One common approach to managing the inevitable erroneous convictions and erroneous acquittals produced by criminal justice systems is to employ various means (rules and procedures) to decrease the number of erroneous convictions at the expense of increasing, even many more times, the number of erroneous acquittals. Blackstone’s famous dictum (1765) that “[i]t is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer” (“the Blackstone ratio”), and others like it, have inspired this error distributing approach to error management. A mathematical analysis is provided demonstrating that, under certain conditions (“the R-conditions”), error distributing approaches result in criminal justice systems that function worse, by all quantitative measures (including the number of innocents convicted), than similar systems in which defendants are randomly acquitted. These results follow from one of a pair of derived fundamental equations applicable to all criminal justice systems, regardless of circumstance. Thus, the results hold irrespective of the means used to avoid convicting the guilty and challenge those who wish to engage in a particular error distributing approach to show that the R-conditions do not obtain for that approach (with reasonably convincing accuracy). Further, the results presented herein identify an upper bound to the Blackstone ratio, according to one conception of that ratio. / text

Une personne est injustement condamnée à l'emprisonnement. Elle est victime d'une erreur judiciaire. Plusieurs causes peuvent être à l'origine d'une telle injustice mais malheureusement il est difficile de le prouver. Le système de justice pénale au pays n'est pas à l'abri des condamnations injustifiées et plusieurs innocentes victimes en ont payé le prix. Or, comment une victime d'erreur judiciaire peut-elle prouver son innocence et ainsi recouvrer la liberté à laquelle elle a droit? Certes, l'aveu du coupable ou la découverte d'une nouvelle preuve peuvent servir de moyens de reconnaissance factuelle d'une condamnation injustifiée. Toutefois, certains obstacles procéduraux comme les délais d'appel, les règles d'admissibilité de la preuve nouvelle ou encore le mécanisme de correction des erreurs judiciaires prévu aux articles 696.1 et suivants du Code criminel peuvent compliquer le scénario. Avant le 4 juin 2002, cette dernière procédure était visée par l'article 690 du Code. Toutefois, suite à de nombreuses critiques ainsi qu'à une consultation publique orchestrée par le gouvernement canadien, des modifications législatives ont été apportées à cette procédure. Mais celles-ci sont-elles suffisantes? Nous pensons que certaines des modifications sont grandement appréciables. Cependant, la structure d'évaluation des dossiers et de recommandation des dossiers au ministre de la Justice mériterait la mise en place d'un comité formé d'avocats indépendants pour conseiller ce dernier. Cela est nécessaire afin de réduire à néant tout conflit d'intérêts potentiel de la part du Ministre et d'assurer la transparence du processus en cause. / A person is unjustly condemned to imprisonment. He or she is victim of a wrongful conviction. Many causes can lead to such an injustice but unfortunately, it is hard to prove. The country's criminal justice system makes no exception to wrongful verdicts of guilt and many innocent people have paid the priee. Thus, how can a person victim of a wrongful conviction prove his innocence and recover his rightful freedom? Of course, the confession of the true guilty person, the discovery of new evidence or a special inquiry commission are all ways of recognizing factually an unjust guilty verdict. However, certain procedural obstacles such as appeal delays, rules of admissibility of new evidence or even the procedure for correcting wrongful convictions provided under article 696.1 and following of the Criminal code, can complicate the scenario. Before June 4, 2002, the latter procedure was provided under article 690 of the Code. However, following great criticism as well as a public consultation orchestrated by the Canadian government, legislative modifications were brought to that procedure. Are the modifications made to the procedure sufficient? We believe that some of them are greatly appreciable. However, the evaluation and case recommendation structure to the Minister deserves the creation of a committee constituted by attorneys fully independent of the Minister able to advise him or her. This is necessary in order to fully reduce any potential conflicts of interest by the Minister and would ensure transparence of the process in question. / "Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de Maîtrise en droit (L.L.M.)"

Notre thèse se propose d'analyser l'expérience des jurés populaires en cour d'assises. À partir d'entretiens réalisés avec d'anciens jurés ainsi que des Présidents d'assises et d'observations de procès d'assises, nous souhaitons montrer que l'expérience du jugement déstabilise les certitudes des jurés. Le changement qui se produit chez ces jurés est analysé à partir de la notion de conversion démocratique. Cette analogie doit nous permettre d'expliquer le processus qui se met en place chez les jurés tout au long de leur expérience. Notre thèse analyse donc un dispositif de parole à portée démocratique. Sont ainsi étudiés le rituel de la procédure, la construction de l'intime conviction et le rôle du président dans la formation du jugement. Ces éléments, mis en parallèle avec l'expérience des jurés, permettent d'identifier les différentes étapes de leur conversion. La construction de leur intime conviction, analysée comme une véritable faculté de juger, est au cœur du processus de conversion démocratique. L'expérience du jugement s'avère donc être aussi importante pour les jurés que nous avons rencontré, que pour la démocratie elle-même.

The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether adolescents make use of an ethical decision–making framework when they make choices in relation to sexual activities and the elements that make up this ethical decision–making framework. The adolescent stage of development is characterized by physical and cognitive changes, of which the development of sexual characteristics and morality are only parts. Both these developments are discussed at length within the context of adolescent sexual activity, and cognitive and moral development. Different influences on the morality of adolescents were identified, of which the faith community of adolescents were one. These elements also influence the ethical decision–making framework of adolescents on sexual activity. The influence of the religious community on the ethical decision–making framework of adolescents was also investigated on the basis of the faith community's message about sexual activities and the perceptual influence of the religious community on the morality of adolescents. The sexual activity of adolescents, adolescents? perceptions about these sexual activities as well as the messages and sources of information that are available to adolescents with regard to sex was identified by making use of Participant Observation Research. A small group of participants and observers used the PIRASH program to identify the above–mentioned information. The participants also identified the obstacles that adolescents must overcome to establish a healthy sexual life, and what their definition of a healthy sexual life is. Participants in this study agreed that their faith community did not provide enough information to adolescents about sex and sexual activities. Participants indicated this lack of information as their reason for using other sources of information about sexual activities. These messages conveyed by other sources, including those of the media, friends and parents vary from those the faith community has about sex. Adolescents have easier access to these other sources; therefore there is a difference between the faith community's view on sexual activity and that of the adolescents who form part of the faith community. It is concluded that it is necessary, almost urgently, for faith communities to establish the actual view of adolescents who form part of the community, on sexual activity, and to have a stronger influence on the ethical decision–making framework of adolescents. The ethical decision–making framework of adolescents can only be influenced if the faith communities speak more comfortably and more extensively with their adolescents about sex and sexual activities. Postmodern adolescents have access to a variety of sources with a variety of messages about sex and the importance of moral messages from the faith community cannot be underestimated. A secondary outcome of this study was to explore the possibility of Participant Observation Research as research methodology within Theological Ethics. / Thesis (M.A. (Ethics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether adolescents make use of an ethical decision–making framework when they make choices in relation to sexual activities and the elements that make up this ethical decision–making framework. The adolescent stage of development is characterized by physical and cognitive changes, of which the development of sexual characteristics and morality are only parts. Both these developments are discussed at length within the context of adolescent sexual activity, and cognitive and moral development. Different influences on the morality of adolescents were identified, of which the faith community of adolescents were one. These elements also influence the ethical decision–making framework of adolescents on sexual activity. The influence of the religious community on the ethical decision–making framework of adolescents was also investigated on the basis of the faith community's message about sexual activities and the perceptual influence of the religious community on the morality of adolescents. The sexual activity of adolescents, adolescents? perceptions about these sexual activities as well as the messages and sources of information that are available to adolescents with regard to sex was identified by making use of Participant Observation Research. A small group of participants and observers used the PIRASH program to identify the above–mentioned information. The participants also identified the obstacles that adolescents must overcome to establish a healthy sexual life, and what their definition of a healthy sexual life is. Participants in this study agreed that their faith community did not provide enough information to adolescents about sex and sexual activities. Participants indicated this lack of information as their reason for using other sources of information about sexual activities. These messages conveyed by other sources, including those of the media, friends and parents vary from those the faith community has about sex. Adolescents have easier access to these other sources; therefore there is a difference between the faith community's view on sexual activity and that of the adolescents who form part of the faith community. It is concluded that it is necessary, almost urgently, for faith communities to establish the actual view of adolescents who form part of the community, on sexual activity, and to have a stronger influence on the ethical decision–making framework of adolescents. The ethical decision–making framework of adolescents can only be influenced if the faith communities speak more comfortably and more extensively with their adolescents about sex and sexual activities. Postmodern adolescents have access to a variety of sources with a variety of messages about sex and the importance of moral messages from the faith community cannot be underestimated. A secondary outcome of this study was to explore the possibility of Participant Observation Research as research methodology within Theological Ethics. / Thesis (M.A. (Ethics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The present study examines the choice for sociology as a subfield in Swedish higher education. In the Bourdieusian tradition, the theory of social practices – with its relational concepts of field, habitus and capital – was the sociological lens for constructing the object and instruments for tackling it. The emphasis was given to the subjective dimension: how students rationalize and strategize the decision for studying sociology, as a course or a program, in an educational choice that entails a mobilization of resources acquired in the past for anticipating the future. For this, qualitative interviewing enabled the production of narratives of 21 students at different Swedish universities, exploring assumptions and presuppositions deployed in their choice. Results suggest a complex construction of the choice for sociology as a meaningful and suitable decision, producing varied degrees of conviction in the subfield and position-takings in relation to its practice and representations. Different positions can be outlined depending on how sociology is understood: as a capital for a subsequent entry to different fields, a distinction emerges in the mode of appropriation between ‘specialization’ of those investing in programs and ‘generalization’ of those taking freestanding courses combined with other investments; a difference indicating a different degree of belief in the discipline and its inculcation translated into the time devoted for it. When sociology becomes a field, a distinction refers to the practice of sociology between an ‘academically oriented sociology’ concerned with research and teaching, and a ‘socially oriented sociology’ concerned with an engagement and contribution to people outside the academic space. Since sociology is a scientific field with relatively weak autonomy to external forces, a plurality of hierarchies characterizes a stake for defining its ultimate and legitimate value, offering multiple satisfactions according to varied strategies and aspirations. However, this should not conceal the academic roots of a discipline precisely institutionalized at universities and that may influence a hierarchical relation between the social and the academic in the sociological field.

No description available.

No description available.

As economic inequality constantly grows, understanding what drives individuals’ support for redistribution is as critical as ever. In the current dissertation, we find evidence suggesting that attitudes towards reducing economic inequality can be experienced with moral conviction (i.e., perceived as rooted in one’s core beliefs about right and wrong). This, in turn, can motivate support for redistribution. In Study 1, reducing economic inequality moral conviction scores were comparable to other highly moralized topics (e.g., euthanasia), and higher than lowly moralized topics (e.g., tattoos). In Studies 2 and 3, a greater moral conviction for reducing economic inequality (family wealth and family income, respectively) positively predicted support for redistributive government policies (such as minimum wages and tax breaks increases) – also when controlling for income, subjective socio-economic inequality and economic system justification (i.e., other critical predictors of support for redistribution). Furthermore, this relationship was mediated by empathic concern (with mixed results) and structural causal attributions. Finally, Study 4 showed how moral conviction predicted a positive evaluation of poverty reduction program – even in the face of negative evidence (i.e., description of a fictitious family misusing their welfare bonuses). Moreover, moral conviction worked as a predictor of family evaluation when positive cases were shown. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of one’s moral conviction as a motivator of support for redistributive policies - suggesting that future research should take into account addressing not only implications concerning cost and benefits, but individuals’ personal moral considerations as well.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:25:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosangela Laskoski Biscaia.pdf: 432230 bytes, checksum: 8c3dd6843bea83a71bfac1a842bb09d2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-02-10 / The bad-faith litigation is without a shadow of a doubt a maleficent behavior that stains the branch of the procedural law, because the part using the proper ways that the law confers to it, litigates in an abusive way bringing damage not only to the adverse part but also to the judiciary structure, which is in the total dependence of the disloyal acts, remaining harm to the whole society and why not to say the credibility of proper justice. The worry of the legislator in restraining the acts of litigation of bad-faith is as older as the proper of Law History. The man worried in finding a way to discipline the human acquaintance, created the law with the goal of providing a harmonious acquaintance to the human beings. However, he immediately felt obliged to create patterns to inhibit that the proper law was a bad-faith instrument of litigation. This fact appears demonstrated in the litigation of bad-faith history, where the concern of foreign legislation is depicted as well as the national doctrine of making difficult disloyal acts that stain the instrumental law. Sometimes, the bad faith litigation is located in a misty position, making it difficult to the interpreter to evidence if it really is a bad-faith litigation act, or if it is out of practice of his rights, such as those assured in our Carta Maior (Big Letter) when it assures us that the law will not exclude the appreciation of the Judiciary injury or threat of right, assuring everybody about the legal defense and the contradictory in the judicial and administrative lawsuit. Therefore, we make an analysis of the moral process and the own contaminated act of bad-faith litigation, adjusting the concepts of law evolution that follows the human being evolution to assure the effectiveness of this study. We analyze the behavior of the parts that appears in the lawsuit, with the objective of searching the major cause of the existence of the disloyal procedure. We portrait the behavior of the bad-faith litigant, trying to clarify all the attitudes that reflects in this undesirable behavior, which must be repelled, preventing the ruin of the patterns that support the State while owner of power-duty of saying the law. The study develops itself giving emphasis to the working lawsuit evidencing the behaviors that reflect the bad-faith litigation and the damages that appear from it. The legislative evolution is also the target of commentaries and it is trying to demonstrate if the laws are really efficient to prevent the performance of bad-faith litigation act. We will analyze the imposed penalties, trying to demonstrate if the existing legislation prevents and it avoids the performance of bad-faith litigant acts. Thus, the study is always carried out, approaching the concern of giving effectiveness to the patterns that forbid such abusive practice in order to preserves the respect to the dignity of the human being and the proper justice / A litigância de má-fé é, sem sombra de dúvida, um comportamento maléfico que macula o ramo do direito processual, pois, a parte, usando dos próprios meios que a lei lhe confere, litiga de forma abusiva, trazendo prejuízos não só a parte adversa, mas também a toda a estrutura judiciária, a qual fica a mercê dos atos desleais, advindo prejuízo para toda a sociedade e por que não dizer a credibilidade da própria justiça. Tão antiga quanto a própria história do direito é a preocupação do legislador em coibir os atos de litigância de má-fé. O homem preocupado em disciplinar a convivência humana, criou o direito com o objetivo de proporcionar aos seres humanos uma convivência harmoniosa. Entretanto, imediatamente se viu obrigado a criar normas para impedir que o próprio direito fosse instrumento de litigância de má-fé. Tal fato resta demonstrado no histórico da litigância de má-fé, onde se retrata a preocupação da legislação estrangeira bem como a doutrina nacional em dificultar os atos desleais que maculam o direito instrumental, constituindo-se num verdadeiro assédio processual, o que impede por muitas vezes que o direito reconhecido pelo Estado juiz não se torne efetivo. A litigância de má-fé, às vezes, situa-se numa posição nebulosa, dificultando ao interprete evidenciar se realmente se trata de um ato de litigância de má-fé, ou se esta a parte a exercer seus direitos tais qual aqueles assegurados em nossa Carta Maior quando nos assegura que a lei não excluirá da apreciação do Poder Judiciário lesão ou ameaça de direito, assegurando a todos a nos processos judiciais e administrativo a ampla defesa e o contraditório. Para tanto faremos uma analise do processo, da moral e do próprio ato eivado de litigância de má-fé, adequando os conceitos a própria evolução do direito que acompanha a evolução humana, pois se assim não fosse não poderíamos falar em efetividade das normas jurídicas.. Analisamos o comportamento das partes que figuram no processo, com o objetivo de buscar a causa maior da existência do procedimento desleal. Retrataremos o comportamento do litigante de má-fé, procurando esclarecer todas as atitudes que reflete nesse comportamento indesejado o qual deve ser repelido, evitando assim a ruína das normas que amparam o Estado enquanto detentor do poder-dever de dizer o direito. O estudo se desenvolve dando ênfase ao processo trabalhista evidenciando os comportamentos que refletem a litigância de má-fé e os prejuízos que dela decorrem. A evolução legislativa também é alvo de comentários, buscando com isso demonstrar se as leis se mostram de tal eficiente para coibirem a litigância de má-fé. Analisaremos as penalidades impostas, procurando demonstrar se a legislação existente previne e impede a atuação dos litigantes de má-fé. Assim, o estudo é realizado, sempre abordando a preocupação de dar efetividade às normas que proíbem tal prática abusiva a fim de que se preserve o respeito à dignidade do ser humano e da própria justiça