Superior Court judge from 1958–1978. Focusing upon the variations among and within the state's counties, the analysis attempts to assess the contributions of sociological, environmental, and institutional variables to the level of participation. An exploration of the policy implications of the findings suggests, among other things, that judicial elections in large metropolitan areas might well be abandoned and replaced with some system of gubernatorial appointment and reappointment of judges.     

Ratzinger Is Right

No sooner had John Paul II stepped across the threshold of Heaven than Cardinal Ratzinger, now elected Pope Benedict, declared the new mission of the Catholic Church would be to fight "the dictatorship of relativism."
To explore this theme, NPQ spoke with René Girard, the famous anthropologist and author of the seminal study Violence and the Sacred. We then asked Pankaj Mishra, one of the most exciting new non-fiction writers and author of An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World , to respond.