FACIAL PROFILING: RACE,PHYSICAL APPEARANCE,AND PUNISHMENT*

We investigate the associations among physical appearance, threat perceptions, and criminal punishment. Psychological ideas about impression formation are integrated with criminological perspectives on sentencing to generate and test unique hypotheses about the associations among defendant facial characteristics, subjective evaluations of threatening appearance, and judicial imprisonment decisions. We analyze newly collected data that link booking photos, criminal histories, and sentencing information for more than 1,100 convicted felony defendants. Our findings indicate that Black defendants are perceived to be more threatening in appearance. Other facial characteristics, such as physical attractiveness, baby‐faced appearance, facial scars, and visible tattoos, also influence perceptions of threat, as do criminal history scores. Furthermore, some physical appearance characteristics are significantly related to imprisonment decisions, even after controlling for other relevant case characteristics. These and other findings are discussed as they relate to psychological research on impression formation, criminological theories of court actor decision‐making, and sociological work on race and punishment.     

Investigation into the merits of infrared imaging in the investigation of tattoos postmortem

Infrared imaging has a history of use in the forensic examination of artwork and documents and is investigated here for its wider use in the detection of tattoos on the human body postmortem. Infrared photographic and reflectographic techniques were tested on 18 living individuals, displaying a total of 30 tattoos. It was observed that neither age, sex, age of the tattoo, nor, most significantly, skin color affected the ability to image the tattoos using infrared imaging techniques. Second, a piglet carcass was tattooed and the impact of the decomposition process on the visibility of the tattoos assessed. Changes were recorded for 17 days and decomposition included partial mummification and skin discoloration. Crucially, the discoloration was recorded as greatly affecting the image quality using conventional photography, but was insignificant to the infrared recording of these tattoos. It was concluded that infrared reflectography was beneficial in the investigation into tattoos postmortem.     

日本刑法的发展及其启示

日本已从刑事立法的稳定化转向了刑事立法的活性化;近年来的刑事立法,主要表现为犯罪化、处罚的早期化与重罚化以及刑法表述的通俗化、具体化。我国应当在法治视野下重新思考刑法处罚范围,而非单纯控制处罚范围;应当注重提高刑事立法的有效性,而非单纯注重处罚的严厉性;应当在刑事立法体例上采取例示法,而非单其强调通俗化与具体化的特征。     

The Mariel refugee and the New York Criminal Court

In the spring of 1980, the Mariel Boat Lift brought refugees from Communist Cuba to the shores of Florida. Most refugees came seeking political freedom, but many were sent by the Cuban Government directly from its prisons and mental institutions. Literal rejects of their own society, they arrived in this country and spent many months interned in refugee camps. As they moved out into local communities, their behavioral problems began to come to the attention of local authorities. This paper describes the "Marielitos" seen in the Forensic Psychiatry Clinic for the Criminal and Supreme Courts of New York between mid-1980 and mid-1985. It explores how their reactions to their new environment may be affected by their past psychiatric and criminal histories, their language barrier, and the stress of the emigration experience.     

刑事责任地位比较研究

我国刑事责任是犯罪的后果，具有静态性，无法反映可谴责性成立的过程，这是由二元分立的本质主义思维方式决定的。大陆法系刑事中，责任的概念与犯罪是同一的，责任以犯罪成立的方式存在，责任的罪责要素贯穿于犯罪成立的三个条件中，责任塑造了犯罪构成，因此责任反映出可谴责性成立的过程，其过程性、动态性特征尤为明显。这是由西方整体主义思维方式决定的。在犯罪论体系重构以及中国义务本位发生转变的情况下，刑事责任研究的思维进路必须被改变，使得对其研究进入真正的问题域，从而改变刑事责任在刑法中地位弱势和内容空洞的状况，祛除没有学术价值的无谓争议。     

Forward to the past: Organized crime and Cuba’s history, present and future

Before the 1959 revolution, Cuba was virtually a Mafia fiefdom. However, as the future of Cuban leader Fidel Castro—and thus the entire revolutionary regime — becomes increasingly uncertain, there is growing reason to fear that history is about to repeat itself and Cuba will become a focus for organized criminality in the Caribbean, with an impact not just on the regional but global underworld. Cuba and its airspace and territorial waters have become important nodes on smuggling routes into the United States. While Havana may no longer be willing to turn a blind eye to the traffickers’ activities, it lacks the resources to interdict effectively or deter them. However, Cuba is also beginning to suffer from both domestic drug abuse and the first indications of organized criminality at home. This is very limited compared with the strength of Cuban-American organized crime in the United States, but does open up the prospect of these groups exploiting any weaknesses in Cuba to reestablish operations on the island. Although it is possible that the revolutionary regime might survive Castro, at the very least it will experience a turbulent transition, one in which power politics will divert attention from the problem of growing crime. Were the Cuban Communist Party to fall, either to a democratic revolution or a military coup, then either way this would probably generate increased domestic organized crime and open up the country even more rapidly to international criminal influences. Perhaps the final tragedy of the revolutionary regime, born out of a rejection of authoritarian rule and rampant organized crime, is that it will have proven to lay the foundations for an even more dynamic and voracious criminalization of Cuba. This article draws on an earlier, shorter piece: Mark Galeotti, “Organized crime gangs pose threat to Cuban development,” Jane's Intelligence Review, 18, 2 (2006).     

综述历次刑法修正:内容、特点和原因——兼论和谐社会视野下的《刑法修正案》

自1997年《刑法》施行以来,全国人大常委会适应社会发展需要,先后通过了7个《刑法修正案》。这些刑法修正增设、修改了罪名和罪状,或罪名未变但修改了罪状和调整了某些犯罪的法定刑等。从历次修正的内容上可以反映出刑法修正上的及时性、广泛性、连贯性、国际化和罪刑相适应的特点,同时也揭示出历次刑法修正是基于社会现实、刑事政策、刑法理念、刑法研究、刑事司法和刑法与国际接轨需要的规律。建议今后强调在和谐社会的视野下来把握刑法修正的方向。     

刑罚的内部功能解释

刑罚的内部功能,是指刑罚作为刑法系统的一个基本要素,它在刑法系统的建构中所能产生的作用.这是刑罚权以象征性的符号形式作用于刑法系统的其他要素时所发生的功能,它表征刑罚在刑法系统中的地位和作用.刑罚的内部功能主要包括规范定性功能、评价功能、予效功能,它们体现的是刑罚要素在刑法规范构造过程中的原理性的价值,所以,其意义主要在立法过程中得以彰显.     

自媒体时代的刑事司法与民意

相对于传统的自上而下的传播模式,“自媒体”更多地体现出一种传播的对等性,更加注重网民的自主性,表现出个性化、互动性的特征,更易引发刑事司法与民意之间的紧张关系。涉弱势群体的刑事个案更易引发民众的关注、民意的表达更为通畅与开放、民意的表达忽略了案件事实与法律适用本身、民意的真实性有待考证,这是自媒体时代的民意的主要特征。在自媒体环境下,民意推动了刑事诉讼程序的公开、公正进行,有助于刑事司法判决朝着更为公正、合理的方向发展,不理性的民意对部分刑事案件的错判、误判的影响仍然不能忽视,民意对刑事司法的影响呈现出无序性。营造刑事司法与民意互动的良性循环需要注意：建立及时的信息发布、沟通机制,对自媒体进行必要的约束,发挥自媒体对民意的引导、培育功能。构建公平有序的社会制度。     

Morality Influences How People Apply the Ignorance of the Law Defense

In four empirical studies, we showed that laypeople apply the ignorance of the law defense differently depending on the perceived morality of the defendant's course of conduct at the time of the illegal act. Moral and neutral defendants who pled ignorance of the law were afforded leniency, whereas immoral defendants were sentenced as though they were not ignorant, even when defendants in all three conditions violated identical laws. These findings suggest that laypeople adopt a just deserts approach to criminal law, which influences their responsiveness to a criminal defendant's claim to be ignorant of the law. We discuss the implications of these findings for criminal law and argue that legal doctrine should reflect laypeople's moral intuitions.     

Superimposition of ante- and post-mortem photographs of tattoos as a means of identification--a case report

With the rising number of tattooed people tattoos have become increasingly important for the identification of unknown corpses. Tattoos can be helpful in both phases of the identification process, either by providing clues to the identity of an unknown person or body or as a means of verifying a postulated identity. In the presented case, an ante-mortem photograph of a tattoo was available although it was of poor quality. The respective skin region of the body was photographed from the same angle as the tattoo on the ante-mortem photograph. When superimposing the two photos, the tattoos were found to match and the identity of the body could be verified.     

丹麦刑事法研究及对我国的启示

本文通过旁征博引的深入分析论证,揭示了丹麦刑法典与刑事执行法的历史演变、四大基本特色--充分尊重且保障公民人权、注重与国际刑法规范协调、反映恐怖主义犯罪最新动态、矫正为本的刑事政策及其对中国的启示。作者认为,丹麦刑法典与刑事执行法堪称具有21世纪欧陆法制锐意改革新理念的刑事法律,无论是其一以贯之的刑事政策思想抑或立法技术,均值得我国学习借鉴。     

单位实施自然人犯罪问题之探讨

单位如果实施了自然人犯罪,在司法实践中并不能以单位犯罪论处,是以个人犯罪论处还是司法机关不予处理而放纵犯罪?这一问题理论界存在有不同的看法,且在司法实践的处理过程中,也存在着争论,至今尚无定论。这样的现状,一方面难于体现我国的刑法保护功能,另一方面如予以处理,则可能冒违反罪刑法定原则的风险,的确是一个两难问题。单位实施自然人犯罪的刑事当罚性,罪刑法定原则下的犯罪的变异与司法实践,单位实施自然人犯罪的法律认识等问题的探讨,希望能为现实问题的解决开辟思路。     

Tattoo frequency and types among homicides and other deaths, 2007-2008: a matched case-control study

An estimated 25% of the US population aged 18 to 50 years has a tattoo, which have been associated with markers of high-risk behaviors including alcohol and drug use, violence, carrying weapons, sexual activity, eating disorders, and suicide. This study compares tattoo prevalence and type in a homicide population to those of an age-, race-, and sex-matched control group of nonhomicide deaths. The data for this study were abstracted from autopsy records maintained by the Jefferson County Alabama Coroner/Medical Examiner's Office for the years 2007 and 2008. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the association between homicide and tattoo presence and characteristics were calculated using conditional logistic regression. There was no association between tattoo presence and death by homicide; however, among blacks, memorial tattoos were significantly more common among homicides compared with other types of deaths (odds ratio, 2.50; 95% confidence interval, 1.10-5.68). The results of the current study suggest that specific types of tattoos, but not all tattoos, may be risk factors for homicide. Other factors, such as race and lifestyle, along with tattoos may need to be considered.     

The Definition and Measurement of ‘Gang Status’: Policy Implications for Juvenile Justice

In this article, we examine gang membership and gang activity in Dona Ana County, New Mexico. We collected the data through a self-administered questionnaire completed by 373 randomly selected 9th and 11th grade students attending two high schools and two junior high schools. By the self-report method, 56 indicated they were currently active in a gang; another 45 had been members of gangs but were no longer involved; and, “wannabes,” or students who at some time had considered joining a gang but did not or could not, totaled 68. The 169 students who indicated some interest in or involvement with gangs represented 45% of the total sample. A more restrictive definition of actual gang membership (i.e., the group must have initiation rites and employ some external symbols of membership, such as “colors,” tattoos, or handsigns) results in a different trichotomization. We employ both the self-definition and restrictive definition of gang membership in our analysis of their personal biographical characteristics and criminal behavior. Our findings suggest that self-definition demonstrates clearer ties to self-reported gang-related activities than does the more restrictive one. We discuss the policy implications of this finding in the article.     

Inked into Crime? An Examination of the Causal Relationship between Tattoos and Life-Course Offending among Males from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

Purpose

There have been a number of prior studies that have investigated the relationship between tattoos and crime with most documenting evidence of an association. Specifically, prior research often suggests that individuals with tattoos commit more crime, are disproportionately concentrated in offender and institutionalized populations, and often have personality disorders. Having said this, the bulk of the prior research on this topic has been correlational.

Methods

In the current study, we rely on data from a prospective longitudinal study of 411 British males from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development and employ propensity score matching to determine if the link between tattoos and crime may in fact be causal.

Results

Results suggest that having tattoos is better considered as a symptom of another set of developmental risk factors and personality traits that are both related to tattooing and being involved in crime rather than as a causal factor for predicting crime over the life-course.

Conclusions

Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.     

缓刑的正当性理论根据

缓刑作为一种代替监禁刑的刑罚制度,其本质体现了刑罚的特殊预防功能,这一特殊预防功能的社会效果促进了缓刑的产生和发展,同时,缓刑制度的发展和完善又可以充分体现刑罚的人道性在刑罚特殊预防功能方面的社会效果。缓刑作为一种代替监禁刑的刑罚制度,其存在自然有着合理的正当性理论根据,且应当在刑罚整体正当性理论根据的基础上产生,并与刑罚整体正当性理论根据息息相关。     

Gender differences and patterns of arrest across two generations of Cuban immigrants in the United States

The present study is based on a secondary-data analysis of a subsample of Cuban immigrants residing in the United States. While there are no significant differences in arrest rates between U.S. natives of Cuban descent and their foreign-born counterparts, life transitions have a differential impact on behavioral outcomes when young men and women of Cuban ancestry are compared. Job instability increases the risk of arrest for men, while being a single parent increases the risk of arrest for women. Growing up in a two-parent family and marriage have crime protective effects for men, while religiosity decreases the probability of arrest for women. In both subsamples, having a family member arrested was the strongest predictor of one’s arrest status in early adulthood.