Public confidence in the judiciary: the interaction between political awareness and level of democracy

Apart from the studies that focus on public attitudes toward higher courts in advanced democracies, we know little about the factors that can explain public confidence in the judiciary in a comparative setting. In this regard, the goal of this study is to explain whether, and to what extent, the country's level of democracy moderates the impact of political awareness on public confidence in the judiciary. This study uses hierarchical linear models to analyse the interaction between individual and country level factors by using the World Values Survey (2005–2009) data for 49 countries and various other data sources. Our empirical results show that in advanced democracies political awareness variables like education and political participation have a positive impact on public confidence in the judiciary, whereas in countries with weak levels of democracy higher political awareness leads to increased cynicism about the judiciary. These results suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to explain confidence in the judiciary is not possible when we are dealing with a wide range of societies that vary in terms of many characteristics, both institutional and cultural.     

Communication in family court: financial remedy proceedings from the perspective of litigants in person

The article presents a rationale for communicative, conceptual, cognitive and procedural challenges experienced by litigants in person in financial remedy proceedings. The article also explores oscillation between written and spoken legal genres and narrative development strategies which litigants in person have to use throughout different stages (from the early stages of starting proceedings, filling in court forms and providing documentation, through the negotiation process to interaction in court). While legal professionals express themselves in paradigmatic legal mode influenced by legal acts and legislation, litigants in person tend to express themselves in narrative mode similar to everyday storytelling. The objective is to investigate obstacles litigants in person experience during the process originally designed by legal professionals for legal professionals. The article evaluates different options for empowering lay people involved in legal proceedings and argues for the need to provide more specific support for different stages of family proceedings.     

European Law Beyond ‘Ever Closer Union’ Repositioning the Concept,its Thrust and the ECJ's Comparative Methodology

The article investigates competing understandings of European law. It supports, against the prevailing EU‐centred understanding, an ecumenical concept that embraces EU law, supplementing international instruments, the European Convention on Human Rights and, importantly, various domestic laws enacting or responding to such transnational law, as well as European comparative law. To keep the concept in sync with European politics, it posits a new idea that binds the parts together: to provide for a European legal space rather than further European integration (the ever closer union). This idea can also serve as European law's functional equivalent to forming one legal order. European law thus conceived grasps the puzzling complex of interdependent legal orders, sets a common frame for corresponding reconstructions (European composite constructions, legal pluralism, network theories, federalism or intergovernmentalism) and allows forces with diverging outlooks to meet in one legal field, on one more neutral disciplinary platform. Within this framework, European comparative law finds a new mission as well as a sound legal basis.     

The State of the Art of Child Hearings in Germany. Results of a Nationwide Representative Study in German Courts

According to German family law, in family court proceedings that deal with custody or access rights, family judges are obligated to personally hear the child if the feelings, ties, or will of the child are significant for the decision. In a research study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Justice, a nationwide representative survey of all judges compiled their personal information and their attitudes and expectations as well as various parameters regarding the concrete practice of hearing children. Also, with a very complex methodological design, over 50 children and their parents were studied one week in advance of the hearing, directly before and after the hearing, and four weeks following the hearing. The results of the study are presented, particularly those pertaining to the burden and relief for the children and the expectations of judges. The practical experiences of family judges in personally hearing children are included as well.     

A Randomized Comparative Effectiveness Trial of Two Court‐Connected Programs for High‐Conflict Families

Parents who experience great amounts of legal conflict as they dissolve their relationship and arrive at their parenting arrangements require an outsize proportion of courts’ time and resources. Additionally, there is overwhelming evidence that conflict has a deleterious effect on their children. We partnered with the family court to conduct a study comparing the effectiveness of two programs for families deemed by their judge to be high conflict and thereby mandated to a program. Both involved one 3‐hour session; the existing program, Parent Conflict Resolution (PCR), used exhortational lecture and video; the newly designed experimental program, Family Transitions Guide (FTG), based on motivational interviewing, employed exercises attempting to get parents to decide for themselves what they needed to do for the sake of their children. Parents were assigned at random to one of the two programs (the literature often terms this a randomized clinical trial) and were interviewed just before it began and 9 months later, as was a child. Results showed that child's report of their own well‐being was significantly improved by FTG as compared to PCR and that these effects were mediated by children feeling less caught in the middle. On several variables, parent report showed that parents in PCR as compared to FTG felt decreased problems in co‐parenting and less interparental conflict, although the effects were not consistent across mother and father report. There was also evidence of diminished legal conflict over 9 months in FTG as compared to PCR.     

从制度修辞视角看法律信仰

法律能否被信仰?这是国内法学界近二十年来持续关注的一个重要理论争点。尽管法律信仰的理论有演化为意识形态的倾向,但法律信仰论自身是一种严谨的理论论述。法律信仰的论述理据,不应仅仅是伯尔曼所强调的法律与宗教在某种意义上的契合性或相似性,而且还在于即便完全不受宗教影响的、世俗化的法律,作为一种价值体系、传统、"事物规定性"的规范表达以及舍此无他的利益获取机制的内在禀赋。法律在实质上是基于价值、事实以及与此相关的利益的博弈结果或博弈的规范表述,是一种制度修辞。人们对一种制度修辞抱持不尽的热忱和追求,恰如人们虔信、又热忱地追求同样是一种修辞预设的上帝一样。所以,从制度修辞视角看法律信仰,饶有兴味——法律、法治本身是信仰的事业。     

夯实基础 从容应试——刍议五年制司法警官高职学生公务员考试辅导问题

日前,江苏省公布了2008年的考试录用公务员的公告。今年的公务员录用考试具有职位数大幅缩减和对学历要求更高等特点。这预示着高职学生在参加公务员录用考试时将不得不面对与本科生和普通专科生之间的激烈竞争。为此,许多高职院校加强了对学生公务员录用考试的辅导。在辅导过程中,存在着学生的文化基础与能力有待强化;辅导的内外交流有待增强;辅导的信息反馈和激励机制有待加强等方面的问题。当前必须针对这些问题采取相应的对策措施,才能不断提高辅导质量,确保最后考试的通过率。     

大学生网络成瘾与社交焦虑关系的调查研究

选取山东省两所高校共438名大学生为被试,采用问卷法考察社交焦虑和网络成瘾在大学生群体中的表现特点及两者之间的关系。研究发现：（1）性别和专业对大学生网络成瘾的主效应显著,且年级和专业的交互作用显著;（2）年级和专业对大学生社交焦虑的主效应显著;（3）大学生社交焦虑与网络成瘾之间存在高度正相关。     

对现代家庭婆媳关系的思考

正确处理好婆媳矛盾对于建设和谐的家庭关系具有重要意义。文化的差异、经济利益的纠纷以及情感上的争夺是造成现代家庭婆媳矛盾的主要原因,责任与义务观念的确立、个体家庭角色的自我调适以及社会保障体系的建立和完善,是解决以上矛盾的有效途径。     

当代政治架构下我国检察权的定位

准确定位检察权,必须正确认识我国的现实国情和政治体制。在目前我国政治架构下,检察权是一种由最高国家权力机关同时也是国家立法机关的人民代表大会授权代表其行使部分监督职能的一种独立的国家权力,与行政权和审判权是一种分权制衡的关系。