Designing Heart‐Based Systems to Encourage Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Divorcing Families

Conflicts in intimate relationships are often accidental, occasional, and unique; yet they are also systemic, repetitive, and alike. For this reason, they are amenable to systemic analysis and resolution by altering them at their chronic sources and applying the preventative methodology of conflict resolution systems design. The central difficulties with using traditional forms of conflict resolution systems design in marriages, couples, and families are that they do not effectively address the emotional meaning or significance of the conflict within the relationship; are not grounded in the heart; and do not address the intimate, relational aspects of intimate, affective conflicts. Marriages and families are deeply sensitive, highly complex emotional relationships that require systems design methodologies that are profoundly informed by the heart. This article proposes a heart‐based systems design approach that includes forgiveness and reconciliation for use in marriages and families, including those that end in divorce.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• Conflicts in intimate relationships are accidental, occasional, and unique; yet they are also systemic, repetitive, and alike.
• Marriages and families are deeply sensitive, highly complex emotional relationships that require systems design methodologies that are profoundly informed by the heart.
• It is possible to create a heart-based systems design approach to marital, family and divorce conflicts that includes forgiveness and reconciliation.

     

Association for Conflict Resolution Guidelines for Eldercaring Coordinators

On November 6, 2014, the AFCC Board of Directors endorsed the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) Guidelines for Eldercaring Coordination, including ethical principles for Eldercaring Coordinators, training protocols, and court pilot project template. The collaboration between Task Forces created by ACR and the Florida Chapter of AFCC, composed of twenty U.S./Canadian and twenty Florida‐wide organizations, produced both an overarching guide to assist in the development of programs and a more detailed model addressing state/province‐specific needs and characteristics. Eldercaring coordination is a dispute resolution option specifically for high‐conflict cases involving the care, needs, and safety of elders.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• There are currently no dispute resolution options for parties involved in high‐conflict cases regarding the care, needs, and safety of an elder.
• The ACR Guidelines for Eldercaring Coordination address the discrepancies between dispute resolution options available for parents in conflict regarding their minor children and mature families with unresolved concerns about the care, needs, and safety of an elder.
• The ACR Guidelines for Eldercaring Coordination provide information regarding the ethical practice of eldercaring coordination including a specific definition, recommended qualifications, ethical practices, grievance procedures, training protocols, and a court pilot project template.
• The practice of eldercaring coordination will address the influx of court cases expected as baby boomers continue to age, reducing delays in court hearings, as parties will have the opportunity to resolve their concerns without continuous court attention.
• As of June 2015, five states began Pilot Projects on Eldercaring Coordination, which will be studied by an independent research group to enhance the progress of the process and to develop the best practices for initiating the programs elsewhere.

     

反思医疗纠纷处理中的司法介入

在《医疗事故处理办法》时代,主要由行政机关以此为依据处理医疗纠纷,司法一般不予介入;《医疗事故处理条例》颁布后,司法介入医疗纠纷处理力度不断加大,表现为举证责任的规定,以及处理依据上,主要或全部以《民法通则》处理医疗纠纷,《医疗事故处理条例》已被实际上架空。本文分析了出现此种情形的原因,并指出当前处理机制中存在的不足,并进一步对医疗纠纷的处理提出建议。     

关于提高教代会提案质量的思考

质量是提案工作的生命,是做好提案工作的前提。提高教代会提案质量方法很多,主要从提高代表素质、深入调查研究、选准题目、严把立案审查关等多方面下功夫     

Book Review: Divorced From Reality: Rethinking Family Dispute Resolution by Jane C. Murphy and Jana B. Singer

This essay summarizes key points from the book and observes the very different players and processes involved when families in poverty enter the family court system.     

迈向“过程导向信任”的刑事死因鉴定争议解决机制

中国当今刑事鉴定争议频发。其中当事人与办案机关鉴定冲突最剧烈、不满手段最多样,且其社会影响最大者,目前主要聚集在部分死因鉴定领域。该类鉴定争议既滋生过度重复鉴定,更促使部分当事人上访、闹事,一度还以此衍生出暴力性群体事件。死因鉴定争议的发生,主要源于影响鉴定意见可信性的一系列因素,而非仅因为、甚或主要基于鉴定意见的客观可靠性。因此,为重塑中国刑事死因鉴定的公信力,必须走向从实践出发的法律研究与制度建构立场,以回应办案部门创建、并亟须理论提炼与立法改良的“过程导向信任”的鉴定争议解决机制。其关键措施,是通过死因鉴定程序的开放性与当事人双方（包括其聘请的法医专家）的充分参与性,从而实现鉴定意见的可信性或当事人可接受性;并以此领域的鉴定争议解决为突破口,进行鉴定制度改革,以提升中国整个刑事司法鉴定的公信力与可信性。     

South Korea's State-led Soft Power Strategies: Limits on Inter-Korean Relations

Abstract

The South Korean government has taken on many of Joseph Nye's ideas as it is promoting a state-led soft power in the form of the cultural hallyu, foreign aid, and domestically, a future-orientated rebranding of South Korea as a multicultural state. Soft power is understood in instrumental terms as well as in more substantive terms. This state-led multiculturalism has challenged widely held beliefs in ethnic homogeneity which have been the mainspring of national identity and national security in South Korea. These beliefs have underscored inter-Korean relations as the two states officially share beliefs despite political and ideological differences. The growing significance of such state-led multiculturalism in Global Korea to attract foreign workers can be linked to a myriad of intentional and unintentional strategic issues arising from this form of state-led soft power promotion. This is particularly significant given the sensitive culture and identity across the East Asian region.     

Victim-offender- reconciliation: The Danger of Cooptation and a Useful Reconsideration of Law Theory

The conceptual orientation and implementation of Täter-Opfer-Ausgleich (TOA), the German version of Victim-Offender-Reconciliation Programs (VORP), in the criminal and juvenile justice system in Germany brings some dangers with it. It can hide the real nature and character of conflict mediation and prevent elements of restorative justice from giving up their shadowy existence. The practice of TOA for the most part is far from corresponding to the basic idea of conflict resolution and reconciliation as well as to established professional reconciliation standards. Conspicuous is the multiple search for niches of acceptance and an adaptation to inappropriate ideas out of the world of juvenile welfare and criminal law. TOA/VORP in its conception is not the ideal way to foster a restorative justice approach but, on a continuum of possible steps for the treatment of conflicts, it is useful. If victim-offender reconciliation has any essential meaning, it is not because of its modest attempts at practical realization but because it makes the essential tasks of law clear to us.     

四川彝族地区少数民族纠纷解决机制的启示

对四川省乐山市的峨边彝族自治县、马边彝族自治县,凉山彝族自治州的布托县等地进行的少数民族纠纷解决机制问题的调查采用了实地走访与问卷调查相结合的方法。问卷调查分为三类。即当事人类、民间权威类、官方权威类。对纠纷类型与数量、纠纷解决主体、当事人对纠纷解决主体的选择、纠纷解决依据、纠纷解决方式等进行了分析。以调解为主的传统纠纷解决方式在彝族的大部分地方仍占据主要地位,特别是在民事领域,同时纠纷的现代解决方式在城市的彝族与汉族之间有一定的市场。近年来对彝族之间的刑事纠纷,国家也加大了干预力度。我们应该重视本土资源,特剐是以情、理、习惯等为代表的民间法,以实现国家法与民间法的良性互动;实现纠纷的传统解决模式与现代解决方式的衔接;从而实现多元化纠纷解决机制的构建。