International Criminal Courts and Political Reconciliation

In A Moral Theory of Political Reconciliation, Colleen Murphy devotes a full chapter to arguing that international criminal trials make significant contributions to political reconciliation within post-conflict and transitional societies. While she is right to claim that these trials serve an important function, I take issue with her with respect to what that important function is. Whereas Murphy focuses on the contributions international criminal prosecutions might make to political reconciliation within the borders of transitional societies, I claim instead that their primary function is to restore order at the international level and to dispense justice. The aims of justice are not always consistent with the aims of reconciliation. Moreover, several features of international criminal trials should give us pause with respect even to how well, in fact, they manage to serve the ends of international justice.     

Reassessing the Influence of Criminal History in Federal Criminal Courts

Abstract

Prior sentencing research indicates that defendants with more extensive criminal histories receive more punitive dispositions and that criminal history influences sentencing decisions over and above its influence on the guideline recommended sentence. To date, these additional effects of criminal history have almost exclusively been treated as linear effects. However, there are plausible reasons to expect that criminal history could have curvilinear effects on sentencing outcomes that taper off at higher scores. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential curvilinear effects of defendant criminal history on incarceration, sentence length, and downward departure decisions in federal criminal courts. The findings suggest that criminal history has curvilinear effects on each of these sentencing outcomes. As criminal history category increases, defendants receive more severe sentences, net of other factors, but only up to a certain threshold level, at which point criminal history effects taper off and even reverse.     

论刑事政策与刑法

刑事政策可表述为:国家或政党基于犯罪态势而制定的控制(预防)犯罪的方略,可分为基本的刑事政策和具体的刑事政策。指导刑法立法的刑事政策是基本刑事政策;影响刑法司法的刑事政策是具体刑事政策。只有在较长时期内涉及全过程的主要的刑事政策才是基本刑事政策。具体刑事政策,它相对于基本刑事政策而言,指在犯罪控制的某一领域或某一阶段中起作用的刑事政策。就刑事政策与刑法立法来讲,刑事政策即基本刑事政策是刑法的灵魂,刑事政策高于刑法;就刑事政策与刑法司法来讲,刑法则高于刑事政策即具体刑事政策,具体的刑事政策只能在刑法的框架内运作,但可以影响定罪与量刑。     

刑事政策与刑法关系论纲

刑事政策与刑法的关系十分复杂。在理论上国内外学者对此有不同的认识。从中国的实践看,两者关系经历了一个复杂的演化过程:在不同的历史时期,法律和政策有不同的定位和分工,自新民主主义革命时期以来,政策与法律的关系曾经发生过很多次的换位,政策相对于法律的地位作用也因为时间、空间、法律完备程度和法律权威程度的不同而发生了很多变化。这些发展变化既改变了政策本身,也改变了法律或者法治。从应然的追求看,在宏观意义上,刑事政策优位于刑法;在规范的层次上,两者有各自发挥作用的界域,应各就各位,互不替代,但应相互制约,协调发展,相互推动,共同进步。两者关系的核心应是在区别两者前提下的互动的制约与促进关系。     

The Courts in a Fragmented Criminal Justice System

The U.S. President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice under President Johnson in 1967 outlined a central role for courts in the criminal justice system. That role, however, has been somewhat diminished by the dominance of plea bargaining and the legislative enactment of mandatory minimum sentences that limit judges’ discretion. At the same time, judges have become more involved in specialized courts dealing in cases involving drugs and mental illness. A major topic of concern is the lower courts, which in many areas have changed little since the 1960s Commission. In those places, the traditional adversary process is not operating well, with many defendants pleading guilty unnecessarily in a system that may be designed primarily to collect fees. In violent crime cases, the imposition of capital punishment remains a controversial issue for states that is not likely to be resolved by a new national commission. The central court functions of sentencing and overseeing plea bargains are discussed elsewhere in this volume.     

刑事诉讼中的刑事政策:以社会理论为基础的分析理路(一个导论)

中国刑事司法实践基本上一直沿袭着旧有的刑事政策以及与此有关的惯习操作 ,在程序上与刑事诉讼的法治化要求多有抵牾 ,刑事政策的合理化是以“自上而下”的权力型改革模式作为推动刑事诉讼法治化的根本动力。虽然刑事政策逐渐受到学者的关注 ,但因囿于价值判断和视野局限而造成对社会事实缺乏有效的分析 ,所以 ,对“理解”中国刑事司法的问题助益无多。而以一定的社会理论为分析理路 ,或许是研究刑事诉讼中的刑事政策的一种可行的方法     

刑事政策与功能主义的刑法体系

在刑事政策与刑法体系的关系处理上,存在分离模式与贯通模式两种类型。我国当前的处理方式应归入分离模式,该模式的缺陷在于,不仅教义学理论的构建缺乏刑事政策上的目标指引,而且刑事政策的运作可能突破教义学的体系性逻辑。为克服这种缺陷,我国有必要改采贯通模式,将刑事政策的目的性设定与法教义学的构建相贯通。功能主义的刑法体系能够合理地解决体系的自主性与应变性之间的紧张关系,它使得犯罪论的构建不再以应罚性作为主导,而以需罚性作为主导,由此重塑犯罪阶层体系。刑法体系的功能化发展,易于对法的客观性与统一性形成冲击,并对个体自由的保障构成威胁。这样的危险根源于其方法论上的目的性思维。因此,有必要构建一种二元性的规制框架,即通过刑法教义学的内部控制与合宪性的外部控制来实现对功能主义刑法体系的正当性控制。     

国际刑事法院证人规则研究

作为国际法发展的最新成果,国际刑事法院的证人规则代表着两大法系互相借鉴的最新趋势,代表着未来国际证据法发展的大体方向。本文试就国际刑事法院的证人规则(证人资格与范围、证人权利与义务、证人保护等)作初步讨论,并由之谈及对中国刑事立法的启示。     

EU Criminal Law in National Courts: Breaking the Monopoly?

Growth in EU Competence in the field of criminal law has gradually led to more and more secondary legislation with an impact in the criminal law sphere. Member State Courts are gradually being expected to give effect to these measures in ever more complex ways. This leads to difficult questions about the appropriate extent of such effects given the sovereignty implications of obligations relating to criminal law, and the additional rights concerns triggered by criminal tribunals. This piece argues that while the ECJ has got the balance right in the majority of its case law, in certain circumstances, it has shown too great a willingness to push those concerns aside in the interest of pushing forward with its broader constitutionalizing agenda.     

司法新举措：法院里的人民调解工作室

去年,上海市杨浦区联合人民调解委员会在法院设立了驻法院人民调解工作室。这一新举措不仅有利于缓解诉讼压力、节约司法资源、节省当事人的诉讼成本,而且还将对我国的人民调解制度及司法制度的改革与发展产生积极的影响。     

Gender,Indigeneity, and the Criminal Courts: A Narrative Exploration of Women's Sentencing in Western Australia

Ethel Rosenberg's prison letters illustrate women's prison writing at a transitional point. Preceding her work are prison writings that focus on self-justification and autobiography; afterward come texts that assert the writer's pride and challenge the penal system and society. Rosenberg's correspondence includes elements of both traditional and contemporary women's prison literature. Along traditional lines, her letters focus on family matters and her own mental state as she attempts to adapt to imprisonment. In their outright assertions of pride in self and anger at perceived injustice, Rosenberg's letters point ahead to the writing of women inmates today.     

论公诉的刑事政策

刑事政策一般是指国家根据犯罪的规律 ,为预防犯罪、惩治犯罪而采取的各种方针、原则和措施。广义的刑事政策 ,包括刑事法律确立的基本原则。因法律明文规定的原则 ,如罪刑法定、罪刑相适应、无罪推定等原则己为人们熟知 ,在此讨论的刑事政策 ,指我国为预防犯罪、惩治犯罪而采取的体现我国法律精神的各种方针、原则和措施。理论界公认的刑事政策有 :社会治安综合治理方针 ,对犯罪惩办与宽大相结合的政策 ,预防犯罪的刑罚原则 ,依法从重从快的“严打”方针 ,惩罚罪犯与改造教育相结合的政策 ,诉讼经济原则 ,刑罚个别化等区别对待的原则 ,公共…