Alternative to incarceration for low‐income non‐custodial parents

Increasingly, low‐income non‐custodial parents in the USA, primarily fathers, are at risk of incarceration for failure to make child support payments, clogging the prison system, preventing already at‐risk fathers from holding a job and removing them from relationships with their children. This paper examines an innovative programme in one south‐eastern state that provides an alternative to incarceration for non‐compliant parents, also allowing fathers an opportunity to find gainful employment; to learn valuable life skills; and to establish healthier relationships with their children. Data analysis from 3 years of programme implementation suggests that low‐income non‐custodial fathers enrolled in the Alternative to Incarceration programme have a much greater chance to fulfil their obligations, both as wage earners and as parents, when they are in a programme that provides life skills, helps them find employment and provides other supports to help them improve their life situation rather than incarcerating them for non‐payment of child support. Furthermore, this programme represents a substantial cost savings to the state, as hundreds of fathers have remained outside of the prison system. To date, this alternative to incarceration is a promising solution to a previously intractable problem.     

基层法院网站功能运行状况的实证

从中东部10个基层法院网站运行现状看,普遍存在着栏目设置多且混乱、信息量庞杂、访问量和公众认可度偏低的问题,其普法宣传功能占据了主导地位,司法公开、服务诉讼等主要功能日渐弱化,甚至缺位。必须运用正确的价值理念、科学的设计原则和有效的网站评估体系来实现基层法院网站功能的理性回归,将其主要功能锁定为司法公开、便民服务和公众参与,以保障公民的司法知情权、参与权、表达权和监督权的有效行使。     

Regulation and Enforcement of Financial Reporting in Austria

This paper provides an overview of financialreporting instruments and enforcementmechanisms in Austria, with special emphasis onthe role of the courts in this process. Formerresearch in this area has either focused on thecontent of judicial rulings and interpretationsof the law or on the interplay betweenregulation and creative accounting, whereasthis paper focuses on the involvement of courtsand administrative authorities in theregulation and enforcement process by means ofa statistical analysis of judicial rulings andinterpretations of the law in the case ofAustria between 1990 and 2003. TheAdministrative Court, in its role as thehighest court of appeal in all tax matters,emerges as by far the most active enforcementagent in Austria. This is a direct result offiscal authorities fulfilling the role of anenforcement agency of financial reportingregulations in Austria. Regulation andenforcement of financial reporting regulationsoccur less frequently in the civil and criminalcourts and emerge as a by-product of companylitigation issues. Almost fifty percent ofcases are not primarily concerned with theenforcement of accounting regulations, but withthe enforcement of filing regulations.     

理论与现实的碰撞:当代中国宪法司法化的困境

宪法司法化包括宪法的直接适用和司法审查两个方面。鉴于宪法规范的特点、宪政体制以及法律传统等原因,宪法的直接适用性在我国目前缺乏可操作性,而对违宪的司法审查则缺少制度空间和现实基础。我国违宪审查制度应当在民主集中制的框架内寻求自我完善。     

审判权运行机制去行政化路径探索

审判权运行机制改革是我国新一轮司法改革的重点。当前审判权运行机制行政化主要表现在案件审批制度行政化、法官地位行政化、上下级法院关系行政化等方面。审判权运行机制行政化降低了审判效率、影响法官独立行使审判权、不利于司法公正的实现、不利于构建健康的审级监督关系,造成"作出裁判的人不审理案件,审理案件的人无权裁判"。审判权运行机制去行政化要着力于转变思想观念,提高"去行政化"认识;完善审判权运行机制;以司法公开为手段,监督审判权独立公正运行;完善配套措施,约束和保障法官独立司法这四个方面推进审判权运行机制改革。     

法院审判质效评查工作引入管理理念之思考

审判质效评查是法院内部监督检查的重要工作,该项工作一贯坚持以监督为理念,评查部门通过评查发现审判中存在的质效问题,反馈给业务庭,业务庭自行纠正错误。评查工作在运行之初的确推动了法院审判质效的提高,但随着法院案件数量、难度等不断上升,审判形式的变化,评查工作必须突破传统。引入管理理念,充分利用法院一切人力、科技及其他资源,将管理的系统原理、人本原理、责任原理、效益原理融入评查工作的变革之中,建构全面型、互动型、奖惩型、服务型的评查机制,并具体建立相应制度。     

平行诉讼解决机制研究

平行诉讼是国际诉讼管辖权积极冲突的集中表现,是各国立法和司法管辖权扩大化的必然结果。平行诉讼涉及不同国家当事人之间、法院之间、政府之间的利益冲突,任何一个国家的法律都无法全面约束这种法律关系。充实国际私法和民事诉讼法关于涉外诉讼的规定,创建符合中国国情的解决机制,统一中国在国际条约中的立场,有助于完善中国平行诉讼的立法体系。     

Serbian Judiciary and Transition: Recent Jurisprudence

This article examines the role and position of national courts during transitional periods with focus on and case study of the judiciary in Serbia. Courts in Serbia, as any other judiciary in transition, have undergone a staggering transformative process as illustrated by a chronology of human rights cases. On the other hand, courts in Serbia, as their counterparts worldwide, have also been the transformation force, as evidenced by recent jurisprudence in cases dealing more or less successfully with political assassinations, organized crime, corruption, war crimes, and international courts.     

Inside Community Aid Abroad Part III: Community Work Works: The path to development requires a self-sustaining community development process.

In the third of a series of four articles, Scott Christie describes a typical Community Aid Abroad project and shows how Community Aid Abroad puts the community work approach into practice. He contrasts this with aid projects which follow more of a case-work approach and finally uses a Brotherhood of St. Laurence evaluation framework to measure the achievements of the example project in community work terms.