Making just decisions in magistrates' courts

Professional magistrates' sentencing procedures were examined as prototypic cases of expert processes involved in making just decisions, with analysis of their attention to information and the inferences they drew from case details and their own patterned knowledge. Magistrates' sorting and verbalized sentencing of six shoplifting cases revealed that they were accessing and using three schemas for categorizing shoplifters, with different emphases and valences, and different penalties. The schemas categorized shoplifters as cases of greed, need, or troubled persons. Tough magistrates followed the greed schema more than the lenient who followed the need and troubled schemas more consistently. Information use and inferences in a sample case illustrate schema differences.     

法院调解改革新论

调解主持人员的双重身份、法院的职权主义都不是我国法院调解存在问题的主要原因。事实上,强制性是法院调解运作的基础。我国法院改革应以扩大当事人的程序选择权为导向,设立庭前调解制度,实现诉讼中当事人合意解决纠纷的二元机制,在诉讼外另设法院附设调解程序,建立法院内调解程序的二元机制。     

Delay reduction in the federal courts: Rule 50(b) and the Federal Speedy Trial Act of 1974

During the 1970s, 94 federal district courts implemented two major policy initiatives, Rule 50(b) of theFederal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Federal Speedy Trial Act, that were designed in Washington to combat delay in the processing of federal criminal cases. Both of these initiatives established a national priority of delay reduction in criminal cases, encouraged local district court planning for delay reduction; established reporting procedures for monitoring local compliance, and provided for the determination of quantitative goals for the time to disposition of criminal cases. Neither initiative mandated specific activities for delay reduction; this determination was left to the discretion of local federal district courts. This research examines the effectiveness of Rule 50(b) and the Speedy Trial Act by constructing a 150-month time series of three measures of case processing time. A multiple-intervention time-series model found that both of these initiatives contributed to the dramatic reduction in the time to disposition in federal criminal cases. These effects persisted after controls for changes in case characteristics and judicial resources were introduced.Points of view expressed in this research are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice.     

Mental Health Court Outcomes: A Comparison of Re-Arrest and Re-Arrest Severity Between Mental Health Court and Traditional Court Participants

Mental health courts have been proliferating across the country since their establishment in the late 1990's. Although numerous advocates have proclaimed their merit, only few empirical studies have evaluated their outcomes. This paper evaluates the effect of one mental health court on criminal justice outcomes by examining arrests and offense severity from one year before to one year after entry into the court, and by comparing mental health court participants to comparable traditional criminal court defendants on these measures. Multivariate models support the prediction that mental health courts reduce the number of new arrests and the severity of such re-arrests among mentally ill offenders. Similar analysis of mental health court completers and non-completers supports the prediction that a "full dose" of mental health treatment and court monitoring produce even fewer re-arrests.     

Procedural justice at German courts as seen by defendants and juvenile prisoners

The article summarizes German research on procedural and distributive justice at criminal courts. The first German field studies addressing these topics are presented. Procedural justice characteristics like neutrality, courtesy, equal consideration of evidence, voice, and fairness of procedural rules are relevant for Germans. A study on juvenile prisoners shows no support for equity theory and some for the Group Value model. Lay assessors receive positive evaluations by juvenile prisoners.     

我国刑事审级制度的重新构建

刑事审级制度是一国司法制度的重要组成部分,它的构建是否科学、合理,直接影响到司法的统一性、正义性、终局性和权威性的实现。从刑事审级制度的重构目标———公正与效率平衡出发,刑事审级制度的设置应坚持职能分级、审判方便和案情轻重原则,在此基础上,重构我国的三审终审制。     

适用不方便法院原则与国民待遇原则的冲突与协调——以跨国知识产权诉讼为视角

跨国知识产权诉讼是当今各国对知识产权进行国际保护的主要途径.如何在知识产权保护的国际诉讼中遵循国民待遇原则,是知识产权国际保护的关键.由于跨国知识产权诉讼的复杂性、新颖性以及相关立法的滞后,造成了法院在审理相关案件时为片面追求司法任务的简单化,往往会拒绝外国原告的诉讼.不方便法院原则就成为拒绝当事人诉讼的最好理由,其中美国的做法最具有代表性.这与TRIPS协议等保护知识产权国际条约所确立的国民待遇原则相冲突.为给予国际知识产权流动以更多的保护与协调,各国应完善跨国知识产权管辖权体系,确立严格的适用不方便法院原则的标准.     

探寻19802010年法院收案数的变化规律——兼谈对未来收案数变化趋势的展望和预测

虽然改革开放30年来人民法院案件数的年均递增速度高达10％以上,但人民法院的一审收案数和执行收案数并非始终保持着直线型上升发展态势,而是呈现出一种有升有降、升多降少的波浪型上升发展态势;经济的高速增长、城镇化水平不断提高、人民群众法治意识和维权意识不断增强是人民法院收案数30年来保持高速增长的根本原因,司法政策的变化更是促使人民法院收案数产生阶段性变化的核心因素;在当前相对较低的诉讼收费标准等因素刺激下,未来法院各类案件的收案数量仍将继续保持上升态势,但增速会低于过去30年来的平均增速。     

Judiciarisation de l’action publique en Suisse: analyse du contentieux administratif au Tribunal fédéral

Résumé: La judiciarisation de l’action publique demeure un champ de recherche peu exploré par les politologues suisses. Cette note de recherche étudie dès lors l’évolution des 79’752 affaires liquidées par le Tribunal fédéral, de 1990 à 2010, en matière administrative. Les résultats empiriques montrent que le contentieux administratif croît de 45% sur la période observée, principalement en matière d’assurances sociales. Nous observons toutefois des différences notables entre les domaines de politiques publiques et quant à la provenance cantonale des recours devant le Tribunal fédéral. Ces différences s’expliquent par l’influence conjointe de facteurs conjoncturels (par ex. la croissance économique), institutionnels (par ex. l’organisation judiciaire cantonale) et liés aux acteurs du système judiciaire (par ex. la densité d’avocats). En conclusion de cette analyse exploratoire, cinq pistes de recherche sont identifiées afin d’étudier plus finement l’ampleur du processus de judiciarisation et d’en évaluer les impacts sur les politiques publiques.     

The Effects of Juvenile Transfer to Criminal Court on Incarceration Decisions

The present study examined the effects of institutional pressures on homeland security preparedness among law enforcement agencies in Illinois. The data come from the Illinois Homeland Security Survey (IHSS). Specifically, the study employed three theories to explain homeland security preparedness: contingency theory, resource dependence theory, and institutional theory. We hypothesized that institutional pressures will lead to isomorphism as agencies attempt to conform to institutional expectations about appropriate activities in a homeland security era. To evaluate these theories and their impact on homeland security practices, the authors used confirmatory factor analysis. The IHSS data lend strong support to the application of organizational theory as a lens through which homeland security preparedness can be understood. Institutional pressures, such as professional and government publications, training, professional associations, and the actions of peer agencies, significantly influenced municipal and county agencies in Illinois. Funding, while often thought important to encourage preparedness, was not a significant predictor. The results of this analysis advance our understanding of homeland security preparedness via institutional theory by suggesting that the larger environment is salient.