Alternative dispute resolution and mediation of complaints against police in Australia and New Zealand

ABSTRACT

This study assessed the role of alternative dispute resolution options in the complaints management systems of the eight policing jurisdictions in Australia and the single jurisdiction of New Zealand. The available literature shows that a large proportion of complainants would like to participate in mediation, and that both complainants and police who experience mediation report much higher rates of satisfaction than those experiencing traditional adversarial investigative and adjudicative processes. Experiences with informal dispute resolution or ‘conciliation’ options are more mixed, and they are susceptible to tokenism and misuse as a convenient administrative means of disposing of complaints. Despite this situation, the data obtained from police and oversight agency sources in this study showed that options were limited to informal resolution conducted by senior officers, with an ostensible focus on behavioral improvement but with no meaningful publicly available data on outcomes. The paper concludes by advocating for a best practice complaints management system that includes mediation within a consultative framework focused on behavioral improvement.     

双“帐户”视角下农村土地承包经营纠纷的个体诉讼决策研究——以集体林地纠纷诉讼为例

引进“经济学帐户”和“心理帐户”决策原则，以集体林地承包经营纠纷诉讼案件为例，分析农村土地承包经营纠纷中个体诉讼者的决策依据，并探索是否可以通过改变决策者决策原则以减少诉讼的发生。结果显示：绝大多数个体诉讼决策者以“经济学帐户”作为决策依据，但也存在根据“心理帐户”原则进行决策的决策者。针对后一类决策，理论上可通过说服个体决策者改变其心理帐户设置，从而改变其“诉讼”决策为“和解”从而降低诉讼发生率，但实践中受到纠纷诉讼对象与现有纠纷调处机制的影响，个体纠纷诉讼决策者与经济组织和其他个体间的纠纷存在和解空间，但难以改变与村委会间的纠纷诉讼决策。     

行政诉讼与行政司法制度关系探析

本文从行政诉讼和行政司法这两种行政救济制度的比较着眼,论述了各自的功能和性质,并进一步阐明了行政司法中最重要的行政复议程序与行政诉讼间不断发展的关系;并对行政指导和行政合同这两种特殊的、非强制性的行为出现对行政诉讼和行政司法关系的促进等问题作出了阐述,提出了作者的意见和建议。     

论WTO争端解决的条约解释

WTO争端解决的条约解释提供了迄今为止国际条约法领域最丰富、最具研究价值的实践。本文从国际公法角度,以1995年WTO建立后至2005年6月的158项争端解决报告为实证考察对象,首先阐明条约解释在WTO争端解决中的重要性,然后着重概述WTO争端解决中条约解释通则的问题,扼要分析其特别规则,最后略比国际法院60年来诉讼案件中的条约解释实践,并得出若干结论,以期对我国参加WTO争端解决有所裨益。     

经济纠纷案件中摹仿笔迹的新类型、新特点及检验对策

经济纠纷案件中涉及笔迹检验尤其是摹伤笔迹检验的比例日益增多。研究探讨有关摹仿笔迹在经济纠纷案件中的新类型及其特点,以及对此应采取的检验对策,在实践中有十分重要的作用。     

Mediation Ethics: A Grounded Approach

Using insights drawn from mediation practice, social justice scholarship, and debates on ethical thinking in other professional fields, the authors argue that prevailing ethical codes for mediators in the United States stunt the development of ethical thinking in the field. Current codes and even their critiques take a "top-down" approach that proceeds from the perspective of the mediator and gives primacy to abstract principles rather than to the particulars and contexts of disputes. This approach ignores a much richer practice on the ground, depends on an artificial division of procedural and substantive justice, and constricts the scope of ethical questions raised, inhibiting effective systemic solutions. The authors argue for ethics grounded in the context of particular substantive areas, which do not focus on the mediator alone and which remain open to a wider set of social justice considerations.     

FAMILY/CHILD JUDICIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION (JDR)

This article outlines the Pilot Project in Pre-trial Judicial Settlement Conferencing in Family and Child Welfare/Protection Matters, which was designed and implemented by the authors, The Honourable Judge Nancy A. Flatters of the Provincial Court of Alberta, Family and Youth Court, at Calgary. The article also outlines the basis, rationale, and development underlying this emerging nontraditional judicial approach to the resolution of these disputes and the resulting settlement outcomes.     

试论域名与商标冲突问题及解决

域名与商标冲突是互联网发展的产物 ,其实质是新兴的网络经济与传统知识产权经济的矛盾冲突。域名与商标冲突系知识产权纠纷 ,它既是当今知识产权界的热点 ,又是难点。本文就域名与商标冲突的表现形式、冲突的原因及冲突的协调等问题做了较为全面的论述。     

WTO争端解决机制权力的扩张——几类WTO争端解决机构管辖的特殊事项

WTO自成立至今,其准司法性的争端解决机制对其成功运转无疑发挥了极大的作用。但是,对于WTO成员方来说,不是所有的国际经贸纠纷都适宜通过争端解决机制解决。但由于DSU对专家组和上诉机构的授权不明确,导致后者不得不对几类特殊事项行使管辖权。这些特殊事项包括:所涉争议具有政治敏感性的案件;适用法律不可裁决的案件;涉及“机构平衡”问题的争端。