欧元区改善外部政策协调的必要性和前景

全球经济严重失衡、欧元区的扩大、欧元和美元之间的竞争所带来的风险,表明欧元区改善外部经济政策协调的需要确实存在,而且很可能在未来几年中越来越迫切.欧元区在短中期内改善外部经济政策协调的主要领域包括汇率政策、货币政策、财政政策和结构性改革这几个方面.欧元区对外政策协调的主要障碍包括欧美政策目标的冲突、欧元区对外政策协调的主体不够明确,以及欧洲经货联盟计划的约束.     

标本兼治 整体推进——关于吉林省长春市苇子沟劳教所推行劳教管理工作改革的调查

2003年初,长春市苇子沟劳教所被吉林省司法厅确定为全省创办特色试点单位。三年来,该所在省、市局的领导下,坚持以人为本的科学发展观为指导,以提高教育挽救质量为中心,围绕创新劳教执法模式,发展劳教文化,在打破传统的管理模式、创造新的管理工作机制上下功夫。积极探索、大胆     

Fraud: The Characteristic Crime of the Twenty-First Century

In the same way that larceny characterized much of twentieth century, fraud will likely characterize the twenty-first century. Larceny remains the most common oi all serious crimes, but fraud may overtake larceny as the crime of choice in the future, because of changes in our ownership, storage, and movement of property. Fraud involves purposely obtaining the property of another through deception, and its popularity as a crime of choice is growing. Entrusting property to the custody oi others, storing property at remote locations, and electronic movement of property are shown to be major changes in the way we treat property and increase opportunities for theft. The connection between fraud and many of the serious crimes of the twenty-first century are shown in the facts of recent cases. The motivation of thefl behind many frauds is also shown to be used to fund larger criminal objectives, such as illegal immigration and terrorism. The points of view expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Dr. Albanese is chief of the International Center at NIJ on leave from his position as professor of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University.     

Who Do You Trust? Ethnicity and Trust in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article examines the question of trust in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a special focus on the role of ethnicity. We find generalised trust to be low and declining in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, generalised trust is negatively affected by the degree of ethnic heterogeneity in the region. However, a further examination of trust reveals a more complex relationship between ethnicity and trust: people tend to show low levels of trust in all other people irrespective of their ethnic belongings. We argue that ethnic distribution might capture some other regional specific characteristics that also affect the level of trust.     

NO COMMUNITY IS AN ISLAND: THE EFFECTS OF RESOURCE DEPRIVATION ON URBAN VIOLENCE IN SPATIALLY AND SOCIALLY PROXIMATE COMMUNITIES*

The link between resource deprivation and urban violence has long been explored in criminological research. Studies, however, have largely ignored the potential for resource deprivation in particular communities to affect rates of violence in others. The relative inattention is notable because of the strong theoretical grounds to anticipate influences that extend both to geographically contiguous areas and to those that, though not contiguous, share similar social characteristics. We argue that such influences—what we term spatial and social proximity effects, respectively—constitute a central feature of community dynamics. To support this argument, we develop and test theoretically derived hypotheses about spatial and social proximity effects of resource deprivation on aggregated and disaggregated homicide counts. Our analyses indicate that local area resource deprivation contributes to violence in socially proximate communities, an effect that, in the case of instrumental homicides, is stronger when such communities are spatially proximate. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for theories focused on community‐level social processes and violence, and for policies aimed at reducing crime in disadvantaged areas.     

THE POTENTIAL OF THE FAMILY LAW EDUCATION REFORM PROJECT FOR FAMILY LAWYERS1

Family lawyers are major beneficiaries of the reforms set out in the Family Law Education Reform Project (FLER) Report. This commentary from a veteran family law practitioner explores the needs of the family law bar for the training of law students in practical, interdisciplinary, client‐centered lawyering that goes beyond the traditional case method. I trace many of the current innovations evolving in family law practice and how FLER reforms will not only benefit law schools but also have a major impact in the courts and private practice sector.     

Long-term success in mediation

This article reports the results of a study of the antecedents of long-term success in community mediation. Seventy-three mediation sessions were recorded and content analyzed. The participants were interviewed at two points: immediately after mediation and 4 to 8 months later. No relationship was found between the quality of the agreements—i.e., the extent to which they solved immediate problems- and long-term success as measured by compliance, improved relations between the parties, and the absence of new problems. On the other hand, joint problem solving by the disputants was related to complainant perceptions of improved relations with the other party. Also respondent perceptions that the mediation had been fair and that all the problems had come out were related to all aspects of long-term success in the eyes of the complainant. The latter results support a procedural justice analysis of mediation and underline the importance of mediator attention to the respondent.