Metric forensic anthropology decisions: Reliability and biasability of sectioning-point-based sex estimates

Subjective decisions make human cognitive processes more susceptible to bias and error. Specifically, research indicates that additional context biases forensic anthropologists’ morphological analyses. To address whether metric analyses are also subject to bias, we conducted a pilot study in which 52 experienced osteologists measured a difficult-to-classify human femur, with or without additional contextual information. Using a metric sectioning-point sex-estimation method, participants provided a sex estimate for individual skeletal element(s) and, when given multiple elements, the combined skeletal assemblage. Control group participants (n = 24) measured only the femur. In addition to the femur, bias group participants (n = 28) either measured a female humerus and viewed a female-biasing photograph (n = 14) or measured a male humerus and viewed a male-biasing photograph (n = 14). We explored whether the experts in the different groups would differ in: (1) femoral measurements; (2) femoral sex-estimation conclusions; and (3) final sex-estimation conclusions for the skeletal assemblage. Although the femoral measurements and femoral sex estimates were comparable across groups, the overall sex estimates in the female-biased group were impacted by contextual information—differing from both the control and male-biased groups (p < 0.001). Our results demonstrate that cognitive bias can occur even in metric sex-estimation conclusions. Specifically, this occurred when the metric data and single-element sex estimates were synthesized into an overall estimate. Thus, our results suggest that metric methods are most vulnerable to bias when data are synthesized into an overall conclusion, highlighting the need for bias countermeasures and comprehensive statistical frameworks for synthesizing metric data to mitigate the effects of cognitive bias.     

论我国刑事错案责任追究制度的完善 ——以侦查机关为视角

我国刑事错案追究制度自实行以来,其运用的合理性以及有效性一直饱受争议。从侦查机关的视角考察,错案追责情况主要存在纠正程序不具体、追责程序透明度不高等相关问题。结合我国实际情况考虑,从内部制度与外部监督入手考虑设立独立的错案追究机关来进行解决是可行的,同时可从细化错案责任追究的相关程序、明晰实体责任性质的认定标准、建立健全办案质量终身责任追究制度和建立追责程序相关信息发布机制等方面来完善刑事错案追究制度。     

电信网络诈骗犯罪侦查管辖制度的反思与调整

为了解决电信网络诈骗犯罪与传统侦查管辖之间的结构性冲突,刑事司法在横向上发展出“多地共管”“人案关联”的“大侦查管辖”格局,在纵向上建立起侦查管辖决定审判管辖(包括起诉管辖)的“侦查管辖中心”模式。但大侦查管辖格局导致不同地域公安机关的横向管辖冲突,侦查管辖中心模式又引发公检法机关的纵向管辖争议。考虑到公安机关条块分割的侦查体制与电信网络诈骗犯罪打击治理的现实困境,大侦查管辖仍是刑事司法当前相对合理的选择,但应优化地域管辖与指定管辖制度,减少不同地方公安机关之间的横向管辖冲突;同时,刑事司法需要把“以侦查管辖为中心”调整为“以侦查管辖为导向”,承认侦查管辖的指引功能,但应完善公检法机关的纵向管辖争议协调机制。     

A Census of Medicolegal Death Investigation in the United States: A Need to Determine the State of our Nation’s Toxicology Laboratories and Their Preparedness for the Current Drug Overdose Epidemic

In 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported on 2004 data collected from the Census of Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices (CMEC). The CMEC was one of the first comprehensive reports on the state of the medicolegal death investigation system in the United States and included information on administration, expenditure, workload, specialized death investigations, records and evidence retention, and resources. However, the report did not include responses on questions that were related to toxicology such as specimen retention and type of testing. The purpose of this publication is to provide the community with toxicology laboratory-specific responses from nearly 2000 medical examiner and coroner (MEC) offices. Data obtained from a BJS CMEC public use dataset for any remaining information that was not reported in the 2007 BJS report were evaluated specific to the operation of toxicology laboratories within a MEC office or specific to toxicology testing. The CMEC includes information on average operating budget for MEC offices with internal or external toxicology services, budget for toxicology/microbiology services, respondents’ routine uses of toxicology analysis, toxicology specimen retention time, average turnaround times, use of computerized information management systems, and participation in federal data collections. These historical data begin to address the present state of our nation’s toxicology laboratories within the medicolegal death investigation system and their preparedness for the current drug overdose epidemic.     

新《民事证据规定》视角下鉴定人制度定位问题研究

鉴定人角色定位是鉴定人制度中的一个基本问题,它决定着鉴定人的制度设计及鉴定人在诉讼中的权利、义务以及责任的承担。从比较法角度看,英美法系国家的专家证人属于证人,具有党派性的特征。大陆法系国家在鉴定人角色定位问题上有不同的观点。通过梳理发现,这些观点可总结为证据方法说、证据调查说和折衷说三种。在我国,经过民事诉讼立法及相关司法解释的相继出台,鉴定人定位问题的脉络越来越清晰。2019年12月,新《民事证据规定》颁布,鉴定人定位的明晰成为理解、适用新《民事证据规定》鉴定人制度的前提。术语上的届分、内容上的区别是制度完善的基础,"双重属性"下其他专家制度的配套适用也是问题解决的路径。     

How to share and utilise expertise in a police forensic department through externalisation and mutualisation

The technique of fire investigation is a forensic domain in which expertise and analogies play a central role. To learn how fire investigators use these analogies to support their work, we conducted an ethnographic study in a Swiss forensic police department. To propose a suitable knowledge-management strategy, we also evaluated the knowledge conservation and sharing within the department. Our results highlighted that actionable knowledge is registered mainly in the investigators’ memories of a few, very experienced, individuals. Without experience with fire-incident investigations, an agent generally requires help from a more experienced colleague, who will then use his memory to find a similar case, which can contribute to the solution of the ongoing one. The research also established that knowledge is exchanged orally during on-site investigations and that knowledge receivers are generally those who are present on the scene. Using these findings, we suggest building a case library to support the externalisation and sharing of knowledge.     

高铁隧道内气动效应形成损坏痕迹特点分析

动车高速通过隧道时,运行车体推动的空气由于受到隧道壁的约束能形成能量很强的冲击气流,有时会造成一些设备设施损坏、脱落,进而危及高铁行车安全。这类事件发生后,铁路部门往往误以为是人为破坏,并以破坏案件进行上报。本文通过对特定动车行车事故的现场勘验、调查访问,分析了高铁隧道内气动效应对特殊位置设施造成损坏的过程及形成痕迹特点,准确认定了事件性质和事故发生原因,并对气动效应形成损坏痕迹和常见工具形成痕迹的区别进行了探讨。     

庭审阶段补充侦查制度合理性省思——以审判中心主义为背景

庭审阶段的补充侦查制度是职权主义诉讼结构和"侦查中心主义"的产物,其理念是追求"实体真实"。该制度不符合当前以审判为中心的刑事诉讼制度改革的精神,有违控辩平衡的诉讼原则,也不利于保障被告人的人权,导致司法资源浪费和诉讼效率降低,且有侦查权僭越审判权之嫌。针对上述弊端,结合检察机关正在实行的以"案-件比"为中心的考核机制,宜尽快废除庭审阶段的补充侦查制度。作为补偿,应当赋予控辩双方平等的证据申请权,改由人民法院进行庭外调查,庭外调查的重点应是有利于被告人的证据。对于庭审阶段翻证的证人,不宜由侦查(调查)机关单方面询问核实,而应当通知其出庭作证。     

北京市信息化建设现状与发展对策

信息化是北京面向21世纪和信息社会的重要城市发展战略,是首都发展的新动力和新主题。本文介绍了北京市信息化建设的现状以及存在的问题,并提出了促进北京市信息化发展的7项对策。