An Economic Theory of Court Delay

Delay undermines the performance of courts around the world. Its implications and possible solutions, however, are not so widely understood. The assessment of the efficiency of delay as a rationing mechanism requires a general theory, which looks at the effect on the number of conflicts, suits, settlements and trials. The outcome is somewhat disturbing: delay may be socially beneficial, but the assumptions seem prohibitively strict. The policy implications are that court delay is best reduced via increases in court fees and improvements in legislative and judicial quality.     

Being Certain Versus Being Right: Citizen Certainty and Accuracy of House Candidates' Ideological Orientations

Research on voting behavior has been reinvigorated by focusing on citizens' certainty of candidates' issue positions and ideological orientations. According to this perspective, citizens are inclined to support candidates whom they are confident possess attributes they deem important. Analysis of citizens' perceptual certainty and perceptual accuracy of 1994, 1996, and 1998 House candidates' ideological orientations reveals that many candidate characteristics (incumbency, fiscal resources) that enhance certainty fail to improve perceptual accuracy. The electoral consequence of this fact is that candidates endowed with these resources benefit from the importance of certainty to citizens without paying the electoral costs of clarifying their issue positions and ideological orientations. Similarly, several characteristics of citizens that lead to certainty reduction—gender and caring about the outcome of the election, for example—fail to improve perceptual accuracy. The implications of the empirical findings for the role of citizens' assessments of certainty in the voting decision for producing an informed electorate are considered here.     

Compensation of Uncertain Lost Earnings

The present value of expected lost earnings is in the Law and Economics literature normally regarded as the amount that makes a victim fully compensated at income losses. However, the present value measure disregards risk-aversion. In the framework of the von-Neumann-Morgenstern utility theory the risk-averse victim will be made whole by a compensation smaller than the present value of the stream of uncertain lost earnings. A rule for determining an immediate certainty equivalent for lost potential earnings when the victim is risk-averse is suggested. The equivalent depends not only on the degree of risk-aversion, but also on the correlation between future losses. The legal practice varies, but in many jurisdictions judges tend to pay less than the present value for uncertain lost earnings, which is in accordance with our results.     

HEURISTICS AND BIASES,RATIONAL CHOICE,AND SANCTION PERCEPTIONS*

The relevance of several cognitive heuristics and related biases for rational choice perspectives on crime, and for perceptions of sanction risk, were investigated. We present findings from a series of randomized experiments, embedded in two nationwide surveys of American adults (18 and older) in 2015 (N = 1,004 and 623). The results reveal that offender estimates of detection risk are less probabilistically precise and more situationally variable than under prevailing criminological perspectives, most notably, rational choice and Bayesian learning theories. This, in turn, allows various decision‐making heuristics—such as anchoring and availability—to influence and potentially bias the perceptual updating process.     

Civic Fusion: Moving from Certainty through Not Knowing to Curiosity

Civic fusion occurs when people bond across passionate difference to solve a shared public problem. It requires bringing people close together under conditions that enable them to bond, even as their polarizing beliefs remain intact. In managing multiparty multi‐issue negotiations, public policy mediators help disparate, passionate parties negotiate actionable agreements. To achieve and sustain civic fusion, interested parties recognize and acknowledge confining assumptions and move through a continuum in which their certainty about each other and their presumed solutions is challenged and transforms to uncertainty and then to curiosity. They connect across common public goals and find mutual understanding and respect for the interests of others as they come to understand and accept the opportunities and limitations that are inherent to their complex situations. A steady stream of new understandings moves people beyond their long‐held perspectives to foster productive negotiations and build innovative solutions. Ultimately, the parties generate sustainable consensus agreements even as they retain their deeply held and often opposing values and beliefs.     

从苏格拉底到李昌奎的不变与变——基于法律接受者命运的当代中国司法反思

在通往法治驿站的道路上,整个社会期待值得信赖的司法.独立的司法秩序与司法的独立判断是根本基础.当代中国司法场域,法律为什么不能被信仰,司法场域为什么必须拒绝民主,道德评断为什么能够在司法场域发力并促使司法机关作出改判等三个命题值得人们深思.从苏格拉底之死到李昌奎案件所透视的法律接受者的命运值得当代中国司法反思.     

法律方法中的形式主义与反形式主义

法律形式主义已经成了法律理论中一个确定无疑的贬义词.形式主义实际上是法律方法中的元方法,过度的反法律形式主义会使自身陷入非法律形式主义的悖论,并使法学面临丧失自身自治性的危机.     

关于证人不出庭作证的法律思考

在我国现实条件下 ,证人不出庭现象的大量存在有其必然性。试图以立法强化对拒不出庭的证人制裁虽有助于促使证人出庭 ,但亦不能根本解决证人不出庭问题 ,被强制出庭的证人仍然会以未看清或已遗忘等为由拒绝提供证言 ,使司法人员真假难辨无法处置。因而 ,设定必要的法律条件 ,允许证人不出庭作证和使用其庭外证言十分必要。正视证人不出庭作证现象及其存在的问题 ,合理界定证人不出庭作证的适用范围和条件 ,以及严格规范不出庭证人在法院之外提供证言的程序 ,应当成为完善我国证人作证制度的一个重要方面。     

司法审判的法哲学分析

司法判决是制度、事实、个人活动的合因之果,判决形成的思维工具包括法律解释和法律推理;判决以确定性为特征,而法官形成判决过程中的判断却具有综合性。     

恩格斯关于自由与必然的思想对现代思想政治教育的启示

恩格斯关于自由与必然的思想是批判地继承前人优秀思想遗产的结果。在恩格斯关于自由与必然的哲学思想中蕴涵的三个方面的辨证关系,对现代思想政治教育有着深刻的启示:一是现代思想政治教育工作者应树立科学的教育观;二是现代思想政治教育工作者应勤于学习、积极探索,努力认识和掌握思想政治教育的客观规律;三是现代思想政治教育工作者应善于运用教育理论和教育规律指导教育实践,做到理论联系实际。