Trial complexity

A field experiment is reported that examines the effects of trial complexity and trial procedures on jury performance. Juror question asking and notetaking were randomly assigned to 75 civil and 85 criminal trials. Principal components analyses of judges' responses revealed three components of trial complexity: evidence complexity, legal complexity, and quantity of information. None of these components was significantly related to judge-jury verdict agreement. Each component uniquely affected jurors' assessment of the trial, but none affected theirs or the judges' verdict satisfaction. Interactions reveal that juror questions were most beneficial for assisting the jurors with legal complexity and evidence complexity. Natural variation in judges' commenting on the weight and credibility of witnesses, or summarizing the evidence, use of special verdict forms, pattern instructions, and juror orientation was also measured. Of these, the use of special verdict forms appeared to provide the greatest benefits.     

Trial Advocacy Competence: The Judicial Perspective

The competence of attorneys, and more particularly the competence of trial lawyers, is currently an issue of considerable controversy both within the judiciary and within the legal profession itself. This article addresses the issue of attorneys' courtroom performance as observed by judges. Drawing on data from a survey administered to state and federal judges sitting in trial courts of general jurisdiction, this article explores the relationship of demographic and judicial characteristics to various judicial evaluations of advocacy competence. While it provides important insights into the present state of trial advocacy competence, it also constitutes a systematic examination of the judiciary's perceptions of the trial bar.     

民事诉讼审限制度的存与废

诉讼效率与法院的结构和运作紧密联系.在立法上诉讼效率取决于程序的科学构建,司法运作中则决定于案件管理水平.审理期限是一种视野过于狭窄的诉讼效率衡量体系,弹性过大的制度设置使其难以精确衡量并提高诉讼效率,故应以诉讼周期取而代之.本质上审理期限是法官职业伦理问题,而非民事诉讼法程序制度.在即将修改民事诉讼法之际,删除审限制度规定,加强对诉讼机能的调整,为当事人设置诉讼促进义务,使诉讼程序合理衔接,是提高诉讼效率的理性选择.     

审判管理与审判规律抉微

审判规律是审判活动各要素之间必然、本质、稳定和反复出现的联系。审判是第一位的,管理是第二位的,二者是主从关系,因此,审判管理必须尊重审判规律,使审判管理各项工作机制和管理的方式方法充分考虑审判工作的特点,符合审判工作实际。     

An Intentionally Unfair Trial

Numerous flaws made the Dujail trial a violation of the internationallyprotected human right to a fair trial. The United States andthe Iraqi authorities conducted an unfair trial knowing thatboth the Third and Fourth Geneva Convention describe ‘wilfullydepriving’ a person ‘of the rights of fair and regulartrial’ as a war crime. Even if Saddam Hussein was notto be regarded as a prisoner of war, that is, merely as a civilian,in any case his right to fair trial was protected by internationallaw. According to the author, both the relevant states and theindividuals involved in the unfair Dujail trial bear responsibilityfor breaches of international law.     

A Maelstrom of Bodies and Emotions and Things: Spectatorial Encounters with the Trial

This paper explores spectatorial encounters with criminal trials. Particularly focusing on the 2018 work of Australian contemporary visual artist Julie Fragar that followed her watching murder trials in the Supreme Court of Queensland, it is argued that the artist as a legal outsider grapples with the inhumanity of the trial. This grappling can go in two directions. For some there is a need to bring the human back, to see the person beneath the mask of the role that they are performing, to connect the gothic horror of the trial back to a redeeming humanism. For others, and this is evident in Fragar, the horror of the inhumanity is visceral and overpowering, and the grotesque masque of judgment needs to be witnessed. Both perform a corrective and critique to the business as usual of processing, judging and stamping onto human lives that is legal insider’s performance in the criminal trial.

     

审判流程管理刍议

自上世纪八十年代以来,各地法院陆续开展了审判管理改革,许多法院还制定了审判流程管理规则,但由于对审判流程管理的理论研究较少,导致部分法院审判管理方式改革带有很大的盲目性。本文从考察审判流程管理提出的时代背景入手,阐明了审判流程管理的内涵,论证了审判流程管理存在的法理基础,并结合实践提出了构建审判流程管理有效运行的制度构想。     

论工具型刑事庭审文化

工具型刑事庭审文化是指将刑事庭审作为维护国家统治的手段,将刑事庭审作为行使国家权力的方式的群体观念。工具型刑事庭审文化主要包括目的决定观和权力支配观。工具型刑事庭审文化具有力量的不均衡性、信息的不对称性和过程的虚伪性等特点,隐藏着导致官本位观念、滋生司法腐败、扭曲民众观念等危害,因而与法治的发展趋向相悖。     

论刑事上诉审构造

刑事上诉审构造,是指为规范上诉审与初审之间的关系,法律对刑事上诉审的审判对象、审理范围、审理方式、裁判方式等的规定所构成的整体格局。上诉审构造各构成要素的搭配须遵循一项基本原理,即审判对象与审理范围决定审理方式与裁判方式。在比较法上,存在三种典型的上诉审构造类型,即复审制、续审制、事后审查制。我国法律针对刑事上诉审构造的各方面要素,均已有不同程度的规定,但是未能对四方面要素的关系作出合理安排。因此,在立法没有对上诉制度作出根本性变革之前,可以考虑以上诉理由为标准,对二审案件进行分流,从而尽可能实现刑事上诉审构造的合理化。     

回归“马锡五”的思考

马锡五审判方式是特定历史时期的产物。现今,重提马锡五审判方式也有其特定的原因,本文对其原因进行较为全面的分析。笔者坚持认为,作为一种审判方式,囿于自身的特点和理念,马锡五审判方式已不具有普遍的现实意义,已经疏离了中国社会的发展趋势。重提这种方式虽然对我们建构和完善多元化、替代性纠纷解决方式具有警示性,但在中国法治建设的初级阶段,民事诉讼建构的基本方向依然应当是强调诉讼裁判的主导性、强调裁判程序的正当性,以顺应和推动中国社会的转型。     

延期审理的理性分析

延期审理作为法院审判中的一种审判障碍,初衷是为了更好地查清案件事实,惩罚犯罪和保障人权。但是在审判实践中,延期审理审理却出现了一些缺憾,并没有发挥自己应有的作用。从法律的规定入手,结合审判实践分析其原因,以期完善延期审理制度,进一步维护司法公正。     

Milosevic on Trial

International Law is argued to have a “civilized” component, but viewing the actions of supposed “civilized” states, it is hard to agree. An example is the case of Slobodan Milosevic, the former head of Yugoslavia, who was put on trial (until his death in The Hague) for acts, which were in fact committed by many, including heads of state who are not subject to similar charges let alone trials. A close examination of the articles on which this purported international law rests reveals serious doubts about the legal basis for the trial, while agreeing that the acts of Milosevic might well have been morally reprehensible.Emeritus Distinguished Professor of International Law     

论审判的自治与控制

文章思考了审判自治的法治蕴涵,认为中国审判改革的选择不在移植审判自治的制度, 而在于给审判再生产提供自我完善的条件, 并进行必要的控制, 且审判控制并不能取代法官的自主审判。审判的自主和控制是审判改革中的一对矛盾,二者整合于审判公开。     

Psychotropic Medication and Competence to Stand Trial

At any given time, as many as 15,000 persons are hospitalized for study or treatment regarding their competence to stand trial. Although most of the defendants found incompetent to stand trial "could rapidly be returned to competence and so maintained were the facilities and treatments of modern psychiatry made available to them", the impact of recent advances in psychiatry—particularly drug therapy—has not been fully absorbed by the legal system. Defendants restored to competence by psychotropic drugs frequently require ongoing medication. Some courts, mistakenly assuming that psychotropic drugs produce a "chemical sanity" that is unacceptable for participation in a trial, have adopted a practice—the "automatic bar rule"—of automatically prohibiting the return for trial of defendants under the influence of such drugs. A lack of statutory, regulatory, or judicial guidance leaves the question largely to the discretion of individual trial judges. This article critically examines the automatic bar rule in light of the effects of various psychotropic drugs and of the consequences of the rule both to defendants and to the state.     

案卷笔录中心主义——对中国刑事审判方式的重新考察

中国刑事审判中存在着一种“以案卷笔录为中心”的审判方式。在这一审判方式下,公诉方通过宣读案卷笔录来主导和控制法庭调查过程,法庭审判成为对案卷笔录的审查和确认程序,不仅各项控方证据的可采性是不受审查的,而且其证明力也被作出了优先选择。结果。现代刑事证据规则在这种审判方式下难以有存在的基础,法庭审理只能流于形式,那种通过当庭审判来形成裁判结论的机制和文化难以形成。不抛弃这种案卷笔录中心主义的审判方式,任何以加强庭审功能为宗旨的司法改革将没有存在的空间。     

重读“马锡五审判方式”

以一个人的名字命名一种审判模式,在中国新民主主义革命司法史上具有特殊的时代意蕴。被称之为"马锡五审判方式"的司法范式,贯穿了"一刻也不要离开群众"的司法理念。通过重读文献,再现马锡五判案的场景,使我们知道一个真实的"马锡武审判方式"。     

论适时审判请求权

适时审判请求权是诉权的重要组成部分。诉讼外纠纷解决方式的倡导、民事审限制度的规定和法院诉讼促进义务的强化皆从一定程度上促进了法院适时裁判。但若能基于案件性质和当事人需求等因素对某些案件予以优先审理,并对诉讼拖延提供事前预防和事后的救济措施,将会给当事人的适时审判请求权提供充分的保障。     

陪审团在衰退吗——当代英美陪审团的发展趋势解读

陪审团审判在民事案件和刑事案件中的使用都呈逐渐减少之趋势,并且批评陪审团审判制度的声音也越来越多。但是一些原来已经废除陪审团审判的国家却正在恢复或试图恢复这一制度。陪审团审判的生命力仍然旺盛,因为它仍然在保障自由、制约国家权力方面发挥着不可替代的作用。     

Using British Trial Procedures in American Cases: A More Civil Trial?

A number of attorneys, judges, and legal scholars have asserted that the overly combative nature of American trials may impact on the actual quality of justice and bring the legal system into disrepute. In contrast, many who witness criminal and civil trials conducted in Great Britain are struck by the greater apparent civility of the courtroom atmosphere. Closer examination of the English system reveals seven specific procedural differences that may contribute to this perceived change in atmosphere. In this study, these procedural differences were manipulated and their effect on verdict and on perceptions of trial participants measured. In addition, opinions about these differences were elicited. Results showed that while the trial was perceived as more civil, and the judge viewed more positively, participants tended to indicate preferences for the American style. Implications of these results are discussed.     

Juveniles' Competence to Stand Trial: A Comparison of Adolescents' and Adults' Capacities as Trial Defendants

Abilities associated with adjudicative competence were assessed among 927 adolescents in juvenile detention facilities and community settings. Adolescents' abilities were compared to those of 466 young adults in jails and in the community. Participants at 4 locations across the United States completed a standardized measure of abilities relevant for competence to stand trial (the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool—Criminal Adjudication) as well as a new procedure for assessing psychosocial influences on legal decisions often required of defendants (MacArthur Judgment Evaluation). Youths aged 15 and younger performed more poorly than young adults, with a greater proportion manifesting a level of impairment consistent with that of persons found incompetent to stand trial. Adolescents also tended more often than young adults to make choices (e.g., about plea agreements) that reflected compliance with authority, as well as influences of psychosocial immaturity. Implications of these results for policy and practice are discussed, with an emphasis on the development of legal standards that recognize immaturity as a potential predicate of incompetence to stand trial.