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Legal Professionals (legal + professional)
Selected AbstractsEXPERTISE AND POLICY-MAKING: LEGAL PROFESSIONALS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 3 2006ELLA BATTEN Professional influence in policy-making is generally believed to rest on professionals successfully laying claim to access to expertise , knowledge, understanding or experience , not available to others, above all politicians. On the basis of a 2005 survey of nearly 800 lawyers serving in local authorities in England and Wales, this article explores the relationship between specialization and political influence. Lawyers who shape policy use conventional routes for political influence, establish contacts with political officeholders, tend to identify less with the profession at large and are less likely to see themselves as specialists in any field of law. This means that the relationship between expertise and political power is complex and that the notion that professionals use their expertise to shape policy should be treated with some caution. [source] Protection, manipulation or interference with relationships?JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2008Discourse analysis of New Zealand lawyers' talk about supervised access, partner violence Abstract Violence against women within the context of intimate relationships is a complex social problem in Aotearoa/New Zealand and internationally. Such abuse by men is particularly problematic because of its prevalence, and because of the extent and magnitude of deleterious effects on the health and psychological well-being of women and children. In New Zealand, the legal system is assumed to play an important role in protecting women and children from domestic violence. Through the Domestic Violence Act 1995 and the amended Guardianship Act 1968, persons who are physically, sexually or psychologically abusive to their children, or to their partner whilst children are present, may only be entitled to supervised access to these children. Although supervised access has been found to increase the safety of women and children, it remains a contentious issue. Because of the role that legal professionals have in the implementation of relevant legislation, the present research explored how lawyers make sense of supervised access in the context of domestic violence. Eighteen male and female lawyers were interviewed. Their interview transcripts were then subject to discourse analysis. This paper illustrates and discusses discourses used in relation to supervised access, including those that support protecting children from the harm of domestic violence through supervised access, and those that challenge the need for children's protection. Within the cluster of latter discourses, supervised access was not considered a means of balancing children's relationships with both parents with children's need for protection, or a way of enabling men to have a safe relationship with their children. Rather, it was constructed as violating men's rights to a relationship with their children, and children's right to a relationship with both parents. The prevalence of discourses opposing supervised access could affect the likelihood of women obtaining protection orders and supervised access conditions, and hence, women and children's safety. However, perpetuation of ,supportive' discourses could enhance women and children's well-being, and facilitate safe ongoing relationships between children and non-custodial parents. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Deliberation Quality: A Preliminary Examination in Criminal JuriesJOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2007Dennis J. Devine Large-scale studies of the deliberation process in actual juries have been surprisingly rare, and relatively little attention has been devoted to how well juries deliberate. This study identified a set of process-related criteria relevant to the quality of criminal jury deliberations and examined empirical relationships between indicators of these criteria and jury verdicts. Data were obtained via posttrial surveys from jurors and legal professionals associated with 179 criminal jury trials in Indiana. The quality of deliberations varied across the process criteria, with juries reportedly doing fairly well in terms of understanding their instructions and reviewing the evidence, but not as well with regard to systematically gathering input from their members, adopting an evidence-driven deliberation style, and avoiding factionalism. Several deliberation variables were also strongly related to jury verdicts, particularly the foreperson's initial verdict stance and the emergence of an identifiable pro-acquittal faction leader. Discussion of reasonable doubt and thoroughness of evidence review also tended to be negatively correlated with conviction even when strength of evidence was controlled. This study calls attention to the importance of deliberation quality. [source] A qualitative analysis of mock jurors' deliberations of linkage analysis evidenceJOURNAL OF INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND OFFENDER PROFILING, Issue 2 2010Angelina Charron Abstract Evidence about a suspect's behavioural similarity across a series of crimes has been presented in legal proceedings in at least three different countries. Its admission as expert evidence, whilst still rare, is becoming more common thus it is important for us to understand how such evidence is received by jurors and legal professionals. This article reports on a qualitative analysis of mock jurors' deliberations about expert linkage analysis evidence. Three groups of mock jurors (N = 20) were presented with the prosecution's linkage analysis evidence from the USA State v. Fortin I murder trial and expert evidence for the defence constructed for the purposes of the study. Each group was asked to deliberate and reach a verdict. Deliberations were video-recorded and subject to thematic content analysis. The themes that emerged were varied. Analysis suggested that the mock jurors were cautious of the expert evidence of behavioural similarity. In some cases they were sceptical of the expert. They articulated a preference that expert opinion be supported using statistics. Additional themes included jurors having misconceptions concerning what is typical offender behaviour during rape which suggests there is a need for expert linkage analysis evidence regarding behavioural similarities and the relative frequencies of crime scene behaviours. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Study of Gender in the Courts: Keeping Bias at BayLAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY, Issue 2 2002Lilia M. Cortina I am pleased to introduce the following two companion papers on gender in the United States Eighth Circuit courts. They emerge from a partnership of social scientists and legal professionals, spurred by a national movement to understand influences of gender on the judicial system. These studies reflect a majority of voices in the Eighth Circuit bench and bar, women and men who work in and preside over the federal courts of seven states. This project yielded a wealth of data, the analysis of which reveals ways both subtle and overt by which gender bias threatens fairness in the courts. Underscoring the importance of this and similar projects, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor once stated, "by acknowledging and not trivializing the effects of gender bias on reasonable women and men, courts can work toward ensuring that neither men nor women will have to run a gauntlet of abuse in return for the privilege of being allowed to work and make a living" (as quoted in the Final Report of the Eighth Circuit Gender Fairness Task Force [ECGFTF] 1997, 8). [source] The Politics of Court Budgeting in the States: Is Judicial Independence Threatened by the Budgetary Process?PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 4 2003James W. Douglas Judicial independence in American politics has been hailed as a means of preserving individual liberty and minority rights against the actions of the majoritarian branches of government. Recently, however, legal professionals and scholars of the courts have begun to question the magnitude of judicial independence, suggesting that budgeting and finance issues pose a threat to judicial independence. This article explores whether state judiciaries are being threatened on this front by soliciting the perceptions of key state officials. Using surveys of court administrators, executive budget officers, and legislative budget officers in the states, we examine three aspects of the politics of judicial budgeting: competing for scarce resources, interbranch competition, and pressure to raise revenues. The survey responses suggest that, in a substantial number of states, judicial independence has, at times, been threatened by interbranch competition and pressures to raise revenues. [source] Reactions to youth crime: perceptions of accountability and competency,BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES & THE LAW, Issue 1 2001Simona Ghetti M.A. Recent changes in juvenile justice policies have stimulated debate among legal professionals and social scientists. As such, public opinion concerning juvenile offenders is an important and timely topic for empirical study. In the present study, respondents read a scenario about a juvenile who committed a crime, and then decided on a sentence and rated perceptions of the juvenile's accountability and legal competence. Four between-subject factors were manipulated: age of the defendant (11 versus 14 versus 17 years), type of crime (shooting versus arson), crime outcome (victim injured versus died), and time delay between the instigating incident and the crime (immediately versus one day). The type and outcome of the crime were major motivating factors in sentencing decisions and perceptions of legal competence, and, although younger offenders were seen as less accountable and less competent than older offenders, sentence allocation and attitudes towards punishment were not significantly affected by offender age. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||