When a corporation rapes: perceptions of rape in civil court for corporate defendants

In recent years, the coupling of poor outcomes for rape victims in criminal court and the widening scope of legal responsibility for sexual assault has prompted plaintiffs to file civil suits for rape against corporations. Unfortunately, we know little about juror perception of civilly litigated rape against corporate defendants and most jury research involving corporate defendants concerns non-sexual injury cases (e.g. premises liability, automobile accidents). With the increasing number of corporations being sued civilly for rape, we need to understand how civil juries perceive these cases. The present study investigated mock jurors’ perceptions of a fictional civil rape trial against a hotel. Community members (N?=?155) read one of three trial summaries: Civil rape trial against the alleged perpetrator, civil rape trial against a hotel, or criminal rape trial. Results indicate females have higher pro-plaintiff judgments than males in civil court, perceptions of greed typically associated with civil litigation apply to rape, and favorable plaintiff decisions are most likely against a corporate defendant. Also, mental models suggest mock jurors conceptualize criminal and civil rape cases against an individual similarly. We discuss our results in terms of psychological, legal and practical expectations when suing for rape.     

Teaching Mediation as Reflective Practice

This article contributes to a growing body of research about how to effectively teach mediation by considering how best to use role-plays in the mediation classroom to encourage reflective practice with a particular emphasis on the role of the teacher as a facilitator of reflective learning. The author suggests that the process of teaching mediation as reflective practice starts with teaching as reflective practice and emphasizes the importance of teachers' critical self-reflection. The article provides some examples of how teachers can encourage students to engage in reflective learning and develop their skills as reflective practitioners for their continued professional development.     

What Makes Parties Trust Mediators?

The relationship of trust between mediators and parties is a key element of the mediation process. This article reviews the trust relationship from the parties' perspectives. A qualitative research methodology was used to identify five key factors explaining why parties trust their mediator: degree of mastery over the process, explanation of the process, warmth and consideration, chemistry with the parties, and lack of bias toward either party. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

劳动争议调解机制的构造分析与改进构想

我国劳动争议调解机制的结构性缺陷为忽视了调解组织中立性、行动能力、行为动因、工会角色安排和交易费用承担等前提条件问题,其基本假设不可靠。参考国际社会的成功做法,结合我国实际,可建立健全企业内部劳资沟通渠道,配置给雇主以释明、沟通义务和相应的举证责任;可改造和充实三方机制,以建立区域性、行业性乃至国家层面的调解和指导调解机构;在诸多重要条件不具备的过渡时期,可选择政府主导的调解机制,同时培育和激励民间调解机构和人员的广泛参与;运用惩罚性赔偿的私法责任和行政处罚等公法责任,强化对劳资纠纷中侵权者特别是资方的法律约束,以确立劳资争议调解中促进妥协、和解的压力与诱导机制。     

Philosophy of Law Against Sovereignty: New Excesses,Old Fragmentations

The only way of entering the world of ‘fragmented law’ (or ‘societal constitutionalism’) is arguably to make normative fragmentation correspond with constituent excess. As Foucault would say, once we are involved in an ‘epistemic crisis’, we must then modify those systems that organise knowledge in conjunction with the very forms that produce it. This contribution considers some privileged forms of critique and reconstruction beyond normative fragmentation and essentially argues in favour of governance dynamics, as well as for ontological devices engaged in the production of subjectivity.

UNIFIED FAMILY COURTS

Fragmented court systems are especially problematic for domestic violence victims because they typically are involved in more than one proceeding that stems from the same pattern of abuse. The proceedings are handled in different courts and before different judges, who are often unaware of these orders being issued in other proceedings. Consequently, conflicting orders are prevalent and the protection and needs of victims are often not met. A unified family court, on the other hand, provides one court with the subject-matter jurisdiction to handle all family-related matters and one judge to hear all cases that involve a single family, resulting in conflicting orders being issued less frequently. Additionally, the needs of victims are better served as a result of the services component. Given the fragmented state of the court systems in New York and Pennsylvania, United States; Alberta, Canada; and Australia, unified family courts should be implemented in each locality.     

法院调解的目的论

法院调解在我国解决纠纷的机制中居于非常重要的地位.为了梳理调解制度改革进程中所产生的一系列理论和实践问题,追问法院调解存在的目的已成为必须.法院调解的目的可以分为两个层面,一是法院调解的一般目的--解决纠纷;二是法院调解的特殊目的--保障当事者程序自由权的实现和追求效率.一般目的为一切调解制度所具有,也为所有解纷方式所共有,是调解制度实现社会规范、社会正义的结果,反映其为它物而存在的意义;特殊目的是调解制度自身目的和价值的实现,反映其自我存在的意义.法院调解的一般目的和特殊目的共同统一于调解制度的各个构造要素和运作过程之中.     

法院调解制度中的人权保障研究

法院调解制度的弊端不是制度本身所引起的。“强制调解”的根源在于对“人权”的漠视,我国应该从重视人权保障的角度改革和完善法院调解制度。     

Settling Disputes between Neighbours in the Lifeworld: An Evaluation of Experiments with Community Mediation in the Netherlands

Many neighbourhoods in the Netherlands have reached the stage of colliding subcultures, and interpersonal conflict. The young live next to the old, the rich next to the poor, single people next to families, the white next to the brown and the black, the established next to the outsiders. In some places, this social-cultural abundance leads to fear, uncertainty, and irritation. Not everybody is as understanding and tolerant of diverse lifestyles and thinking patterns as another person is. In places, this diversity leads to new behaviour patterns and institutions. Multi-ethnic community boards are starting to function as mediatory panels for settling disputes between neighbours and neighbourhood residents. In this article we claim that community mediation - a form of alternative dispute resolution designed to resolve interpersonal conflict in the neighbourhood - is both an attempt to rejuvenate the idea of community and a new way to settle differences and interpersonal conflicts between neighbours in the Netherlands. One might even argue that the neighbourhood is a level too high for social intervention and that instead one should focus on a lower level in the lifeworld: the house, the block, or at most, the street.     

试论现行劳动争议处理程序的重构

我国现行的劳动争议处理程序在司法实践中已经暴露出了许多问题 ,本文在分析该体制的缺陷后 ,介绍了国外的有关立法经验 ,并提出了重构我国劳动争议处理程序的几点设想。