从“发展是硬道理”到“发展是党执政兴国的第一要务”——兼论党的第三代领导集体对邓小平发展理论的坚持、发展与创新

"发展是党执政兴国的第一要务"的思想是以江泽民同志为核心的党的第三代中央领导集体对邓小平发展理论的继承、发展与创新,这一思想为我们在新世纪全面建设小康社会指明了方向,对于进一步推进我国的社会主义现代化建设,开创建设中国特色社会主义事业的新局面,具有重大的理论和现实意义.     

Juveniles' Competence to Stand Trial: A Comparison of Adolescents' and Adults' Capacities as Trial Defendants

Abilities associated with adjudicative competence were assessed among 927 adolescents in juvenile detention facilities and community settings. Adolescents' abilities were compared to those of 466 young adults in jails and in the community. Participants at 4 locations across the United States completed a standardized measure of abilities relevant for competence to stand trial (the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool—Criminal Adjudication) as well as a new procedure for assessing psychosocial influences on legal decisions often required of defendants (MacArthur Judgment Evaluation). Youths aged 15 and younger performed more poorly than young adults, with a greater proportion manifesting a level of impairment consistent with that of persons found incompetent to stand trial. Adolescents also tended more often than young adults to make choices (e.g., about plea agreements) that reflected compliance with authority, as well as influences of psychosocial immaturity. Implications of these results for policy and practice are discussed, with an emphasis on the development of legal standards that recognize immaturity as a potential predicate of incompetence to stand trial.     

Predictor Variables in Competency to Stand Trial Decisions

Clinicians possess significant discretion in competency to stand trial assessment. Therefore, it is paramount to explore the contribution of individual variables to ensure that the decision-making process is devoid of bias and solely relates to the legal criterion. To test for the possibility of bias in clinical decision-making, we examined the predictive efficiency of clinical, criminological, and sociodemographic variables in a sample of 468 criminal defendants referred for competency evaluations. Only clinical diagnostic variables and employment status were significant predictors. This finding supports the idea that examiner decisions of competency appear to be unbiased and relate primarily to a defendant's functional ability.     

The Competence-Related Abilities of Adolescent Defendants in Criminal Court

Increasing numbers of youths are being tried in criminal court because of statutory measures that have decreased the use of judicial review as the primary mechanism for transfer. The relative immaturity of adolescents suggests that transferred youths might have impaired competence-related abilities compared to adults. To test this hypothesis, we compared the competence-related abilities and developmental characteristics of a sample of direct-filed 16-17-year-olds charged in criminal court in the state of Florida (Direct File sample) to a sample of 18-24-year-old adults charged in criminal courts (Adult Offender sample) and to a separate sample of 16-17-year-olds charged in juvenile court (Juvenile Court sample). Results indicated that there were few differences between the Direct File youths and Adult Offenders. The differences that were observed suggested that the Direct Filed youths performed slightly better than the Adult Offender group and the Juvenile Court youths charged in juvenile court. These findings suggest that as a group, 16-17-year-old Direct File adolescents do not have significant deficits in competence-related abilities due to age or immaturity.     

Legal Decisions of Preadolescent and Adolescent Defendants: Predictors of Confessions,Pleas, Communication with Attorneys,and Appeals

While there is an increasing recognition that developmental differences may exist in legal decision-making, little research has examined this. This study examined the legal judgments of 152 defendants aged 11–17 (73 females, 79 males). Adolescents aged 15 and younger were more likely than older adolescents to confess and waive their right to counsel, and less likely to report that they would appeal their case or discuss disagreements with their attorneys. Also, while adolescents aged 15–17 were more likely to confess, plead guilty, and accept a plea bargain if they perceived that there was strong evidence against them, younger defendants’ legal decisions were not predicted by the strength of evidence. Importantly, defendants with poor legal abilities were more likely to waive legal protections, such as the right to counsel and to appeal. Defendants from below-average socioeconomic backgrounds were more likely to waive their interrogation rights, and defendants from ethnic minority groups were less likely to report that they would disclose information to their attorneys. The advice of attorneys, parents, and peers emerged as important predictors of plea decisions. None of the defendants reported that their parents advised them to assert the right to silence during police interrogation.     

关于公安机关"四个能力"的思考

"四个能力"是公安机关通过行使国家权力,综合运用法律、管理、指导、服务等手段,维护社会公共秩序,保卫社会主义现代化建设的本领和水平."四个能力"是党的执政能力在公安领域的具体化.提高"四个能力"是加强和改进公安工作的必然要求."四个能力"建设是一项系统工程.要有效推进"四个能力" 建设.必须采取切实可行的具体措施,并遵循正确的路径.     

Asked and Answered: Knowledge Levels When We Will Not Take “Don't Know” for an Answer

A pivotal claim in research on citizen competence is that the typical citizen knows very little about politics. Public opinion surveys provide a considerable body of evidence in support of this position. However, survey protocols with respect to factual questions about politics violate established norms in psychometric research on educational testing in that don't know answers are encouraged rather than discouraged. Because encouraging don't know responses potentially confounds efforts to identify substantive understanding, this practice may lead to the systematic understatement of political knowledge. We explore this possibility with data drawn from three split-ballot tests: one conducted as part of a survey in the Tallahassee, Florida, metropolitan area, one conducted as part of the 1998 NES Pilot, and one conducted as part of the 2000 NES. Results reveal that the mean level of political knowledge increases by approximately 15% when knowledge questions are asked in accordance with accepted practices in educational testing.     

试论如何树立和强化党的执政意识

目前强化执政意识需要注意几个方面:一是树立和强化国家政权必须牢牢掌握在我们党手里的观念;二是树立和强化党的执政意识,党在想问题,做决策,办事情时,都要遵守政党的执政规律,要从“我们是执政党”这个角度出发;三是要树立“有限政府”和“执政成本”的观念;四是要树立立党为公,执政为民的意识;五是要树立科学的发展观。     

重构资格刑--对通说的挑战

文章在对我国刑法中的资格刑制度进行了全面而深入的反思,主张放弃学界通说所认可资格刑的概念和内容体系的基础上,提出了资格刑新的概念及三要素,并对资格刑重新进行了建构.对自然人的资格刑应当适用"禁止行使特定的权利"和"禁止从事特定的职业"两种,对法人的资格刑仅适用"禁止从事特定业务活动",同时建议资格刑适用复权制度,前科消灭制度等.     

Parent-adolescent conflict and stress as a parent: Are there differences between being a mother or a father?

Parent-adolescent conflict is viewed as a common dimension of the family during the teenage years. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether mothers and fathers of young adolescents differ in their report of conflict with their adolescent, level of stress, and parenting competence. Furthermore, the role of age and gender of the young adolescents was examined. One hundred and twenty-two adolescents and their parents participated in the study. All families were intact. The families were divided into groups according to the adolescent's age and gender. Analyses of variance with three factors (adolescent's age, adolescent's gender, mothers versus fathers) were performed. Mothers and fathers did not differ on personal (depression) or marital adjustment and on perceived parenting competency. In contrast, in terms of parent-adolescent conflict, mothers reported a less positive relationship, a greater number of conflicts, and more intense discussions of conflicts with their adolescents. Gender and age of the adolescent were not important contributors to the analyses. The results suggest that, in terms of the variables examined in this study, conflict in the parent-adolescent relationship is the primary difference between mothers and fathers.