Voices of minor children heard and unheard in judicial divorce proceedings in the Netherlands

Under Dutch divorce law, children in theory have ample opportunity to make their voices heard: the petition for divorce must state how the children have been involved in preparing a parenting plan; all children aged 12 or 16 (depending on the context) or older have the right to be heard by the judge, and the judge may additionally hear younger children; the court may appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the interests of the child; and the child has the right to seek informal access to the court (by letter or telephone, for example) which may lead to an ex officio decision that changes the arrangements agreed by the parents in a divorce settlement or an earlier judicial decision. In practice, however, there is no guarantee that children's voices will actually be heard in divorce proceedings. Notably in the case of separation after an informal relationship (other than marriage or registered partnership) the opportunities given to children to be heard are often a dead letter.     

Growing Up in Times of War: Unaccompanied Refugee Minors’ Assumptions About the World and Themselves

Abstract

The idea that assumptions about the world and the self can be damaged through traumatic experiences has proven to be useful in understanding posttraumatic reactions. This study investigated the World Assumptions of middle-eastern unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) to contribute to a culturally sensitive theoretical perspective. Semistructured interviews were conducted and analyzed using inductive category development. All assumed aspects of World Assumptions—benevolence, meaningfulness, and self-worth—were found in the participants’ statements. Regarding meaningfulness, we detected a new subcategory, the principle of a metaphysical plan, which has implications for the mechanism by which religiosity protects World Assumptions in war-torn regions.     

Criminal thinking as a moderator of the perceived certainty–offending relationship: age variations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the perceived certainty of punishment and general criminal thinking interact and whether the effect varies as a function of age. Data from all 1354 members (1170 males, 184 females) of the Pathways to Desistance study were used to test whether perceived certainty, general criminal thinking, and their interaction predicted subsequent offending during late adolescence (16–18 years of age) and emerging adulthood (20–22 years of age). The results showed that while perceived certainty and general criminal thinking failed to interact at age 17, general criminal thinking moderated the effect of perceived certainty at age 21. During emerging adulthood, offending was more common and varied in young adults with low certainty perceptions and high criminal thinking than it was in emerging adults with high criminal thinking and high certainty perceptions or low criminal thinking and either high or low certainty perceptions.     

The future of parenting plan evaluations: A view from the trenches

As expectations rise for parenting plan evaluators to be well-trained, skilled, and knowledgeable in numerous subject areas, and scrutiny of evaluators' work intensifies, the pool of qualified evaluators is shrinking nationwide. The future of parenting plan evaluation as a forensic subspecialty relies upon the availability of competent and committed professionals to do this challenging work, yet few are entering the field. Five experienced parenting plan evaluators from various regions of the United States, including the authors, met for a roundtable discussion to ponder the future of parenting plan evaluations. The panel discussed what drew them to the work, their experiences “in the trenches,” and what has kept them committed to doing evaluations despite daunting challenges. Their views of the rewards and risks of doing the work, barriers and disincentives to newcomers entering the field, recommendations to new evaluators, and outlook for the future are presented.     

From polls to votes to seats: Forecasting the 2015 British general election

This paper develops a three-stage method to forecast parliamentary election results from vote preferences in British opinion polls: (1) adjusting and aggregating vote-intentions from different polling organizations; (2) forecasting how public support for parties will change in the period before election day; and (3) translating, through simulations, the forecast of election day vote shares into seat totals while incorporating constituency-level information, including local vote-intention polls. Overall, this approach seeks to combine relevant national, regional and local information, and uncertainty about that information, to better reflect the fragmentation and diversity of political contexts found in the new era of five/six-party British politics.     

Economic globalisation,the perceived room to manoeuvre of national governments,and electoral participation: Evidence from the 2001 British General Election

Recent macro-level research argues that economic globalisation negatively affects electoral turnout by constraining the leeway of national governments and thereby rendering elections less meaningful to voters. This article analyses the link between perceptions of the national government's room to manoeuvre and turnout on the individual level. Drawing on the 2001 British General Election, it is shown that citizens who believe that economic globalisation leaves the national government with less influence on the economy are less likely to report to have voted. Further findings also support the proposed theoretical model according to which room to manoeuvre perceptions affect turnout via views on the importance of elections and matter specifically for citizens that tend towards the left side of the left-right scale.     

Gender Equality as a General Interest of a Pluralistic Society: An Analysis of Constitutional Precedent in Colombia

The article explores the relationship between the legal principles of general interest and gender equality, both consecrated in Colombia's 1991 Constitution. Through an analysis of the precedents set by the Constitutional Court, the article provides a hermeneutical approximation of the behaviour of jurisprudence concerning the general interest. It demonstrates how this principle could be used to foster a more encompassing definition of gender equality. The precedents set by the Constitutional Court have opened up the spectrum of women's rights so as to grasp their relation to the principle of general interest as well as their basis as fundamental rights.     

区域道路交通事故紧急救援服务体系的构建

近年我国道路交通安全的总体趋势虽然在转好,但仍然呈现出交通事故总量大、死亡人数多的特点。为切实改善这种状况,应借鉴国外经验,在我国构建区域道路交通事故紧急救援服务体系,提高交通事故信息传递、现场急救和急救转运等方面的综合反应和处理能力。     

浅析紧急状态下的行政补偿机制

意外事件有时候会发生在一切社会中,特别是政治危机、技术和自然灾害危机等给社会带来了巨大的危害,如何应对紧急状态是我们不得不面对的一个问题。我国目前对紧急状态下的行政补偿还存在机制不健全,法律规定不完善等问题。应尽快制定《紧急状态法》,以保护公民权益,紧急状态下的行政补偿机制也应制度化,标准化。     

有限遏制:一般预防的局限

重刑威吓论与古典功利论对刑罚一般预防作用的夸大与迷信导致了一般预防论曾一度遭到挑战与否定。当代一般预防论者在肯定刑罚具有一般预防功能的同时也承认其局限性。他们普遍认为,一般预防的局限性表现在多方面。本文介述了被当代一般预防论者所公认的一般预防的局限性的5个主要方面,即对不同的人的效果不同、对不同的犯罪效果不同、在不同地域效果不同、对不同的社会群体效果不同与因执法的严肃程度不同而不同。