利用影响力受贿罪若干问题解读

《刑法》第388条之一是关于利用影响力受贿罪的规定,该法条来源于《刑法修正案(七)》第13条之增设性规定,旨在从严预防和惩治贿赂犯罪。尤其是针对以往不具有国家工作人员身份的人(主要是国家工作人员的"身边人"以及离职的国家工作人员和他们的"身边人"等)索取或收受贿赂后因惩处缺位而借以逃脱法律制裁的状况,立法上作出了相应的改进。然而,在增设了利用影响力受贿罪这一罪名后,必须考虑其与原有的贿赂犯罪罪刑体系如何衔接与协调,特别是有必要对该罪的罪名确定、主体范围、行为特征以及司法适用等问题进行深刻地解读。     

增强高校思想政治教育的有效性——以应对消费主义思潮为视角简

消费主义思潮不但对大学生思想观念产生深刻影响,而且制约着高校思想政治教育有效性的充分发挥。要有效应对消费主义思潮对高校思想政治教育有效性的影响,需要我们一要以社会主义核心价值观为指导,重视我国传统教育,倡导大学生树立科学的消费观;二要加强高校思想政治教育理论课的引导,创新教育方法,丰富教育内容,追求正确的自我认知;三要加强良好校园文化环境的建设,如合理运用校园广播媒体,组织开展校园文化活动等。     

Driving Under the Influence of Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Agonist XLR‐11

The case of a 22‐year‐old male Caucasian driver is presented. He was involved in a traffic collision. At the roadside, he displayed blank stare and mellow speech with a barely audible voice. A DRE found low body temperature, rigid muscle tone, normal pulse, lack of horizontal and vertical gaze nystagmus, nonconvergence of the eyes, dilated pupil size, and normal Pupillary reaction to light. A standard toxicology DUID protocol was performed on the driver's whole blood including ELISA and GC‐MS drug screens with negative results. Additional drug screening was undertaken for bath salts and synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists by LC‐MS/MS by a commercial laboratory and identified the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist XLR‐11 in the driver's blood. XLR‐11 was subsequently quantified at 1.34 ng/mL. This is the first documented case involving a driver operating a motor vehicle under the influence of the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist XLR‐11.     

Types of crimes committed by repeat DUI offenders

This study investigates whether repeat driving under the influence (DUI) offenders have more extensive histories of violent, property, and drug crimes than first-time drunk drivers. It also offers an exploratory investigation into the extent of their criminal specialization. Negative binomial regression was performed on arrest and criminal history data from a systematic random sample of 429 DUI arrestees. Analyses controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and employment found that being a repeat DUI offender increased the total number of violent and property convictions (regardless of severity) and petty misdemeanor/violation property convictions. The results suggest DUI recidivists are generalists rather than specialists and that impaired driving is best viewed as just one manifestation of a host of deviant behaviors. They also illustrate the challenges of rehabilitating and deterring DUI recidivists and the potential differences between first-time and repeat DUI offenders. The findings should not be interpreted as support of enforcement or deterrent DUI policies that focus on repeat offenders, as limited resources are most efficiently directed at the general population of impaired drivers.     

UNPACKING THE BLACK BOX OF PEER SIMILARITY IN DEVIANCE: UNDERSTANDING THE MECHANISMS LINKING PERSONAL BEHAVIOR,PEER BEHAVIOR,AND PERCEPTIONS

The strong correlation between measures of personal and peer deviance occurs with near “law‐like” regularity. Yet, as with other manifestations of peer similarity (often referred to as homophily), the mechanisms generating this relationship are widely debated. Specific to the deviance literature, most studies have failed to examine, simultaneously, the degree to which similarity is the consequence of multiple causes. The current study addresses this gap by using longitudinal network data for 1,151 individuals from the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR) School Project. Structural equation modeling is used to address these issues by adapting Jussim and Osgood's ( 1989 ) model of deviant attitudes in dyadic pairs to the current data. Across two separate behavioral domains (substance use and property offending), the results provide strong support for the prediction that individuals project their own deviant tendencies inaccurately onto their peers. Conversely, the results provide little or no support for the predictions that respondents accurately perceive their peers’ deviance or that their perceptions of peer deviance influence their own behavior. Implications for understanding the role of peer behavior in the etiology of adolescent deviance are discussed.     

REVISITING “WHAT THEY THINK”: ADOLESCENT DRINKING AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PEER BELIEFS

The association between delinquent peers and delinquent behavior is among the most consistent findings in the criminological literature, and several recent studies have raised the standards for determining the nature and extent of peer influence. Despite these advances, however, key questions about how deviant behavior is socially transmitted remain unresolved. In particular, much of the research examining peer influence has been limited to peer behavior, despite a rich literature supporting the salience of beliefs, such as expectations and moral approval, in shaping behaviors. In the current study, I model the peer influence and selection processes with longitudinal social network analysis to reexamine the contributions of peer beliefs and behaviors to adolescent drinking. I find evidence that beliefs related to peer drinking have both a direct and an indirect impact on behavior and play an important role in the friendship selection process. These results highlight the importance of understanding how peers influence deviant behavior and suggest that peer beliefs are an important part of this relationship.     

科学技术发展对刑事证据的影响初探

随着科技的发展及其不断深入到人们生活的方方面面,对刑事证据制度的影响越来越大。科技影响了刑事证据制度的变迁;扩大了刑事证据的范围,使越来越多的非自然物进入证据之列;对于收集、固定和保全刑事证据,既提供了新的手段,也提出了新的挑战;同时对于刑事证据的采信规则也产生了影响。从科技的角度研究刑事证据,可以为我国建立完善刑事证据规则奠定理论基础。     

Perception of societal influence among civil society leaders – an elite perspective

ABSTRACT

This article explores the perception of societal influence of civil society leaders based on a survey study conducted in 2017 among leaders of Swedish civil society organizations. Civil society leaders represent organizations that are often based on and guided by religious, political, or cultural values and that often strive to achieve some sort of social change. To exercise influence on society is thus a crucial feature of civil society leaders. Drawing on elite theories, the article seeks to explain differences in the perception of influence by looking at the following factors: (1) personal qualities and resources such as age, gender, country of birth, education, and working experiences, (2) social networks and contacts with representatives of different institutions (media, government, etc.), and (3) organizational position and resources, including relations with public authorities. The analysis shows that two out of three surveyed leaders perceive they have great influence in society concerning the issues they work with. Among the factors explaining the perception of influence, we find being a leader of an organization at the regional level, being of older age, having leading representatives of the media in one’s personal network, and stating that one has great influence over the organization one leads.     

Commercial Lobbying in Australia: Exploring the Australian Lobby Register

Politicians and policy makers routinely engage with lobbyists and see them as crucial agents in the political process. But how much do we really know about the Australian lobby system? Although there are a range of reviews of lobby regulation schemes and discussions about the work of lobbyists, a comprehensive contemporary picture of the commercial lobbying system in Australia is missing. Using data from the ‘federal lobby register’, this article sets out to map the commercial lobbying scene at the national level. Using this as a backdrop, the article goes on to discuss what questions this raises and how we might develop a deeper understanding of the commercial lobbying system in Australia.     

The First Delinquent Peers Are the Most Important: Examining Nonlinearity in the Peer Effect

Criminologists have long recognized the importance of peers in the etiology of delinquency. Yet, the bulk of empirical studies on this topic make the implicit assumption that the peer effect to be conditioned is linear. With few notable exceptions, prior criminological research has not thought deeply about possible nonlinearity in the peer effect. To address this issue, the present study examines whether the functional form of the relationship between peer and respondent smoking, getting drunk, and fighting is nonlinear, and whether this nonlinearity is moderated by lagged respondent delinquency. Logistic regression models on adolescents from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health indicate that the marginal effect of peer delinquency on respondent delinquency decreases as the count of delinquent friends increases, consistent with a satiation effect. Moreover, the models indicate that the nonlinear effect of peer delinquency on respondent delinquency is moderated by prior respondent delinquency.