金融信托“刚性兑付”风险的法律控制

金融信托"刚性兑付"是信托机构采用隐性担保的方式对投资人承诺到期兑付的经济现象,它是受托人信义义务缺失、立法体系不健全导致的市场行为。它不但打破了风险与收益的平衡理论,与信托财产独立性与合同公平原则相背离,还大大阻碍了信托业的整体运行,应当予以规制。剖析目前我国信托业面临的兑付困境,必须要从完善现有法律规定和积极制定新法入手,规范信托公示登记制度,加快受托人责任体系,建立完备的信托业监管体系,从而达到防范我国信托业法律风险的目的。     

The Static-99R predicts sexual and violent recidivism for individuals with low intellectual functioning*

A current debate is whether actuarial risk assessment tools predict sexual recidivism in sexual offenders with intellectual disabilities (SOIDs). Since intellectual functioning exists on a spectrum, the present study examined the predictive validity of the Static-99R across the range of intellectual functioning. The sample was comprised of 454 adult sexual offenders assessed at an outpatient clinic and followed for an average of 10 years. Offenders in the extremely low/borderline group had higher scores on the Static-99R than other offenders, largely due to their score on the detachment subscale of the Static-99R, but did not have significantly higher recidivism rates. Calibration analyses suggested that the expected and observed recidivism rates did not differ significantly. Intellectual functioning did not add incremental validity to the Static-99R. Further, there was no interaction between intellectual functioning and actuarial risk score. The results suggested that the Static-99R can be used across the range of intellectual functioning, albeit somewhat more cautiously for those at the lowest and highest end of the intellectual functioning distribution.     

The role of symbolic politics in exceptional crime policy debate: a study of the 2014 Swedish general election

Symbolic politics are often considered to be closely linked to an alarmist rhetoric, as well as to punitive crime policy initiatives. This article explores the symbolic dimension of the Swedish crime policy debate. Since Sweden is frequently depicted as an antithesis to punitive Anglophone societies, exploring symbolic politics in this setting might expand our understanding of what symbolic statements may consist of. The article analyses the electoral campaign preceding the Swedish general election of 2014, with the aim of identifying which symbolic statements occupy a central position in the debate through the use of a qualitative content analysis. This analysis reveals an ambiguous political rhetoric, comprising morally and emotionally charged condemnatory statements about getting tough on crime, as well as reformist and restrained references to expert knowledge and long-term solutions. On the one hand, these reformist statements strengthen the image of Swedish crime policy as being based on ideals such as rationality and humanity. On the other, they also serve to legitimize and obscure penal expansion.     

论巴特勒小说《家族》中的历史书写和政治隐喻

美国科幻小说家奥克塔维娅?巴特勒的《家族》融科学幻想小说、新奴隶叙事与历史书写小说于一炉,以穿越的形式向人们展示了奴隶制的罪恶,引发对美国现实种族关系、两性关系的思考。小说通过新奴隶叙事的形式再现了不可再现之过去,通过科幻小说的形式言说了黑人无法言说之创痛。其历史书写隐喻着美国黑人和白人割不断的历史渊源和共生关系这一美国国族寓言。《家族》表明,黑白血脉相连,其历史经历交织,黑白的许多经历是共同体验的结果。为了避免历史重演,黑人和白人必须在历史记忆和重访过去中了解历史真相,并对美国当下语境下自由的概念和美国黑人乃至美国整个国族的整体命运加以关注与思考。     

空间美学的理论生成与合法性建构

美学作为一门系统研究主体“感性之学”的学科形态,其获得自身的场域伦理和知识体系是一项重要的现代性事件,从维柯的“诗性思维”理论到鲍姆嘉通对美学学科的界定,都体现出主体感性能力对美学合法性存在价值的承担。与此同时,主体对“空间”的诗性审美能力是先验存在的,并成为主体感性能力的重要组成部分。所以,美学、感性和空间三者便相互融合,生发出崭新的“空间美学”话语。在前现代时期,主体对空间审美的朴素认知构成空间美学的理论萌芽;现代美学的“感性革命”清晰地凸显出主体与空间之间的诗性伦理,比如海德格尔的“空间栖居”和梅洛 庞蒂的“视知觉空间”便进一步延展空间美学的理论脉络;现代文学的空间审美实践和话语流变再次推动空间美学的场域自律,并最终形成既关注主体生存,又充满文化批判的现代美学形态。空间美学将持续给未来美学的发展提供有益的知识学资源和价值承担。     

政治隐喻和文本矛盾：重读《芭巴拉少校》

萧伯纳的代表作《芭巴拉少校》具有高度政治隐喻性质,它暗中回答了19世纪以来马修?阿诺德等文人和学者热衷于探讨的一个重大社会问题：未来的英国由谁来统治？安德谢夫家族企业的继承人问题,本质上是未来英国统治阶级的人选问题。作为工业资产阶级的典型代表,安德谢夫无往而不胜,各个方面取得了成功。然而,令他（萧伯纳）始料未及的是,他所选中的库森斯不可能是一个合格的接班人,因为,历代安德谢夫所秉持的传统足以表明,像库森斯这种中产阶级出身、缺少“狼性”的人文知识分子是无法承担起英国工业资本主义的历史使命的,19世纪末以来的英国工业资本主义发展史已经证明了这一点。就此而言,可以说,萧伯纳在无意中写出了英国资本主义当时暗含的重大危机：工业精神的衰落。     

Risk-Need-Responsivity applications of the MMPI-2 in sexual offender assessment

The present investigation examined the risk, need, and responsivity (RNR) correlates of MMPI-2 scores in a Canadian sample of 349 federally incarcerated sex offenders, followed up prospectively 19 years post-release. In terms of responsivity indicators, more serious profile patterns were associated with younger age, single marital status, lower education, and lower cognitive ability; the scales generally had weak associations with sex offender treatment completion or change. With respect to criminogenic risk and need, Scales F, 4, 6, 8, and 9 and combinations therein had significant associations with structured measures of sex offender risk, and in turn, consistently predicted sexual or violent recidivism over 5 and 10-year follow-ups. Several of these predictive associations were maintained even after controlling for static and dynamic risk factors. Finally, model based clustering of the MMPI-2 scales generated three clusters termed disordered, emotionally distressed, and predominantly antisocial (non-disordered) subtypes. Although comparatively higher rates of violent recidivism were found with the disordered subtype, this group did not have higher levels of risk and need, broadly speaking, than the other subtypes. The RNR implications of the results are discussed in terms of forensic applications of MMPI-2 with sex offender populations.     

Doubling Down: Inequality in Responsiveness and the Policy Preferences of Elected Officials

Is bias in responsiveness to constituents conditional on the policy preferences of elected officials? The scholarly conventional wisdom is that constituency groups who do not receive policy representation still obtain some level of responsiveness by legislators outside of the policy realm. In contrast, we present a theory of preference‐induced responsiveness bias where constituency responsiveness by legislators is associated with legislator policy preferences. Elected officials who favor laws that could disproportionately impact minority groups are also less likely to engage in nonpolicy responsiveness to minority groups. We conducted a field experiment in 28 US legislative chambers. Legislators were randomly assigned to receive messages from Latino and white constituents. If legislators supported voter identification laws, Latino constituents were less likely to receive constituency communications from their legislators. There are significant implications regarding fairness in the democratic process when elected officials fail to represent disadvantaged constituency groups in both policy and nonpolicy realms.     

Nothing personal: explaining the rise and decline of political machines in Ukraine

This article is the first to explore and compare the dynamics of party-building between the three main political forces that competed for power during the last decade in Ukraine – Viktor Yushchenko's Nasha Ukrayina (Our Ukraine), Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna (Fatherland), and Viktor Yanukovych's Partiya Rehioniv (Party of Regions). We show that their political trajectories can be explained by differences in their organizational structure and distribution of resources within the party's leadership. When a party depends on resources linked primarily to one individual, it will develop a personalized decision-making structure advantaging its leader, and the party's fortunes will be tied to the popularity (or lack of same) of the leader. By contrast, when a party relies equally on resources from several groups, a more consociational style of decision-making is likely to emerge. Using Ukraine as a case study, the article shows that personality-led parties will be more vulnerable to defections and less capable of absorbing potential competitors. On the other hand, coalition-led parties are better capable of surviving defeats, maintaining internal cohesion, and merging with like-minded parties.