Limitations on the ability to negotiate justice: attorney perspectives on guilt,innocence, and legal advice in the current plea system

In the American criminal justice system the vast majority of criminal convictions occur as the result of guilty pleas, often made as a result of plea bargains, rather than jury trials. The incentives offered in exchange for guilty pleas mean that both innocent and guilty defendants plead guilty. We investigate the role of attorneys in this context, through interviews with criminal defense attorneys. We examine defense attorney perspectives on the extent to which innocent defendants are (and should be) pleading guilty in the current legal framework and investigate their views of their own role in this complex system. We also use a hypothetical case to probe the ways in which defense attorneys consider guilt or innocence when providing advice on pleas. Results indicate that attorney advice is influenced by guilt or innocence, but also that attorneys are limited in the extent to which they can negotiate justice for their clients in a system in which uncertainty and large discrepancies between outcomes of guilty pleas and conviction at trial can make it a sensible option to plead guilty even when innocent. Results also suggest conflicting opinions over the role of the attorney in the plea-bargaining process.     

The welfare courts: A socio-legal analysis of risk management through modern strict liability

The aim of the essay is to offer an adequate theoretical framework for a socio-legal analysis of risk management by the legal system. Law and risk are the two most important concepts to be clarified. Unlike the law, whose function consists in the temporal stabilisation of normative expectations, the perspective of risk is characterised by the possibility of changing the criteria for decisions based upon the evaluation of the consequences of those decisions. In the context of a modern society, characterised by an increasing demand for protection for people injured by new technologies, one observes certain difficulties in the attempt to adopt a risk perspective within the legal system. The result of this process is the new law of tort based upon the modern principles of strict liability. While strict liability can be shown to be effective in managing conflicts relating to technological accidents, its most negative effects are the increasing instability of legal structures and interference with the activities of other subsystems of society, such as medicine and the economy.     

行政程序违法的法律后果及其责任

当今,程序违法的法律后果及其责任追究的困境,在于人为地将程序始终与实体问题纠缠不清,其本质体现为程序独立性的缺乏。为促进正当程序理念在行政管理领域中尽快转化为现实,我国行政程序违法法律后果构建的重点不是多元处理方式的强调,而应是程序违法应予撤销规则的坚持和完善。     

确立我国刑事诉讼证据可采性规则体系的新思考

刑事诉讼证据可采性规则是英美法系中重要的证据规则。从完善证据立法、推进司法改革的角度 ,我们应当确立具有中国特色的刑事诉讼证据可采性规则体系 ,该体系应当由不可采规则、有限可采规则、附条件可采规则和完全可采规则构成     

论行政裁决社会公信力的提升

行政裁决是一种特殊的行政行为,又是一种社会性的行为,因此必须在法制化的框架内努力实现其社会公信力的价值目标。通过规范行政裁决机构、行政裁决人员的职权,实现行政裁决程序的公开化,强化行政裁决过程的透明化等途径,来提升行政裁决的社会公信力,从而建立和扩大行政裁决的社会信用与声誉。提升行政裁决社会公信力在提高行政行为的社会认可程度、提高行政行为的效率内涵、减轻法院行政诉讼的压力、实行责任政府与法制社会的目标等方面有着重大的意义与价值。     

中国“入世”与政府治理变革

中国政府的治理模式与WTO 规则存在着一些不相适应的地方。中国政府治理变革的基本目标在于,推进有限政府、法治政府、分权政府和民主政府的制度建设,这四个要素乃是构成政府善治的最为重要的制度平台。     

BRINGING THE OUTSIDE IN

In teaching the law related to child protection, it is important to expose students to policy, theory, and practice. This article suggests a variety of ways to include these perspectives in the traditional classroom, including role-plays, guest speakers, and a one-credit externship made available to a limited number of students. These methods are part of an overall classroom experience that is problem oriented and that values student contributions to class discussion.     

宪政法律秩序的概念分析

本文立足语义分析和一般社会视角透视 ,揭示了秩序和法律秩序的基本要素 ,即主观、客观和形式要素 ,并分析了这些参数定义宪政法律秩序的合理性和可行性 ,进而结合宪政本质科学地界定了宪政法律秩序。