警察出庭作证制度问题研究

新《刑事诉讼法》增加了警察出庭作证的相关规定,在刑事诉讼中具有积极的意义。但是该规定还很简单,在适用中也产生了一些问题,如存在警察出庭作证的身份不明确、警察出庭作证程序如何启动、警察出庭作证的案件范围没有明确、警察出庭"说明情况"表述不准确、未规定警察拒绝庭作证的法律后果等问题。本文将对此进行分析,为完善我国警察出庭作证制度提出一些建议。在此需要指出,本文所讨论警察出庭作证的主体仅限侦办一般刑事案件的公安人员,也即人民警察。     

私人参与警察任务执行的法理基础

治安承包现象引发的广泛社会争议是我国私人参与警察任务执行改革沉浮的真实写照。对宪法基本政策条款和民主国、法治国及社会国原则的解读显示,私人参与警察任务执行并不违反我国宪法文本规定和宪法基本原理。“国家和社会”条款在行政法律规范中频频出现以及行政法上辅助性原则、行政过程论的阐释表明,私人参与警察任务执行同样具备合法性基础。我国政法工作一以贯之的群众路线和警察任务的时代流变,彰显出私人参与警察任务执行具有深厚的社会历史及现实基础。从改革时机选择、行政法制保障和后续政府规制上看,私人参与警察任务执行在我国依旧是一个极具挑战性的行政法前沿课题。     

警察执法的道德追问

警察执法不仅是实施法律的过程,而且也是实现道德价值的过程。忽视警察执法的道德追问,必然造成警察执法的道德缺失。警察执法应是法治化与道德化的统合。提高警察的道德素质,才能从根本上保证警察执法正当目的的确立和警察执法手段的正当行使。在依法治警的同时切实以德治警,加强对警察自由裁量权的道德约束,让“立警为公,执法为民”的道德价值理念照耀警察执法过程。     

对高职院校学生管理法治化的几点思考

在全面推进依法治国战略部署的重要时期,加强高职院校学生管理法治化对推进法治化进程有着重要的意义。本文论述了高职院校学生管理法治化的重要意义,在调查研究的基础上找出了在高职院校学生管理法治化中存在的问题,并就如何加强学生管理法治化提出了几点意见。     

城镇化进程中的农村基本公共服务法治化探析——以重庆“试验区”为例

正目次一、城镇化进程中的农村基本公共服务法治化概述二、当前城镇化进程中农村基本公共服务法治化的现状——以重庆市为例三、实现城镇化进程中农村基本公共服务法治化的思考当前,我国正处在积极推进城镇化发展的关键时期,通过实施城镇化规划,让基本公共服务更多更好地惠及城乡居民,是我国城镇化建设的重要任务。〔1〕基本公共服务供给水平已被纳入检验城镇化建设成果的参照依据范围;〔2〕与此同时,各地城镇化发     

私人参与警察任务执行的法理基础

治安承包现象引发的广泛社会争议是我国私人参与警察任务执行改革沉浮的真实写照。对宪法基本政策条款和民主国、法治国及社会国原则的解读显示,私人参与警察任务执行并不违反我国宪法文本和宪法基本原理。"国家和社会"条款在行政法律规范中频频出现以及行政法上辅助性原则、行政过程论的阐释表明,私人参与警察任务执行同样具备合法性基础。我国政法工作一以贯之的群众路     

论我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动的国内立法

对我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动进行国内立法是我国参与联合国警察维和行动的基本要求。我国目前有关参与联合国民事警察维和行动的国内法依据极为不健全,既没有在相关法律中进行明确规,也没有参与联合国民事警察维和行动专门法律法规,现有的零星规定也存在诸多缺陷。笔者认为,为完善有关维和法律法规,必须对我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动展开专门立法。在立法模式上,由于我国军事维和已经进行了专门立法,因而可以借鉴军事维和立法模式,对我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动作统一立法,或者在人民警察法中单列参与民事警察维和章节。总之,通过对我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动的专门立法,不断促进我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动走上制度化、法治化水平,提高我国参与联合国民事警察维和行动的效率和影响。     

论法治视野下我国警察教育价值观

法治是中国近百年来诸多仁人志士不断追寻的梦想。"依法治国"的方略已经正式载入宪法,获得了崇高的宪法地位。法治化已成为一种社会发展趋势,法治国家也已成为我们追求的美好理想和推动中国社会发展的持久动力。法治化固然离不开制度性的"硬件系统"的构建,更需要法治精神这一"软件系统,"警察作为维护、推进法治的重要力量,警察应该培植对法律至上地位的认同、权力制约的意识和人权保障的观念。     

公务员管理法治化的基本取向

2006年1月1日施行的《公务员法》对我国公务员人事制度法治化进程具有重要意义.但是,在当前政治实践中,公务员人事制度却主要由中国共产党党内法规规定.党内法规是否可以具有国家法律效力,是一个两难问题,导致我国公务员人事制度法治化进程的滞缓,更不利于法治国家战略目标的早日实现.党规与国法相结合,是中国特色国家公务员制度法治化的基本取向.     

地方治理过程中的政府角色--广西推进依法行政，建设法治政府实证考察

在地方治理过程中，政府承担着极为重要的职能，随着国家治理能力和治理体系法治化目标的确立，政府面临着角色转换的艰巨任务。文章实证考察了广西各级政府2004-2013年十年间实施依法行政，建设法治政府取得实效、面临问题，并以四中全会提出的国家治理法治化目标为指导，分析了如何增强政府在地方治理过程中的能力和作用的问题。     

When Both Sides are Mistaken: Layperson and Legal Professionals’ Misconceptions of Canadian Suspects’ Legal Rights Upon Arrest

Canadian criminal suspects have notably limited access to legal counsel upon arrest compared to suspects in the U.S. Additionally, prior research has shown significant misunderstanding of police warnings informing suspects of their rights upon arrest. This paper presents three studies on Canadians’ comprehension of criminal suspects’ rights upon arrest, with a focus on the right to counsel. Study 1 (N=80) and Study 2 (N=377) examined Canadian layperson’s comprehension, knowledge, and perceptions of legal rights upon arrest. In turn, Study 3 (N=78) investigated Canadian legal professionals’ perceptions of laypersons’ knowledge of those rights. Results from these three studies indicated there is substantial confusion about the right to counsel for Canadian criminal suspects. These results also support previous research demonstrating problems with comprehension of Canadian police cautions. Taken together, the findings of the present research pose significant concern for an increased risk of false confessions from Canadian suspects who enter an interrogation with limited knowledge and understanding of their legal right to counsel.     

袭警罪中“暴力”的法教义学分析

自《中华人民共和国刑法修正案(十一)》实施以来,全国各地的袭警罪首案频发。司法实务人员对袭警罪中"暴力"的理解泛化以及入罪门槛过低,导致袭警罪大有成为我国继醉驾犯罪之后第二大犯罪的趋势,如何理解袭警罪中的"暴力"因此成为理论和实务中的难题。结合我国司法实务中部分地区发生的袭警罪的典型首案,根据刑法中"暴力"的含义以及袭警罪"暴力袭击"行为的规范内涵,袭警罪中"暴力"的性质仅限于"硬暴力"而不包括"软暴力";暴力的发生仅限于突袭性而不包括缓和及具有预见可能性的非突袭性暴力,暴力突袭性的具体特点包括突发性、瞬时性和意外性;根据袭警罪侵害警察人身安全、妨害公务正常执行从而侵犯公共秩序法益之逻辑关系,以及构成要件符合性与保护法益之间的共通性,应联系暴力袭警行为及其结果,通过法益甄别值得处罚的暴力袭警行为,从而将不具有可罚性的暴力袭警行为排除在刑法的适用范围之外。     

Neighborhood climates of legal cynicism and complaints about abuse of police power†

Research findings show that legal cynicism—a cultural frame in which skepticism about laws, the legal system, and police is expressed—is important in understanding neighborhood variation in engagement with the police, particularly in racially isolated African American communities. We argue that legal cynicism is also useful for understanding neighborhood variation in complaints about police misconduct. Using data on complaints filed in Chicago between 2012 and 2014, we show that grievances disproportionately came from racially segregated neighborhoods and that a measure of legal cynicism from the mid-1990s predicts complaints about abuse of police power two decades later. The association between legal cynicism and complaints is net of prior complaints, reported crime, imprisonment, and other structural factors that contribute to the frequency and nature of interactions involving police and residents. Legal cynicism also mediates the influence of racially isolated neighborhoods on complaints. The mid-1990s is the approximate midpoint of a half-century of police scandals in Chicago. Our research findings suggest that contemporary complaints about police misconduct in highly segregated Chicago neighborhoods are grounded in collectively shared historical memories of police malfeasance. They also suggest that persistent complaints about police misconduct may represent officially memorialized expressions of enduring racial protest against police abuse of power.     

Beliefs about child witnesses: A survey of professionals

This research addressed how professionals involved with the legal system evaluate children, primarily between 4 and 8 years old, as witnesses. In particular, we focused on professionals’ beliefs and opinions regarding children's memory, suggestibility, and behaviors as they relate to witness credibility. In addition, we surveyed professionals’ evaluations of investigative methods related to reliability. Four hundred and seventy-eight professionals working with children in the Norwegian legal system (i.e. judges, police detectives, psychologists, child psychiatrists, prosecutors, and defense attorneys) completed a questionnaire about child witness issues. Results indicated that psychiatrists as well as police officers expressed greater belief in children's capacities than did other groups, whereas defense attorneys and psychologists were more skeptical regarding children's general credibility. Psychiatrists and psychologists both, however, tended to favor, more than did legal professionals, the use of clinical techniques with children in abuse investigations. Implications are discussed in relation to professionals’ attitudes toward children as witnesses.     

The Reporting Procedure for Police Officers who have Used Serious Force Under Dutch Law and the Privilege Against Forced Self-incrimination

Recently the controversy about the police use of force has increased within The Netherlands. Simultaneously it has become clear that courts have provided divergent judgments in these cases; some have sentenced and others have acquitted police officers. Whereas victims of the police use of force increasingly ask for the prosecution of these officials, others demand to change the reporting procedure in favor of the officer’s legal position. This research explains how the reporting procedure for these cases is construed under Dutch law – particularly regarding the serious use of force – seeing that such a contribution currently lacks in (inter)national legal literature. Besides, it examines to what extent the abovementioned procedure violates the officer’s right against forced self-incrimination under the ECHR. This research concludes, in absence of a court ruling, that the procedure is incompatible with the ECHR when the evidence that follows from the officers’ duty to notify is admissible in criminal procedures.     

Evaluating the relative impact of positive and negative encounters with police: a randomized experiment

Objectives

Examines the influence of positive, negative, and neutral police behavior during traffic stops on citizen perceptions of police.

Methods

Participants were randomly assigned to view a video clip of a simulated traffic stop in which the officer communicates with the driver in a positive (procedurally just), negative (procedurally unjust), or neutral manner. After viewing the video, participants completed a survey about their perceptions of police, including their level of trust in police, obligation to obey police orders, and willingness to cooperate with police.

Results

Observing positive interactions with police enhanced people’s self-reported willingness to cooperate with police, obligation to obey police and the law, and trust and confidence in police, whereas observing negative interactions undermined these outcomes. The effects of these interactions were much stronger for encounter-specific outcomes than for more general outcomes.

Conclusions

The results from this randomized experiment confirm that procedural justice can enhance people’s prosocial attitudes toward police, whereas procedural injustice can undermine these attitudes. While positive (procedurally just) interactions tend to have weaker effects than negative (procedurally unjust) interactions, this study finds little support for the notion that only negative experiences shape people’s views about the police.

     

Examining Police Effectiveness as a Precursor to Legitimacy and Cooperation with Police

Numerous studies by Tyler and colleagues, as well as other scholars, support a normative, process model to account for variation in the public’s cooperation with police in the USA and other developed nations. However, a recent study in Ghana suggests that in developing countries fraught with high levels of violent crime and corruption, cooperation may instead be accounted for by a utilitarian, rational-choice model. Our study examines whether public cooperation with police in the developing nation of Trinidad and Tobago is associated with the process model or rational-choice model. Using in-person structured interviews with residents, we examined whether victims’ decisions to report to police were related to individuals’ perceptions about police effectiveness or police legitimacy. We found support for the process model. We discuss possible explanations for the divergence with Tankebe’s research in Ghana and suggest avenues for future research.     

Perceptions of police-juvenile contact predicts self-reported offending in adolescent males

ABSTRACT

Evidence suggests that positive experiences with the police can foster attitudes of respect towards the justice system that can reduce an adolescents’ propensity to commit later illegal behaviors. To advance prior work, we tested whether this association might be stronger for those adolescents who associate with deviant peers. Additionally, we tested whether the link between attitudes towards police and the justice system, and the influence of peer delinquency, would be weaker for those with elevated callous–unemotional (CU) traits. These predictions were examined in a prospective study using a sample (N?=?1,216) of adolescent males who were followed prospectively for 2 years following their first official contact with the juvenile justice system. Positive experiences with the police following the youth’s first arrest were associated with less self-reported delinquency 2 years later, which was partially mediated by reductions in adolescents’ cynicism about the legal system. However, this link was only significant for youth with low levels of peer delinquency. Although CU traits were related to less positive perceptions of experiences with the police and greater cynicism about the justice system, CU traits did not moderate the associations among experiences, attitudes, and later illegal behavior nor did they moderate the influence of peer delinquency.     

Intervening in domestic violence as a police task: legal reform and policing versus citizens’ perspective

Violence in Western societies has received increased public and legal attention during the past few decades, while simultaneously, evidence of decreased violent behaviour has been identified. A specific type of violence that has undergone changes in visibility and increased legal intervention is domestic violence (DV). Have people become more sensitive to all kinds of violence? In this case, DV would not stand out as a crime demanding increasing police intervention. In this article, the public’s perceptions of the importance of intervening in DV as a police task are analysed. Comparisons with the assessed importance of other types of police tasks are made to evaluate the changes in a broader attitudinal context, and official police statistics are reflected against the trends identified from the survey data. In the results, DV stands out in the comparison of change in the importance of police tasks. The hypothesis of increased cultural sensitivity is not confirmed concerning all types of crimes – or even violent crimes. The results can be understood to support the theory about increased cultural sensitivity concerning an issue previously seen as a private matter rather than a criminal act and police matter – DV.