ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA AND NATURAL JUSTICE

Aboriginal men and women continue to be grossly over-represented in police and prison custodial settings. In 1987 the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was established primarily because deaths in custody were far too common. Commission findings, including over 300 recommendations, were finally publicly released in 1991. In a number of significant ways, it was revealed that the ‘scene had been set’ for premature death both inside and outside custody. In part that ‘scene had been set’ because of the ongoing consequences of colonisation and the legal doctrine euphemistically known as ‘natural justice’. ‘Natural justice’ implies, rather than assures, equality for all before the law. Such fundamental inequality found, and continues to find, intense and tragic expression in high levels of incarceration and deaths in custody.     

A POST-MODERN PANOPTICON: THE ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY

In this paper I examine the Deaths in Custody Royal Commission from a Foucauldian perspective. I argue that the inquiry was an(other) act of state surveillance, and that many of the recommendations, if implemented, would further extend the scrutiny of Aboriginal lives. Additionally, I consider the way the ‘individualizing knowledge’ (Foucault 1979, p. 126) of the deceased was used to control the interpretation of their deaths.     

Re‐thinking Indigenous over‐representation in prison

It is now nearly two decades since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommended that a determined effort be made by all Australian Governments to reduce the level of Indigenous over‐representation in prison. The disparity between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous imprisonment rates, however, is now wider than it has ever been. This article reviews research published over the last twenty years which calls into question both the Royal Commission's analysis of the causes of Indigenous over‐representation in prison and subsequent policies adopted to reduce it. It concludes by arguing that future efforts to reduce Indigenous over‐representation in prison should be directed at dealing with the underlying causes of Indigenous involvement in crime, especially drug and alcohol use, child neglect and abuse, poor school performance and unemployment.     

The Royal Commission,ATSIC and Self-Determination: A Review of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

The National Report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, in recommending fundamental reforms of government policy, proposed a primarily political and administrative notion of Aboriginal empowerment or ‘self-determination’. That is, the Commissioner argued the fundamental importance of publicly-funded Aboriginal organisations and urged governments to relax financial accountability requirements imposed on them. The paper quotes extensively from the National Report to argue that this, rather than ‘land rights’ or ‘economic independence’ is what the Commissioner meant by ‘self-determination’. But what is the place of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) in such a view of Aboriginal and Islander political development? The paper demonstrates the Commissioner's ambivalence about ATSIC, and his failure consistently to project ATSIC's role when making his recommendations about health, alcohol and housing policies. It concludes by citing Commonwealth responses which indicate that ATSIC is likely to emerge as an obstacle in the Commissioner's scenario of Aboriginal and Islander political development.     

DECRIMINALISATION OF PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA: THE PROCESS EXPLAINED

Two alternative models of service provision are associated with decriminalisation of public drunkenness – the medical or sickness model and the social welfare model. In the development of alternative strategies to accompany decriminalisation, Australian jurisdictions have largely followed the latter welfare approach. In Western Australia, decriminalisation of public drunkenness was spurred by the recommendations of the Muirhead Interim Report on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. A community development approach was used to establish local management structures for sobering-up programs in areas of greatest need. Three sobering-up centres are now operating in the State with a fourth centre due to open in mid 1993. Some preliminary evaluation of the Western Australian program has been carried out but a more comprehensive research and evaluation program is being conducted to assess the impact of decriminalisation and the development of alternative responses.     

Calculating China’s Historical Economic Aggregate: A GDP-centered Overview*

Since the 1990s, thanks to the concerted efforts of domestic and international scholars, the research on China’s historical GDP that began in the 1930s has received widespread attention, and is becoming a widely discussed issue at the forefront of research on world economic history. At the same time, several scholars at home and abroad have also voiced a call for more theoretical and empirical reflection within this line of research. Diversification of methods, systematic reconstruction of historical data, and international comparisons represent three emerging trends in future research on this subject. By encouraging and leading these trends, Chinese scholars can assume a greater role in international research on economic history.     

不能承受的生命之重——从生命教育的缺失看大学生自杀

当前,高校大学生自杀事件频仍,通过访谈等定性研究,笔者得出这背后的原因是生命教育的缺失。生命是教育的终极意义,教育与生命有着内在、本质的联系。本文就试图从分析大学生自杀的现状入手,探究大学生自杀的深层动因,呼唤大学教育向生命价值的回归,补上生命教育一课。     

Research with Older Adult Methadone Clients: The Importance of Monitoring Suicide Ideation

ABSTRACT

This study reports on the importance of monitoring suicide ideation among older adult research participants. A recently completed randomized controlled trial of older adults who are current clients in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) served as a case study to elucidate a suicide protocol that was designed to account for the potential instances of suicide ideation within the research project structure. As the numbers of older adult heroin users increases, this study’s findings seek to influence research protocols that involve older adults with addictions who may be particularly vulnerable to suicide risk due to comorbid psychiatric conditions and psychosocial adversities.     

SPECIAL ISSUE： EXAMINING THE DEATH PENALTY IN CHINA Abolition or retention： rethinking the death penalty in China

死刑废止论正在成为一种为刑法学界所广泛接受的理念,废止死刑目前也被当作是一项目标而不再根据现实国情和罪情去思考。促进此种理论共识形成的诸多因素之中,极为重要的原因之一,是废止死刑国家的数量统计,以及建立在这一数量统计基础上的“废除死刑是一种世界性潮流和趋势”臆想性认识。客观地看待废止死刑国家的真实数量,反思已经被法学界全面认可的统计数字的非科学性,并深入思索死刑存废的国际现状,对于立足中国国情去理性地思考死刑的存与废,并警惕学术研究中的数字陷阱和数字诱导,意义重大。从中国的历史阶段和整体情况来看,死刑在中国不宜立即废除。     

Protest Suicide: A Systematic Model with Heuristic Archetypes

Suicide as a form of political protest is a little studied social phenomenon that cannot be dismissed simply as being irrational or patholognomic. We consider protest suicide to be a meaningful social action as purposive political act intended to change oppressive policies or practices. This paper synthesizes theoretical propositions associated with suicide in general, and protest suicide in particular, so as to construct a general explanatory model of protest suicide as a social phenomenon. Then, it analyzes protest suicide as a meaningful social action. People considering protest suicide have to discern the logic of the situation in which such action is to take place. This involves answering two fundamental questions: Is suicide an acceptable course of social action? Is the envisaged protest suicide likely to achieve their hopes, aspirations and goals? How these questions are answered gives rise to a set of protest suicide archetypes. Our analysis generates a more sophisticated understanding of the potential reasons for, and motivations behind, protest suicide as a social phenomenon.     

时代需要给人以希望的哲学——记“建设性后现代主义与中国”国际学术研讨会

建设性后现代主义在国际社会日益受到重视,在中国也引起了学术界的广泛关注。中外学者在“建设性后现代主义与中国”国际学术研讨会中,从“生态危机、生态文明与建设性后现代主义”、“建设性与过程哲学的理论研究”和“建设性后现代主义与不同学科的契合”三个方面展开了细致的讨论,不仅深化了中国建设性后现代主义的研究,也推进了中外学者在这一领域的学术交流,中国学者的相关研究已成为建设性后现代主义发展的重要资源。     

International Trade and the Urbanization of Developing Countries: Evidence from Asia

Abstract

A grain surplus and the grain trade are closely related to the urbanization of developing countries. However, existing literature has not given adequate attention to this issue. Our paper develops a theoretical model to explain the mechanisms whereby changes in the grain surplus constrain the level of urbanization in a closed economy context and the grain trade affects the level of urbanization by acting on the grain surplus in an open economy context. A test of the theoretical model applied to some developing countries in Asia during the period 1993-2010 shows that international trade is generally negatively correlated with level of urbanization. However, cereal and non-cereal trade vary in terms of their relation to urbanization: whereas the former is positively correlated with level of urbanization, the latter is negatively correlated with it. Since the net import of cereals relaxes the constraint imposed on the level of urbanization by the domestic grain surplus, it can have a marked positive effect on the course of urbanization. Our research findings show that provided grain production or grain security is guaranteed, developing countries may adopt a policy of importing an appropriate amount of grain to increase their level of urbanization.     

An Aboriginal community's perceptions and experiences of child neglect in a rural town

Very little is known about how Aboriginal parents experiencing vulnerabilities and communities perceive child neglect, despite Aboriginal families being highly overrepresented in the child protection system. This research investigates the perceptions and experiences of child neglect from Aboriginal parents and human services workers in a rural community. Research methods consisted of community forums and interviews with parents and workers. One community forum developed interview guides and vignettes, and the second discussed and interpreted findings. Between the two forums, in‐depth interviews were conducted with 18 Aboriginal parents and nine Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal workers. Overall Aboriginal parents perceived child neglect in a similar way to Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal workers. Violence and substance abuse were main risk factors for child neglect, and intergenerational trauma, racism and discrimination, and feeling powerless were prevalent in the community. The paper concludes that there are little differences in the way Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal people understand child neglect. Instead it is the difficult circumstances experienced by Aboriginal families that keep parents from actualising their parenting expectations. The implications of these findings when working with Aboriginal families and communities are also discussed.     

Tattoos,gender, and well-being among American college students

This research note examines the relationship between survey respondents’ reports of escalating numbers of tattoos and their measured levels of self-esteem, depression, suicide ideation, and reports of one or more suicide attempts. Data were gathered from 2,395 college students attending six American public universities. Results indicate a four-fold higher level of reported suicide attempts among females with four or more tattoos as compared to those with no tattoos, or three or less. Paradoxically, results also indicate a statistically significant elevation in self-esteem within that same group. No other findings and comparisons are statistically significant. These findings are interpreted in light of previous research examining the relationship between tattoos and gender, body image, and deviance.     

论《强制执行法》的单独制定

在民事诉讼法框架体系内建构强制执行程序,与审执分立理论不符。单独制定《强制执行法》源于完备的理论基础和丰富的实践经验,加之强制执行制度的单独立法已经成为国际趋势,我国制定《强制执行法》的时机已经成熟。制定《强制执行法》需要科学界定法的名称、合理定位立法目的以及妥当选择立法构造。     

Unemployment and suicide: Panel data analyses

This study uses two panel data sets for both Taiwan and other Asian countries, and employs fixed-effects models to examine the relationship between the unemployment rate and the suicide death rate. The research results in both cases indicate that the suicide death rate moves counter-cyclically with the unemployment rate. At the same time, the death rate for males, those who are older, and those with higher levels of education are relatively high. However, the higher the income, the lower will be the suicide death rate.     

The Politics of Partnership in Tropical Public Health: Researching Tuberculosis Control in India

In today's globalizing world the nature of relationships between the North and South is changing to account for the closing gap in capacity to carry out research of international standard. The development of a lexicon sophisticated enough to address adequately these changing relationships, however, lags behind and is not supported by the current recourse to the jargon of 'partnership'. In this paper we explore the difficulties of negotiating a productive path through the dynamics of power and control that characterize international research collaborations. We call attention to this issue through recounting the story of the development of two quite different, but related, international research relationships in which we have been involved. We suggest that there is an important difference between those aspects of the relationship that respond to institutional needs and agendas and those aspects that relate more directly to the human relationships upon which the work in the field actually depends. We set out this difference in a tentative framework, where the relationship between researchers is labelled 'partnership' and the institutional relationship 'collaboration'. It is hoped that, by its inclusion in a journal on social policy, this paper may also stimulate discussion on the extent to which these issues are particular to international relationships or are, indeed, generalizable to national-level partnerships and collaborations within the UK and Europe.     

LEADERSHIP AND ABORIGINAL RECONCILIATION

Calls for greater leadership on the issue of Aboriginal reconciliation are often vague about what they actually mean by ‘leadership’. The most appropriate lens through which to regard leadership on the issue of reconciliation is not the usual notion of leadership‐as‐influence, but instead the theory of ‘adaptive leadership ’, developed by Harvard professor Ronald Heifetz. Applying these ideas to the problems of Aboriginal reconciliation, 1 propose four principles that might promote progress on this difficult and complex issue.     

Framing Effects on Personal Opinion and Perception of Public Opinion: The Cases of Physician–Assisted Suicide and Social Security

Objective . A growing body of literature on issue framing has demonstrated the conditional influence of issue frames on self–reported opinion. The effects of frames are conditioned by message content, the medium of communication, and the predispositions of respondents. However, the literature has yet to explore the influence of issue frames on respondents' perceptions of public opinion. We draw from the psychological literatures on cognitive accessibility biases and impersonal impact and construct competing hypotheses concerning the likelihood of issue frames affecting perceptions of opinion. Methods . We test hypotheses using data from an experimental field study that exposed respondents to opposing issue frames on two important issues—reforming Social Security and physician–assisted suicide. Results . Our results largely support the impersonal impact hypothesis. Conclusions . We find that available information from issue frames influences personal–level opinion but in general does not affect perceptions of public opinion. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest avenues for future research.