Electronic signatures and security issues: An empirical study

Security concerns with regard to the use of electronic signatures in the electronic environment seem to represent a potential barrier to their usage. This paper presents an empirical study that examines businesses' perceived security concerns with the use of the electronic signature technology for executing contracts and commercial transactions and whether such issues represent a disincentive for their usage. The findings of the study reveal that there are significant security concerns in the business community with regard to the use of electronic signatures. However, such perceptions seem to be primarily driven by a lack of awareness and understanding. Advising prospective users of electronic signatures about the kind of safeguards that could be put in place to minimise risks associated with their usage can be a useful step towards overcoming their fears and hesitance.     

民事司法程序的实证评估

民事司法程序具有多元化的目的,如保护民事权利、维护法律秩序、解决民事纠纷和保障正当程序等。我国的民事司法实践能够在多大程度实现上述目的,可以通过实证评估的方法进行测量。中国司法文明指数项目的调研数据,反映了我国民事诉讼在及时受理起诉、符合程序公正、自愿和合法调解、有效执行裁判、提供有效诉讼救济等方面的情况。其中,对调解自愿性、程序公正性的违反,是制约我国民事司法文明的两个突出因素。进一步的数据挖掘显示,这两个因素明显地降低了社会对法官形象的评价;法官强制调解与法官所感受到的压力源存在关联性。民事裁判受到不正当干预的现象,降低了对民事司法程序公正性的评价。     

我国行政司法运行情况的实证评估

行政司法程序对于审查行政执法行为合法性、保障行政行对人的合法权益具有重要意义。我国的行政诉讼实践能够在多大程度上实现行政司法程序的制度价值,可以通过实证评估的方法进行测量。中国司法文明指数报告项目的调研数据,反映了我国行政诉讼在及时受理起诉、符合程序公正、有效执行裁判、提供有效诉讼救济等方面的情况。通过对调研数据进行挖掘可以发现,行政司法程序的运行情况与法官形象之间存在正关联,对于这种关联可以进行多种解释。对于行政司法程序的评估,不同职业群体之间存在差异,这可以解释为视角偏差、社会信息供给负面化等原因。     

An empirical study of tissue banking in Australia: navigating regulatory and ethical challenges

Collections of tumour samples can be an invaluable resource for medical research. There are, however, numerous ethical and legal challenges associated with tumour banking. While there has been extensive discussion of these issues in the legal and ethical literature, there are few available empirical data in relation to the activities of tumour banks in Australia, their practices around ethically charged issues, and their success in implementing complex regulatory guidelines. The aim of this study was to gain more information about the activities of tumour banks in New South Wales, Australia, with a particular focus on their management of, and attitudes towards, ethical and regulatory issues. A survey of 27 tumour collection and research facilities was conducted using a 55-item questionnaire. There is significant heterogeneity of research methodologies as well as of methods for gaining consent and ensuring donor privacy, and there is general concern among the research community about ethical and regulatory issues related to tumour banking. Heterogeneity of practice and uncertainty about ethical and regulatory requirements is problematic in its potential to hinder research and its potential to generate the space for unethical practice, whether intentional or unintentional. There is a pressing need to address these issues so that tumour banks can be used in the most ethical and efficient way possible.     

我国刑事非法证据排除规则司法实践实证研究-以W市刑事审判实务为视角

在我国立法层面逐步建立非法证据排除制度的背景下,非法证据排除制度能否发挥预期的效果仍取决于在司法实务中的贯彻落实情况。通过分析W市法院近三年启动非法证据排除程序的实际情况,我们发现实务中仍存在对非法证据的范围认识不统一、刑讯逼供、疲劳审讯等非法方法的界定不明确、重复自白是否可采具有争议、程序性情况说明尚普遍存在等问题。在司法实务中正确贯彻落实非法证据排除规则,实现对非法取证行为的一般预防功能,首先需要转变重实体轻程序的传统观念,树立实体正义与程序正义并重的新观念,同时要着眼于我国刑事诉讼的现状,避免非法证据排除泛化。在具体操作上,要严格落实证明责任倒置原则,对控辩双方在非法证据排除程序中实行不同层次的证明标准,辩方提供的线索或材料只需达到“存在非法取证的可能性”这样较低程度的证明标准即可,控方的举证则需达到“排除合理怀疑”这样较高程度的证明标准。对于有辩护人的案件,尽量保证在庭前会议中最大可能地解决非法证据排除问题,避免不具备准入资格的非法证据进入庭审,在法官主持下,控辩双方在庭前会议中达成的协议应当具有约束力。     

Informed consent in Canada: an empirical study

The case of Reibl v. Hughes has significantly altered the law regarding informed consent in Canada. It might be expected, therefore, that its impact on the Canadian medical profession would be significant. However, in the first study to examine the practice of Canadian doctors in this respect, Professor Robertson concludes that the profession is largely unaware of either the decision or its importance. Further, the study examines doctors' current perceptions and opinions on the disclosure of risks to patients and the results, among others, raise serious questions regarding both the awareness and reception of important legal rulings.     

The noble cause: An empirical assessment

Literature on police ethics has employed the term “noble cause” to describe a utilitarian orientation toward crime control. No empirical research, however, has systematically investigated the noble cause, a shortcoming addressed in this study. A survey of deputies in a western sheriff's office provided the setting for the current research. Twelve items tapping the noble cause revealed a multidimensional latent structure composed of three factors. Findings did not support the presence of a link between measures of the noble cause and crime. A positive though inconsistent relationship was found between measures of the noble cause and deputies' attitudes toward administrators.     

Medical criminals: Physicians and white-collar offenses

Lawbreaking by professionals remains an understudied area in the field of white-collar crime. This article presents a review of crime in the practice of medicine, focusing on the misdeeds of physicians. The role of physician power in producing such acts is analyzed from both historical and theoretical perspectives, and a brief inventory of forms of medical wrongdoing is presented. The article also considers the ways in which formal medical training can influence later wrongdoing, and discusses issues related to the control of medical crime.     

Organizational centralization in court administration: An empirical assessment

Data gathered from a national survey of court managers are used to examine the centralized versus decentralized perspectives recently developed in organizational theories of court administration. Two areas are examined in the research: administrative decision making and job formalization. Utilizing discriminant analysis, it appears that few states are dominated by a single management approach, and that in all likelihood the local norms and values influence the ways in which the courts are managed.     

Dangers of police professionalization: An empirical analysis

This study examines relationships between professionalization (measured by the amount of college education and police training) and police officer attitudes. Using data from a survey of 712 police officers in twenty-nine departments in the St. Louis area, the analysis focuses on propositions derived from scholars who have identified harmful effects they expect to flow from the reform. Although the limited operational definition of the key variables and other factors noted in the study require caution in interpreting the findings, little evidence in support of the expected “dangers” is found. This result, in combination with other studies that have failed to find support for the case made for raising the educational level of police, suggests the need to reassess expectations about the impact of college education in policing.     

Tokenism in policing: An empirical test of Kanter's hypothesis

This study presented the first quantitative test of tokenism theory (Kanter, 1977) in a municipal policing context with data collected from a large sample of Baltimore police officers (Gershon, 1999). In bivariate and multivariate analyses, the effects of gender and race status and their interaction on three dependent variables capturing the central dynamics of tokenism (visibility/performance pressure, contrast/social isolation, and assimilation/role encapsulation) were explored. The study found weak to moderate support for the theory, but no evidence of a distinct “double token” interaction effect between race and gender statuses. By and large, race status alone predicted the greatest tokenism consequences. Limitations and future directions for tokenism research in policing are discussed.     

酒精相关违法行为的犯罪学特点分析

目的探讨法医精神病学鉴定中两种酒精相关违法行为的犯罪学特征。方法采用自行编制的法医精神病学鉴定案例登记表,对符合本研究纳入标准的90名被鉴定人分为普通醉酒(63例)和慢性酒精中毒(27例)两组,采用统计描述和对照研究的方法进行分析。结果普通醉酒组54.0%的案前有诱发事件,慢性酒精中毒组案前有诱发事件的为22.2%;58.7%普通醉酒组作案是临时确定的作案动机,55.6%慢性酒精中毒组无明显的作案动机;66.6%普通醉酒组是临时确定的作案目标,51.8%慢性酒精中毒组无明确的作案目标。普通醉酒组19.0%对作案时间做出了选择,慢性酒精中毒组织有3.7%选择了作案时间;普通醉酒组61.9%的案后有一定的反侦查手段,慢性酒精中毒组则是有59.3%案后停留现场。普通醉酒组98.4%被评为有刑事责任能力,慢性酒精中毒组仅3.7%被评为有刑事责任能力。结论普通醉酒组案前有诱发事件和作案动机的要高于慢性酒精中毒组,慢性酒精中毒组在案中和案后更多地缺乏自我保护意识。普通醉酒组更多地被评为有刑事责任能力,慢性酒精中毒组则多被评为部分刑事责任能力或无刑事责任能力。     

An empirical study of openness and convergence in labor productivity in the Chinese provinces

Based on the theoretical framework of the Solow growth model, this paper employs a dynamic panel data approach to examine the impact of openness on growth and convergence in labor productivity in the Chinese provinces during the period 1984–2008. The study finds that regional openness has a significantly positive effect on regional growth in labor productivity in the Chinese provinces. When regional heterogeneity and regional openness are accounted for, the study finds fast conditional convergence in labor productivity across the Chinese provinces. As a byproduct, this study also estimates the structural parameters of the aggregate production function in the case of China. In sum, the major findings of this study lend strong support to the claim that openness promotes growth of labor productivity in China.     

White-collar and organized crimes: Questions of seriousness and policy

The line between organized crime and white-collar crime is often vague, compounding the separate social problems represented by these two types of criminality. This blurring is complicated further by the general assumption that organized criminals pose a more serious threat, thus requiring a stronger sanction than white-collar criminals. The controversy surrounding certain recent crime-control statutes centers around different assessments of the seriousness of both types of criminality. Prior studies of crime seriousness have focused primarily on crimes in general, with some attention to white-collar crime in contrast to ordinary crime. To date, however, no one has examined the differences in perceptions of seriousness between white-collar and organized crime. This paper investigates how occupation and attitudes toward the seriousness of white-collar and organized crime influence attitudes toward policy distinctions between the two, as well as toward the usefulness of various definitions of organized crime.     

White-collar offenders and the jail experience: a comparative analysis

The incarceration experiences of white-collar offenders have received relatively little attention among criminological researchers, and the research that has been conducted has focused on offenders’ experiences in prisons rather than jails. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap by examining approximately 6500 inmates incarcerated in local jails, comparing those classified as white-collar offenders to violent and other non-violent offenders. The differences between offender types based on demographics, psychological adjustment (i.e., mental health issues since arrival to jail), and behavioral adjustment (i.e., institutional misconduct) are examined to see whether white-collar inmates have more difficulty than others adjusting to the jail environment (consistent with the special sensitivity hypothesis). Findings suggest that white-collar jail inmates do not appear to experience symptoms indicative of poor psychological or behavioral adjustment to the jail environment. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

Hispanic perception of police performance: An empirical assessment

This exploratory study examines relationships between the police and Hispanics in Texas. Specifically, data were collected on Hispanic evaluations of police performance, expectations of police performance, and overall satisfaction with the police. A sample of 500 Hispanics throughout the state of Texas were surveyed on their experienced and perceived relationships with three levels of police agencies: local (municipal) police, sheriff's officers, and the state's Department of Public Safety. Findings are reported based upon overall ratings of the police, victim-related data, and data from individuals who had any form of contact with the police. Significant findings show that any form of contact with the police appeared to lower the rating of police performance. This appears to be a product of the interaction between high public expectations and qualitatively poor police performance. Further findings indicate that an increase in the fear of crime among Hispanics lowered evaluations of local police. Similarly, victimization lowered the evaluation of local police, the county sheriff, and the Department of Public Safety. Hispanics also perceived that officers have a “bad attitude,” that the police need to patrol and investigate more, that response time should be improved, and that there should be less discrimination against Hispanics. These findings appear to be largely influenced by ineffective communication (both symbolic and linguistic) and cultural conflict.     

Dangerous mentally disordered criminals: unresolvable societal fear?

The average person fears dangerous criminals, especially those suffering from mental illness. Existing mental health and criminal justice systems provide social control for some of these dangerous individuals, but may be inadequate to deal with those mentally disordered offenders who were not found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGI). In California, innovative laws have attempted to address this problem. However, putative lack of efficacious treatment of mentally ill criminals, insufficient economic support, and individual liberty concerns loom as limiting factors in solving the criminal and psychiatric recidivism problem posed by non-NGI dangerous mentally disordered offenders.     

Look who’s talking: interviewing Russian criminals

This paper reflects on the mistakes, the lessons learned and the successes of interviewing Russian entrepreneurs known to devote at least some, if not all, of their operations to illegal business.