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Law and Contemporary Problems

Apologizing

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Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Law

Apologies In The Healthcare System: From Clinical Medicine To Public Health, Michal Alberstein, Nadav Davidovitch Jul 2011

Apologies In The Healthcare System: From Clinical Medicine To Public Health, Michal Alberstein, Nadav Davidovitch

Law and Contemporary Problems

Alberstein and Davidovitch explore the role of apologies in healthcare systems from a broader perspective. The significance of apology in terms of social solidarity is addressed and the ways in which each apology situation entails a clash between cultural identities are demonstrated. The debate on apology is explored by presenting a public health perspective of apologies following collective traumatic events such as the application of sterilization laws or flawed human experimentations in various settings.


Comment On Using Criminal Punishment To Serve Both Victim And Social Needs, John O. Haley Apr 2009

Comment On Using Criminal Punishment To Serve Both Victim And Social Needs, John O. Haley

Law and Contemporary Problems

Haley comments on the argument underlying the article by Erin Ann O'Hara and Maria Mayo Robbins, which emphasizes on victim-offender mediation (VOM). By expanding the frame of reference, restorative justice can be defined as a paradigm whose scope encompasses more than VOM and whose emphasis includes the needs of society and offenders as well as victims. Restorative justice involves a wide variety of processes and programs that are more apt to restore both those who commit and those who suffer wrongs. It includes children at risk programs, drug courts, violence-treatment programs, as well as VOM programs. It also includes efforts …


A Reflection And Response To Using Criminal Punishment To Serve Both Victim And Social Needs, Kenneth R. Downes Apr 2009

A Reflection And Response To Using Criminal Punishment To Serve Both Victim And Social Needs, Kenneth R. Downes

Law and Contemporary Problems

Downes comments on Erin Ann O'Hara and Maria Mayo Robbins' article that accurately describes the nuanced and complex nature of apology and forgiveness. These are not actions that can be programmed--they happen at their own pace and in paths that are winding and unchartable. One of the reasons that victim-offender mediation is unpopular with some is that it can be emotionally messy and slow. Thus, one of the most helpful insights in his work has been that forgiveness is developmental, meaning that it often happens in normal and predictable stages. Forgiveness can be divided into manageable pieces. Indeed, their article …


Examining The Applicability Of The Concepts Of Apology, Forgiveness, And Reconciliation To Multi-Stakeholder, Collaborative Problem-Solving Processes, Jennifer Pratt Miles Apr 2009

Examining The Applicability Of The Concepts Of Apology, Forgiveness, And Reconciliation To Multi-Stakeholder, Collaborative Problem-Solving Processes, Jennifer Pratt Miles

Law and Contemporary Problems

In 2004, Meridian Institute, an organization with expertise in designing, facilitating, and mediating collaborative problem-solving processes, was asked to assess the feasibility of forming collaborative, community-based-watershed groups in northern New Mexico to develop plans to address water-quality problems and--if determined to be feasible--to facilitate the formation of those groups and plans. Early in the assessment process it became clear that the historical context was critically important and was one of the factors that had to be addressed. Here, Miles explores the applicability of apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation to a collaborative group process that can be examined through the example of …


Never Being Able To Say You’Re Sorry: Barriers To Apology By Leaders In Group Conflicts, Roger Conner, Patricia Jordan Apr 2009

Never Being Able To Say You’Re Sorry: Barriers To Apology By Leaders In Group Conflicts, Roger Conner, Patricia Jordan

Law and Contemporary Problems

Conner and Jordan discuss three implications of the foregoing analysis for leaders, peacemakers, and scholars interested in apology as an instrument to advance justice, prevent destructive conflict, and promote cooperation. First, an effective apology is likely to occur only after other changes have "softened up" negative attitudes between the groups--referred to here as "ripeness." Second, even with a degree of ripeness, apology is unlikely without a "window of opportunity," a confluence of circumstances that permits the leader to limit the scope of the apology so as not to concede too much. Third, even if these conditions are satisfied, words alone …


A Biological Approach To Understanding Resistance To Apology, Forgiveness, And Reconciliation In Group Conflict, Douglas H. Yarn, Gregory Todd Jones Apr 2009

A Biological Approach To Understanding Resistance To Apology, Forgiveness, And Reconciliation In Group Conflict, Douglas H. Yarn, Gregory Todd Jones

Law and Contemporary Problems

Yarn and Jones introduce a biological approach to understanding resistance to apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation in intergroup conflict. Using evolutionary biology and game theory, they illustrate how the strategic dynamics of dyadic interaction tend to favor these behaviors and derive a schema relevant a reconciliatory cycle. They then explore how the distinct context of intra- and intergroup conflict reinforces these behaviors. Finally, they identify those barriers to individual reconciliation that result from the strategic dynamics of social-group architectures, particularly those that differ from the ancestral social architecture within which individual behavior has evolved. They conclude with a brief application of …


Can Effective Apology Emerge Through Litigation?, Alphonse A. Gerhardstein Apr 2009

Can Effective Apology Emerge Through Litigation?, Alphonse A. Gerhardstein

Law and Contemporary Problems

Gerhardstein provides a number of examples in which the factors identified by Roger Conner and Patricia Jordan--ripeness, a window of opportunity, and a symbolic act or gesture--came together to facilitate apology by a public leader. But he doesn't think that the window of opportunity needs to be exogenously determined. Rather, advocates can, through litigation and settlement demands, create that window. He believes that apology by public officials can do more to promote healthy civic society than can mere monetary settlement.


Truth, Understanding, And Repair, E. Franklin Dukes Apr 2009

Truth, Understanding, And Repair, E. Franklin Dukes

Law and Contemporary Problems

Dukes argues that the quest for truth, understanding, and victim-defined repair present more appropriate vehicles for addressing certain cases of severe injustice than might a focus upon apology and forgiveness. In his work, he helps construct conversations among people who often have different and conflicting interests, such that they may gain knowledge--knowledge about one another, about their relationships, and about the issues at stake. He acknowledges that he does focus on helping to build resilient and sustainable communities, but he also insists that productive resolution of some problems can happen in spite of, even because of, the lack of full …


Saving Face: The Benefits Of Not Saying I’M Sorry, Brent T. White Apr 2009

Saving Face: The Benefits Of Not Saying I’M Sorry, Brent T. White

Law and Contemporary Problems

White discusses the socio-psychological research that suggests humans invest significant emotional stake in "face"--or their "claimed identity as a competent, intelligent, or moral persons"--and apologize only when they can do so without significant "face threat." Criminal offenders, many of whom are likely to be low on self-determination, may resist apology to victims out of psychological fragility and the psychological need to preserve face rather than lack of remorse. Thus, the criminal-justice system should be cautious about punishing offenders more harshly because they fail to show external remorse--or even when they are openly defiant. This caution should be exercised whether the …