THE MULTILEVEL CONTEXT OF CRIMINAL SENTENCING: INTEGRATING JUDGE‐ AND COUNTY‐LEVEL INFLUENCES*

This study extends recent inquiries of contextual effects in sentencing by jointly examining the influence of judge and courtroom social contexts. It combines two recent years of individual sentencing data from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing (PCS) with data on judicial background characteristics and county court social contexts. Three‐level hierarchical models are estimated to investigate the influence of judge and county contexts on individual variations in sentencing. Results indicate that nontrivial sentencing variations are associated with both individual judge characteristics and county court contexts. Judicial background factors also condition the influence of individual offender characteristics in important ways. These and other findings are discussed in relation to contemporary theoretical perspectives on courtroom decision making that highlight the importance of both judge and court contexts in sentencing. The study concludes with suggestions for future research on contextual disparities in criminal sentencing.     

论税收筹划的策略

税收筹划是企业为了实现收益最大化,对涉及税收的经济事项进行预先安排,在税法允许的范围内规避部分纳税义务,尽可能节约税款,获得最大的税收利益。企业税收筹划可从企业组建、投资决策、筹资方式、购置设备、生产经营等方面谋求税收筹划的策略,为投资者提供决策参考。     

论行政决策的竞争机制

由于存在着行政决策中的“二律背反”现象 ,利益偏好、情感倾向和认识能力对决策可能产生不良影响 ,因此 ,应当建立行政决策竞争机制。为使这一竞争机制顺利实施 ,政府需要设计一个开放的行政决策系统和法制化的决策环境 ,强化对行政决策竞争机制的监督。     

我国政府决策的责任分析

决策是政府行使其管理职能的首要环节。近年来,我国政府在推进政府决策科学化、民主化的过程中,逐步建立起了政府公共决策的报告制度、评估制度等制度体系,取得了一定成效。但是,按照社会主义政治文明建设与和谐社会目标的要求,我国政府决策依然存在着一些问题。为了解决这些问题,更好地为社会主义市场经济建设和政治体制改革服务,构建政府决策的责任机制已势在必行。     

生态决策制定中公众参与的前提分析

在经济活动过程中经常会遇到的许多问题本身都与环境状况有直接的联系。这些活动如果规划失败将会引起环境的重大损失并使人们的健康和物质生受到威胁。生态问题的公众评价是在大量的客观和主观因素的作用下形成的。     

英美法系民事诉讼证明标准理论基础研究

英美法系民事诉讼证明标准有盖然性权衡的证明、灵活证明标准、预先的盖然性方法、主观确信的理论等。其理论基础在于预期效用性理论。即由民主的方式决定裁决的效用性计算并在同类案件同等适用,就可以克服灵活多样的证明标准所引起的不确定性。其适用就是公正合理的。     

论科学发展观对公共决策的有限性改进

公共决策是公共管理活动的重要环节,它直接受发展观念的影响与指导,一种新发展观念与理论的提出,势必对决策产生深远的影响。科学发展观是对发展观的重大创新,根据决策有限性理论,科学发展观对公共决策的价值观念、决策体制、评价标准等将在理念与实践层次上产生极其重要的影响与作用。     

对判决书制作规范化的再思考

对判决书制作如何规范化 ,本文提出了诉讼法应确立判决理由的法律地位并允许法官对个案所涉法律作出解释 ;对判决主文的制作应符合哪些具体要求进行了法理分析     

政治决断、政治行动与制宪权——施米特、阿伦特革命解释的效度分析

施米特、阿伦特对于革命与制宪关系的论述,实际上都受限于他们的政治认知、生活经历、政治期盼和价值取向。他(她)们的不同论说都是想借助于政治革命来讨论制宪问题,将政治、道德与法律的三元复杂关系,做了政治与道德的二元处理,落入了将法律政治化或道德化的陷阱。     

The Big End of Town Meets the Local Council: The Investment Habitus of Four Sets of Australian Councils during the GFC

The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 led to a substantial write‐down in the value of investments such as collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) with one class of investors being NSW Local councils.  This article analyses interviews with four different investor types (or sets) of local councils, each of which took a substantially different approach to CDO investment. This categorisation into sets was based on interviews of 28 individuals working within 14 local councils as well as commentaries on legal cases involving a class action of local councils suing Lehman Brothers Australia as well as Grange Securities over losses in their investments. This article adopts Bourdieu's Theory of Practice to describe and explain behaviour regarding decisions to invest (or not) in CDOs. Interesting themes arise regarding differing views on the appropriate role of local councils, and on the degree and form of ‘capital’ (which includes knowledge, competencies, skills, and economic resources) that a council should have before investing in sophisticated financial products. This article explores the role that field, habitus, and capital played in moderating and influencing council investment making decisions. The analysis shows that these Bourdieuian concepts can be utilised to help explain individual behaviour. This case study shows that excessive capital left in the hands of individuals may result in suboptimal decision making. Local councils may need to consider ways of implementing policies and procedures that can be used to moderate individual action.