Shmaglena: Ethnic framework for problem mediating

The article describes traditional mediators (in Amharic, shmaglotz meaning “elders”; shmagaleh in the singular) who fill a range of roles within the community of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, as well as a mediation process (shmaglena in Amharic). The present research is a constructivist-qualitative study. Thirteen respondents participated in the study, all of whom were exposed to the shmaglena process. The data were collected through semi-structured content interviews. The research elicited that the shmaglena function has undergone transformation and adaptation to the target nation's culture. It was also found that the shmaglotz constitute an informal authority whose roles resemble those of conflict resolvers in other cultures.     

Decomposing disproportionate minority contact in juvenile justice

The objective of this study was to decompose racial disparity in juvenile justice decision-making into a part explained by differing characteristics of racial groups, and an unexplained part often attributed to discrimination. Individual case-level data from Alabama and logistic regression were used to model detention, petition, and disposition decisions in the juvenile justice system. Decomposition of racial disparity between white and black juveniles using the nonlinear Blinder-Oaxaca methodology suggested that about a half to three fourths of the racial gaps in the three juvenile justice decision points were caused either by discrimination or unobserved predictors. Decomposition of racial disparity in juvenile justice can help devise effective public policy by quantifying the extent to which specific policies can reduce disproportionate minority contact.     

Patriarchy,Abortion, and the Criminal System: Policing Female Bodies

This paper argues for a broader consideration of the issue of abortion—one that stresses the centrality of the denial of reproductive rights in the patriarchal policing of women’s bodies and their sexuality. Globally, the estimates of abortion-related deaths in 2014 ranged from 22,500 to 44,000, and countless women are injured or left infertile by seeking illegal abortions. We briefly review international trends regarding abortion politics and then analyze closely women’s access to abortion in two countries: the United States and Bangladesh. Representing two very different contexts of the developed and the developing world, respectively, we contend that abortion services are being constrained by misogynistic politics that deny women control over their bodies. Finally, the paper reviews recent international efforts to establish abortion rights as part of a broader landscape of human rights. Notably, while there are some efforts in the global north to recriminalize both contraception and abortion, these practices have been characterized by a recent United Nation’s report as the deliberate denial of medically available and necessary services and hence a form of “torture.”     

Crime and punishment in Rwanda

In 1994 Rwanda was devastated by genocide that killed hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed the country’s infrastructure. The credibility of the criminal justice system was questioned following the genocide because it had failed to stop the slaughter and may have contributed to it. In order to address these concerns, Rwanda rebuilt its criminal justice system in light of its history and troubled past. The success of the reestablishment may be debated but there can be no question that Rwanda had a tabula rasa with which to form an effective criminal justice system. Examining the law details the ideals of the criminal justice system as established post-genocide. These ideals exemplify the democratic process. Examining current events allows for a practical assessment of the success of the new system. In both theory and practice the country’s criminal justice system has changed drastically since 1994.     

Restorative justice in the Basque peace process: some experiments and their lessons

This paper contributes to the literature that analyses application of restorative justice in transitional societies. It examines recent attempts to employ restorative justice in the Basque peace process following ETA’s ceasefire. Using the Basque experience, it discusses some of the hidden dangers and tensions which arise when attempts are made to utilize ‘traditional’ restorative justice approaches and assumptions underlying them in transitional settings. One of the initiatives under discussion used a well-established restorative justice method of mediation between individual victims and offenders and attempted to transplant it without alteration from the context of ‘ordinary’ crime to the context of ‘political’ crime. It is argued that the scale and complexity of the conflict that looms behind individual offences in question renders certain assumptions and practices of ‘traditional’ restorative justice questionable both ethically and politically. Several other initiatives that have emerged recently in the Basque peace process are discussed which do not take the ‘classic’ form of restorative justice, yet values underpinning them fit well with the restorative justice philosophy. They might suggest a more promising direction for the development of restorative justice in the aftermath of mass violence.     

“司法能动”在中国的展开

原教旨意义上的“司法能动”的核心指的是司法裁判过程中的“立法性”司法。中国法学界对于什么是司法能动在理解上是极不一致的,大多数人根据自己的理解进行了阐发,其中不乏添附、歪曲之界说,甚至以讹传讹之谬误。能动司法在中国的展开,既存在理论根基不足之缺陷,又面临着司法职业化和司法能动化相冲突的尖锐矛盾。但转型社会的现实,又要求中国必须同时完成司法职业化和“中国式”的司法能动化的双重任务。虽然存在诸多不足,司法能动的倡导者提出的问题依然是值得人们认真对待的。     

Legitimacy in corrections

Research Summary
To extend research on legitimacy to the correctional system, we study a sample of 202 adult inmates randomly assigned to serve their 6-month sentence at one of two institutions—a traditional prison or a military-style correctional boot camp. Findings show that perceptions of justice system legitimacy changed during the course of incarceration, that the prison (but not the boot camp) proved delegitimizing, and that certain regime characteristics explained why.
Policy Implications
Across academic disciplines, studies continue to link compliance with perceived legitimacy. Compliance with the law, for instance, is related closely to the legitimacy of the justice system and its actors. These findings suggest implementing legitimacy-building policies such as procedurally fair treatment and decision making by police officers and judges. This article, by finding legitimacy to be malleable even at the final stage of the justice process, proposes the efficacy of similar policies in the correctional system. As research from England and Wales has shown, legitimizing strategies in this context could increase compliance both during and after incarceration.     

媒体与司法关系规则的三种模式

在处理媒体与司法关系的问题上,西方主要法治国家采用的模式是不相同的。美国采用的是不限制媒体的“司法自我约束模式”,英国采用的是“司法限制媒体模式”,而大陆法国家则采用了一种近乎“放任自流”的“司法向媒体开放模式”。中国的司法模式类似于大陆法系国家,在司法与媒体的关系规则模式上,应当采纳大陆法国家模式。     

刑事司法中公民的容忍义务及其限度

公民容忍义务源于每个人为求权利和自由需分出部分私权演绎为公权,所有人的付出意味着个人承担的义务比他的需要对应的义务更多,公权是放大了的私权。公民容忍的限度涉及刑事司法人权保障的规则化、伦理化,目前的看法相当暧昧。公民容忍义务具有共识性、比例性、条件性和模糊性四个方面的特征。对公民应当服从的公权力应通过必要性原则、比例原则来制约,找到个人权利与警察权、检察权、司法权的平衡点,以保障公民的人权。     

法治视野下的电子民主

互联网时代的到来,催生了电子民主的发展。电子民主属于直接民主、纵向民主、大众民主、分散与集中相结合的民主。电子民主可以促进公民的政治参与,强化对公权力的监督,促进精英法治与大众法治的沟通,使政治生活更加民主。但电子民主也具有虚拟性、欺骗性、非理性、缺乏客观性等不足,容易陷人无政府状态。电子民主对中国法治建设具有重大的价值。但就司法而言,司法虽然应当倾听公众的声音、尊重电子民主,但同时应当注意与网络民意保持一定的距离,以避免“民意”绑架了司法、沦落为大众非理性的帮凶。