When ADR becomes the law: A review of federal practice

Conclusion With the passage of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act, the stage was set for innovation and change in federal agencies. Now, part way into the five-year life of the Act, a new administration has the potential to encourage even wider use of ADR at the federal level, providing still more examples from which to develop a clearer sense of best practice. Additional funds, both for ACUS and individual agencies, are vital to providing the level of experimentation, innovation, and documentation needed to ensure success.MIT ProfessorLawrence E. Susskind is director of the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program, 512 Pound Hall, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass. 02138.Eileen F. Babbitt is associate director of the Public Disputes Program.Phyllis N. Segal is a practicing mediator with Endispute, Incorporated.The authors would like to acknowledge the federal dispute resolution specialists who contributed greatly to our work by providing interviews and materials for this article: Cathy Costantino of FDIC; David Batson of EPA; John Settle and Ron Walczak of HHS; David Drabkin of DLA; Jim Jones of DOL; Sheldon Guttman of FCC; Charles Pou of ACUS; Jeff Domber of GSA; and Diane Liff of DOT.     

Juror decision making in the capital penalty trial

Two factors thought to influence jurors' penalty decisions in capital trials—the nature of the crime committed and the defense's portrayal of the convicted offender's character—were examined. Mock jurors were death-qualified and exposed to one of twelve simulated penalty trials. Each trial was comprised of one of three capital crimes and one of four defense strategies. Jurors were least punitive in robbery-murder conditions and most punitive in multiple murder conditions. A conceptual argument against capital punishment was the most effective defense; a mental illness defense was the least effective. Penalty decisions were mediated by three attributional variables: (a) juror perceptions of the defendant's volition, (b) juror perceptions of the defendant's future dangerousness, and (c) juror perceptions of the relative competency of the opposing attorneys.This article is based on the author's dissertation which received an Honorable Mention in the 1985 SPSSI Dissertation Prize competition. The research was made possible by grants from the University of California, Santa Cruz and Division 41 of the American Psychological Association. The author is indebted to Craig Haney, Elliot Aronson, and Dane Archer for their valuable suggestions and support.     

Sanction de la croyance dans le procès de sorcellerie

Conclusion De cette brève étude, trois problèmes d'ordre méthodologique et theorique se dégagent.Tout d'abord, la question de l'inhérence de la sanction au processus syntagmatique de la croyance. Le croire, pourrait-on dire, est un effet de sens éminemment volatile et qui demande à être fixé. En tant que configuration modale, il présuppose donc le croisement des parcours cognitifs sous-jacents de deux sujets, dont l'un reconnaît (sanctionne) l'autre, et inversement, dans l'alternance réversible de la position destinatrice. Il y a alors surmodalisation épistémique (en termes de certitude) d'un jugement aléthique implicite (de contingence): le Destinateur exige du sujet que celui-ci lui donne forme; c'est à ce stade qu'interviennent les relations entre les modalités du devoir et du pouvoir d'un côté, et celle du croire, de l'autre.La question, ensuite, de l'énonciation, car la croyance est un effet de discours et le procés de sorcellerie est un dialogue construit; le système actantiel qu'ils recouvrent ensemble s'inscrit nécessairement dans un discours à deux voix: l'autre (ici actualisé, mais qui peut être simplement virtuel dans d'autres configurations) est co-présent dans l'énoncé du sujet du croire en tant qu'instance énonciative. Et le discours dialogique où se forme la mouvance du croire est tout entier orienté vers l'établissement d'un monologue collectif: la conjonction des je dans le nous.Il nous semble, enfin, que la tripartition de la figure de la sanction — transitive, réflexive, translative —, qu'on vient de dégager à partir de sa manifestation occurrentielle dans le discours du procès de sorcellerie, peut être considérée comme un modèle méthodologique plus large, et étendue à l'ensemble des procés où la question porte essentiellement, à travers le rôle thématique ambigu de l'accusé, sur la validité d'un univers doxologique: le discours de l'auto-critique ne vise-t-il pas, avant tout, la sauvegarde et la confirmation d'un Destinateur menacé?     

Reviews

The Possessed and the Dispossessed: Spirits, Identity and Power in a Madagascar Migrant Town by Lesley A. Sharp.

University of California Press, Berkeley and London. 1993. xx plus 345 pp. including maps, illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography and index.

Marketing Africa's High Value Foods edited by S. Jaffee and J. Morton. World Bank, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Iowa. 1995. 503 pp. including bibliography and index.

Democratisation and Demilitarisation in Lesotho: The General Election of 1993 and its Aftermath edited by Roger Southall and Tsoeu Petlane. Africa Institute of South Africa, Pretoria. 1995. xvii plus 193 pp. R60 ($30).

A Culture of Censorship: Secrecy and Intellectual Repression in South Africa by Christopher Merrett.

David Philip, Cape Town; University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg and Mercer University Press, Macon (Georgia). 1994. xv plus 296 pp. including notes and index. Paperback. Price R54,95.

The Eritrean Question: The Conflict Between the Right of Self‐Deter‐mination and the Interests of States by Eyassu Gayim.

Iustus Förlag AB, Uppsala (Sweden). 1993. 716 pp. including figures, tables, notes, maps, annexures bibliography and index. Paperback.

The Rwanda Crisis 1959–1994 — History of a Genocide by G. Prunier. Hurst & Co. London. 1995. xiii plus 389 pp. Paperback. Price £12.50.

Entrance into Reproductive Life: A Demographic Expression of Socio‐Economic Changes in a Senegalese Rural Area by Valérie Delaunay. Centre Français sur la Population et le Développement (CEPED), Paris. 1994. Les Etudes du CEPED No 7. xxii plus 326 pp. including figures, maps, tables, appendices and bibliography. Paperback. Price 90FF.

Verso un Nuovo Sudafrica: Dall'Apartheid allo Stato Multietnico by Chiara Robertazzi.

Milan: Francoangeli. 1995. 130 pp. Paperback.     

Le contrôle politique des organismes autonomes à fonctions régulatrices et quasi-judiciaires

Sommaire. Le contrǒle politique des organismes autonomes à functions régulatrices et quasi-judiciaires est celui qu'exercent le Parlement et le gouvernement sur l'opportunité des mesures qu'adoptent ces organismes et qui doivent ětre appréciées en regard de l'intérět général. L'octroi d'un large pouvoir discrétionnaire en matière d'élaboration et d'application de la politique suivant un processus qualifié par notre droit de quasi-judiciaire soulève des difficultés considerables qui nous obligent à revoir les principes měmes qui régissent les rapports entre ces « tribunaux administratifs » et l'autorité politique parlementaire et gouvernementale. Les techniques de contrǒle utilisées dans la législation relative aux grandes régies fédérales notamment, la cct , le crtc , l’one , sou-lèvent également des difficultés. Ainsi, lorsqu'existe un droit d'appel au gouverneur en conseil ou au ministre, on s'interroge sur la portée de ces recours par rapport aux recours à la Cour fédérale prévus par la Loi sur la Cour fédéraLe ou d'autres lois particulières. De měme lorsque la législation prévoit des moyens de contrǒle à priori, tel le pouvoir d'émettre des directives, on se demande quelles sont les sanctions possibles dans le cas où le tribunal refuse ou néglige d'y donner suite. Ces problèmes sont au coeur des recherches en cours sur certains aspects du développement des principaux tribunaux administratifs ou organismes autonomes à functions régulatrices et quasi-judiciaires. Abstract. Political control of autonomous regulatory and quasi-judicial bodies is the control exercised by Parliament and the government over the actions of these bodies to assess their opportunity in regard to the general interest. The granting of wide discretionary power in the elaboration and application of policies following a procedure qualified in law as quasi-judicial raises considerable difficulties with respect to the very principles which determine the relations between these administrative tribunals and parliamentary and governmental political authority. With respect to the control techniques employed in the legislation relating especially to the major federal commissions such as the ctc , the crtc and the neb , these difficulties are particularly evident. On the one hand, when a right of appeal to the Governor-in-Council or the Minister exists, what is the extent of these remedies in relation to the recourse to the Federal Court granted by the Federal Court Act or other special statutes? When legislation provides for a priori controls such as the power to issue directives, what are the possible sanctions in the event that the tribunal refuses or neglects to follow them? These problems are at the very heart of present research on certain aspects of the development of the major administrative tribunals and autonomous bodies exercising regulatory and quasi-judicial functions.     

Verbal and Physical Abuse Toward Mothers: The Role of Family Configuration,Environment, and Coping Strategies

This paper focuses on parental maltreatment, a rarely documented phenomenon. We prospectively examine factors that can increase the risk of abusive behavior toward mothers. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between a stressful family situation, parental divorce, and verbal and physical aggression toward mothers. We use a large Canadian sample of adolescents who have been followed since kindergarten. At age 15, we assessed verbal and physical abuse toward mothers, as reported by both mothers and their adolescents. Multinomial logit modeling revealed that parental divorce was associated with a greater risk of physical aggression directed toward mothers by adolescents. Family environment and parental coping strategies partially mediated that relationship. Mothers who divorced, and remained divorced, were at greater risk of being assaulted by their adolescent children. A positive family environment, reflecting a better parent–child relationship, partially diminished this risk. However, support-seeking behavior on the part of mothers increased the risk of abuse, concurrent with tyrannical strategies often mobilized by abusive children.