bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Longitudinal Study of the Effect of Race on Sentencing
Authors: Pruitt Charles R. , Wilson James Q.
Published: June 2006

Data covering a ten-year period in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are used to estimate the effect of race and other variables on sentences given to persons charged with armed robbery and burglary. Longitudinal data, coupled with interviews of participants, are used to overcome problems of sample selection bias usually associated with cross-sectional studies of the determinants of sentencing. The research shows that race had a clear effect on both the decision to imprison and the length of prison terms in the earliest period (1967-1968) but not in the two later periods (1971-1972 and 1976-1977). The racial neutrality of sentencing in the later periods appears to be the result of changes in the composition of the judiciary, a greater bureaucratization of the prosecutorial and defense bar, and the rise of decision rules that reduce the effect of judicial ideology on outcomes.
The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming . . .
Authors: Felstiner William L.F. , Abel Richard L. , Sarat Austin
Published: June 2006

The emergence and transformation of disputes, especially before they enter formal legal institutions, is a neglected topic in the sociology of law. We provide a framework for studying the processes by which unperceived injurious experiences are—or are not—perceived (naming), do or do not become grievances (blaming) and ultimately disputes (claiming), as well as for subsequent transformations. We view each of these stages as subjective, unstable, reactive, complicated, and incomplete. We postulate that transformations between them are caused by, and have consequences for, the parties, their attributions of responsibility, the scope of conflict, the mechanism chosen, the objectives sought, the prevailing ideology, reference groups, representatives and officials, and dispute institutions. We believe the study of transformations is important. Formal litigation and even disputing within unofficial fora account for a tiny fraction of the antecedent events that could mature into disputes. Moreover, what happens at earlier stages determines both the quantity and the contents of the caseload of formal and informal legal institutions. Transformation studies spotlight the issue of conflict levels in American society and permit exploration of the question of whether these levels are too low.
Social Psychology and the Emergence of Disputes
Authors: Coates Dan , Penrod Steven
Published: June 2006

There is growing interest in the role that individual judgments play in moving people to seek recompense for perceived injuries. Social psychological theory and research may provide valuable clues about the types of judgments that are important in the development of disputes, and the facts that influence these judgments. In this paper, we describe relative deprivation, perceived control, equity, and attribution theories. We also discuss the relevance of these theories to dispute development, differential rates of problem perception, and the making of claims for redress. We conclude with suggestions for future research on the emergence of disputes.
Disputing in Legal and Nonlegal Contexts: Some Questions for Sociologists of Law
Authors: Fitzgerald Jeffrey , Dickins Richard
Published: June 2006

There has been a timely shift in the focus of the sociology of law from an emphasis upon the characteristics, operations, and impact of the distinctively legal institutions and agents in modern societies, to an exploration of a more complex set of interrelationships between those institutions and agents and other social phenomena. Kidder (1975: 385ff) outlined the significance of this shift in focus for students of litigation. The Civil Litigation Research Project is itself an embodiment of the change. The early products of the Project which are presented in this issue of the Review are a testimony to the importance of the change. Indeed, it is hard to imagine an empirical research project in the sociology of law which could be of more theoretical significance and at the same time offer so many practical policy implications. By the same token, the articles contained in the Review provide the opportunity for appreciating some of the difficulties of, and dilemmas in, producing theoretically integrated and methodologically satisfactory studies in the sociology of law with the new focus. This is not to direct criticism particularly at the Project or at the authors of the articles in this issue of the Review. Rather, it is to point to a more general set of difficulties and dilemmas facing many who are currently striving to produce an empirically based sociology of law which attempts to place law in its more general social context.
The End of the Road? Problems in the Analysis of Disputes
Authors: Kidder Robert L.
Published: June 2006

The studies reported in this issue stem from a concerted, well-coordinated attempt to deal with the “hidden” dimension of disputing in the United States. The Civil Litigation Research Project (CLRP) was prompted by conclusions which have emerged in recent years from a variety of research traditions, all focused on issues of dispute settlement, or “dispute processing” as it has been relabeled. The hidden dimension of disputing was one of many issues which emerged from these disparate research traditions. Given the definition of the problem produced by earlier analyses, the decisions made by the CLRP investigators seem reasonable, and the results to date give some answers.
The Construction and Deconstruction of a Disputes-Focused Approach: An Afterword
Authors: Trubek David M.
Published: June 2006

With each step forward, with each problem that we solve, we not only discover new and unsolved problems, but we also discover that where we believed we were standing on firm and safe ground, all things are, in truth, insecure and in a state of flux.

Karl Popper

(Popper, 1976: 87)
Taking Kawashima Seriously: A Review of Japanese Research on Japanese Legal Consciousness and Disputing Behavior
Authors: Miyazawa Setsuo
Published: June 2006

This paper discusses Japanese research on legal consciousness (ho-ishiki) and civil disputing. The author presents a recent explication of Takeyoshi Kawashima's concept of legal consciousness as a cultural factor and also proposes to explore the possibility of treating it as an individual, attitudinal factor. He also reviews large-scale surveys of aggregate-level culture and studies on individual-level disputing behavior. The need and possibility of a longitudinal study of individual disputing behavior that uses individual-level attitudes and regional culture as explanatory variables is suggested.
Decision Making by Crime Victims: A Multimethod Approach
Authors: Greenberg Martin S. , Ruback R. Barry , Westcott David R.
Published: June 2006

Since most crimes investigated by police result from notification by victims, crime victims can be viewed as the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system. This paper describes the results of a series of studies which employed multiple methodologies to investigate the decisions of property crime victims to notify the police. The four methods used in this research included (a) an archival analysis of police records, (b) interviews with crime victims, (c) simulation studies using college students, and (d) experiments in a field laboratory. Two convergent findings emerged from the data. Social influence was found to be an important determinant of both the decision to call the police and the delay in such notification. If others advised the victim to call the police, the crime was more likely to be reported, but, ironically, the greater the number of people consulted, the longer the delay in reporting the crime. The second convergent finding was that situational factors played a stronger role in affecting delay in notification than did characteristics of the victim. Situational factors included the type of crime and the time of day when it was discovered, as well as the number of others talked to and the type of advice received from them. Several divergent findings across methods raised questions about the relative adequacy of each method for the problems being investigated, and helped identify sources of similarities and differences in the conceptual and operational definitions employed.
On the Fallibility of Lie Detection
Authors: Kleinmuntz Benjamin , Szucko Julian J.
Published: June 2006

The polygraph's widespread use in the legal setting and elsewhere should be of concern to society, but especially to psychologists and lawyers. Since lying does not produce a measurable physiological response-and hence renders “lie detection” meaningless-the plausibility of the theory of so-called lie detection tests is questioned. Empirical evidence is presented that disputes the accuracy of testing and shows the high rate of false positive misclassification (e.g., misclassifying a truthful person as deceptive). An alternative procedure is recommended. This procedure, sometimes called the Guilty Knowledge Test, has some problems associated with its use and can be used only when particular information is available. However, it can be a significantly more accurate detector of guilt than the standard lie detection test.
The Effect of Race on Sentencing: A Re-Examination of An Unsettled Question
Authors: Spohn Cassia , Gruhl John , Welch Susan
Published: June 2006

Although the possible effect of race on sentencing decisions is a much-studied question, even recent studies suffer from methodological problems. This paper attempts to correct these problems by using a large number of cases and a large number of offenses, by dividing the sentencing decision into two separate decisions, by using an appropriate scale to measure sentence severity, by including controls for relevant legal and extra-legal factors, and by using multivariate analysis. Our major findings are that race does not have a direct effect on sentence severity, but that blacks are more likely than whites to be incarcerated.
Continuity and Change in Patterns of Case Handling: A Case Study of Two Rural Counties
Authors: Daniels Stephen
Published: June 2006

This article examines the patterns and changes in the way trial courts have handled both civil and criminal matters. It does so by looking for similarities between the civil and criminal dockets in all levels of trial courts in two rural counties in Illinois for a 90-year period (1870-1960). The data from these sites suggest that there may be an overall pattern in the way matters are handled, one that has fluctuations and changes within it but seems to have persisted over time. About 90 percent of the matters filed in the two counties did not involve a contested hearing or judgment. The pattern of handling matters was characterized, instead, by shifts between the routine processing of uncontested matters and matters that dropped out of the courts short of judgment. Contested matters were always the exception and not the rule. Contrary to some claims found in the literature, the shifts within the pattern seem to reflect changes in the mix of court business rather than some fundamental change driven by environmental factors and marking an overall demise of trials.
Perceptions of Justice: Race and Gender Differences in Judgments of Appropriate Prison Sentences
Authors: Miller J. L. , Rossi Peter H. , Simpson Jon E.
Published: June 2006

This paper reports on research focused on measuring perceptions of justice vis-a-vis an examination of consensus in perceptions of appropriate punishments for convicted offenders. We used a factorial survey design to measure and analyze both the global judgments formed by individuals as well as the judgment-making principles that characterize the race by gender segments of the general population of one jurisdiction.

A proximity-to-crime perspective leads us to expect structured similarities and differences in judgments of appropriate prison sentences. A global judgment agreement indicator suggests consensus across the race by gender segments of the Boston metropolitan area over which crimes are serious and trivial. The same indicator, however, shows dissensus within the general population regarding perceptions of appropriate levels of punishment.

The research findings suggest that perceived or subjective proximity to crime has stronger implications than objective proximity for judgments of punishments for convicted offenders. The paper concludes that a sense of injustice in regard to punishments prevails for some segments of the general population.
Prohibition of Beer in Iceland: An International Test of Symbolic Politics
Authors: Gunnlaugsson Helgi , Galliher John F.
Published: June 2006

Beer has been prohibited in Iceland since 1915, but wine has been legally imported since 1922, as have all other alcoholic beverages since 1934. Since 1932, ten unsuccessful attempts have been made to repeal the beer prohibition. Using the records of parliamentary debates, newspaper reports, opinion poll results, and interviews, we examine the degree of fit between this legislation and Gusfield's model of linkage between status politics and symbolic legislation (Gusfield, 1955, 1963, 1967). We also identify the type of demographic and economic settings that appear to create an environment that encourages symbolic politics.
Participation and Flexibility in Informal Processes: Cautions from the Divorce Context
Authors: Erlanger Howard S. , Chambliss Elizabeth , Melli Marygold S.
Published: June 2006

Based on open-ended interviews with the parties and lawyers in twenty-five informally settled divorce cases, this study finds that the informal process is often contentious, adversarial, and beyond the perceived control of one or both parties. Although settlement in some cases reflects flexibility, party participation, and true agreement, in most cases it reflects unequal financial resources, procedural support, or emotional stamina. Parties report settling issues such as child support according to nonlegal, situational factors—particularly their relative impatience to finalize the divorce—and mutual satisfaction with settlement terms is low. Our findings raise questions about the assumed value of informal settlement. However, we recognize that informal processing of divorce is structurally and institutionally inevitable (with or without evidence of its desirability), and we suggest that reform efforts must ultimately recognize both the inevitability and the limits of informal process.
Social Status and Sentences of Female Offenders
Authors: Kruttschnitt Candace
Published: June 2006

To date, most disposition studies have been limited to exploring the effects of male defendants' social characteristics on severity of disposition; the few studies that have included female defendants have done so primarily to see if the sex of the offenders differentially affected sentencing. Utilizing the propositions set forth in The Behavior of Law (Black, 1976), this research looks at the role played by a woman's social status in determining the type of criminal court disposition she receives. Conviction data from a sample of 1,034 female defendants are explored to estimate the effects of (1) economic rank (2) prior criminal record, (3) age, and (4) employment status, controlling for the offense of conviction, on severity of criminal court disposition. The analyses indicate that women's various social characteristics are in fact good predictors of the nature and extent of their sentences and, further, that indicators of respectability and stratification/social integration contribute most to explaining these criminal court dispositions. Accordingly, the propositions of Black's theory of law are generally supported by the results of this study.
Variability in Medical Malpractice Payments: Is the Compensation Fair?
Authors: Sloan Frank A. , Hsieh Chee Ruey
Published: June 2006

This study uses a framework in which disputants' litigation decisions are based on optimizing expected returns and minimizing losses to analyze outcomes of medical malpractice disputes—the probability of payment, stage of resolution, and amounts paid, based on closed medical malpractice claims from Florida and jury verdict reporter abstracts from five jurisdictions. Using judgments of an expert panel and other indicators, the analysis reveals that cases are more likely to result in paid claims when the defendant appears to be liable. By contrast, cases brought to satisfy a claimant motive of vindication are less likely to result in payment; such cases have a higher probability of being tried. Claimants with more serious injuries tend to receive higher payments. Payment appears equitable vertically, but there is appreciable variability in payment for similar injuries which may reflect horizontal inequities.
Criminalizing Delinquency: The Deterrent Effects of the New York Juvenile Offender Law
Authors: Singer Simon I. , McDowall David
Published: June 2006

New York's Juvenile Offender (JO) Law of 1978 is a significant step away from separate systems of justice for adults and juveniles. The law requires that juveniles accused of violent offenses be tried in criminal court, and it provides penalties comparable to those for adults. This paper evaluates the impact of the JO Law on violent juvenile crime rates in New York City and in upstate New York. Analyzing arrest data through the use of an interrupted time series model, we conclude that the JO Law has not been effective in reducing juvenile crime.
Law and Economics: The Road Not Taken
Authors: Donohue III John J.
Published: June 2006

For the rational study of the law the black-letter man may be the man of the present, but the man of the future is the man of statistics and the master of economics.

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1921: 83)

I do not see how one can grasp the meaning of law within society except from the vantage point of social science.

Lawrence M. Friedman (1986: 780)

Since both law and society and law and economics apply social science concepts and methods to the problems of the legal system, one might think that the two disciplines are natural allies. Indeed, with the largely empirical focus of law and society and the strong emphasis on theory in law and economics, the benefits from collaboration between the two would seem to be particularly great. Perhaps surprisingly, though, they have often been at odds with one another, with both groups willing to concede only grudgingly that the other has made useful contributions to the study of legal and public policy issues. The hostility is reflected in the fact that, at recent law and society meetings, very few devotees of law and economics have been in attendance, either as speakers or as members of the audience. What then can explain this chill?
Moving From Integrative to Constitutive Theories of Law: Comment on Itzkowitz
Authors: Harrington Christine B.
Published: June 2006

Private Justice examines disciplinary practices in different workplace settings (i.e., hierarchical, participatory, and cooperative) in light of theoretical debates about the relationship between social structure and human agency, on the one hand, and the relationship between formal and informal law, on the other hand. This book challenges us to rethink how these relationships are conceptualized in a wide range of sociolegal theories and it examines the organization of “private justice” or nonstate law, in workplace discipline. Itzkowitz states that Henry succeeds in showing the “existence” of private justice, but he argues beyond that Henry's integrated theory of law is limited in a number of ways. Among its limitations, according to Itzkowitz, is that the aspiration of integrated theory not to separate parts (i.e., structure and action, formal and informal law) makes it “difficult to know where the analysis should begin” (p. 954). Rather than oppose the aspiration for integrated theory, Itzkowitz argues that “an integrative theory of law requires a different approach” (p. 960). Itzkowitz's disagreements with Henry exemplify some of the contemporary debates in law and social theory. In particular, as I read Itzkowitz's comment on Private Justice, he takes issue with two aspects of Henry's approach. First, he questions the utility of legal pluralism as a methodology and/or basis for integrated theory. Second, he questions the value of approaches that deconstruct relations of social control as opposed to those that predict which forms of law will prevail under certain social conditions.
Beyond Mirrors: Lawrence Friedman's Moving Pictures
Authors: Soifer Aviam
Published: June 2006

“L'exactitude ce n'est pas la vérité.”

Henri Matisse, quoted in Robertson Davies, What's Bred in the Bone 334 (New York, 1985)

“[A] legal system ... accommodates the equally exigent demands of being and meaning ... in a universe in which what a thing does is only one of the things that it means, but everything that it means is something else that it does.”

Arthur Leff, “Law and ...,” 87 Yale Law Journal 989 (1978)

Lawrence Friedman is a rare and remarkable phenomenon. He is a counter who thinks and a thinker who counts. He is aware of paradoxes such as the fact that “Everybody is an individual; everybody is also a conformist” (1985b: 102). More specifically, Friedman is particularly knowledgeable about the limitations and unpredictable consequences of efforts at legal reform. Yet, surprisingly, he seems somehow to be able to escape transforming his healthy skepticism into cynicism.
The Press and the Dilemma of the Fourth Estate
Authors: Murphy Paul L. , Garry Patrick M.
Published: June 2006

These five recent books explore important questions regarding the press and the First Amendment. With the exception of A Question of Sedition, all deal with the relationship between the press and the public, rather than the relationship between the press and the government. In the 1950s and 1960s, most First Amendment doctrines were carved out through conflicts between the government and the press. In A Question of Sedition, Washburn presents such a conventional First Amendment setting in his description of the harassment of the black press by the Roosevelt administration during World War II. Washburn tells the unsurprising story of the attempts by J. Edgar Hoover and others in the government to silence the black press and its denunciation of discrimination in both the military and in American society. The hero in Washburn's story is Attorney General Francis Biddle, who almost single-handedly prevented official government suppression of the black press during World War II. In many ways, Washburn's book is an official recognition of Biddle's “contribution to the preservation of freedom of the press” (p. 205). On a more subtle level, however, it is also a description of the antilibertarian forces at work in our society (explained more in The Tolerant Society).
Constitution, Court, and Authority
Authors: Grogan Susan E.
Published: June 2006

In this book the author's approach to the Supreme Court differs from that of most political scientists. The book is not about what the Court does, but rather about what the Court is and, ultimately, where it is in the American polity's system of authority. Brigham observes that the Supreme Court occupies a preeminent position for other governmental institutions, the legal profession, academics, journalists, and—no less important—the public. This is so because the Court's pronouncements on the Constitution have, in practical terms, become the Constitution. Acknowledging the voice of former Attorney General Edwin Meese in dissent, Brigham argues that “we have come to speak of the Constitution as ‘what the justices say it is’ and we look for ‘it’ in their opinions. Their words are no longer authoritative gloss on the thing itself; they have become the thing itself” (p. 31).
Aboriginal Property Rights
Authors: Dunbar Ortiz Roxanne
Published: June 2006

Today, the original indigenous peoples of Australia comprise but one percent of the total population, numbering less than a quarter million. Living in rural communities, religious reserves and shanty towns, the greatest number are found in Queensland. However, in the Northern Territory, the subject of The Yolngu and their Land, the Aborigines make up twenty-five percent of the population.
Studying the Iceberg from its Tip: A Comparison of Published and Unpublished Employment Discrimination Cases
Authors: Siegelman Peter , Donohue John J.
Published: June 2006

Researchers often rely on published opinions to draw conclusions about cases decided by the courts, determinants of court decisions, and broader social phenomena. We demonstrate that 80 to 90 percent of employment discrimination cases filed in federal court do not produce a published opinion. There are good theoretical reasons to believe that the process generating a published opinion is not random and thus that samples of published cases will not be representative of all cases. Through a direct comparison of published and unpublished cases, we show that the two actually do differ in significant and predictable ways. Examining several studies that use cases with published opinions for a variety of purposes, we show how our understanding of the operation of employment discrimination law changes—in some instances, dramatically—when we look at all cases, whether or not they have published opinions.
Case Congregations and their Careers
Authors: Galanter Marc
Published: June 2006

This article explores the way that a set of cases arising from a specific event, product, or claim form a congregation of cases that displays common features and that traces a discernable career over time. Such a career is related to, but not uniquely determined by, the course of the social activity that underlies the type of case. The relation of activity and case congregation is mediated by a complex structure of disputing activity (including norms, cognitive dispositions, institutions of access, stakes and resources, social support, legal services, and more). In addition to these external influences, such litigation itself influences its future course by various effects on the underlying activity, on the organization of disputing about it, and on the legal setting. Such endogenous effects include holistic effects associated with the size and distribution of the congregation and career effects associated with the way that the congregation unfolds over time. Delineation of these various effects suggests that litigation lives “a life of its own,” partly independent of underlying events in the outside world, but that the regularities in the litigation process are not reducible to a comprehensive pattern since the activity is interactive and strategic.
Plea Bargaining and Prohibition in the Federal Courts, 1908–1934
Authors: Padgett John F.
Published: June 2006

This article documents and explains the emergence of implicit plea bargaining in the federal district courts during the Progressive and Prohibition periods. Three competing explanations for plea bargaining are tested statistically—the caseload, the substantive justice, and the evidentiary quality arguments. All three receive qualified support. The historical operation of each of these causal paths, however, was shaped by the preoccupation of more elite federal judges with their own professional self-image in the face of Prohibition. Implicit plea bargaining in the federal courts emerged reflexively as an unintended consequence of the failed Progressive assault on the “corrupt” explicit plea bargaining practices of lower state and county courts.
The Impact of Court Organization on Litigation
Authors: Seron Carroll
Published: June 2006

This article examines the ways in which litigation research has taken an insiders' view of the courts and the problematic implications of this position for a more critical analysis of sociolegal institutions. The first part presents a brief overview of the literature, showing the way in which court and judge are often collapsed into one, ahistorical and unchanging actor. Building on this critique, the second part presents a definition of the court as an organization that draws on a historical, comparative, and critical perspective. Finally, part III offers suggestions for expanding and enhancing research on litigation in the future.
Symbolic Policy and the Sentencing of Drug Offenders
Authors: Myers Martha A.
Published: June 2006

This paper examines the sentencing behavior of judges in a context characterized by significant legislative and social change. Data from Georgia are used to explore the ways in which judges accommodated their sentencing practices to a general crusade against drug use and to specific legislation that identified trafficking as criminal, set harsh penalties, and limited judicial discretion. The results suggest that judges selectively mitigated the harshness embodied in legislative pronouncements. The extent of mitigation depended on when sentencing occurred, the offense under consideration, and the offender's race. The impact of legislative changes appeared to be shortlived for the initial incarceration decision and more sustained for outcomes involving imprisonment, but modest for both. The target of symbolic policies, the trafficker, bore the brunt of increased punitiveness, but some spillover severity affected less serious drug offenders. Finally, the effect of race on sentences was influenced by legislative changes. During the height of legislative activity, differential treatment by race increased, further disadvantaging blacks, particularly black traffickers.
The Aftermath of Injury: Cultural Factors in Compensation Seeking in Canada and the United States
Authors: Kritzer Herbert M. , Bogart W. A. , Vidmar Neil
Published: June 2006

Injury is common in all societies. Americans are perceived as quick to respond to injury by turning to the legal system. This article compares compensation seeking by Americans and Canadians, examining the degree to which cultural factors shape the response of injured parties in the two countries and the extent to which resources and experience influence individual action. Drawing on two large-scale telephone surveys, one conducted in five federal judicial districts around the United States and one conducted in the Canadian province of Ontario, the article looks at the factors that influence claiming and seeking legal assistance. The overall patterns indicate that residents of Ontario are somewhat less likely to claim but more likely to seek legal assistance than are residents of the United States. Moreover, while cultural variations (e.g., religion, type of residence) are good predictors of claiming in Ontario, these factors have little influence on claiming in the United States. As for seeking legal assistance, few predictors are found to influence behavior in the United States while a variety of factors (community size, type of problem, stakes, gender, and education) influence behavior in Ontario.
The Response of the Criminal Justice System to Prison Overcrowding: Recidivism Patterns Among Four Successive Parolee Cohorts
Authors: Kelly William R. , Ekland-Olson Sheldon
Published: June 2006

Over the past decade crowded prison conditions became the subject for lawsuits across the country, resulting in restrictions on the “capacity” of prison systems in a number of states. These restrictions produced pressures throughout the criminal justice system, from arrest to release on parole. The question addressed in this research is whether these restrictions and pressures affected the probability and pattern of return to prison among parolees. Data were collected at yearly intervals from four successive cohorts of parolees in Texas. Each cohort was followed for thirty-six months to determine the pattern and probability of returning to prison. Four alternative explanations for shifts in recidivism probabilities are explored using “survival analysis” techniques. Evidence is found for reduced deterrence in addition to effects from cohort composition and administrative discretion.
Procedural Justice, Institutional Legitimacy, and the Acceptance of Unpopular U.S. Supreme Court Decisions: A Reply to Gibson
Authors: Tyler Tom R. , Rasinski Kenneth
Published: June 2006

Gibson (1989) questions whether the Supreme Court's ability to legitimate unpopular policies is based on public views that the Court is a fair decisionmaker. His claim is based on his analysis of a survey examining the ability of the Supreme Court to gain acceptance of the right of an unpopular political group to demonstrate. A reanalysis of Gibson's data using a model allowing for both direct and indirect effects of public views about the fairness of court decisionmaking procedures on acceptance does not support Gibson's conclusion that procedure has no influence on acceptance. Our results indicate that public views about the fairness of Supreme Court decisionmaking procedures have an indirect effect on acceptance through their influence on public views about the Court's legitimacy and support the suggestion of a number of studies that the legitimacy of both local and national legal institutions, and the willingness to accept their decisions, are influenced by views about the fairness of their decisionmaking procedures.
Institutional Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and Compliance with Supreme Court Decisions: A Question of Causality
Authors: Gibson James L.
Published: June 2006

In their essay, Tom Tyler and Ken Rasinski take issue with my analysis of legitimacy and procedural justice. Although my article covered a fair number of different issues, their critique focuses on one particular conclusion. I argued that citizen perceptions of procedural fairness by the U.S. Supreme Court contributed little to the willingness of citizens to comply with unpopular court decisions. Instead, compliance (or acquiescence) was most likely when citizens accorded high levels of diffuse support to the Supreme Court. That is, those who viewed the Supreme Court as a more legitimate institution were more likely to accede to an unpopular decision. I concluded (1989:489): “Thus there is some evidence that the legitimacy of the Court, at least as reflected in levels of diffuse support, affects compliance with unpopular decisons. No such evidence exists for perceptions of procedural justice.”
Capital Punishment and Contemporary Values: People's Misgivings and the Court's Misperceptions
Authors: Bowers William
Published: June 2006

Twenty years after the Supreme Court struck down existing death penalty statutes (Furman v. Georgia 1972) and a day after Justice Thurgood Marshall's death, the senior Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Harry Blackmun, charged the Court with coming “perilously close to murder” in its latest death penalty ruling. He made this charge in an unusual oral dissent from a decision which held that a federal appeals court could not hear newly developed evidence of a death row inmate's possible innocence (Herrera v. Collins 1992). The Court, nine months earlier, had barred a lower federal court from hearing new evidence challenging execution by asphyxiation as cruel punishment (Gomez v. U.S. District Court 1992) and had then taken the unprecedented step of ordering no further stays of execution (Vasquez v. Harris 1992).1 How did we reach this point when 20 years earlier the Court had declared that the death penalty as applied was too arbitrary to be constitutionally acceptable, and when virtually all other modern industrialized nations of the free world either had already, or soon would, do away with capital punishment?
Recent Trends in the Development of Labor Law in the Federal Republic of Germany
Authors: Weiss Manfred
Published: June 2006

Ernst Benda. Sozialrechtliche Eigentumspositionen im Arbeitskampf: Ein Beitrag zur Diskussion um die Änderung des § 116 Arbeitsförderungsgesetz (The guarantee of private property and its extension on claims based on social security law in situations of industrial action: A contribution to the discussion on the amendment of section 116 of the Employment Promotion Act). (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 1986).

Manfred Bobke and Herbert Grimberg. Der gewerkschaftliche Warnstreik im Arbeitskampfrecht: “Neue Beweglichkeit” gegen rechtliche Begrenzungen der gewerkschaftlichen Handlungsfreiheit (The warning strike organized by trade unions as reflected in the law on industrial conflict: “New mobility” against legal limitations of trade unions' freedom). (Cologne: Bund, 1983).

Volker Jahnke. Tarifautonomie und Mitbestimmung (Freedom of collective bargaining and codetermination). (Munich: Beck, 1984).

Volkhart Kriebel. Zentralisation und Dezentralisation im Tarifsystem: Möglichkeit und rechtliche Zulässigkeit einer dezentralen Tarifpolitik (Centralization and decentralization in the system of collective bargaining: Factual and legal possibility of a decentralized collective bargaining policy). (Berlin: Duncker and Humblot, 1984).

Fritz Ossenbühl and Reinhard Richardi. Neutralität im Arbeitskampf (Neutrality in industrial conflict). (Cologne: Heymanns, 1987).

Eduard Picker. Der Warnstreik und die Funktion des Arbeitskampfes in der Privatrechtsordnung (The warning strike and the function of industrial action in the system of civil law). (Cologne: Heymanns, 1983).

Ulrich Runggaldier. Kollektivvertragliche Mitbestimmung bei Arbeitsorganisation und Rationalisierung (Codetermination of work organization and rationalization by collective agreements). (Frankfurt: Metzner, 1983).

The economic crisis of the 1970s and early 1980s has led to a continuous questioning of established patterns of labor law in the Federal Republic of Germany. Until the mid-1970s full employment was one of the basic characteristics of the German labor market. Since then, an unemployment rate of approximately 10 percent has become part of the picture. In spite of the fact that the economy has recovered to a great degree, unemployment persists. Evidently, economic growth by itself does not imply job creation, and rationalization has become the key word of management policy. Since economic growth is more easily reached by new technologies than by the use of more manpower, job security is endangered irrespective of economic prosperity. In order to remain competitive in the world market, German companies have no choice but to reduce costs and to increase productivity.
Who Sues Their Doctors? How Patients Handle Medical Grievances
Authors: May Marlynn L. , Stengel Daniel B.
Published: June 2006

This article applies the dispute processing model developed by Felstiner, Abel, and Sarat (1980–81) to disputing between patients and doctors. We conducted interviews with 240 dissatisfied patients to examine the dispute resolution choices they made in response to unsatisfactory medical experiences. Probit models were constructed for each of five resolution choices, incorporating independent variables derived form the Felstiner et al. conceptual model. These analyses go beyond previous studies of medical malpractice by (a) presenting a comparative analysis of suers and nonsuers, (b) not relying on closed malpractice case data, and (c) presenting the perspective of aggrieved patients.
Money, Sex, and Death: Gender Bias in Wrongful Death Damage Awards
Authors: Goodman Jane , Loftus Elizabeth F. , Miller Marian , Greene Edith
Published: June 2006

Civil damage awards in wrongful death cases and experimental data from jury simulations reveal that male decedents are typically awarded substantially higher monetary damages than are similarly situated female decedents. These differences in treatment may arise because female decedents are perceived as worth less, female survivors are perceived as more needy, and/or male decedents are perceived to have a longer lost income stream than any female decedents. Mock jurors received written summaries of wrongful death cases stipulating to the liability of the defendant. They were asked to award an appropriate sum in damages and about the factors they considered in making these awards. Male decedents received higher awards in two separate studies. While mock jurors were sensitive to the perceived needs of the surviving spouse, the disparity in awards was primarily attributable to differences in the estimated lost income of the male and female decedents.
Prosecution as a Victim Power Resource: A Note on Empowering Women in Violent Conjugal Relationships
Authors: Ford David A.
Published: June 2006

Criminal prosecution of abusive men is described here as a power resource used by battered women to help bring about satisfactory arrangements for managing conjugal violence. This article examines relevant theory on exchange and power processes to explain the conditions of victim empowerment. It then describes cases of women who filed charges against their conjugal partners to show how victims may file, but later drop, charges as a rational power strategy for determining the future course of their relationships. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of prosecutorial policies that limit battered women's control over criminal justice processes.
Postmodernism and Protest: Recovering the Sociological Imagination
Authors: Calavita Kitty , Seron Carroll
Published: June 2006

Joel Handler's presidential address to the 1992 Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association examines the intellectual debates that animate recent studies of social change. This talk is his attempt to understand and question these studies of transformative politics which, Handler claims, are deeply influenced by a turn toward postmodernism. After ruminating over the postmodernist argument and its broader intellectual currents as well as its impact on studies of what he calls “protest from below” (e.g., Ewick & Silbey 1992; White 1990), he compares this work to earlier, more structurally informed approaches (e.g., Genovese 1974; Stack 1974; Piven & Cloward 1977). Handler believes that this earlier work remains more persuasive. Because the work of the 1970s is firmly rooted in an analysis of politics and economy that forms the basis for a theory of progressive social change, he concludes that it is more compelling, provocative, and socially meaningful. Handler is skeptical about the current research that is influenced by strains of postmodernism, although he does not seem to advocate a wholesale return to the earlier, social-structural approach. Thus, he does not take the difficult step of outlining a more useful and progressive analytical and political strategy.
Networks among Elites in a Local Criminal Justice System
Authors: Heinz John P. , Manikas Peter M.
Published: June 2006

This structural analysis of the relationships among participants in a criminal justice system, viewed in its political context, pursues John Hagan's suggestion that criminal justice theory adopt a “structural-contextual approach.” Drawing on data from a survey of 211 criminal justice administrators, interest group leaders, and news reporters in Cook County, Illinois, we examine networks of contact among the various governmental elites and private groups, using smallest space analyses to depict the patterns of relationships. Although the literature suggests that the police and the judiciary are often closely entwined with local political elites, we conclude that the judiciary is a relatively distinct or autonomous set in the Chicago context. The police, however, are found near the political elites. The news media are strongly oriented toward enforcement agencies rather than toward the judiciary or corrections, and the public and private organizations representing less powerful constituencies, such as minorities, juveniles, and the mentally ill, are found on the periphery. Contrary to some suggestions in the literature, government officials are not found in the center of these networks. Rather, the core of the structure is hollow, indicating an absence of central brokers or mediators.
Plea Bargaining Policy and State District Court Caseloads: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis
Authors: Holmes Malcolm D. , Daudistel Howard C. , Taggart William A.
Published: June 2006

Questions about the relation of court caseloads to plea bargaining practices generate much controversy but little sophisticated empirical research. Here we examine the effects of a 1975 felony plea bargaining ban in the Texas district courts in El Paso. Relying on a quasi-experimental interrupted time series model with annual data for 1968–83, we test the hypothesis that the discontinuance of plea bargaining negatively affects court caseloads, specifically the proportion of cases going to jury trial and the disposition rate. We also examine conviction rate, exploring whether the existence of plea bargaining encourages prosecutors to accept weak cases. We find a considerable increase in the proportion of cases going to jury trial immediately after the ban's implementation and a substantial but gradual decrease in the disposition rate. The jury trial rate contributed substantially to the disposition rate decline. The conviction rate was generally unaffected by the ban, although it became more consistent after the ban. Overall our findings suggest that the ban on explicit plea bargaining did affect the district courts' ability to move the felony docket efficiently.
The Discuss List: Agenda Building in the Supreme Court
Authors: Caldeira Gregory A. , Wright John R.
Published: June 2006

Each term 4,000 or more cases arrive at the doorstep of the Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court narrows the field of decision from all possible choices to a smaller set of the most plausible ones; in a typical term, the Conference places 20 to 30 percent (around 500) of the cases filed on its “discuss list,” only 150 or so of which will be selected for plenary review. Here we investigate the composition, sources, and implications of the Court's discuss list. What criteria do the justices use in creating the list of cases for discussion in conference? Do these criteria differ from those ultimately applied in the decision to grant or deny a writ of certiorari? What, if any, implications does the operation of the discuss list hold for the composition of the agenda and the outcome of decisions on the merits in the Supreme Court?

We test two chief sets of hypotheses: (1) the justices weigh the various formal and informal criteria differently across the two stages of agenda building, and (2) despite differences in weighting, the justices rely on briefs amicus curiae as well as ideological predispositions to help them both to identify logical candidates for discussion and to decide whether to grant certiorari. We explain the variation in the weighting of the criteria as being largely due to the cost and accuracy of information and the different risk of errors during the two phases of choice.
Beyond Deterrence: Behavioral Decision Theory and Tax Compliance
Authors: Casey Jeff T. , Scholz John T.
Published: June 2006

Deterrence models generally predict compliance patterns based solely on the subjective probability and utility of outcomes associated with alternative actions. Yet recent work in behavioral decision theory suggests that compliance decisions may also be affected by how the risks of noncompliance are described and how the decisionmaker's preferences are expressed. We report five experiments that examine how the cognitive heuristics evoked by these descriptive and procedural variables affect tax compliance. Using tax decision problems involving how to choose a tax professional, whether to take a questionable deduction, and how to approach an impending tax audit, we find that taxpayer preferences are significantly influenced by descriptive and procedural variables that traditional expected utility models ignore. We discuss the implications of these results for (1) extending compliance theory to understand a broader range of compliance behavior and (2) utilizing cognitive heuristics to predict the consequences of various enforcement policies.