The Adoption and Safe Families Act: Proposing a “Best Efforts” Standard to Eliminate the Ultimate Obstacle for Family Reunification

The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) was enacted in an attempt to expedite the child's permanency plan by pushing for adoption of children in foster care. The ASFA requires the U.S. Department of Health to make reasonable efforts to reunify and preserve existing families while rewarding the states for increased adoption of foster care children. The ASFA was enacted to ensure the best interests of the child are to remain paramount, but in practice, the ASFA is furthering the best interests of the state. This Note proposes amendment of the ASFA to increase the obligation of the Department of Social Services (DSS) to make its best efforts to preserve and reunify the existing family unit, while also imposing a penalty if the DSS fails to do so.     

论行政首长出庭制

行政首长坐在被告席上,既是对原告的尊重、对法庭的尊重、对法律精神的尊重,也反映了政府对依法行政和政治文明更深层次的思考和理解。当前,行政首长出庭有其理论依据及现实意义,但也有多方面障碍制约行政首长出庭应诉,系统构建行政首长出庭制显得尤为必要。     

反腐败应注重发挥社会力量的作用

政府执行力是政府工作的生命力,任何政府都必须重视和提升它的执行力。     

行政命令与行政处罚程序和谐关系之构建

行政命令与行政处罚是两种不同的具体行政行为,二者在实体上相互区分的同时,在程序上又相互联系,这种联系建立在二者都可针对相对人的违法行为作出的基础上,表现为程序上的排他关系、并行关系或优先关系,其中以命令前置为原则的程序优先关系是一种和谐的程序关系．它不仅体现了执法手段从轻到重的和谐,也体现了行政主体与行政相对人之间的和谐,构建这种和谐的程序关系对保障相对人的合法权益具有重要的意义。     

Enhancing Community Leadership Negotiation Skills to Build Civic Capacity

Most intra‐ and interorganizational decision making entails negotiations, and even naturally talented negotiators can improve with training. Executive trainings for managers and leadership programs for publicly elected officials, public managers, and nongovernmental organizations frequently include negotiation modules. These efforts, however, have yet to reach community leaders who also need to develop their negotiation skills. We propose that members of disadvantaged low‐income communities who lack educational and economic opportunities, and are less able to advocate for their own interest, need to build and strengthen their civic capacity, including their negotiation skills, to become more effective parties to decisions affecting them. While many professionals and executives have access to training, such opportunities are less accessible to the leaders of these disadvantaged communities. Although such leaders draw from their own heuristic knowledge, skills, and abilities, they could also benefit from sharpening their negotiation skills. We propose that the multidimensional understanding of their community that members accumulate through direct experience is indispensable, nontransferable to outsiders, and not teachable through in‐class activities. Leaders with the ability to leverage knowledge and assets to connect effectively to community insiders as well as to outside people, institutions, and resources, however, possess some specific inherent personality traits as well an understanding of social structures, strategies, and agency, which can be taught and learned. Such skills as how to conduct negotiations around the table and away from it and how to identify community members who can help and how to rally them are also teachable. The cases were chosen to illustrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that make these leaders effective in and beyond their communities. We highlight those KSAs that we think are teachable in the framework of a negotiation module in community leadership training to enhance civic capacity for community betterment.     

经营者自定薪酬的控制机制探索

经营者因利益冲突而寻租,经营者自定薪酬大行其道,致使年薪制在实践中背离其设计目标.程序公正成为控制经营者自定薪酬的关键,这就要求提高经营者薪酬透明度;通过排除"灰色董事"和引入商事判断规则,超越董事会潜规则,增强利益冲突隔离机制的有效性;股东大会的事前控制应定位于薪酬政策和长期激励方案,并通过引入股东提案权和代表诉讼机制,强化股东对经营者薪酬的事后监督.     

美国行政赦免制度及其对死刑执行的限制

赦免是各国以外在于司法制度的方法干预司法的一项制度.美国行政赦免制度是美国行政干预司法的制度.美国联邦和部分州保留了死刑,其行政赦免在限制死刑执行中曾经起到了极其重要的作用.虽然自上世纪70年代以来,美国行政赦免在限制死刑执行中的运用已变得较为少见,但其仍是一个有效的限制死刑执行的制度.     

美国行政协定的合宪性分析

对三种具体行政协定的合宪性讨论随着美国总统和国会之间就对外贸易政策制定权中主导权的争夺而开始兴起。大多数学者和美国法院都承认行政协定的合宪性。确认美国行政协定的合宪性,有利于理清行政协定和美国对外贸易政策的关系,有利于利用行政协定更好地实施美国对外贸易政策,促进其不断发展。     

提高领导干部行政执行力问题研究——以吉林省为视角

行政执行力是政府权力有效运行的重要保证,而领导干部的行政执行力直接关乎着政府的行政执行力。因此,提高领导干部的行政执行力是提高政府效能的迫切要求。对于吉林省而言,领导干部行政执行力的高低决定着老工业基地振兴的成败。所以,提高各级政府和领导干部的行政执行力,确保中央政策和吉林省发展战略准确有效的执行,是吉林省政府自身建设的重中之重。     

论公安机关刑事执行权的内容

公安机关的刑事执行权是警察权中的一项重要内容,其不仅应当包括对刑事诉讼法所确定的部分刑罚种类的执行,还应当包括对刑事强制措施的执行。