Long-term effects of participation in the Baltimore City drug treatment court: Results from an experimental study

This study uses an experimental design comparing 235 offenders assigned either to drug treatment court or treatment as usual. It extends prior analyses of this study sample to examine whether differences observed between drug treatment court subjects and control subjects at one and two years after the start of the program persist after three years, when many of the subjects had ceased active treatment. Further, it extends earlier analyses that showed that the quantity of drug treatment court services received was related to lower recidivism rates by using an instrumental variables approach to handle the endogeneity problem that sometimes arises when subjects self-select into different levels of service. Results show a sustained treatment effect on recidivism, controlling for time at risk. This effect is not limited to the period during which services are delivered. Rather, it persists even after participation in the drug court program ceases. Results also show that the recidivism is lowest among subjects who participate at higher levels in certified drug treatment, status hearings, and drug testing. These positive findings are tempered with findings that more than three-fourths of clients are re-arrested within three years, regardless of participation in the drug treatment court, and that drug treatment court cases spend approximately the same number of days incarcerated as do control cases. Implications for strengthening drug treatment courts are discussed.     

审判公开思想与修订《民事诉讼法》的几个基本关系定位

审判公开不仅具有向社会公开的要求,更具有向当事人作实质性公开的内涵,正是这一反秘密审判、促进诉讼民主的本质内涵,使之应当成为我国修订《民事诉讼法》的指导思想和基本原则。以此为前提,审判公开思想对于修订《民事诉讼法》的具体指导作用和意义表现在三个方面:一是促进对当事人诉讼权利和诉讼义务规定的完善;二是促成对辩论原则法律地位、作用重新定位和对辩论原则具体内容的完善;三是促进民事诉讼程序按照审判公开的理念予以完善。     

审判委员会功能的异化与重构

审判委员会制度是我国一项重要的司法制度,在司法实践中曾经起到了积极的作用,但现已不能完全适应我国审判工作日益发展的需要,必须予以改革。审判委员会的性质应当是审判管理组织,而不是司法审判组织。审判委员会的功能存在异化现象,需要加以重构。重构后的审判委员会功能应当包括司法指导功能、司法监督功能、司法整合功能和司法审议功能。其中,司法指导功能是审判委员会的主要功能。审判委员会的功能不是一成不变的,在法治进程的不同阶段,审判委员会的各种功能都有此消彼长的可能。只要牢牢地把握审判委员会所具有的审判管理的本质,审判委员会制度的改革才能走上正轨,审判委员会制度才能焕发出青春和活力。     

PROGRAMS FOR PROMOTING PARENTING OF RESIDENTIAL PARENTS: Moving From Efficacy to Effectiveness

This article reviews prevention programs that target primary residential parents as change agents for improving children's postdivorce adjustment. First, we review parental risk and protective factors for children from divorced families, including parenting quality, parental mental health problems, interparental conflict, and contact with the nonresidential parent. Following a discussion of brief informational interventions, we describe the findings of evaluations of three multisession, skill-building interventions for divorced parents. Impressive evidence is presented that parenting is a modifiable protective factor and that improving parenting leads to improvements in children's postdivorce adjustment. We then discuss, in greater detail, the New Beginnings Program, which we highlight because it has shown repeated, immediate effects on children's mental health outcomes as well as long-term effects on a wide array of other meaningful outcomes, such as diagnosis of mental disorder in the past year, externalizing problems, alcohol and drug use, and academic performance. Also, mediational analyses have shown that program-induced changes in parenting accounted for changes in mental health outcomes. The remainder of the article describes a research and action agenda that is needed to successfully implement the New Beginnings Program in domestic relations courts.     

毒品案件侦查中控制下交付和诱惑侦查之解析

控制下交付和诱惑侦查作为司法实践中最常用而有效的特殊侦查措施,在遏制、惩处毒品、走私等犯罪方面发挥着重要作用。新刑事诉讼法对控制下交付进行了明确的规定,但对诱惑侦查仅进行了概括的授权。对于控制下交付,应当在适用主体、前提、目的以及审批方面进行规制;对于诱惑侦查合法性的判定标准,应坚持主观标准为主、客观标准为辅的原则。     

论庭审实质化的体系化构建——以“顾雏军案”再审为例

落实庭审实质化是实现以审判为中心的诉讼制度改革目标的关键,是对复杂刑事案件进行公正审判的必要条件。“顾雏军案”的再审纠错过程,体现了庭前会议制度的运用与直接言词审理原则的贯彻对于体系化构建庭审实质化的重要作用,为实现复杂刑事案件的公正审判带来了诸多有益启示。庭审实质化的实现,不仅需要完善庭前会议制度以及直接言词审理原则的相关制度,更需要刑事诉讼办案人员提升执业素养与办案理念。     

Information,perceptions, and electoral behaviour of young voters: A randomised controlled experiment

The way people absorb and process politically relevant information is central to their subsequent political behaviour (in terms of turnout and vote choice). Nonetheless, little is known about how young voters – who might be more impressionable than more experienced voters – respond to the provision of such information. In this article, we design a between-subject randomised controlled trial that exposes a sample of university students to positive, neutral or negative information about central government performance before the 2017 Portuguese local elections. We find that young voters update their perceptions more when exposed to negative news. This negativity bias is stronger for first-time voters. We also find that negative information significantly affects turnout of initially undecided young voters. Our results imply that sensitivity to information is heterogeneous and that some young voters may be prone to manipulation through the provision of negative news.     

浅析我国行政审判的困境与难点

当前我国的行政审判面临着许多的困境与难点,现行的司法管理体制、现行的《行政诉讼法》及法院审判职能的行使、法官的素质等方面存在的问题都不同程度的制约司法公正目标的实现,应当尽快加以改革和完善。     

Developing a Multicenter Randomized Trial in Criminology: The Case of HIDTA

In criminal justice, as in other fields, an experimental study conducted ata single site does not offer a solid basis upon which to make strong publicpolicy recommendations. To date, criminal justice researchers have reliedupon two general approaches to overcome the limitations of single-siteexperimental research. The first, termed ``meta-analysis, seeks tocombine independent studies to identify consistent effects across criminaljustice settings or contexts. The second, sometimes termed replicationstudies, seeks to replicate investigations in multiple criminaljustice jurisdictions. In this paper we describe a related approachdeveloped in clinical studies in medicine and examine its applicabilityin criminal justice settings. Termed a multicenter clinicaltrial, this method demands the implementation ofa single experimental protocol at multiple sites. We contrast themulticenter approach with other methods and provide a substantiveexample of an ongoing multicenter criminal justice study. We begin byexamining the specific limitations of current approaches and solutionsoffered by multicenter studies to overcome these. We then turn to anapplication of the multicenter clinical trial in a criminal justicesetting. Using the example of the HIDTA (High-Intensity Drug TraffickingAreas) evaluation of drug treatment programs currently being conducted atmultiple sites, we illustrate components of the multicenter approach aswell as potential drawbacks researchers are likely to face in itsapplication in crime and justice studies.     

MAGNA CARTA AND THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS

The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta has been marked by much pageantry and celebration. Some scholars have taken this opportunity to point out that the myth of Magna Carta is far greater than what the actual 1215 Charter managed to accomplish. Nevertheless, Magna Carta did make a meaningful and concrete contribution to due process in 1215, as shown by certain provisions that are seemingly overlooked by critics eager to downplay the Charter’s importance. This article highlights two lesser known clauses of Magna Carta that had real contemporary significance in guaranteeing the availability of jury trial for some categories of civil litigation. The ringing promises of Clauses 39 and 40 may have inspired great jurists and founders of nations, but the more humble Clauses 17 and 18 — specifying the proper location and manner of hearing certain civil cases — must also be taken into account in assessing the Charter’s importance.