刑事被害人陈述的证据学思考

有关被害人陈述制度,在刑事司法实践中存在诸多困扰和矛盾之处,被害人不同诉讼身份所带来的紧张关系对其陈述的证明力造成不利影响;被害人的控诉职能导致其自由陈述受到限制。新近立法对被害人陈述制度做出了部分努力,但仍不完善。因此,必须修正被害人身份冲突;确立人证取得以任意侦查为原则,以强制侦查为例外的取证规则;明确非法取证行为的审查主体及程序;确立翻证免受刑事追诉为原则,承担刑事责任为例外的规则。     

Evaluating the Audit Explosion

This paper reviews the claim that there has been an audit explosion in recent years and seeks to refine the argument in terms of its institutional and behavioral effects and its underlying causes and consequences. A framework for greater comparative sensitivity is suggested, both in cross-national and cross-sectoral terms, which focuses on variation in the knowledge base, formal organization, and operational dimensions of auditing. Finally, a preliminary framework for evaluating the design of auditing practices is developed that could inform a post-Enron critical discussion of the problems and the potential for auditing in the future.     

The Politics of Parliamentary Strengthening

Parliament's International Development Committee made a powerful case this year that DFID should put more money into parliamentary strengthening in developing countries. Arguing that parliaments were central to tackling corruption, improving economic development and building stable political settlements, they recommended that parliaments should be at the ‘heart of DFID's governance work’. The report, though, also touched on wider issues of how DFID commissions and monitors its political programmes, suggesting fundamental changes to both. DFID recognises these challenges, and offered either full or partial agreement with most of the recommendations. The challenge that remains, though, is moving from the rhetoric of ‘engaging with politics’ to a much improved form of political and parliamentary programming.     

The Effects of Domestic Violence on the Formation of Relationships Between Women and Their Babies: “I Was Too Busy Protecting My Baby to Attach”

Until now, research into the effects of domestic violence on the formation of relationships between women and their babies has been from an attachment theory perspective. The research reported in this article takes a different approach. Innovative qualitative research methods are used to uncover knowledge about the formation of such relationships from the lived experiences of sixteen women who have mothered babies while enduring domestic violence. Analysis of the findings in this study identifies domestic violence constitutes an environment of sustained hostility where women respond with maternal protectiveness to maximise their babies’ physical and psychological safety whether or not they had attained a secure relationship. However, women recognize domestic violence constricts space to form close mother/baby relationships. Supported by these findings, this research suggests policy and practice concerned with relationships between women and babies subjected to domestic violence address protectiveness and space to attach. The article concludes with suggestions for further research.