Desire for Smart Growth: A Survey of Residential Preferences in the Salt Lake Region of Utah

As an alternative to sprawling development, smart growth combines proximity to work, proximity to shopping and other destinations, neighborhood housing mix, shared and paid parking, complete street designs, and proximity to public transit. This article uses a stated-choice experiment to determine residents' attitudes toward these various aspects of smart growth in the Salt Lake region of Utah. Utah is a conservative state, where attitudes toward auto-oriented suburbia may be more positive than in other parts of the United States. So, one might wonder whether changing national attitudes toward smart growth, documented in several surveys, apply to residents of the Salt Lake region. In this stated-choice experiment, respondents were asked to choose between pairs of housing scenarios with different attributes and different prices. Mixed logit (random parameters logit) was used to relate individuals' choices to attributes, prices, and sociodemographic characteristics of respondents. The results show that, generally, respondents have positive attitudes toward most aspects of smart growth but still express preferences for single-family neighborhoods with free parking in their own driveways or garages. Different life cycle cohorts have different preferences. Proximity to work is more important for childless young adults. Young families with children place higher value on living in a neighborhood with only single-family homes and transit access. Retired empty nesters favor a mix of housing types over single-family housing on one-acre-plus lots. The results suggest that while residents of the Salt Lake region like suburban neighborhoods with primarily single-family houses, they would also like to have improved accessibility to amenities in the suburbs.     

Covenant of Mayors: Reasons for Being an Environmentally and Energy Friendly Municipality

The Covenant of Mayors (CM) is the mainstream European movement involving local authorities who voluntarily commit to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources within their territories with the aim of reducing CO₂ emissions and meet the European Union objectives by 2020. One country that has a greater number of signatories of this agreement is Spain. This article analyzes which factors influence the decision of Spanish local authorities to join the ever‐growing movement. An empirical model is formulated to describe the behavior of Spanish local governments, this being a binary choice model which is a function of various political, economic, and technical factors. Among the prominent factors that influence this decision are population, availability of renewable energy, fiscal and environmental stress, citizens’ political preference, the contagion effect of neighboring municipalities, the existence of covenant coordinators, and finally, economic motivations.     

浅析大学生网络道德"缺失"问题

随着网络的不断发展,大学生和网络的联系越来越密切,网络深刻地影响着大学生的生活和学习,起到了积极作用.但大学生在网络世界的遨游中,也考验着大学生的道德,其中部分大学生的言行举止已经表现出了道德方面的"缺失",如何改变这种大学生网络道德"缺失"的情况,已成为大学教育工作者的一项重要任务.     

我国社区矫正制度面临的困境及路径选择

开展社区矫正工作,是我国行刑方式的重大改革,符合国际刑罚执行的发展趋势,有利于维护社会稳定,推进和谐社会的构建。目前,我国社区矫正工作碰到许多现实难题,存在矛盾困境。我们应借鉴吸收发达国家社区矫正的先进理念和管理制度,完善我国社区矫正法律法规,加强专业队伍建设,建立健全管理制度,强化执法监督,积极探索中国特色社区矫正制度的新出路。     

价值冲突与选择——诱惑侦查之法理分析

"诱惑侦查"是司法界非常关注的问题,它具有相当大的危险性和一定的合理性。有必要从法律的视角全面剖析诱惑侦查的内核,理性评判其存在的价值冲突。应该在追求公正和效率平衡的基础上,恰当选择、协调价值取向,以最有效的方法解决价值的冲突,且在法律框架内合理探讨诱惑侦查是一种可行的选择。     

关于犯罪经济学理性选择理论的一些探讨

犯罪经济学是一门新兴而潜力无限的犯罪学学科,其中的理性选择理论对于犯罪原因的解释虽不适用于任何犯罪行为,但对这一理论的研究还有更多值得去深入思考和探索的地方,而且也需要这样做。     

新时期我国监狱安全防范的严峻形势与路径选择

近年来,随着押犯结构、狱情和犯情的变化,监狱安全形势更加严峻,安全防范面临的压力越来越大。对我国监狱安全的严峻形势进行全面分析,对深层次的原因进行挖掘,有助于构建新时期我国监狱安全的防范体系。     

The sociology of the sociology of law: A view from economics

The sociology of law appears to be a weak field in the United States, in comparison to other indisciplinary fields of legal study, notably economic analysis of law. Although American legal sociologists have done important empirical work, particularly on the litigation process and on the legal profession, the focus of American sociology of law has been narrow, theoretically limited, and, empirically, limited in both scope and method. These deficiencies may reflect the methodological limitations of Max Weber, the most influential figure in the history of sociology in general and sociology of law in particular. The failure of legal sociologists to borrow theoretical and empirical tools from sociologically minded economists such as Gary Becker is especially regrettable, and may be due to inaccurate perceptions of the political valence of economic analysis of law, sociology's traditional skepticism about the knowledge claims of other disciplines, professional envy, and misunderstanding of the economists' conception of rational choice.     

俄罗斯政治制度变迁与中国转型

俄罗斯的政治制度变迁有其特殊性,其当代的政治体制用“委任民主”、“可控民主”来界定有其合理性。目前,中国的转型是转型国家中成功的特例之一。虽然中国与俄罗斯在整体社会变迁的前提上具有同质性,但转型采取的路径不同,因而表现也有差异。中国应在汲取俄的教训及吸收自己阶段性成功经验的基础上进行新的尝试。     

我国应建立保释制度

我国建立保释制度有必要性与可行性。具体思路为:1、变革诉讼理论;2、制定统一的保释法;3、坚持扩大适用与限制适用相结合的原则,逐步推进保释的适用范围;4、保释权赋予法院;5、建立保释的相关配套措施。