Empirical and Legal Perspectives on the Impact of Pretrial Publicity: Effects and Remedies

Law and Human Behavior -     

对基因技术发展的伦理与法律思考

基因技术的迅猛发展,相应地引发了一系列社会问题,对现有的伦理和法律都产生了极大,中击。从生命伦理学和法理学的角度,论述基因技术所引发的基因歧视、基因资源保护、基因制药与基因治疗等若干问题,提出要通过进一步加快我国的生物科技立法,依法合理规制基因技术的发展。     

生物剽窃的法律问题初探

生物剽窃的法律问题是有关生物多样性的若干知识产权问题下辖的子课题之一.它缘起于现代生物产业的发展以及南北国家在遗传资源、传统知识保护和惠益分享等问题上的矛盾.之所以要对生物剽窃进行规范是因为它不仅减少和破坏了生物多样性,而且侵害了资源输出国、土著和地方社区的相关权利和经济利益.其行为构成包括:未经相关权利人的事先许可,申报专利时隐瞒来源以及独自享有因此获得的收益.     

The Effects of Pretrial Publicity on Juror Verdicts: A Meta-Analytic Review

The effect of pretrial publicity (PTP) on juror verdicts was examined through a meta-analysis of 44 empirical tests representing 5,755 subjects. In support of the hypothesis, subjects exposed to negative PTP were significantly more likely to judge the defendant guilty compared to subjects exposed to less or no negative PTP. Greater effect sizes were produced in studies which included a pretrial verdict assessment, use of the potential juror pool as subjects, multiple points of negative information included in the PTP, real PTP, crimes of murder, sexual abuse, or drugs, and greater length of time between PTP exposure and judgment. The effect was attenuated with student subjects, use of general rather than specific PTP information, certain types of PTP content, a post-trial predeliberation verdict, and specific types of crimes. Implications of these results are discussed, along with possible mechanisms that underlie the PTP effect.     

Call for Papers: Ethical and Legal Issues in Clinical and Forensic Practice

Law and Human Behavior -     

Symposium,Cannabis—Legal,Ethical, and Compliance Issues: Introduction

This introduction reviews six articles presented at the 2020 symposium, “Legal, Ethical, and Compliance Issues in Emerging Markets: Cannabis in the States.” Scholars from across the United States and Canada presented research using the lens of law and strategy, ethics, and compliance to focus on the U.S. cannabis industry. The articles are discussed within the framework of institutional voids common to emerging markets, which may include a lack of a fully developed regulatory system and issues related to financial markets. These institutional problems create complexity for consumers, producers, municipalities, and state governments in this industry, and make success for this market segment more challenging. The introduction contributes to the discussion by reviewing securities litigation involving the cannabis industry generally and specifically in light of some of the issues identified by authors in the special issue.     

Afterword: The Past,Present, and Future of Applied Pretrial Publicity Research

Law and Human Behavior -     

Trauma and Psychological Injury: Practice, Clinical, Legal, and Ethical Issues

Psychologists need continuing education in areas pertinent to their practice. The area of psychological injury and law presents issues and conundrums that need careful ongoing evaluation for appropriate clinical practice, adherence to ethical standards, and functioning in the legal context. In this article, we prepared a series of vignettes that illustrate these difficulties in the practice, clinical, legal, and ethical spheres related to the area of psychological injury and law. The vignettes, together with accompanying commentaries, are meant for use in workshops, and they aim to educate, stimulate, and provoke. Furthermore, the article has been written with the aim of interaction with readers, in that we seek commentaries from readers both for purposes of publication and use in workshops.     

RANDOM ASSIGNMENT IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESEARCH Some Ethical and Legal Issues

Randomization techniques entail sound methodological means to assign participants to groups for experimental purposes. However, prior to applying this technique to criminal justice research, several ethical and legal issues must be considered. For example, in a legal context, the objectivity afforded by the randomization process may be interpreted as “arbitrary.” Similarly, depriving control group participants of the presumed benefits of a newly launched program may be regarded as unethical. It may be possible to adapt the randomization procedure to experimental contingencies. However, caution must then be taken in carrying out the adaptation, as the methodological rigor and hence the interpretability of the results may be affected.     

实施“五五”普法宣传教育的若干思考

新时期的“五五”普法教育,应该本着继承与提高、借鉴与创新的原则,认真处理好继承与创新、一般与重点、短期与长期、政府主导与公众参与的关系,积极探索普法依法治理工作的新理念、新方法、新途径,努力实现新时期普法依法治理工作的新突破和新跨越。一、处理好继承与创新的关系,开创“五五”普法新局面“五五”普法既要开拓创新,又要加强基础,既要求发展又要继承过去普法的优秀成果及其成功经验,继续按照“四五”普法“党委领导、政府主抓、人大政协监督检查、各部门齐抓共管、全社会共同参与”的普法工作机制,来推动“五五”普法规划的落…     

The Regulation of Xenotransplantation in the United Kingdom After UKXIRA: Legal and Ethical Issues

Xenotransplantation - the transfer of living tissue between species - has long been heralded as a potential solution to the severe organ shortage crisis experienced by the United Kingdom and other 'developed' nations. However, the significant risks which accompany this biotechnology led the United Kingdom to adopt a cautious approach to its regulation, with the establishment of a non-departmental public body - UKXIRA - to oversee the development of this technology on a national basis. In December 2006 UKXIRA was quietly disbanded and replaced with revised guidance, which entrusts the regulation of xenotransplantation largely to research ethics committees. In this article we seek to problematize this new regulatory framework, arguing that specialist expertise and national oversight are necessary components of an adequate regulatory framework for a biotechnology which poses new orders of risk, challenges the adequacy of traditional understandings of autonomy and consent, and raises significant animal welfare concerns. We argue for a more considered and holistic approach, based on adequate consultation, to regulating biotechnological developments in the United Kingdom.     

Studying Pretrial Publicity Effects: New Methods for Improving Ecological Validity and Testing External Validity

Although research examining the effects of pretrial publicity (PTP) on individuals' appraisals of a defendant and verdict decision making generally has been found to be internally valid, the external validity has been questioned by some social scientists as well as lawyers and judges. It is often proposed that the verisimilitude (or ecological validity) of the research should be increased in the service of increasing external validity; however, increasing verisimilitude can be costly in terms of both time and money. It is proposed that the Internet is a viable means of conducting PTP research that allows high verisimilitude without high costs. This is demonstrated with a study in which we used the Internet to examine PTP effects in an actual trial as it was taking place. Successful use of the Internet to conduct experimental research in other areas of psychology and law is discussed, as well as the importance of future research examining whether independent variables interact with methods in ways that undermine the generalizability of research findings.     

劳动合同变更制度的法律问题研究——兼析苏、浙、沪高院的指导意见

劳动合同变更问题在金融危机中凸显出来。各地高院出台的指导意见对劳动合同的变更问题理解不一,处理方式不一,造成了法制的混乱,也不利于对劳动者合法权益的保护。劳动合同变更从程序上可分为协商变更和单方变更;内容上可分为实质性变更和非实质性变更;从引发事由上可分为情势变更和自然变更。双方协商和书面形式是劳动合同变更制度的一般要求,但是仍有单方变更和对书面形式扩大解释的变通需要。     

The Effects of General Pretrial Publicity on Juror Decisions: An Examination of Moderators and Mediating Mechanisms

Two studies examined three moderators (gender, attitudes, and media slant) and four mediators (accessibility, evidence importance, evidence plausibility, and standards of guilt) of general pretrial publicity's influence on juror decisions. In Study 1, participants who watched a prodefense rape story were more likely to report that they would need more inculpatory evidence to convict a defendant of rape than were participants who watched a proprosecution rape story. In Study 2, participants watched news stories, one of which was a proprosecution rape story, a prodefense rape story, or a nonrape story. In an ostensibly unrelated study, participants indicated their attitudes toward rape, watched a rape trial, and provided trial and witness ratings. Accessibility did not mediate the media effects on participants' judgments of rape importance; however, attitudes moderated media effects. Rape news influenced juror ratings of the importance of evidence about the complainant's behavior. Finally, media altered the standards participants used to determine defendant guilt. Implications for understanding the mechanisms responsible for pretrial publicity effects are discussed.     

法制宣传教育工作体系建设研究

加强法制宣传教育工作体系建设,是推进法制宣传教育工作科学发展的需要。法制宣传教育工作经过20多年的实践后,在提高公民法律素质,营造社会法治环境方面取得了良好成效,但在思维模式、工作机制、组织体系等方面还需要加强理论及实践的研究。为此,笔者在梳理总结法制宣传教育工作成功经验及做法的基础上,提出了建构法制宣传教育工作体系的初步设想,旨在推进“五五”法制宣传教育工作,提高法制宣传教育工作水平。