Do Russians see their future in Europe or the CIS?

Historic differences between Russian elites about where the country's future lies are here addressed by examining what the Russian public thinks, using data from the New Russia Barometer survey. More than two thirds see the country's future with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and less than one third see it with Europe. Alternative explanations for these differences are tested statistically. The most important influences making Russians look to the near abroad are traditional identities, national pride and age. Although cosmopolitan contacts of individuals with the West encourage people to be pro-European, Russians are likely to continue to view their world as a CIS space. However, this does not indicate a popular demand to re-establish Imperial dominance but rather a durable commitment among most Russians to a Eurasian rather than European view of the world.     

Legal Indeterminacy and/as Professional Expertise

One of my concerns here has to do with what I perceive as the possible elision of the normative possibilities of law– and, therefore, the possibility of a more democratically meaningful understanding of justice in the space provided by law. It is an attempt to think seriously about the claim that ``law provides a terrain of contestation on which the powerless can hold the powerful to account by insisting that [the] legitimating rhetoric [of liberal legalism] be turned into action.'     

On the enforcement of specific performance in Civil Law countries

Proponents of specific performance as a remedy for breach of contract have found support in the alleged use of the remedy in Civil Law countries. However, we provide evidence that specific performance is in fact a rare remedy in Denmark, Germany and France, and under CISG, when performance requires actions to be undertaken, and we relate this to costs of enforcement. We argue that it is administratively costly to run a system of enforcement that renders specific performance attractive to the aggrieved party, and that the Civil Law countries have (like Common Law countries) chosen not to incur these costs of enforcement. This is especially clear in the case of Denmark, where specific performance of actions has been abandoned as a legal remedy.At the normative level, we argue that enforcement costs provides an additional rationale, over and above the rationales of the theory of efficient breach, for damages and against specific performance as the general remedy.     

Mock Juror Gender Biases and Perceptions of Self-Defense Claims in Intimate Partner Homicide

Findings are reported from an experiment that examined mock jurors’ gender biases regarding intimate homicide case adjudications. Mock jurors were more likely to convict a man than a woman who had killed an abusive partner, which was partially mediated by sympathy toward both the victim and defendant. Analyses revealed an abuser height and abuser gender interaction such that conviction rates for women defendants were higher when her abuser was taller compared to when he was shorter than she; abuser height did not influence conviction rates for men. Findings also suggested that when given information about a child being present, mock jurors perceived the killing of the abusive partner as an act to protect that child. The results are discussed in relation to how extra-legal factors impact juror perceptions of domestic violence cases in the courtroom.     

From colonization to reconciliation: Increasing the collaborative capacity of public servants

In call to action 57, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls upon federal, provincial and territorial governments to enhance the skills and knowledge of public servants. Leveraging collaboration theory and collaborative capacity, this article delves deeper into the skills, attitudes and knowledge required of public servants who regularly work with First Nations organizations and governments. Using findings from a health care collaboration between First Nations, federal and provincial governments in Alberta with 25 mid- to senior-level leaders, this participatory action research highlights the importance of member capacity to strong collaboration as Canada embarks on the journey from colonization to reconciliation.     

The Empathy Index: an evaluation of the psychometric properties of a new empathy measure for sex offenders

This article examines the analysis of the psychometric properties, including the validity and reliability, of the Empathy Index (EI), a new instrument designed to measure empathy deficits of sex offenders. The EI was tested with a sample of 158 sex offenders incarcerated in North Carolina prisons. An exploratory factor analysis yielded three subscales: social aggression; instrumental (proactive) aggression; and justification. Social aggression was an unexpected finding, given this type of aggression is more commonly found in young females rather than adult male sex offenders. The instrument demonstrates promising construct and concurrent validity as well as strong internal reliability. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.