ON BEING A CHILD CUSTODY EVALUATOR: PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL CHALLENGES,RISKS, AND REWARDS

Conducting child custody evaluations is one of the most complex, challenging, and sometimes risky professional endeavors that a mental health professional can perform. This article examines the professional and personal challenges which may be encountered by the evaluator. In addition to discussing the role requirements and need to maintain awareness of bias and countertransference, challenges such as coping with state board or ethics complaints and possible risks to personal safety are also addressed. Suggestions for risk management and coping with the demands of these assessments are offered, as well as the benefits and rewards of engaging in this important work.     

An experimental study of a therapeutic boot camp: Impact on impulses, attitudes and recidivism

Two hundred thirty four adult male inmates entering prison were randomly assigned to an early release program in either a correctional boot camp or a large, traditional prison in the Maryland state correctional system. Boot camp releasees had marginally lower recidivism compared to those released from the traditional prison. A pre-test, post-test self report survey indicated the boot camp program had little impact on criminogenic characteristics except for a lowering of self control. In contrast, inmates in prison became more antisocial, lower in self control, worse in anger management, and reported more criminal tendencies by the end of their time in prison. Criminogenic attitudes and impulses were significantly associated with recidivism. The impact of the boot camp diminished to non-significance when antisocial attitudes or anger management problems were added to the models predicting recidivism. Implications for jurisdictions considering whether to operate correctional boot camps are discussed.     

论经营判断原则在欧洲反收购立法中的运用--兼"严格中立原则"之检讨

通过对欧洲反收购立法中采用的严格中立原则中存在的忽视股东集体行动和董事对于非股东利益相关者的义务、经验主义、为政府强制性反收购措施所不容等非理性状况的分析,提出了在欧洲反收购立法中采用经营判断原则的建议,认为这样可以为敌意收购行为提供更统一的运作环境,保护股东利益,减少成员国在建立反垄断屏障的压力,并且为企业在采取反收购行动时提供更丰富的选择。     

THE PRIVATIZATION OF VIOLENCE*

Norbert Elias's (1939) work on “the civilizing process” highlighted the long‐term decline in violence within Western societies. A substantial amount of more recent anthropological and historical evidence suggests that violence has evolved not just quantitatively but qualitatively as well. In particular, the social characteristics of the parties to violence have changed over time. Drawing on Donald Black's (1976, 1993a) theoretical ideas on conflict management, the present paper proposes that as intimate social ties weakened and the state strengthened, collective and nonintimate forms of (nonpolitical) violence declined significantly. Consequently, violence increasingly became less public, more private. Pockets of residual public violence can, however, still be found within modern state societies. Privatization varies, then, across time and social space.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:
Robert Barros, Constitutionalism and Dictatorship: Pinochet, the Junta and the 1980 Constitution
Barry Ames, The Deadlock of Democracy in Brazil
Christina Biebesheimer and Francisco Mejia (eds), Justice beyond our borders: judicial reforms for Latin America and the Caribbean
Jacobo Timerman, Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number
Rafael Hernández and John H. Coatsworth, Culturas Encontradas: Cuba y los Estados Unidos
Terence N. D'Altroy, The Incas
Anibal González, Killer Books: Writing, Violence and Ethics in Modern Spanish American Narrative
Efrain Kristal, Invisible Work: Borges and Translation
Beatriz Sarlo, Scenes from Postmodern Life     

Strengthening Green Global Governance in a Disparate World SocietyWould a World Environment Organisation Benefit the South?

The debate on the advantages and disadvantages of upgrading the United Nations Environment Programme to a 'world environment organisation' (WEO) has gained momentum in both academe and politics. This article contends that a WEO would further the interests especially of developing countries, because it would provide them, first, a high-level forum to unite their individual bargaining power against the major industrialised countries. Second, a WEO would assist Southern efforts to garner international support for environmental programmes in regions and sectors that are increasingly bypassed by economic globalisation. Third, a WEO would create a locus to politically institutionalise the influence of non-governmental lobbyists in a way that increases the balance of opinions and perspectives. The article then addresses special challenges and caveats for developing countries in the upcoming negotiation process, in particular whether an upgraded UNEP would address only 'global' issues, thus absolving the international community from assisting developing countries in mitigating the more pressing local environmental issues in the South; whether the new body would have powerful sanctioning mechanisms, which might disproportionally affect developing countries; and what decision-making procedures the new body would have.     

环境损害赔偿立法框架和内容的思考

环境损害赔偿立法的必要性由现实社会关系调整的必要性和现行相关立法的不适应性所决定。我国环境损害赔偿立法宜采取实体和程序一体、行政处理与司法处理一体的立法模式,并着重规定环境纠纷处理和环境损害赔偿方面所涉及的一些特殊问题。立法框架和内容主要包括环境损害赔偿的适用条件、环境损害赔偿的范围、环境损害赔偿责任的认定、环境损害赔偿纠纷的行政处理、环境损害赔偿的司法处理等部分。环境损害赔偿立法的难点在于环境行政主管机关处理决定的法律效力问题以及因果关系推定的准确表述问题。     

检察业务管理模式评析

现行检察业务管理模式受我国政治体制、司法架构、党政机关管理方式的影响,领导权能多元化、管理过程行政化、管理方式多样化、绩效考评简单化等特征相当突出,在机制设置的科学性、业务人员的适应性、业务活动的有效性以及社会评价的满意度等方面存在不小的缺陷和不足.在新的历史条件下,完善检察业务管理机制的根本途径在于重构内部业务架构、完善业务领导模式、规范行为控制体系、实施专业化质量评估.     

社会司法鉴定机构建设应坚持“公益性为主”原则

社会司法鉴定机构是为三类诉讼活动提供鉴定服务的公益性组织。准确把握其性质，有利于顺利进行司法鉴定体制改革，有重点地做好鉴定管理工作。目前，相当多的鉴定管理部门将社会司法鉴定机构定位为商业性服务机构，并按等价交换原则收取鉴定费用。这种做法是与司法鉴定活动的性质、鉴定结论的证据要求以及确保司法公正相矛盾的。根据我国现行法律和执法环境条件，并借鉴外国立法经验，社会司法鉴定机构建设应当坚持“公益性为主，盈利性为补充”的原则，并在机构结构与布局、鉴定收费、国家重点扶持等方面予以调整。