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In this paper, we discuss the cooperative output tracking problem for networked multi‐agent systems (NMASs) with plant‐model mismatch as well as random communication constraints in the forward and feedback channels of each agent. In order to compensate actively for random communication constraints, that is, network‐induced delays and packet dropouts, an incremental networked predictive control scheme based on a state observer is proposed, which consists of a data buffer, an incremental networked predictor, and a network delay compensator. For both the plant‐model mismatch case and the plant‐model match case, the stability conditions of resulting closed‐loop NMASs are derived, respectively. Using the proposed method, the simulation results for three DC motor systems are presented to indicate that desired tracking performance can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Should a defendant to an action in trespass be entitled to a reduction in compensatory damages on the basis of provocation by the claimant? Judges and academic commentators are divided on the issue, although the weight of authority is that, in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, no such reduction is permissible. This article demonstrates that the reasons conventionally offered in support of the current position are unpersuasive, and that a strong moral argument supports the reduction of damages in many commonplace scenarios. However, the article also shows that the continued rejection of provocation might be justified on the grounds that no principled basis exists upon which to preclude its operation in normatively problematic contexts, such as domestic violence and unwanted sexual advances. It is suggested that the best solution would be for the common law to recognise a partial defence of provocation, subject only to certain principled limitations, leaving it to parliament to 'carve out' appropriate policy exceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial diversity and group decision-making in a mock jury experiment. Racial diversity and group decision-making in a mock jury experiment. Asterisk indicates that one diverse jury recommended extremely high compensatory damages ($1,000,000) compared to the remaining six juries. [Extracted from the article]

Research Summary: We use survey data from a nationally representative sample to explore public support for taxpayer‐funded victim compensation programs for financial fraud, consumer fraud, identity theft, and burglary. We use contingent valuation (willingness‐to‐pay) methodology to infer preferences for compensation programs and explore predictors of those preferences. Overall, our findings reveal that the public strongly supports the implementation of victim compensation programs. Our results also indicate, however, that this support may be driven in part by perceptions of benefiting from this program directly in the future. Additionally, a small but notable minority of respondents exhibit preferences for programs without compensation. Policy Implications: Our findings suggest that the general public is supportive of restitutive compensation programs, not only as paid for by offenders but also as paid for by the government. We suggest that policy makers may seek to extend victim compensation funds to white‐collar crimes, which may otherwise be more financially damaging than traditional crimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychoanalysts assert that when wrongs have been done to others the impulse to apologize and forgive is natural, although in reality efforts toward interpersonal and social repair are often frustrated. This article assesses current debates on reparations for African Americans, applying psychoanalytic ideas to account for American resistance to engage in a process of reconciliation. Contemporary authors claim that racial repair requires a moral and ethical acknowledgment of and responsibility for harms committed to African Americans. This article demonstrates, in addition, reparations as a psychological necessity. Racism, however, emphasizing the reality of racial difference, continues, as always, to serve as a powerful defense thwarting the reparative impulse. The result has been the securing of physical separation between Whites and Blacks and the persistence of psychic enmeshment. Absent the implementation of a politics of reparations, African Americans will never achieve externality, or independence, from the White mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many jurisdictions award pain and suffering damages, yet it is difficult for judges or juries to quantify pain. Several jurisdictions, such as California, cap pain and suffering damages or other noneconomic damages, and legal scholars have proposed ways to control such damages. Reforms and proposals, however, have been based on limited empirical evidence. It remains an open question whether components of economic damages explain pain and suffering damages. This study employs a unique dataset of Taiwan district court cases and uses detailed information on the components of pecuniary damages. Pain and suffering damages highly correlate with the plaintiff's medical expenses, level of injury, and the amount requested by the plaintiff. The association with the amount requested by the plaintiff persists when one accounts for the likely quantifiable influences on pain and suffering damages, evidence of a possible anchoring effect. The strong correlation between economic damages and noneconomic damages persists in a large U.S. dataset of judge and jury trials, in which the noneconomic fraction of total damages is no greater than the pain and suffering fraction of total damages in Taiwan. Judges and juries consistently produce coherent patterns of noneconomic damages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article defends a set of exceptions to the general rule in tort law that a claimant must prove that a particular defendant's wrongful conduct was a cause of its injury on the balance of probabilities in order to be entitled to compensatory damages in respect of that injury. The basic rationale for each exception is that it provides a means of enforcing the defendant's secondary moral duty to its victim. The article further demonstrates that the acceptance of this set of exceptions does not undermine the general rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After disasters, victim compensation programs are typically associated with individual healing and community rebuilding. But postdisaster compensation systems also have the potential to introduce confusion and competition, further fraying the social fabric of communities affected by trauma. To assess the perceived effects of disaster compensation processes on community social relations, as well as the mechanisms that underlie such effects, we turn to the case of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, after which BP implemented one of the largest compensation systems in U.S. history. Using data from interviews of residents of four Gulf Coast communities, we examine the extent to which this claims process hindered efforts to recover from this disaster. Our data suggest that while BP money helped some residents in the Gulf during a difficult economic time, many interviewees perceived uncertainty, randomness, and unevenness in the compensation process, which led to negative social comparisons and competition among community members. Because of this animosity, we argue that BP's compensation system was a disruptive mechanism that contributed to community corrosion and introduced another source of psychological stress into already-traumatized areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the ways in which talk about reparations for historical injustice demonstrates individuals' ambitions for future collective identities. Interviews with White Tulsans ( n = 25) illustrate how discursive temporal constructions justify support for or opposition to reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. It is argued that White Tulsans strategically employed these constructions to either transform or maintain collective identities. These findings bring a discursive approach to theories of collective continuity ( Sani, Bowe, & Herrera, 2008) and possible selves ( Cinnirella, 1998; Markus & Nurius, 1986; Mc Adams, 2006; Vignoles, 2008). From this perspective, reckoning with the past is as much about who we can be tomorrow as it is guilt for who we were yesterday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author conveys her thoughts on studies about the use and effectiveness of victim restitution in the criminal justice system. Topics covered include an experimental test of a strategy to boost payment of restitution, the benefits of moving away from fear- and judgment-based sanctions toward a model that helps probationers accomplish what they need to, and the key to receiving payment from probationers.

The distribution of blockbuster punitive damages awards has fat tails similar to the distributions of losses from natural disasters. Extremely large awards occur more often and are more difficult to predict than if blockbuster awards were distributed normally. The size and predictability of awards are important factors in the U. S. Supreme Court's decisions on punitive damages. This article examines the effect of the Court's decision in State Farm v. Campbell on blockbuster punitive damages awards. State Farm shifts the fat tail of the distribution of blockbuster awards down (or 'thins' the tail), which is consistent with a restraining effect on award size. State Farm reduces the size of blockbuster awards in general, but this reduction is most salient in the upper half of the distribution of awards. State Farm also has a negative influence on the probability of exceeding a single-digit ratio between punitive and compensatory damages. This article also examines the largest awards and considers why defendants may not pay large punitive damages awards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on compensatory damages in law and psychological aspects of death. Topics discussed include critique on psychoanalyst Freud Sigmund's investigation on self-destructive forces at work within the human consciousness by psychoanalyst Jean Laplanche; availability of compensatory damage for assuring balance between the harm done and vengeance; and the history of origins of English Law with the Norman Conquest of England by William I, King of England, in AD 1066.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "A no-fault compensation system for medical injury is long overdue" by David Weisbrot and Kerry J Breen in the September 3, 2012 issue.