bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Regression Lines and the Linear Functional Relationship
Authors: Lindley D. V.
Published: June 2006

The first half of this paper solves the following problem : if there is a linear multiple regression between n variates, under what conditions will the regression continue to be linear when the variates are influenced by error? The new regression coefficients are obtained in terms of the original coefficients.

This leads in the second half to a discussion of the use of regression lines and functional relationships in statistical methodology. In the case of normal distributions the problem of estimation is discussed at some length. Since the classical work has used least squares methods a section relating to this work is included and some criticisms offered.
Lawyers and Political Careers
Authors: Cohen Michael
Published: June 2006

That the legal profession is not monolithic, but consists of a group of specialties, is well-known. In this respect, the legal profession's structure is similar to that of other professions that have been studied. The structural conditions conducive to the growth of specialties arise from the inability of any individual to master all the techniques and knowledge of a complex occupation. In law, the specialties are usually organized around a field of legal doctrine, such as probate; tasks, such as litigation and legal research; or client relationships, such as house counsel and government lawyers. A given law practice or career, of course, may and typically does include more than one specialty. Public office-holding is another prominent part of the work that lawyers do, but it has so far hardly been taken into account by the legal profession as part of its work. Indeed, many discussions of lawyers' work barely mention their involvement in politics, except for offhand references. Yet the evidence shows that public office-holding figures importantly in the lawyer's world of work. Even beyond occasional office-holding, evidence to be cited in this paper suggests that for some lawyers public office-holding takes on some characteristics of a career, perhaps amounting to another specialty within law. Admittedly, the uncertainties and risks of public office mean that few men who go into politics give up their other means of livelihood entirely. Yet some men become sufficiently involved in public office-holding for both them and observers to think of it in career terms.
Legal Culture and Social Development
Authors: Friedman Lawrence M.
Published: June 2006

Legal scholars come to the problem of development somewhat tardily. But legal systems are clearly a part of political, social, and economic development, just as are educational systems and other areas of the culture. No major social change occurs or is put into effect in a society which is not reflected in some kind of change in its laws. Legal institutions are responsive to social change; moreover, they have a definite role, rather poorly understood, as instruments that set off, monitor, or otherwise regulate the fact or pace of social change. Many basic questions of the relationship of law to social change and to cultural development are completely neglected. Does the type of legal system and legal institutions that a society uses help or hinder that society in its march toward modernization? How does law influence the rate of economic growth? How does law brighten or darken the road to political wisdom or stability? How can a society improve its system of justice? What happens when laws are borrowed from more advanced countries?
Peace Pact Celebrations: The Revitalization of Kalinga Intervillage Law
Authors: Bacdayan Albert S.
Published: June 2006

This paper presents a discussion of the revitalization processes of the peace pact system of intervillage relations among the Kalinga mountaineers of northern Luzon by means of celebrations given by the system's key personnel, the peace pact holders. Revitalization here refers on the one hand to the ways in which these celebrations regenerate support for the peace pact system, reinforce obedience to peace pact law, and strengthen the obligations of the people to the personnel of the system. On the other hand, revitalization refers to the reaffirmation and reformulation of peace pact law, which ensures the continuing effectiveness, validity, and relevance of the peace pact system to the changing world of the Kalinga. The revitalization processes inherent in peace pact celebrations have not been studied by earlier students of the Kalinga, yet close observation reveals this built-in revitalization to be a basic feature in the operation of the system.
Cultural Bias in the American Legal System
Authors: Swett Daniel H.
Published: June 2006

Generally, studies in legal anthropology have tended to focus on the codes, written or unwritten, by which behavior is regulated in human societies and on the regularized processes by which conflicts are resolved in accordance with these codes. Thus, in considering a cross-cultural operational definition of law, Nader (1965: 6) notes that all societies have rules governing behavior, some preferential and some prescribed.
The University, the Arrested Student, and Bail
Authors: Pettigrew Harry W.
Published: June 2006

The argument of this article is that where a transient college student is arrested, financial bail is seldom necessary to assure the defendant's presence in court. However, in such a case, financial bail is almost always required by the court, since in the area of bail, as with other criminal law problems, the pragmatic exigencies of the traditional American criminal law system place a heavy burden on any transient to realize the same protections, privileges, and rights provided the indigenous population (Foote, 1965: 1129-1130).
Arguendo: The Legal Challenge of Population Control
Authors: Blaustein Albert P.
Published: June 2006

It is obvious that overpopulation is the most critical social problem of our time. As such, it is necessarily the greatest legal problem of our time and the greatest challenge which faces the legal profession today. Since the population problem is fast becoming the population crisis, it is essential that our laws and our legal order must now be subject to reexamination. We dare wait no longer in studying, formulating, and augmenting the proper and precise laws and legal machinery both to help restrain the population growth and to alleviate the ills inherent in overpopulation and unwanted population.

But we must, in our quest for the best laws, be wary of the trap of talking solely in terms of population curtailment. We must take as our guiding principle the words of population expert, John D. Rockefeller, III: “Our constant goal is and must be the enrichment of human life, not its restriction.” In other words, our new laws on the population problem must at the same time make for a better society.
Jail Sentences for Driving While Intoxicated in Chicago: A Judicial Policy that Failed
Authors: Robertson Leon S. , Rich Robert F. , Ross H. Laurence
Published: June 2006

Excessive drinking is involved in over one-half of the motor vehicle associated fatalities in the United States (Department of Transportation, 1968). Various means have been suggested, and some tried, to curb these losses. In only a few cases have countermeasures against driving while intoxicated been subjected to scientifically acceptable evaluation as to effectiveness.

In one such study, Barmack and Payne (1964b) used an information program with administrative review and psychiatric referral in an attempt to reduce alcohol-related crashes by airmen at an Air Force base. Based on their earlier studies (1964a) showing various types of stress-related and deviant behavior associated with driving while intoxicated, the image of the intoxicated driver as "sick" was communicated in meetings, on bulletin boards, and in the base newspaper. Airmen who lost time because of injury in a privately-owned vehicle had their service records reviewed, and evidence of "ineffective behavior" could result in discharge or psychiatric referral. The psychiatrist could then recommend a medical discharge, suggest psychiatric therapy, or take no action.
Latitude and Severity of Sentencing Options, Race of the Victim and Decisions of Simulated Jurors: Some Issues Arising from the “Algiers Motel” Trial
Authors: Kaplan Kalman J. , Simon Roger I.
Published: June 2006

On the fourth day of the Detroit riots (1967), newspapers reported that three Negroes had been killed in a sniper battle at the Algiers Motel. The night before — Tuesday, July 25 — rumors of sniping were widespread. Responding to a telephone report of shots fired in the vicinity, a number of Detroit police officers, State Troopers and National Guardsmen rushed into the annex of the Algiers Motel. Inside, they found ten black men and two white girls. No guns were found. The police began questioning them. One hour later, when the police left, three of the men lay dead [Carl Cooper, Fred Temple, and Auburey Pollard], shot at close range. The others, including the two girls, had been severely beaten (Hersey, 1968; insert ours).
Lawyers Judge the Warren Court
Authors: Beiser Edward N.
Published: June 2006

One special public which presumably pays a good deal of attention to the United States Supreme Court is the bar. As part of the “company” attached to the judiciary, attorneys may have a philosophic interest — and surely have a bread-and-butter interest — in the activities of the country's highest tribunal. This article seeks to explore that concern.
Field Research Strategies in Urban Legal Studies
Authors: Handler Joel F.
Published: June 2006

The subject matter of field research in urban legal studies is as broad or as narrow as we choose to define the field. The chief concern of this paper is research strategies. What type of research is a law school capable of doing? What type of research is appropriate—for a professional school that is part of a university and for a student body that is growing increasingly bored and frustrated at what it regards as an irrelevant curriculum?
Pasadena
Authors: Cohen William
Published: June 2006

Pasadena, California, located roughly ten miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, had a public school enrollment of slightly more than 31,000 during the 1964–65 school year. The racial distribution was 68.9% Caucasian, 21.1% Negro, and 9.9% Mexican-American and Japanese. The surrounding communities have essentially no minority group population and it is expected that migration of minority group members will continue to be concentrated in Pasadena. The residentially segregated pattern of the typical Northern city is conspicuous in Pasadena. The all-Negro neighborhood is present as is the totally white neighborhood. The intermediate areas contain various degrees of segregation.
Contemporary Constitutions and Constitutionalism in the Dominican Republic: The Basic Law Within the Political Process
Authors: Wiarda Howard J.
Published: June 2006

The revolution of April 1965, and the subsequent landing of United States military forces focused an enormous amount of worldwide attention on the Dominican Republic. The frequently chaotic revolution, which quickly became a civil war, was made still more confusing by reports which at one and the same time referred to one side as the “rebels” or “constitutionalists” and to the other as the “loyalists” or “anti-constitutionalists.” As the events of Dominican revolt, civil war, and United States intervention became disentangled, however, it became clear that the issue of “the constitution” and “constitutionalism” and the principles and forces of which these terms were symbols were perhaps even more important than any of the personalities or groups involved. Because many of the major conflicts seemed to revolve around questions of “constitutionalism,” a comparison and analysis of the constitutions of 1962 and 1963 may help unravel the perplexing tangle of factors which led to revolution and civil war.
The Police and Political Change in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Bayley David H.
Published: June 2006

The subject of the police is a neglected issue among political scientists. The police are rarely viewed from perspectives natural to political science, nor are they studied comparativly among countries. The few studies that have been done are written largely from the point of view of public administration; they tend to be wholly descriptive and to deal largely with matters of formal organization and management. The neglect of the police is not unique to political scientists; the record of other social sciences is hardly better. Even in sociology there has been surprisingly little. Historical monographs on countries rarely refer to the police at all; inspection of indexes of basic histories of most foreign countries will reveal very few references to the police. Unrest in American cities and violence between police and minorities, as well as between police and students, is beginning to convince the scholarly community that the police are crucial social actors. The impetus so far for empirical study has come largely from government, in the form of various national study commissions (President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice, 1967; National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 1967; National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, 1969). The kindling of interest in the police is new; it may be dated from 1965.
Compensating Victims of Crime: The Recommendations of Program Administrators
Authors: Brooks James
Published: June 2006

In 1963 and 1964, New Zealand and Great Britain adopted the first modern crime compensation programs. These programs compensate for injury and death caused by a criminal attack upon an innocent victim. Although the reception given to these programs has been quite favorable and there have been additional adoptions by other jurisdictions, the total number of program adoptions remains small. New Jersey's adoption in October, 1971, brought the total number of program adoptions in the United States to six (New York Times, October 25, 1971: 28c). In addition, Nevada and New York City have adopted partial compensation programs called “citizenship” or “Good Samaritan” programs that compensate only those injuries or deaths incurred while assisting law enforcement officers or while attempting to prevent the commission of a crime or in trying to apprehend a criminal. This means that six general crime compensation programs have been adopted in the United States during the past six years. These program adoptions have been by California, New York, Maryland, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.
Firearms, Homicides, and Gun Control Effectiveness
Authors: Seitz Steven Thomas
Published: June 2006

Today, few would deny that some relation exists between firearms and violent death and crime:

In 1967, firearms were involved in approximately 73,000 robberies, 53,000 aggravated assaults, 9,000 suicides, 7,000 homicides, and 2,900 accidental deaths in this country. Although firearms used in these deaths and crimes represent only a small fraction of the total guns in the United States, some relation clearly exists between firearms and violent death and crime (Newton and Zimring, 1970: 23).

Newton and Zimring of the Task Force on Firearms point out that 63% of all homicides, 37% of all robberies, and 21% of all aggravated assaults involve the use of a gun (Newton and Zimring, 1970: 39). In turn, 76%) of gun homicides are committed by handguns; similarly, 86% of aggravated assaults involving guns and 96% of robberies involving guns are committed by handguns (Newton and Zimring, 1970: 49). In short, although approximately 27% of all firearms in the United States are handguns, they are the predominant firearm used in crime (Newton and Zimring, 1970: 49).
Trouble-Cases and Trouble-Less Cases in the Study of Customary Law and Legal Reform
Authors: Holleman J. F.
Published: June 2006

I first went, as a student, into the field (Zululand, 1938) without the benefit of a clear theory of investigation of customary law. Llewellyn and Hoebel's Cheyenne Way (1941) had not yet appeared; and years later, when I ended my field-work among some Rhodesian Shona tribes (1952), Hoebel's classic The Law of Primitive Man, which further elaborated the theoretical angle of this kind of inquiry (1954: Ch. 1-4) had yet to be published. I did not, however, course entirely haphazardly through this field. I was trained in (mainly African) ethnography and (Roman Dutch) law, had learnt to read the decisions and interpretations of (South African) European courts on “native law and custom” with some critical reservation, and had found in works like Schapera's Handbook of Tswana Law and Custom (1938) — probably still the best of its kind as regards Africa — a suitable, systematic frame for the pursuit of my inquiries and the exposition of my findings. Moreover, my home background had acquainted me with some of the work and aims of Dutch scholars on Indonesian adatlaw who, inspired by the great jurist Van Vollenhoven, then seemed to be leading the field with their efforts to arrange the rich variety of Indonesian folk law and practice into a coherent system with a distinctly indigenous imprint. Van Vollenhoven's early and repeated insistence upon the need “het oostersche oostersch te zien” (to perceive that which is oriental through oriental eyes), instead of seeking to fit Indonesian concepts into the familiar categories and analytical schemas of Western jurisprudence, had obvious application also to the African field.
Afterword: Explaining Litigation
Authors: Galanter Marc
Published: June 2006

In my contribution to the first part of this collection I suggested that the character and impact of litigation might be best understood if, rather than starting from consideration of rules or of institutional processes, we began by looking at the parties and their relation to dispute institutions. I introduced a simple distinction between those actors in society who have many occasions to utilize the courts (in the broad sense) to make (or defend) claims and those parties who do so only rarely. Parties who have only occasional recourse to the courts I called one-shotters (henceforth, OS) and parties engaged in a large number of similar litigations over time repeat-players (RPs). I then argued that an RP might be expected to play the litigation game differently from an OS and that the RP would enjoy a number of advantages in the litigation process. Briefly, these advantages include: ability to structure the transaction; expertise, economies of scale, low start-up costs; informal relations with institutional incumbents; bargaining credibility; ability to adopt optimal strategies; ability to play for rules in both political forums and in litigation itself by litigation strategy and settlement policy; and ability to invest to secure penetration of favorable rules.
Abstract of Law and Land Reform in India
Authors: Merillat H. C. L.
Published: June 2006

The continuing controversy over property rights, which began with efforts at land reform in the constituent assembly, has gone on at two levels: that of the battle between government policy-makers and legislative draftsmen on the one hand and the bar and courts on the other; and that between shifting political forces in India—those pressing for reform and those resisting. The initial struggle, in writing the Constitution, centered on the fate of the traditional rights of zamindars and similar intermediaries (often absentee landlords) whose holdings were sometimes very lucrative and drew protest from the exploited tenants. The main questions at this time were: should there be compensation and if so how much; should this decision be left to the state legislatures or should it be justiciable; what safeguards should be created to prevent extreme legislative action; should other kinds of property receive full compensation if taken by the state; should there be a distinction between major social reforms and property takings for public use? Article 31 of the Constitution was the compromise formula and its ambiguities left the issue quite open.
Administrative Law and Legitimacy in Anglophonic Africa
Authors: Seidman Robert B.
Published: June 2006

Lawrence Friedman (1969: 29) has written that“many basic questions of the relationship of law to social change and to cultural development have been completely neglected. … How does law brighten or darken the road to political… stability. … What happens when laws are borrowed from more advanced countries?” This paper examines the reception of English administrative law in Anglophonic Africa in an effort to discover some general propositions to answer Professor Friedman's questions.
Sociology of Law in Germany
Authors: Rueschemeyer Dietrich
Published: June 2006

Sociological perspectives in the study of law have a long history in German scholarship. As early as the beginning of the nineteenth century the “Historical School of Jurisprudence” had insisted that the law is embedded in the developing patterns of social and cultural life, and that this aspect should guide the analysis of law as well as govern legislation. Still, it was only during the decades before and after 1900 that more specifically sociological analyses began to appear. German jurisprudence was not characterized by close contact and intimate interaction with social and economic reality. Among the reasons for this were the following:

(1)

the coexistence of regionally fragmented and relatively traditional legal practice with legal scholarship shaped by the tradition of Roman law;

(2)

the relative segregation of legal personnel by class and subculture from people without a university education and from business and enterprise; and

(3)

the dominant role of government bureaucracies, staffed mainly by lawyers, which in many instances did not have to be particularly responsive to the demands of new groups with interests in the law.
“For Her Own Protection . . .”: Conditions of Incarceration for Female Juvenile Offenders in the State of Connecticut
Authors: Olson Rogers Kristine
Published: June 2006

Connecticut presents a perfect case study of differential correctional treatment for young male and female offenders. The state controls two juvenile correctional institutions: the Long Lane School (LLS) in Middletown for girls and the Connecticut School for Boys (CSB) in Meriden. Both facilities have existed practically side-by-side for over a century under state management, yet they have evolved in markedly different ways. The boys' school has been in the throes of constant turmoil and consequently under severe public scrutiny throughout most of its operation. The administrators of the “farm for girls,” on the other hand, have run a very tight ship and take pride in their undisrupted tradition. As a result, the Connecticut School for Boys has bungled its way (albeit ineptly) into the twentieth century while the Long Lane School still prepares women to re-enter the community as nineteenth century domestics.
Legal Needs of the Poor in the City of Denver
Authors: Sykes Gresham M.
Published: June 2006

The provision of legal services without regard for the individual's ability to pay has long been a tradition of the American legal profession. It is a basic tenet of a democratic society that the protection of individual rights cannot turn on a matter of income or social class, since justice then becomes a luxury, available to a privileged few. Our society has met this problem largely by relying on the sense of professional responsibility of private practitioners and by developing legal aid societies.
Judicial Role in a Nonjuducial Setting: Some Survey Evidence
Authors: Sprague John , Cornwell Elmer E. , Goodman Jay S.
Published: June 2006

A question of interest to political and legal scholars is: Does experience in a judicial role produce political perceptions and attitudes which systematically differ from those produced by the lawyer-advocate (nonjudicial) role? To date, the efforts of the judicial behaviorists have centered on an elicitation of attitudes from either judges or advocates, but few studies have been structured to examine both roles in respect to a common stimuli set. A rare opportunity to make such a comparative survey presented itself to the investigators in conjunction with their participation in a more extensive study of state constitutional conventions. In conjunction with a study of the New York Constitutional Convention of 1966-67, interviews were conducted with 175 of the 186 delegates to that convention. Of these 175 delegates, 22 were judges and 101 were lawyers. This situation was unique, for it allowed a direct comparison
The Traffic in Legal Services: Lawyer-Seeking Behavior and the Channeling of Clients
Authors: Ladinsky Jack
Published: June 2006

This paper discusses the major factors that appear to influence how clients and lawyers come together, and what role professional advertising might play in this process. The context for the discussion is the traditional model of appropriate lawyer-client relations, which is an ideal built into the code of professional conduct. The model presumes a lawyer's professional reputation, and the maintenance of professional standards by the bar. In the real world, conditions of legal practice and problem defining by consumers cause departure from the ideal. A number of factors influence how clients come to perceive problems as amenable to legal assistance. These are certain psychological, cultural, and social attributes whose operation in law is less well understood than it is in medicine. In addition, there are certain structural factors that influence the link between prospective clients and lawyers. Prominent among these is the fact that legal services comprise an imperfect market due to uncertainty of case outcome and difficulties of information procurement. It is suggested that consumers are reasonably rational in their search for lawyers given these problems. Consumers rely heavily upon informal contact networks and influential intermediaries, a process not unlike searching for a job or a doctor. The implications of these findings for opening up information channels through relaxation of the ban on advertising are discussed.
Some Problems in the Legal Regulation of the Activities of Economic Institutions
Authors: Kurczewski Jacek , Frieske Kazimierz
Published: June 2006

Some aspects of the effects of the legal regulation in the socialist economy are discussed on the basis of interviews with two samples of managers of state enterprises in Poland. Emphasis is on the mode of adaptation by the managers to what they perceive as conflicting economic, legal, and administrative demands—especially in interactions between the enterprises. An attempt is made to specify the role played by the norm and mechanism of reciprocity, as well as by the other mutual sanctions that order economic cooperation, beyond the official legal regulations.
An Instance of Effective Legal Regulation: Motorcyclist Helmet and Daytime Headlamp Laws
Authors: Robertson Leon S.
Published: June 2006

Motorcycles are involved in fatal crashes far in excess of their share of motor vehicle mileage or registrations. Although their annual mileage per vehicle is less than half that of cars (Federal Highway Administration, 1974), and they were only 3.7 percent of registered motor vehicles in the U.S. in 1974, their riders accounted for 6.8 percent of motor vehicle fatalities (National Safety Council, 1975). A study of vehicle sizes in fatal crashes found that motorcycles killed pedestrians at about the same rate per registered motorcycle as small cars per registered small car (Robertson and Baker, in press). (The pedestrian rates were higher per registered vehicle among larger cars and trucks.) A survey of traumatic spinal cord injuries in 18 Northern California counties found that 9 percent of motor vehicle related spinal cord trauma occurred to motorcyclists (Kraus, et al., 1975). In one California county where an attempt was made to find all medically treated motorcyclist injuries, one of every 24 registered motorcycles per year was involved in a crash that resulted in such injuries (Kraus et al., 1975).
Two Approaches to Contemporary Dispute Behavior and Consumer Problems
Authors: Steele Eric H.
Published: June 2006

The two articles that follow contribute to the mapping of dispute behavior in contemporary society. Hannigan (1977) describes how a newpaper action line, or ombudsman, handles consumer disputes. Best and Andreasen (1977) report the findings of their survey of consumer experiences and what consumers did about the problems they encountered. These essays represent complementary approaches to the study of how people and institutions respond to common consumer disputes. I will begin by indicating where they fit into the evolving tradition of sociolegal research and how they add to our still redimentary understanding of dispute behavior.
Law Actual and Perceived: The Sexual Politics of Law in Morocco
Authors: Dwyer Daisy Hilse
Published: June 2006

Theories about law have focused upon: 1) law's integrative function in society, 2) its role in maintaining dominant group ascendancy, and 3) its utilization by subordinate groups as a “jurisprudence of insurgency.” It is argued here that these three functions of law intermingle in distinctive fashion from society to society, in part because of the different perceptions of law that dominant and subordinate groups hold. Vying subgroups have different beliefs about the degree to which law is: 1) manipulable, 2) manipulated, and 3) necessary. Such perceptions must be charted if intrasocietal politics is to be understood. This article traces perceptions of law in one highly inegalitarian relationship in one complex society—male-female relations in Morocco.
Predicting the Behavior of Law: A Test of Two Models
Authors: Myers Martha A.
Published: June 2006

Since its introduction, Black's (1976) theory of law has generated controversy (e.g., Eder, 1977; Stinchcombe, 1977), but few empirical evaluations. The most recent test (Gottfredson and Hindelang, 1979a) identified a number of empirical inadequacies and posited an alternative model to correct them. This paper assesses both Black's and Gottfredson-Hindelang's models of law, choosing as the arena of evaluation criminal law and its behavior. Analysis of data from a sample of criminal defendants identifies empirical inadequacies in both theories and raises questions about their validity, predictive power, and generality. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the substance and underlying assumptions of both theories of law.
More Tales of Two Courts: Exploring Changes in the “Dispute Settlement Function” of Trial Courts
Authors: Lempert Richard
Published: June 2006

This article uses Friedman and Percival's (1976) longitudinal survey of the caseloads of two California courts as a vehicle for addressing two conceptual issues that must be resolved in studies of the dispute settlement function of courts. First, one must decide whether the focus of inquiry is on the way courts function (i.e., act) or on the function that courts fill for some larger community. The methodological implications of this decision are discussed. Second, one must decide what counts as judicial contributions to dispute settlement. Seven possible contributions are identified. This article then reanalyzes Friedman and Percival's data on the Alameda and San Benito County courts, controlling for adult population. Reanalysis indicates that these data do not support the conclusion that the courts Friedman and Percival studied became functionally less important to community dispute settlement with increasing socio-economic development. This portion of the article suggests possible causes of some of the patterns observed, and discusses some of the problems that arise in working with longitudinal data culled from court dockets.
Plea Bargaining in Historical Perspective
Authors: Friedman Lawrence M.
Published: June 2006

This paper, using mostly data drawn from a study of the criminal work of the Superior Court of Alameda County, California, from 1880 on, explores the history of plea bargaining. Plea bargaining, it turns out, was used in Alameda County from at least 1880, though it was by no means as common in the late 19th century as it is today. There is also ample evidence of “implicit plea bargaining,” that is, pleading guilty in expectation of a lighter sentence. The data from this study suggest that plea bargaining cannot be explained simply as a reaction to crowded court conditions. It is connected with structural and social changes in criminal justice, in particular, the rise of professional police and prosecutors.
An Experience in Justice Without Plea Negotiation
Authors: Callan Sam W.
Published: June 2006

The reasons for the termination of plea negotiation in El Paso County, Texas, are explained. The statistical consequences of doing so are discussed.
The Problem of Voluntariness and Coercion in the Negotiated Plea
Authors: Brunk Conrad G.
Published: June 2006

This paper focuses on the narrow question whether prosecutorial or judicial negotiation of a reduced charge or sentence for a criminal defendant in exchange for a guilty plea renders the plea “involuntary.” I begin by clarifying the conditions under which choices in general are considered voluntary or coerced. In Part II, I measure the practice of plea bargaining against this general theory of voluntary choice. I argue that a negotiated guilty plea is not intrinsically involuntary but that many of the conditions commonly a part of plea bargaining may render it so. The negotiated plea can be defended from the charge of coercion only if these conditions can be, and are, eliminated. I also show that overt “threats” of prosecutorial or judicial reprisal are not the only way of coercing a guilty plea. Under certain conditions, apparent “offers” of leniency can be coercive as well.
Prior Offense Record as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Authors: Farrell Ronald A. , Swigert Victoria Lynn
Published: June 2006

Explorations of differential justice suggest that apparent relationships between class, race, and legal treatment may be explained by the more extensive conviction histories found among lower class and minority populations. But these findings have emerged without adequate exploration of the antecedents of a defendant's criminal record. This article examines the determinants of accumulated criminal histories, viewing the conviction awarded a defendant as the first stage in the construction of a prior offense record. Path analytic techniques were applied to data drawn from a sample of persons arrested for murder in order to examine the nature of relationships among the demographic characteristics of defendants, their prior offense records, access to legal resources, and ultimate dispositions. Patterns evident from the analysis suggest that the operation of the criminal record in the legal system constitutes a continual cycle in the confirmation of criminality. Prior record, itself partly a product of discretionary treatment, becomes a salient factor in the accumulation of additional convictions not only through its direct effect but also through its influence on access to private counsel and bail, which in turn significantly affect outcome.
The Concept of Laws in Social Science: A Critique and Notes on an Expanded View
Authors: Feeley Malcolm M.
Published: June 2006

During the past decade there has been a resurgence of interest in the problem of law and social control. Indicative of this interest, a rekindling of an earlier tradition, is the founding of the Law and Society Association and its journal the Law & Society Review, the growth of course offerings both in law schools and social science departments, and the emergence of a rapidly growing body of literature. Research interests in this area, often captured by such terms as impact, compliance, legal effectiveness, and law and social change, have diverged from the traditional preoccupation with the development and meaning of formal legal doctrine and from the more recent behavioral concerns with judicial decisionmaking, to address the broader questions of the effects of law on society at large. While varying in breadth, depth, and precise focus, most of this research treats law as an independent variable and its consequences as the dependent variables, the events caused by the law. In the language of systems theory, the formal legal rules are the “policy outputs” while changes—of whatever scope—are the “policy outcomes.” Although these studies vary from one-shot case histories to projects involving multiple controls and multiple time series analyses, they all tend to conform to this general design.
Family Law in Italy: Legislative Innovations and Social Change
Authors: Pocar Valerio , Ronfani Paola
Published: June 2006

This article traces a panoramic picture of the changes in family law in Italy during the last decade, with special reference to: the problems of adoption, divorce, abortion, and family counseling; the profound innovations introduced into the Civil Code in 1975 concerning relationships between spouses, between parents and children, and between children born in and out of wedlock; and the consequent problems of inheritance.

The transformation of positive law is analyzed from a sociological point of view that explores both changes in the socioeconomic environment in which, and the political debate through which, they occurred.

On the basis of a broad examination of relevant empirical research and theoretical studies, the authors conclude that, even though the reforms may represent normative innovations in the context of the plurality of family models in contemporary Italy, their practical efficacy is limited by the amount of social and economic support, which until now have been inadequate.
Maintenance of the Aged by their Adult Children: The Family as a Residual Agency in the Solution of Poverty in Belgium
Authors: Van Houtte Jean , Breda Jef
Published: June 2006

Most Western European legal systems contain a rule obligating adult children to support their parents, which derives from a Roman statute promulgated at the time that the extended family system was disintegrating and the nuclear family emerging. Such maintenance does not appear to be inconsistent with contemporary social circumstances and kinship relationships. But those for whom it is invoked are highly vulnerable people excluded from the social security system. Although the amounts of maintenance ordered under this rule are small, such orders create problems for the aged, their children, the responsible agencies and their employees. The result is a social paradox: the rule purports to motivate families to care for their aged parents, but the families upon whom the obligation is imposed actually suffer from such imposition.
Sociology of Law and the Problematic of the Social Sciences in Italy
Authors: Baronti Giancarlo , Pitch Tamar
Published: June 2006

Taking as our starting point Renato Treves's book on sociology of law (1977), we try to give an overview of the way in which a sociological perspective developed in Italy. We deal with sociology of law as an example of this process, insofar as it reflects the ambiguities and contradictions confronting the social sciences in Italy. These disciplines are torn by contradictory forces: on the one hand, they are “naturally” attracted to and stimulated by projects for planning, rationalizing, and modernizing society; on the other, they often find themselves unable to cope with the limitations, precariousness, and abstraction of these projects, and therefore tend to seek refuge within the academic world. However, the urgent need for analyses of Italian social reality has spurred research activity and debate over the role of the social sciences, especially since the end of the 1960s, compelling them to expand their scope beyond traditional academic and scientific boundaries.
Juvenile Court: Therapy or Crime Control, and Do Lawyers Make a Difference?
Authors: Clarke Stevens H. , Koch Gary G.
Published: June 2006

Disillusionment with the therapeutic ideal has led to the current movement to reduce the jurisdiction of juvenile courts to cases in which they can exercise a crime-prevention function and to emphasize a fair, adversarial court procedure including representation by a lawyer. Two North Carolina juvenile courts were studied in 1975-1976 to determine their degree of concern about rehabilitation, crime prevention, and adversarial procedure. These courts showed a trend toward reducing their intake of cases with a less serious prior record and current offense and becoming more punitive with regard to the remaining cases. The dominant factors associated with disposition—particularly with the decision to commit the child to training school—were prior court record and seriousness of current offense. Other factors found to be of some importance were the child's family structure, support by the family as shown by court attendance, and whether the complainant in the case was a parent or probation officer. Race, family income, and the sex of the child had little or no effect on decisions to commit. Differences in individual judges' commitment rates were explained largely by differences in the cases they handled. Being held in detention before the court hearing made commitment more likely. The type of counsel a child had—private, individually assigned, or specialized Juvenile Defender—made no difference in whether he was adjudicated delinquent or committed. In fact, children represented by counsel were somewhat more likely to be committed than those without counsel. This and other findings of the study suggest that the participation of lawyers in juvenile court may be largely a formality, a token compliance with due process requirements rather than an integral part of court fact-finding.
The Effects of the Criminal Justice System on the Control of Crime: A Quantitative Approach
Authors: Shinnar Shlomo , Shinnar Reuel
Published: June 2006

Crime and its prevention has become a much debated issue. Claims and counter claims are made as to the real extent and the possibility of controlling crime. Law makers are considering legislating heavier sentences, which raises questions about the role of prison sentences in crime prevention. Most discussions of crime and its prevention lack a way of generating quantitative estimates of what alternative policies would achieve and what they would cost. A recent paper by one of the authors (Avi-Itzhak and Shinnar, 1973) attempts to develop a mathematical model simple enough to make approximate quantitative estimates based on available statistical information. In this paper we try to simplify the model further and to present it in a way that will make it more accessible to the policy maker and social scientist. We also try to apply it to conditions in New York.
The Impact of a Crime Wave: Perceptions, Fear, and Confidence in the Police
Authors: Baker Mary Holland , Nienstedt Barbara C. , Everett Ronald S. , McCleary Richard
Published: June 2006

In 1980, Phoenix, Arizona, experienced a “crime wave.” A structural equation model based on a two-wave survey of the population shows that the crime wave had a powerful impact that was almost a mirror image of what the fear of crime literature would predict. Demographic groups thought to be most fearful (e.g., women and the elderly) were least affected while groups thought to be least fearful (e.g., well-educated whites) were affected most. In addition to demographic factors, our analysis demonstrates that crime rate perceptions and confidence in the police are integral components of fear, especially in the context of a crime wave. These findings have important implications for crime policy specifically and for criminological research generally.
Resistance to Conventionality in the Sociology of Law: A Rejoinder to Horwitz
Authors: Greenberg David F.
Published: June 2006

Allan Horwitz and I are in full agreement about the value of studying the extralegal sources of statutory law (such as vagrancy legislation) or of governmental social control (whether or not it is identified as law). A good deal of my own work has concerned just this (Greenberg, 1977; 1980; forthcoming; Humphries and Greenberg, 1981; forthcoming; Loftin et al., 1981).
Prevalence and Recidivism in Index Arrests: A Feedback Model
Authors: Blumstein Alfred , Graddy Elizabeth
Published: June 2006

It is important for both theoretical and policy reasons to partition aggregate crime rates into measures of prevalence (reflecting breadth of participation) and incidence (reflecting intensity of participation by those who do engage in crime). Prevalence is measured by accumulating over age the probability of first arrest as a function of age. Incidence is estimated by the probability of recidivism in a feedback model. The probability of a male in U.S. cities over 250,000 population ever being arrested for an index crime is estimated as 25 percent, and is quite different for black males (51 percent) and white males (14 percent). The probability of re-arrest for an index crime is estimated as 85 to 90 percent for both whites and blacks. These estimates highlight the breadth of involvement in index-crime arrests, and suggest that the large differences in race-specific arrest rates are predominantly attributable to difference in participation, and not to differences in recidivism for those who do get involved.
The Juvenile Court and Social Welfare: Dynamics of Progressive Reform
Authors: Sutton John R.
Published: June 2006

This analysis of the juvenile court movement is critical of both functionalist and social movement interpretations. Following Meyer and Rowan (1977) and Hagan et al. (1979), I suggest that the juvenile court was not a substantive reform but served primarily to extend conventional means of child-control through the legitimizing vocabulary of Progressivism. Descriptive analysis of state statutes shows the derivative, ambiguous nature of the juvenile court as a legal phenomenon. Dynamic analysis of the diffusion of juvenile court acts shows that neither functional need nor social movement influence provides a convincing explanation for the rapid institutionalization of the court.
Autopoiesis in Law and Society: A Rejoinder to Blankenburg
Authors: Teubner Gunther
Published: June 2006

In this rejoinder, I try to clarify and to develop further the concept of “reflexive law” by expanding its theoretical framework. I make use of the theory of autopoietic systems—a recently developed version of system theory. Legal autonomy and social autonomy turn out to be the crucial concepts. Their reformulation in terms of closed, self-referential, and self-reproductive structures leads to the core problem for a post-interventionist law: Can the law adapt its internal models of social reality to the autopoietic organization of legally regulated social systems?
Race and Prosecutorial Discretion in Homicide Cases
Authors: Radelet Michael L. , Pierce Glenn L.
Published: June 2006

This paper examines the cases of 1017 homicide defendants in Florida. Two main data sources are used: the police department's classification of the case, as found in the FBI's Supplemental Homicide Reports, and the prosecutor's classification, as determined by court records. Each data set characterizes the homicide as involving felonious circumstances, possible felonious circumstances, or nonfelonious circumstances. Attention is focused on cases that differ in their police and prosecutorial classifications. Results indicate that differences in these classifications are related to defendant's and victim's race, with blacks accused of killing whites the most likely to be “upgraded” and the least likely to be “downgraded.” The process of upgrading is then shown to significantly increase the likelihood of the imposition of a death sentence in cases with white victims where no plea bargain is offered.