Inequality and delinquency: sorting out some class and race effects

Both neo-conservatives who tend to blame young people for their lack of moral self control and neo-liberals who decry the enduring effects of racism and poverty operate from the presupposition that “ghetto youths” engage in a variety of self-destructive behaviors, including violence and substance abuse. While debating whether these effects can be understood in “cultural” terms as the products of upbringing, or as the consequence of a lack of opportunity, nearly all researchers couch their empirical frameworks in the image of a unidimensional scale of problem behavior that affects poor youths generally and poor Black youths particularly. This line of inquiry raises some interesting ideas, but does not tell us about the process through which race or class lead to delinquency. In this paper, I critically examine previous work and present empirical models specifying structural and intermediate mechanisms implicated in delinquent behavior. I analyze a national, multilevel sample of Black and White males in the 12th grade to assess the degree to which structural, family and peer factors influence two forms of delinquency—alcohol use and fighting. The results cast doubt on culture-based assumptions, force us to reconsider the theoretical underpinnings of a large segment of research in this area, and encourage us to think differently about linkages between race, class, and delinquency or crime.     

Responsibility budgeting and accounting

Information/transaction costs make it necessary to decentralize some decision rights in organizations and in the economy. Decentralization in turn requires organizations to solve the control problem that results when self-interested persons do not behave as perfect agents. Capitalist economies solve these control problems through the institution of alienable decision rights. But because organizations suppress the alienability of decision rights, they must devise substitute mechanisms that perform those functions. Three functions are critical: (1) allocating decision rights among agents in the organization, (2) measuring and evaluating performance, and (3) rewarding and punishing individuals for their performance. Responsibility budgeting and accounting systems are the most widespread mechanisms for performing these functions in business today.     

Reinventing government: The Israeli exception: The case of political cultures and public policy-making

In recent years, the institutionalization of norms of policy accountability and planning in the Israeli public administration has preoccupied a series of committees on public service reform and government reorganization. This paper discusses the background of the Israeli policy-making culture and its effect on recommendations for systematic policy planning, analysis, evaluation, and accountability. This account is interesting, partly, because it traces a reaction to institutional arrangements that are in many ways similar to those promoted by advocates of the New Public Management. Ironically, however, it explains the efforts to replace them with something more like traditional bureaucratic arrangements.     

刑事裁判共识引论

共识理论与刑事裁判在问题的起点与终点、解决认识问题的观念、基本要求等方面都有契合之处,表明将共识理论引入刑事裁判问题中是可行的。刑事裁判共识在主体、对象、程度与形成方法上都有其特殊性。传统价值理论的研究主要存在两个缺陷:一是视野局限;二是深度不够。刑事裁判共识理论与传统价值理论具有一致性,可以统一,但又有所超越,所以能够在一定程度上弥补传统价值理论的缺陷。然而,刑事裁判共识理论也与传统价值理论存在冲突,应当根据情况分别对待。     

寻求中美亚太良性互动

中国崛起、美国"重返"及区域内其他力量的发展,导致亚太地区格局正在发生近百年来最深刻的变化。这一变化的最突出特点,是中美战略博弈已经成为决定亚太格局走势的最主要矛盾,因为中国崛起势头难以逆转,美国亚太"再平衡"也是一次兼顾历史与现实、涉及内政与外交、得到美国两党共同支持的重大战略性选择,力量之变与战略之变同时发生,两强对立势难避免。但是,由于两国不存在领土主权争端和根深蒂固的历史积怨、在亚太地区各具优势彼此难以替代、在全球其他地域和领域的合作有助抵消亚太对抗,加之双边利益深度捆绑,中美博弈未必会走向战略对抗,而完全具备走向良性互动的条件。要实现这一目标,必须处理一个根本问题(亚太主导权)的破解、两套体系的对接、三大海域的危机管控、四组三边关系的经营和五个多边组织的互动等"一二三四五"问题。这既是中美实现亚太和平共处的前提,也是能否构建中美新型大国关系的基础。     

论民间规范司法适用的前提和场域

民间规范的司法适用,要坚持民间规范的活动性、可接受性、可诉性、对主体权利义务的分配性以及合理性等基本前提。民间规范的司法适用,同时也要符合基本的适用场域。这些场域分别是:在法律调整不能,从而需要运用事实替代方法时;在法律出现漏洞,从而需要法律发现方法时;在法律出现漏洞,从而需要法律续造方法时。     

建设中国特色司法鉴定制度的理性思考

司法鉴定体制改革历经了五年的探索和实践,在鉴定制度建设、鉴定能力建设以及鉴定质量保障等方面取得明显成效。但仍存在着认识的不到位、体制机制发展的不均衡以及权力配置的不科学等问题,对统一司法鉴定管理体制形成产生着深刻影响。对此,在进一步深化司法鉴定制度改革中应减弱这些因素的影响力并在吸收一些有益实践经验的基础上将其不断中国化,逐步建设中国特色的司法鉴定制度。     

地方政府债务:现状、成因与对策

文章对我国地方政府债务历程进行了回顾,分析了地方政府债务成因的发展变化,探讨了地方负债的融资行为风险对财政、金融、社会带来的不良后果,最后提出解决我国地方政府债务的根本出路在于地方政府举债债券化,应采用总体部署、阶段实施的解决方案,最终使地方政府债务走向透明化、法制化、市场化、规范化的道路。     

民间文学艺术作品的立法保护

随着社会的发展,我国民间文学艺术作品的保护得到越来越大的重视,拟就内涵、保护中存在的问题及解决的办法予以分析,希望能够为我国民间文学艺术相关制度的出台有所裨益。     

拍卖、招标在国有建设用地使用权出让中的利弊研究

抑制房价过快上涨一直是当前宏观调控的重要目标之一。而地价作为组成房价的重要部分,其上涨状况直接关系到房价的调控效果。针对目前地价不断上涨的状况,国家草拟了《深化国有建设用地有偿使用制度改革实施方案》,已上报国务院审批实施。文件的主要内容是要对当前国有土地出让手段中拍卖和招标的比例进行调整,降低拍卖在土地出让总量中的比例、提高招标的比例,希望通过这一手段起到抑制地价的作用。然而,地价的上涨是一个复杂的过程,拍卖和招标作为两种出让手段,确实在其中发挥了一定的作用,但是其对地价的真正影响仍需要检验。同时,考虑到二者在出让过程中公开性上的差异,笔者认为,不能轻易调整二者比例,而是需要经过详细的比较验证过程。本文拟通过比较拍卖、招标两种土地出让方式在对推动地价上涨的效果、出让过程的公开透明度以及对土地价值实现程度的影响程度,分析推动地价上涨的其他原因,进而客观评价拍卖、招标作为出让手段的利弊,同时对当前政策给出相关建议。