Building on the original strengths of direct payments to create a better future for social care

Confidence in the prevailing In Control model of personal budgets in the United Kingdom is beginning to waver. This raises the question of ‘where to next?’ for social care. Will we be returning to the monolithic system that typified services at the turn of the millennium – a system that is deeply oppressive for the great majority who lack the support and confidence to escape it by accessing a direct payment to manage their own support system? The Care Act has made no change to the basic process whereby it is councils that will decide what a person’s needs are, which will be met and with what resource. However, we argue here that the situation is far from hopeless. In Control’s analysis, while attractive to a neo-liberal political ideology, was based on a serious failure to understand the reasons for the success of direct payments. Whilst policy-makers saw it as a triumph for consumerist notions of choice, it is better understood as a triumph for needs-based planning, but carried out in a person-centred way. Learning the right lessons offers a new way forward to deliver a respectful and flexible service within the context of the Care Act.     

The Lens of Victim Contests and Youth Crime Stat Wars

In this article I examine Canadian youth crime debates as a way to explore the connection between “victim contests” and “stat wars.” I address how constructing young offenders as either victims or victimizers generates “victim contests,” which in turn serve as interpretive anchoring points shaping how youth crime statistics are interpreted. The numbers themselves do not matter, as underlying assumptions about young offender identity and culpability become a lens through which numbers are understood. In this sense, victim contests generate “stat wars,” involving numbers that act to “make up people.” I also explore some broader implications of these connections, especially given the increasingly actuarial responses to youth crime in late‐modern Western society.     

关联方关系及其交易的信息披露问题

上市公司关联方关系及其交易一直是证券市场关注的热点问题,对这一事项的信息披露是财务报表附注中的一项重要内容.因为关联方关系及其交易不同于-般的公司间关系及交易,有其自身独具的特点,因而成为投资者决策的一条主要依据.从中报和年报的总体来看,大部分上市公司能够比较客观、清楚地披露该项事宜,但仍然有一些上市公司不能按照准则要求去做,在信息披露中暴露出一些问题.因此,不论关联方关系及其交易的信息披露还是关联交易本身都有待于进一步规范.     

Assessing Potential Human Health Hazards and Benefits from Subtherapeutic Antibiotics in the United States: Tetracyclines as a Case Study

Many scientists, activists, regulators, and politicians have expressed urgent concern that using antibiotics in food animals selects for resistant strains of bacteria that harm human health and bring nearer a “postantibiotic era” of multidrug resistant “super‐bugs.” Proposed political solutions, such as the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), would ban entire classes of subtherapeutic antibiotics (STAs) now used for disease prevention and growth promotion in food animals. The proposed bans are not driven by formal quantitative risk assessment (QRA), but by a perceived need for immediate action to prevent potential catastrophe. Similar fears led to STA phase‐outs in Europe a decade ago. However, QRA and empirical data indicate that continued use of STAs in the United States has not harmed human health, and bans in Europe have not helped human health. The fears motivating PAMTA contrast with QRA estimates of vanishingly small risks. As a case study, examining specific tetracycline uses and resistance patterns suggests that there is no significant human health hazard from continued use of tetracycline in food animals. Simple hypothetical calculations suggest an unobservably small risk (between 0 and 1.75E‐11 excess lifetime risk of a tetracycline‐resistant infection), based on the long history of tetracycline use in the United States without resistance‐related treatment failures. QRAs for other STA uses in food animals also find that human health risks are vanishingly small. Whether such QRA calculations will guide risk management policy for animal antibiotics in the United States remains to be seen.     

萨班斯法案下公司内部控制系统构建及评审探讨

美国2002年颁布的萨班斯法案及其后续出台的实施要求和指南,对所有在美上市公司的内部控制系统提出了非常严格的要求,我国在美上市的公司也需要按照该法案的要求尽快构建内部控制系统,并做好内部控制系统的评审工作.本文主要介绍了萨班斯法案对上市公司内部控制系统的要求,提出了我国在美上市公司按该法案的要求构建内部控制系统的思路,以及探讨了如何开展内部控制系统的评审工作.     

标准的著作权法保护问题探析

著作权是对私有财产提供保护的权利制度,而作为一种技术规则的标准具有一定的公共物品属性,二者之间存在紧张关系。我国关于标准著作权问题的立法几近空白,域外司法实践已对这一问题有了回应。对标准提供著作权法保护,须区别对待公标准与私标准,并随着标准性质的演化而作出调整。著作权法对标准保护的态度应当是谨慎的,既要维护标准制定者的私人利益,又要维护标准使用人以及消费者的公共利益。当标准构成“基础设施”,存在限制、排除市场竞争行为时,可借助反垄断法进行干预。     

美国对外投资政策法律研究

美国对本国私人对外投资的支持和保护主要表现为国会制定了很多保护私人投资利益的法律。美国对外投资管理体制是以《对外援助法》为中心而形成的多层次、多领域管辖的法律体系。同时,美国通过与其他国家签订双边或多边条约以及利用国际经济组织来为本国私人对外投资提供服务。现时的美国对外投资推出的不仅仅是技术、服务、环境优势,而且还包含国内法律的不断推陈出新,并引领全球国际投资法的方向。     

多赢市场格局需要长期稳定的游戏规则

证券监管政策 (游戏规则 )的不稳定是导致我国股市大幅波动的原因之一 ,多赢的市场格局需要长期稳定的游戏规则。规则的制定要以投资者的利益为出发点 ,并要实现制定程序法制化     

WTO条件下中国农业法律体系生态化构筑研究--以美国的农业Security and Investment为中心

美国农业法的主要内容就是维持对农业的大力补贴,其特点就是保护和投资.基于此,在已加入WTO的情况下,中国应当加强农业立法和完善生态规划,以生态学理论为视角、以可持续发展为基础建立起中国生态化的农业法律体系.     

《司法基本法》与中国司法改革

自1982年以来,以三个"五年改革纲要"的制定为标志,我国进行了三次司法改革。三次改革取得了丰富的成果,但也存在改革的"依据不足"的困境,改革的推进缺乏必要的法律依据予以支持。为此,我国司法改革的推进,应当以选择"法律"而非"制度"为突破口,从法律规范的层面推进司法改革,统合现有的司法法资源,制定统一的《司法基本法》;在此基础上,以统一的《司法基本法》为依据,推动司法改革的整体深化。制定后的统一《司法基本法》,在内容上以宪法为依据,将宪法中的司法制度与司法的基本规则予以具体化,在位阶上属于基本法律的地位,具有高于普通法律的地位,因而能够全面回应司法改革对法治资源的需求,确保司法改革在法律的框架内有序行进。