1.2 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to provide an alternative perspective to shed light on the nature of JJB.The traditional research on JJB is dominated by cognitivism，an approach focusing on the “black box” of judges.This has resulted in some model-theoretric descriptions and explanations of judges' decision making.Some psychometric models（e.g.Segal & Spaeth，2002），for example，have characterized judicial behavior in terms of personal，social and cultural attributes.However，research along this line heavily relies on researchers' personal erudition and unjustified theoretical assumption（e.g.Gao & Jiang，2006），or on the myth of statistical or experimental tools（e.g.Tiede，2007）.The theoretical categories and principles it has given rise to have little to do with judges' actual judicial behavior.

Recently，an alternative sociological approach has been advocated to address the contingency and complexity of judicial behavior.For example，Su（2004）conducts a contextual analysis of JJB.Wu（2008）applies a sociology of narrative to the case study of some judges in the local courts.Both of them recognize the discursive nature of JJB.Their objective is to describe how judicial behavior is enacted and lived out as accountable patterns of meaning，inference，and action.By focusing on the recorded discourse of judges，they try to cut across the basic problems associated with the gap between what they observe and what they generate as the theoretical account about judicial behavior.But as we can see，both approaches may be skewed by the researchers' theoretical preoccupations in interpretation.Either the contextual analysis or the sociology of narrative（Ewick & Silbey，1995；Fleury-Steiner，2002）is by no means free from the researchers' presumed ideology.Findings of these methods are in essence the researchers' etic claims.

Given these problems with previous judicial behavior research，this study aims to offer a new perspective into JJB so that judges' personal and practical knowledge can be properly accorded with.Such a concern entails development of a better fit between theory and data.A theory will be constructed out of rather than imposed on judicial behavior.By doing so，we can hopefully gain access to the authentic knowledge that informs JJB.