Crime,time, and punishment: An exploration of selection bias in sentencing research

The sentencing decision reflects the culmination of a long series of processing and, thus, selection decisions, with cases leaving the system at each decision point. Accordingly, the substantive implications of bias due to sample selection are of particular concern for sentencing research. In an effort to assess the existence and manifestations of selection bias, the sentencing decision is modeled for three samples, each of which was selected from different stages of the justice process. Event-history data on felony arrests in the State of California over a 3-year period are used, along with a relatively simple analytic technique which reduces such bias. Results indicate that biasis introduced when censored observations are excluded from the analyses. Also, the effects of certain exogenous variables on sentence length differ, depending upon the selection criteria. Of these, the influence of pleading guilty rather than going to trial is especially interesting. Overall, our findings are consistent with the possibility that selectivity bias has concealed effects of sentence bargaining in some earlier studies.The data utilized in this study were collected and made available by the State of California Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Statistics. The Department of Justice bears no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.     

Self-interest,distributive justice,and the income distribution: A theoretical fragment based on St. Anselm's postulate

The Mertonian starting idea for this paper is St. Anselm's idea that the will has two inclinations: an affection for what is to the person's own advantage and an affection for justice. We show that in decision-making situations, where the individual must choose a course of action from among a set of alternatives, the individual, subject to the two inclinations and thus guided by the twin considerations of own good and the common good as he/she forms the preference orderings for the alternatives, is in one of three states: (i) the state of Harmony, defined by perfect coincidence of the orderings induced by the two criteria; (ii) the state of Conflict, defined by perfect reversal of the orderings; and (iii) the state of Ambiguity, defined by ordering-pairs which are neither identical nor exactly opposite. The most general result states that if the number of alternatives is two, then the individual is in either Harmony or Conflict; if, however, the number of alternatives exceeds two, then Ambiguity is also a possible outcome. We then apply the framework to the case of choosing an income distribution, letting the own-good and common-good criteria dictate orderings based on personal outcomes (such as own income or own income rank) and social outcomes (such as mean income or income inequality), respectively, and examining the relation between the two orderings in five families of probability distributions. In the special case where own good is an increasing function of own income and the common good is a decreasing function of income inequality, our results show that each society has a group in Harmony (the poorest group) and one additional group, either in Conflict or in Ambiguity. Finally, we speculate about the behavioral and social implications of the three states and their configurations in the population.     

Sex, Property Rights, and Divorce

This paper examines how differences in sex drives between husbands and wives affect bargaining strengths during marriage and particularly at times when divorce might occur. The basic argument follows from the fact that sex drives vary over an individual's life cycle, and are systematically different for men and women. The spouse having the lowest sex drive at any time in the marriage has a property right over whether or not sexual intercourse will occur, with a consequent increase in bargaining power at the margin. The paper derives a number of testable implications from its model, and, using several data sources, shows empirically how this difference affects marriage, adultery and divorce.     

Employee concerns regarding self-managing work teams: A multidimensional justice perspective

The increase in the use of self-managing work teams in organizations has been accompanied by growing employee resistance and concern about what such dramatic changes mean to workers. Using an organizational justice perspective, this chapter identifies and examines employee concerns about the move to self-managing work teams in two Fortune 500 organizations. Employee fairness concerns regarding three types of justice—distributive, procedural, and interactional—are highlighted. Findings suggest that to address employee fairness concerns regarding the move to self-managing work teams, managers should act distributively, procedurally, and interactionally justly.[Self-managing work teams are] the right way and the only way to be productive.—Self-managing work team member in a Fortune 500 company     

论环境侵权救济中的交易行为与交易制度

由于环境侵权有其特殊性,且环境侵权诉讼与执行对受害者而言存在一些障碍,因此有必要建立诉前交易制度,即受害者与专业组织之间的交易制度,以便利受害者的救济,促使潜在环境侵权者采用先进技术和设备保护和改善环境。诉前交易系当事人处分自己的私权,因此诉前交易较之刑事诉讼中的辩诉交易应更具可行性。诉前交易与当事人之间的交易各有特点和适用范围,两者既不相互排斥,也不能相互代替,而应在环境侵权救济中发挥各自的作用。     

Justice on the road to change in the people's republic of China

Dengist reform programs, including mandated changes in the operation of Chinese industrial enterprises, depart radially from previous Maoist practices and ideologies. With these changes, issues of distributive justice have become extremely salient in China. We explore shifting norms regarding distributive justice in China, with a focus on the conceptions of, and implications for, practicing managers. After first reviewing the pertinent literature, we present some original data gathered from Chinese managers in 1986 and in 1989, comparing them to data gathered from managers in the United States.     

域外辩诉交易的发展及其启示

辩诉交易源于美国。其后,辩诉交易在德国的传播实践叫"刑事协商";在意大利刑事诉讼法典中被规定为"依当事人要求适用刑罚程序";在俄罗斯刑事诉讼法典中被称为"在刑事被告人同意对他提出的指控时做出法院判决的特别程序",通称为认罪程序;日本学者建议在对其简略程序改造时增加该程序叫做"司法交易";而在英国、加拿大等国家中仍然习惯称之为"辩诉交易"。辩诉交易从在美国之发端,到在加拿大等国家之广为传播,其之所以在一片抨击与责难声中,仍能保持如此旺盛的生命力,根源于该制度所独具的、其它诸多刑事司法制度所无法媲美的价值蕴涵。     

“辩诉交易”纵横论

诉辩交易产生于上世纪二三十年代的美国。采取辩诉交易可以使被害人因犯罪行为而遭受的损失早日得到补偿,也有利于修复被犯罪行为破坏的和谐关系。当然辩诉交易也有局限性,有时不利于查明案件事实真相,也有可能损害被害人的利益,也有可能有悖司法公正。尽管我国目前不存在引进美国式辩诉交易的环境,但这并非是说我国不能借鉴于辩诉交易,扬长避短一样可以为司法实践服务。     

Five Areas of Value Judgement in Local Adaptation to Climate Change

Abstract

Climate change has generated several new theoretical and policy challenges, many of which concern how local communities ought to adapt to a warmer climate. This paper identifies and analyses a number of value judgements that come to the fore as local authorities adapt to climate change. Five categories of judgements are discussed: evaluation (how should the consequences of adaptation be evaluated?), timing (when should adaptive action be taken?), distribution (how should the benefits and burdens of adaptation be distributed?), procedures (who should be involved in adaptation decision making?), and goal conflicts (how should goal conflicts in adaptation be dealt with?). For each category, further research is needed to assist decision making at the local level.     

Introduction: economic security,globalization and governance

Abstract

This introductory article examines different approaches to conceptualizing economic security by drawing on the broader social science literature beyond realism/neorealism. Arguing that traditional conceptions of economic security that see economics as a source, or instrument of state power are insufficient, it draws on a growing literature that looks directly at the economic roots of conflicts, particularly those arising from the manner in which capitalist production is organized in distinct settings. While the paper identifies a range of ways in which scholars, policy practitioners and communities think about economic security depending on the particular circumstances different states and societies find themselves in, the paper, nonetheless, argues for a notion of economic security that also emphasizes issues of justice/fairness and distributive equity. Under conditions of globalization, it is important for us to think of the needs of those made insecure by prevailing systems of market governance but in ways that do not undermine the integrity of the market nor sanction protection for chronically uncompetitive firms. Drawing on insights from International Political Economy and Economic Sociology, the paper suggests one useful way of conceptualizing economic security under conditions of globalization: that of ensuring a low probability of damage to (a) the income and consumption streams that are deemed appropriate for individual well-being; (b) the income-generating potential of an economy; and (c) some minimal level of distributive equity. To this end, appropriately designed national, regional and global institutions can function as mechanisms of governance in the interests of economic security. The rest of the papers in this Special Issue provide empirical case studies drawn from East Asia on many of the points raised in this introduction.