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2711.More information
AbstractDELINQUENCY IN THE MIDDLE CLASS :A GROUP CULTURE OF COMMITTED DRUG USERSAs a first step, this monograph evaluated the literature dealing with middle class delinquency. We were interested in the traditional forms of delinquency — agression, theft, etc., but in new forms as well : the hippie movement and student protest. Our second step was the study of a group culture of young adults, users of the minor drugs, hallucinogenics and psychedelics. This empiric study of the drug phenomenon in the middle class was accomplished by participant observation.The object of analyzing the group culture was to show how the consumption and distribution of drugs condition the structural and cultural aspects of life among a group of drug users. The results showed that the drug consumers studied were not social failures, and that their only consistent manifestation of maladjustment lay in their use of drugs. The group studied was a quasi-group whose activities consisted of sitting around and taking drugs with a background of silence or music. Culturally, much more of a vacuum was to be observed than adherence to an ideological, counter-cultural .— or rather, para-cultural .— support. The most interesting result was the demonstration of the direct relationship between drugs (consumption and/or distribution) and the structural and cultural aspects of the group studied.To interpret this drug phenomenon in the middle class, we advanced a paradigm consisting of four fields of importance : mass society that is alienating and anomic, the place of youth in society, the tolerance toward deviance, and the aimlessness of leisure time. On the basis of these areas of importance, the drug phenomenon exists because of the drift of youth between conformity and deviance.
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2712.More information
AbstractJUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND SOCIAL REACTIONThe object of this research is to define the process of social reaction to juvenile delinquency, as well as the criteria used by the agencies of social control in deciding what factors brand the adolescent a delinquent. Starting with self-reported delinquency, we follow its course within the system of social regulations practised by the public, the police and the courts.The data concern self-reported delinquency (measured by the questionnaire of Nye and Short on self-reported delinquency), delinquency officially known to the police, and the decisions taken by the police and judges with regard to delinquent acts. These data were gathered in five districts in Montreal, representing five social strata.The analysis of the stigma of delinquency showed that there is more chance of working-class subjects entering the juvenile justice system, above all where acquisitive and rebellious delinquency is concerned, especially in relation to the community, the family and sex. Among the middle and upper classes the stigma of delinquency is attached more to aggression and rebellion connected with automobiles and vandalism.As to the origins of social reaction ¦— the way in which an adolescent is admitted to the juvenile justice system .— the citizen reports offences against his person and property, while the police record offences against public order and morals.At the police level, the adolescent is returned to his home if it is a question of rebellion committed by a group between the ages of 12 and 15, whereas he is taken to court if his offence, reported by the citizen, is repeated and of a more serious nature. In the case of those taken to court, the adolescent is detained if he is a recidivist, and receives a summons if it is his first offence.The judges favor special measures in the case of rebelliousness, and no action at all (postponement sine die) in the case of aggression or theft by adolescents of the working class. A recidivist will be institutionalized for a serious infraction and treated within the community in the case of a less serious offence. Re-education in the community is given if the adolescent has been detained, and a fine if he has received a summons.The results clearly show that the characteristics of the delinquent acts are more important than the socioeconomic milieu in determining whatdecisions are taken. However, the socioeconomic milieu does influence admission into the juvenile justice system, as well as judicial reaction. Working-class subjects are given less attention than those from the middle and upper classes, postponement sine die is more often used in the working-class milieu, and fines, re-education within the community and institu-tionalization are more often applied to subjects of the middle and upper classes. Moreover, the margin of discretionary powers in decision making is, on the whole, rather narrow, which means that in the majority of cases, decisions can be explained by no other factors than the characteristics of the delinquent acts. This discretionary margin in decision making is narrow, both at the police and judicial levels, when a choice between particular measures must be made ; on the other hand, there is some leeway, since the judge must choose between postponement sine die and a particular measure. Finally, the course of the offence within the juvenile justice system reinforces the previous decisions through a process of amplification, which, as a consequence, penalizes working-class subjects to some extent.In short, delinquency is an adolescent phenomenon in general, but only a minority of infractions enter and continue to circulate within the juvenile justice system. The criteria for decision making are indeed socio-economic, but more often relate to the past history of the delinquent and the nature of his offence.
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2714.More information
As the US presidential campaign is entering its final stage, Sens Public, in partnership with ilovepolitics.info, starts a series of weekly reviews of some of the best American books that are of great help to understand the determining aspects of the race to the White House. Until the November 4th election, each week, an article analysing a best-selling book, or one often referred to by the US political commentators, will be presented and put in a broader context. Each one of them focuses on an issue which is too often forgotten in the media turmoil generated by the campaigns. Those reviews intend to offer a better insight on the future of contemporary America.
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2716.More information
In following dialectic reasoning, avenues of analysis are proposed to assess the insolvable contradiction that puts the vectors of globalized expansion at odds with the requisites of the Rule of Law. The issue of their reciprocal compatibility cannot be eluded because the two phenomena are based upon hegemonic premises, which allow them to lay claim to the preeminence of distinct fields. Thus, during the 1990s, the tangible progression of the Rule of Law as a means of expression for constitutional democracy beyond the limited circle of occidental countries contributed to the latent universalization of the principle, but also of the development of a rhetoric that transformed it into a myth that forms the basis of contemporary political debates. The ideas (constitutionalism, political democracy, the « juridical handling » of fundamental freedoms) that nurture discussions on the Rule of Law point the political and institutional practices of sovereign states in a specific direction. Conversely, globalization is associated with the emergence of « borderless laws » and the creation of new machinery for imposing regulations that would reduce state sovereignty in various areas currently under their exclusive jurisdiction. Since the integrity of national legal systems is solidly based upon the prevalence of constitutional standards, the effectiveness of the Rule of Law and constitutionalism may become shaky owing to the multiplication of legal systems in potential competition with one another. Globalization offers fertile ground for devising various scenarios wherein states no longer have precedence over the dynamics for creating standards or setting reference points. If this analysis highlights the exacerbation of many contradictions, it correspondingly underscores the complementarity arising from the limits of the State being outpaced by the classical sources of international law. Between the globalization of the Rule of Law and its correlative integration into the multiform realities of globalization, current transformations demonstrate the need for reformulating the Rule of Law.
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2718.More information
The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms came into force on September 1953. In 1959, the European Court of Human Rights began its work which is to apply the Convention to particular cases. Since then, it has delivered 94 judgments. For Canadian Lawyers, since the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has come into force, the European Court and its decisions are of particular signifiance. The following article concerns the Court itself, especially the status of its judges. It also concerns the functions, powers and procedures of the Court and lastly relates the spirit with which the Convention has been applied to the National Laws of the Members of the Council of Europe for the past 25 years.
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