警察出庭作证的法理分析

警察出庭作证是诉讼理论和司法实践的需要,在国外也十分普遍但在国内却一直将警察排除在证人之外。虽然两高的解释现在对此有所规定但内容与范围十分片面。我国应建立警察出庭作证制度。     

最高人民法院大法官的流动分析

大法官流出最高人民法院的背后,反映出来的仍然是法院体制的官僚化、法官的公务员化。从知识的角度来看,这破坏了上诉审与初审司法知识的分工,以及司法与其他部门知识的分工,不利于司法知识传统的形成;同时也强化了上级法院对下级法院的控制,以及法院与其他部门的同质化。     

国外社区警政理论与实践的反思

社区警务是现代警务改革的主要内容和发展趋势。但是多数国家的警方及媒体多以主观的褒奖替代了对其客观科学的分析研究;事实上社区警务的负面影响和具体操作的困难是不容忽视的。国外学者对社区警务的理论背景及实践操作中遇到的代表性问题进行了客观地分析和探究,并提出了相关对策。这对于我国正在进行的社区警务工作具有重要的借鉴意义。     

调解的重构(下)——以法院调解的改革为重点

调解作为中国自古就存在的一种纠纷解决方式 ,甚至是社会治理的一种制度性或体制性存在 ,在现代仍然有着极为重要的意义。本文采取一种综合各种功能的多元价值论 ,主张客观地认识调解的各种功能和价值。同时 ,力图通过对于以法院调解改革为重点获取的实证资料的分析 ,提出一种有关我国调解的功能和价值的建设性的意见或理论框架 ,实现一种对于调解的重构 ,以使其获得现代转型和重生。     

香港特区终审法院判决与"人大释法"不一致所引发的内地孕妇来港产子潮问题探讨

香港特区终审法院在庄礼源案的裁决对香港产生了深远重大的影响。该案的判决与全国人大常委会在1999年6月26日对香港基本法有关条款作出的解释不尽一致。若终审法院在裁决庄丰源案时能考虑到"人大释法"就有关筹委会的意见已反映在《基本法》第24条第2款其他各项的立法原意这一决议中,则有相当充分的法律理据来裁定庄丰源败诉。这样非法入境、逾期居留或在香港临时居留的人在香港逗留期间所生的中国籍子女,并不能享有香港居留权。同时,内地孕妇亦不会因为希望其子女获得香港居留权而引发争相到香港产子的情况。     

Making just decisions in magistrates' courts

Professional magistrates' sentencing procedures were examined as prototypic cases of expert processes involved in making just decisions, with analysis of their attention to information and the inferences they drew from case details and their own patterned knowledge. Magistrates' sorting and verbalized sentencing of six shoplifting cases revealed that they were accessing and using three schemas for categorizing shoplifters, with different emphases and valences, and different penalties. The schemas categorized shoplifters as cases of greed, need, or troubled persons. Tough magistrates followed the greed schema more than the lenient who followed the need and troubled schemas more consistently. Information use and inferences in a sample case illustrate schema differences.     

法院调解改革新论

调解主持人员的双重身份、法院的职权主义都不是我国法院调解存在问题的主要原因。事实上,强制性是法院调解运作的基础。我国法院改革应以扩大当事人的程序选择权为导向,设立庭前调解制度,实现诉讼中当事人合意解决纠纷的二元机制,在诉讼外另设法院附设调解程序,建立法院内调解程序的二元机制。     

Delay reduction in the federal courts: Rule 50(b) and the Federal Speedy Trial Act of 1974

During the 1970s, 94 federal district courts implemented two major policy initiatives, Rule 50(b) of theFederal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Federal Speedy Trial Act, that were designed in Washington to combat delay in the processing of federal criminal cases. Both of these initiatives established a national priority of delay reduction in criminal cases, encouraged local district court planning for delay reduction; established reporting procedures for monitoring local compliance, and provided for the determination of quantitative goals for the time to disposition of criminal cases. Neither initiative mandated specific activities for delay reduction; this determination was left to the discretion of local federal district courts. This research examines the effectiveness of Rule 50(b) and the Speedy Trial Act by constructing a 150-month time series of three measures of case processing time. A multiple-intervention time-series model found that both of these initiatives contributed to the dramatic reduction in the time to disposition in federal criminal cases. These effects persisted after controls for changes in case characteristics and judicial resources were introduced.Points of view expressed in this research are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice.     

Mental Health Court Outcomes: A Comparison of Re-Arrest and Re-Arrest Severity Between Mental Health Court and Traditional Court Participants

Mental health courts have been proliferating across the country since their establishment in the late 1990's. Although numerous advocates have proclaimed their merit, only few empirical studies have evaluated their outcomes. This paper evaluates the effect of one mental health court on criminal justice outcomes by examining arrests and offense severity from one year before to one year after entry into the court, and by comparing mental health court participants to comparable traditional criminal court defendants on these measures. Multivariate models support the prediction that mental health courts reduce the number of new arrests and the severity of such re-arrests among mentally ill offenders. Similar analysis of mental health court completers and non-completers supports the prediction that a "full dose" of mental health treatment and court monitoring produce even fewer re-arrests.     

Procedural justice at German courts as seen by defendants and juvenile prisoners

The article summarizes German research on procedural and distributive justice at criminal courts. The first German field studies addressing these topics are presented. Procedural justice characteristics like neutrality, courtesy, equal consideration of evidence, voice, and fairness of procedural rules are relevant for Germans. A study on juvenile prisoners shows no support for equity theory and some for the Group Value model. Lay assessors receive positive evaluations by juvenile prisoners.