Asymmetries in prior conviction reasoning: truth suppression effects in child protection contexts

Abstract

In three empirical studies we examined how people reason about prior convictions in child abuse cases. We tested whether the disclosure of similar prior convictions prompts a mental representation or an additive probative value (Criminal Justice Act, 2003). Asymmetrical use of similar priors were observed in three studies. A pilot study showed that disclosure of a second prior did not contribute a weight equivalent to that of the first disclosure. Study 1 showed jurors did not see left-handed evidence (i.e. matching victim bruising) as more indicative of guilt than right-handedness unless a prior conviction was present, and the presence of priors suppressed the generation of alternative possibilities indicative of innocence. Study 2 showed that disclosure did not decrease community ratings of re-offending propensity and dangerousness as much as a similar prior conviction increased them. We consider the results in the context of a new psychological theory of prior conviction bias and the consequences for the implementation of Section 100 of the Criminal Justice Act (2003).     

Critical Theory,Democratic Justice and Globalisation

Abstract

One way of providing a focus for critical theory today is to articulate those substantive and robust norms of egalitarian justice that would appear to be presupposed by the idea of a republican and democratic constitutional order. It is suggested here that democratic justice requires the equalisation of effective communicative freedom among all structurally constituted social groups (SCSGs) and that this will have far-reaching implications that entail the deconstruction of all social hierarchies in both domestic and global orders. This argument is presented in three sections. The first defends the focus on groups rather than individuals in theorising democratic justice. The second intervenes critically in contemporary debates surrounding the theoretical relation between various aspects of justice including the demands of redistribution, recognition and political empowerment. The third turns to the challenges for critical theory presented by a complex and multifaceted process of globalisation and it defends a qualified form of cosmopolitanism and high lights the need for a radical democratisation of the international order.     

The Two Sides of Recognition: Gender Justice and the Pluralization of Social Esteem

Abstract

This article seeks to sketch the contours of a good society, distinguished by its gender justice and the plural recognition of egalitarian difference. I begin by reconstructing Nancy Fraser's arguments highlighting the link between distributive justice and relations of recognition, in particular as it applies to gender justice. In a second step, I show that the debate on the politics of recognition has confirmed what empirical analyses already indicated, namely that Fraser's status model takes too reductive a stance towards the identity-constituting effects of relations of recognition. The simple demand that identities be recognized, however, glosses over the paradox of recognition, which arises out of the ambiguity between the demand for equal respect and the demand for the recognition of difference. This paradox cannot be resolved unless one takes into consideration the compensatory effect of value pluralism, that is, the inherent pluralism of recognition, well captured in the notion of "egalitarian difference".     

On Desire,Transcendence and Sacrifice

This contribution offers a careful but critical reading of Johan van der Walt’s theory of post-apartheid law as sacrifice and social struggle. By placing a theoretical emphasis on the inevitability of violence and the impossibility of love, Van der Walt’s thesis risks denying the possibility of thinking the world in a different, way. In order to reconceive the terms of community and horizontality in post-apartheid South Africa, there is a need to move beyond thinking the world as constructed according to tension, conflict and self-preservation at the expense of understanding and compassion. In developing a critique of law as sacrifice, I utilise Panu Minkkinen’s call for justice as the beyond of law that goes beyond the mere battle for recognition. I also address his view that the unappeasable desire of metaphysics entails the recognition that there is hope for the future and the recovering of transcendence as otherness. Secondly, I use Louis Wolcher’s work on Zen Buddhism to argue that any obsession with conceptual purity, as is glimpsed in Van der Walt’s work, ignores the impossibility of setting down the immutable and universal truth for all time. In other words, however attractive a theory of law as sacrifice may be, it is only one perspective amongst many others. Lastly, I contrast Van der Walt’s work with that of Luce Irigaray, and in particular her formulation of ‘horizontal transcendence’ that makes possible relations ‘between two’.

Predicting Customer Service Employees’ Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions: The Roles of Customer Interactional Injustice and Interdependent Self-Construal

Research has primarily examined supervisors and coworkers as sources of unfair interpersonal treatment (i.e., interactional injustice) in the workplace. Unfair treatment, however, can also originate with customers. Using a cross-sectional, correlational research design (N = 172), we examined the associations among customer injustice, employee job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. Drawing on relational theories of fairness, we also examined whether employees who more strongly define themselves through their interpersonal relationships (i.e., those with stronger interdependent self-construals) would exhibit stronger injustice-attitudes associations. Results showed that, overall, greater injustice was associated with lower job satisfaction but not greater turnover intentions. Moreover, as expected, the strength of employees’ interdependent self-construals moderated the injustice-attitudes relations: Relationship-oriented employees showed significant associations between injustice and both job satisfaction and turnover intentions, whereas those with weaker relationship orientations did not. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

刑罚权运作的秩序——刑事法制中的“中央与地方”问题研究

刑事法制中的中央与地方问题,表现为与惩治犯罪相关的中央权力与地方权力的分配及其相互关系中出现的紊乱状态。一些地方司法机关根据本地区实际制定施行准司法解释、推出刑事司法制度创新等做法,在一定程度上构成了对统一刑事法制的离心力。合理分配刑事法制中的中央权力与地方权力,理顺二者关系并使之形成良性的运作机制,一方面要完善刑事立法权的行使并通过强化司法权的方式来强化中央权力,另一方面要将脱序的地方公权力行为重新纳入到统一法制中,并主要通过强化司法权的行使实现对地方权力的制约。     

刑事庭前程序比较研究——兼论我国刑事庭前程序的重构

在我国刑事审判制度改革过程中,刑事庭前程序改革存在五个亟待解决的问题:单纯的程序性审查,不利于案件的集中审理和诉讼效率的提高;庭审准备不足,致使庭审法官无法集中精力进行庭审;庭前审查程序无法从根本上排除预断;我国现行庭前审查程序使得辩护方的先悉权得不到保障;缺乏对公诉权的制约,审判权与公诉权未能合理配置。可借鉴德国现行的庭前实质审查模式重构我国的刑事庭前审查程序,将立案庭职能扩大,改设为形式审查庭,使我国的庭前程序具备司法审查、过滤、分流和庭前准备四大功能,体现公正与效率两大价值。     

代表人诉讼制度设计缺陷

实证调查表明,代表人诉讼制度不是法院处理群体纠纷案件的唯一方式。当事人人数多少及其相互关系、案件类型、审判成本、外部压力等都是影响法院处理群体纠纷方式的因素。代表人诉讼制度设计存在明显缺陷,导致这个在理论上和立法上被赋予高度期待的制度在实际运作中遭遇重重障碍,群体纠纷案件处理结果成为多方力量博弈的产物。该制度的缺陷提醒我们:法治建设过程中不能抛开国外法律制度产生的特定历史背景、文化基础和制度环境,简单化理解,甚至曲解他国立法,"为我所用"式地盲目借鉴。     

对契约正义的一种解读——现代法律对契约自由的限制

现代法律中的契约正义,并非古典契约理论所描述的那样,只要契约是当事人自由意志的表示,那就是公正和正义的。古典契约理论“契约即正义”的命题受到了现代社会政治、经济、文化等诸多因素的影响,对契约自由予以法律上的诸多限制,以期通过契约法律实现社会分配的公正,是现代契约正义的应有之意。     

The Balanced Approach [Revisited]

The authors of the original Balanced Approach, Dennis Maloney, Dennis Romig, and Troy Armstrong, outlined a philosophy of balanced attention to the principles of community protection/public safety, youth accountability, and competency development through individualized assessment and treatment and holding the system accountable to the community and the youth served. A majority of states’ juvenile code purpose clauses reflect this approach, later known as Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ). Presented here are excerpts from the 1988 Juvenile & Family Court Journal issue 39 (3) that first presented the Balanced Approach and a brief overview of key features of juvenile justice at the time to lay a foundation for the other articles in this special issue.