论法院有权变更起诉罪名

在刑事审判中,法院作为裁判者有权对检察机关指控的罪名予以变更,这是法院行使定罪权的体现。这一做法没有违背"不告不理原则",没有侵犯被告人的辩护权。但是法院变更起诉罪名应受到一定的限制,检察机关灵活运用公诉变更制度、完善法院的建议权、被告人和辩护人充分行使辩护权是完善法院变更起诉罪名的有效途径。     

起诉一罪法院能否改判两罪

在主流的司法观念中,刑事诉讼的终极目的在于发现案件事实真相,不枉不纵,有错必纠。由此,一些人认为,为了实现实体正义,法院发现检察机关指控的罪名“有误”,应当在判决中予以变更;也有人认为,法院判决不能脱离检察机关的指控罪名。那么,法院在审判中究竟是否有权改变起诉罪名?本刊结合具体案例,邀请专家作一探讨。     

论法院变更指控罪名制度

法院变更指控罪名制度在我国刑事诉讼理论界讨论的十分热烈,本文分析了法院变更指控罪名制度存在的合理性,以及我国现阶段法院变更指控罪名制度存在的问题,从而探索了关于法院变更指控罪名制度的设想。     

论法院拥有变更指控罪名权──兼评綦江虹桥案法院变更罪名程序

本文对刑事诉讼中法院无权变更指控罪名的观点进行商榷,提出了法院拥有变更指控罪名权的理由,对法院行使变更指控罪名权的运作程序进行了设计,并对綦江虹桥垮塌案中法院变更指控罪名的判决作了简单评析。     

法院变更起诉罪名之研究

目前国外对法院变更指控罪名问题研究已较成熟,英美法国家以法院不能变更指控罪名为原则,以变更指控罪名为例外.而大陆法系国家的法律规定,法院依职权审判,在事实审判上需要受制于起诉指控的范围,而在法律适用和罪名确定上法院可以自主行动.我国在该问题上虽已有法律规定,但太笼统,简单,面对一些实际问题该法律规定似嫌无能为力.法院应该享有变更指控罪名权,只是要在法院行使该权力时给予必要的规范.法院对指控事实的认定和检察院并无二致,只是在罪名认定上有分歧时可以直接在判决书中将指控罪名加以变更,该变更必须未对被告人辩护权造成实质影响且对其有利;如果指控罪名不当,法院如欲变更会恶化被告人的处境,不宜直接变更,须与检察机关协商后按照一定的程序加以变更.     

法院变更指控罪名问题研究

目前,国内学术界对"当法院审理认定的罪名与控诉方的指控罪名不一致时,法院能否直接变更控诉方的指控罪名"这一问题存在广泛争议。本文运用比较分析的方法,在对英美法系和大陆法系两大法系的法院变更指控罪名的模式进行综合考察的同时,对"法院变更指控罪名"存在的正当性及其弊端进行了分析,并以此为基础对我国法院变更指控罪名的现状进行了反思。     

浅议刑事诉讼中我国法院对起诉罪名的变更

司法实践中,人民法院可以变更检察机关所起诉的罪名,但是对检察院公诉权的放大却束手无策,本文通过对法院变更起诉罪名的法学依据的分析,对法院变更起诉罪名的司法实践进行归纳,以及法院变更起诉罪名之不足以及如何完善进行了详细的论述了,以期对我国的司法实践有所帮助。     

上诉法院直接变更罪名研究

我国上诉法院直接变更罪名的权力过大,存在侵犯审级利益、侵犯被告人的防御权、违反诉审同一原则等问题.域外给我们的启示是一方面应该允许上诉法院直接变更罪名,一方面又必须对该权力进行限制,具体包括上诉法院在变更罪名时不得侵犯审级利益,不得侵犯被告人的防御权,不得违反刑事诉讼的其他原则.     

诉审分离与罪名变更——以“公诉事实同一性”为中心

公诉事实同一性是划定审判对象之前提,只有在维系公诉事实同一性之基础上,法院才有权变更罪名.我国现实的公诉变更制度体现了某种超职权主义下的真实发现主义,罪名的变更不仅缺乏相关的法律规制,而且有剥夺刑事被告人基本防御权之虞.对于我国公诉变更制度的改革应当重回到公诉事实同一性理论,以"自然的历史进程说"为基础再辅之以"法律评价重大变更说",方能使检、法在诉审分离的前提下启动公诉变更程序.     

诉判同一与变更罪名

法院在刑事诉讼中有最终确定罪名和适用罚条的权力。但是 ,法院的这一权力应当受到控审分离、不告不理、辩护原则等诸多因素的制约 ,并不得迳行做出恶化被告人的处境的判决。本文对法院变更起诉指控的罪名和罚条问题作了比较分析 ,并阐明了我国法院在刑事判决中变更起诉指控的罪名和罚条应当遵循的规则。     

Criminal defense and judicial sentencing in China's death penalty cases

Drawing upon 503 cases of violent and drug crimes involving the death penalty from three intermediate courts in China, this study explores various defense arguments, their acceptance rates, and factors that influence judicial sentencing. Our findings reveal that offenders’ post-crime good behaviors are most likely to be accepted by the court, thus helping offenders obtain suspended death penalty. In contrast, being charged with multiple violent crimes and the weight of narcotics in drug crimes are two significant factors related to an increased likelihood of receiving immediate death penalty. This article provides more empirical evidence about mitigating and aggravating circumstances considered in capital sentencing, and supports that private lawyers are not different from court appointed lawyers in China's capital defense. China's current system seemingly leaves little room for defense lawyers to make creative contributions.     

Forest offences in 21st Century Turkey (with the example for the offender and trial period of illegal use of the forests in Istanbul)

Turkey's forests are under supervision and control of the state. The applicable Forestry Law decides which acts would be considered as forest offences and the punishment for them. In the study, the acts described as crimes have been explained by considering them within the framework of criminal law. Misdemeanors have been excluded and only crimes have been examined. Major forest offences have tried to be explained through statistical data and information related to perpetrators of the crime; the trial period and court judgments have been presented as a result of file observations in İstanbul. It has been observed that the increase in forest offences in Turkey changes depending on the country's economic structure and the changes in legislation. These offences have also been found to be in decline as of late. It can be stated that adjudications have been concluded more immediately. However, there are still doubts about the penalties' not being deterrent enough.     

Lifetime criminal history of sex offenders seen for psychological assessment in five decades

A sample of 2,190 sex offenders seen between 1966 and 2009 was compared on lifetime sexual and all offending, using charges, convictions, court appearances, and self-report as criteria. Of these various criteria, between 47.4% and 81.1% reoffended. Canadian child abuse reporting laws, which came into effect in the 1980s, were associated with increased charges and convictions for offenders, who victimized children, and with a reduction in their longer term reoffense rates. Immigration and population mobility, use of aliases, study follow-up time, and self-reported undetected sex crimes influenced reoffense rates. Results indicate that sex offenders continued to have short prison sentences and/or spend little or no time incarcerated during the latter part of the 20th century.     

Gender and Justice in the Progressive Era: An Investigation of Saint Louis Juvenile Court Cases, 1909–1912

There is increased interest in the history of the juvenile court and its role in the social control of youth. In this context, feminist scholars have emphasized the long‐standing legacy of the court's attempt to control girls' violations of gender images, particularly sexual behavior and status offenses. This perspective argues that girls are penalized more harshly than boys, despite being charged with less serious offenses. The present study tests hypotheses about the relationships between gender and charge, prehearing detention, and disposition using St. Louis juvenile court records for the years 1909–1912. Qualitative content analysis is used to probe more deeply the connection between gender and sexually based charges in the early history of the St. Louis juvenile court. Findings indicate that girls were subject to harsher forms of social control than boys, despite less serious charges, and that sexual behavior was described and treated much differently in girls' records than in boys'. Connections to contemporary practices are delineated.     

海洋发展战略背景下我国海洋刑事立法若干理论问题探讨

区分陆上犯罪与海上犯罪是应对日益增长的海上犯罪、彰显海上犯罪的基本特征和适应海上司法实践发展的需要。由于特殊罪名的适用效果不佳、适用范围有限,一般罪名未能反映海上犯罪的特点,因而它们均不能适应海洋发展战略的需要。现行刑法只适用于我国领域内发生的海上犯罪,而不能适用于领海外国家管辖海域内发生的犯罪。涉海国际公约只规定了海上犯罪的罪名和罪状而没有规定法定刑,对国际法的海上犯罪适用现有一般罪名违反禁止类推原则,也没有体现海上犯罪的特点;不仅适用程序繁琐,而且使结果处于不确定状态,因此,国际法的海上犯罪应转化为国内法的海上犯罪。     

The choice of crime: An empirical analysis of juveniles' criminal choice

This article applies the theory of individual rational choice to micro data on the criminal activity of juveniles. The individual choice model is developed and applied to data on 1,171 files on property offenses adjudicated by the Family Court between 1972 and 1976.It is found that the type of crime chosen, as indicated by the charge at the time of arrest and the final charge, is influenced by sex, age, number of prior referrals to the court, ethnic extraction, and place of residence of the juvenile. As the effect of each of these individual characteristics on the probability of selecting the various crimes differs, the choice of crime exhibits dynamic features; as the individual age increases, and as the number of prior referrals to court increases, the probabilities of selecting particular crimes change. These features are examined by generating the probabilities and examining the patterns which emerge.     

The Mengistu Genocide Trial in Ethiopia

This article analyses the sentencing judgment issued on 11 January2007 by the Ethiopian Federal High Court in the case of MengistuHailemariam and his co-accused who had been tried, among others,on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. This wasthe first African trial where an entire regime was brought tojustice before a national court for atrocities committed whilein power. Twenty-five of the 55 accused found guilty, includingMengistu, were tried in absentia (Mengistu remains in exilein Zimbabwe). The trial took 12 years, making it one of thelongest ever trials for genocide. In December 2006, Mengistuwas convicted by majority vote of genocide and crimes againsthumanity pursuant to Article 281 of the 1957 Ethiopian PenalCode, which includes ‘political groups’ among thegroups protected against genocide. A dissenting judge took theposition that the accused should have been convicted of aggravatedhomicide because the relevant part of the provision had beenrepealed. A few weeks later, the Court, by majority, sentencedthe top tier of the accused to life imprisonment, taking intoaccount certain extenuating circumstances. If not for these,the death penalty would have been imposed. In addition to ensuringsome accountability, the judgment is important for providingan official and detailed account of what happened in those yearsin Ethiopia under Mengistu's reign. Given that in Ethiopia thereare no official gazettes where court judgments are published,it is unlikely that the public will be able to read the judgmentand thus become aware of what had happened. In addition to analysingthe reasoning of the court, this article also looks into theprevailing political circumstances in the country and reflectsupon the trial and the reception that this important decisionhas had, and will receive, in the wider community.     

Healing Families: An Outcome Evaluation of a Community Family Court

In this paper, a model community family court program that seeks to break the intergenerational cycle of crime and substance abuse by treating families holistically will be presented. This model court seeks to reduce crime and provide safe and permanent homes for children of substance‐abusing parents. In this community family court, the prototypical problem‐solving court has been both focused and expanded. The community family court provides a focused response designed to address the unique combination of problems facing families on a family‐by‐family basis. At the same time, supervision and treatment services have been expanded to include every family member and all open court cases including criminal charges, juvenile delinquency, dependency, and civil cases. An overview of the court's evolution and discussion of integrated services designed to provide a wraparound style intervention will be highlighted as key contributors to the largely positive results of this community family court's evaluation.     

鉴定人出庭与专家辅助人角色定位之实证研究

新刑事诉讼法试图改变鉴定人出庭率低的现状,为此完善了鉴定意见审查规则;相应地,新确立的专家辅助人制度也被寄予厚望。从理论上看,保障被告方的对质权应成为上述改革的主要支点。但实证研究显示,鉴定人出庭率并没有因为新刑事诉讼法的实施而显著改善,鉴定人与法官对于鉴定人出庭都缺乏积极性;专家辅助人在法庭上的角色定位是模糊的,其在鉴定人、证人、辩护律师和其他独立的诉讼参与人等角色之间徘徊。应当围绕保障被告方的对质权来完善必要鉴定人出庭制度,在保留职权化和强调中立性的鉴定制度的同时,赋予专家辅助人意见以证据能力,以构建控辩平等的司法鉴定体系。