Newspaper juries

This article reports on a field experiment on the effect of media information on people’s attitudes towards the justice system. For the duration of a year a Dutch local newspaper took small groups of readers, called ‘newspaper jurors’, to court sessions of criminal cases and subsequently reported on their experiences and perceptions. Using a quasi-experimental design, we examined whether an attitude change in the general reader population of this particular local newspaper occurred as a result of the jury’s newspaper reports. Findings show that, after the treatment interval of 1 year, no attitude change in the general reader population could be identified that was absent in the control group.     

Race and the decision making of juries

The relationship between race and jury decision making is a controversial topic that has received increased attention in recent years. While public and media discourse has focused on anecdotal evidence in the form of high‐profile cases, legal researchers have considered a wide range of empirical questions including: To what extent does the race of a defendant affect the verdict tendencies of juries? Is this influence of race comparable for jurors of different races? In what ways does a jury's racial composition affect its verdict and deliberations? The present review examines both experimental and archival investigations of these issues. Though the extant literature is not always consistent and has devoted too little attention to the psychological mechanisms underlying the influence of race, this body of research clearly demonstrates that race has the potential to impact trial outcomes. This is a conclusion with important practical as well as theoretical implications when it comes to ongoing debates regarding jury representativeness, how to optimize jury performance, jury nullification and racial disparities in the administration of capital punishment.     

An alternative method of capital jury selection

The purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate an alternative method of capital jury selection. Subjects who were classified as excludable and nonexcludable from capital jury service were exposed to a crime questionnaire which contained 16 brutal crimes. Sixty-five percent of the excludables indicated that they would consider imposing the death penalty in one or more scenarios, with 76% maintaining the new position 48 hours later. Furthermore, the rehabilitated excludables were significantly more tolerant of ambiguity and more due process oriented than the nonexcludables. A second study showed that the crime questionnaire did produce a small amount of bias against the defendants in terms of conviction rates and penalties. The advantages of the alternative system for providing a more objective, standardized questioning procedure and a more representative, less attitudinally biased jury are discussed.     

Judges,juries, and the decision to convict

The bureaucratic context of criminal prosecution emphasizes efficiency; its legal context emphasizes due process and procedural fairness. This paper focuses on the trial stage of prosecution where both concerns are central. It empirically examines the bench trial, an alternative to the more commonly used plea of guilty and the more traditional trial by jury. A comparison between trial by judge and trial by jury reveals striking differences in determinations of guilt. These differences have implications for commonly held assumptions about both jury and judicial behavior.     

Effects of the dynamite charge on the deliberations of deadlocked mock juries

When juries report that they are deadlocked, judges often deliver the dynamite charge, a supplemental instruction that urges jurors to rethink their views in an effort to reach a unanimous verdict. The present study evaluated the impact of this procedure on 378 subjects who participated in 63 deadlocked mock juries. Results indicated that the dynamite charge caused jurors in the voting minority to feel coerced and change their votes, reduced the pressure felt by those in the majority, and hastened the deliberation process in juries that favored conviction. These findings raise serious questions concerning the use of this controversial charge.     

论我国死刑制度立法理念及其完善

本文首先介绍了死刑制度及其历史沿革,通过死刑存废之争,以及各国立法例的探讨及法律发展,指出中国现阶段不宜废除死刑,但应通过立法、司法等限制,严格控制死刑的适用范围,并对中国刑事法的发展提出立法预测———中国刑事法人道化。     

比较风险资本市场研究的政策意义

科斯定理揭示了在交易成本为零的条件下，制度的选择不会影响经济活动的最终效益。然而在交易成本不为零的现实世界里，制度的安排会在不同程度上影响交易的效益。正因为如此，我们必须重视制度的安排。研究制度安排是为了说明制度的安排会影响当事者通过改变交易成本而左右从交易中取得的收益。诺斯认为制度是人们制定的以降低人们在相关活动中的不定性的约束。诺斯的制度概念包括正规的约束……     

毛泽东死刑思想研究

毛泽东思想是中国共产党建党和新中国建国的指导思想,对于中国社会当代与未来发展的影响举足轻重.现行宪法将毛泽东思想载入序言,确定了其在国家政治体制与制度中的地位.在今天建设社会主义法治国家的进程中,如何使毛泽东思想的精髓与这一目标相融合并促进之,对于法学工作者来说,是一个应予重视的课题.就刑事法的领域而言,毛泽东同志从政治斗争与政权建设而阐发的一些政策思想,对于我……     

Justins v The Queen: assisted suicide, juries and the discretion to prosecute

Juries are often a crucial protection for citizens against unjust or highly controversial laws. The decision whether to proceed with a prosecution rests on the discretionary powers of prosecutors. In cases where the community is deeply divided over right and wrong, it appears that there is, at times, a transference from the public of thwarted law reform aspirations which can create difficult tensions and expectations. This case commentary considers an appeal by Shirley Justins following her conviction for manslaughter by gross criminal negligence as a result of her involvement in the mercy killing of her partner, Mr Graeme Wylie. The morally unsettled nature of the charges brought against her, her own initial plea, the directions given to the jury by the trial judge and even the basis of her appeal resulted in a convoluted and complicated legal case. Spigelman CJ and Johnson J ordered a new trial, Spigelman CJ stating that it was open for a new jury to consider (a) if Mr Wylie lacked capacity; and (b) whether there was criminal involvement by one person in another's death. Simpson J found that further prosecution on the count of manslaughter would amount to an abuse of process and that an acquittal should be entered. This case highlights how fundamentally unsettled are the publicly much debated and persistently contentious issues of euthanasia, assisted suicide, the right of a person to die a dignified death and the way their capacity in that respect should be assessed. It perhaps asks us to reconsider the role of juries and the exercise of discretion by Directors of Public Prosecutions in areas of law where the community and law-makers are deeply and intractably divided.     

论有限公司出资转让的条件

由于有限责任公司的人资两合性与封闭性 ,有限责任公司出资转让存在着诸多限制条件。本文从比较法的视野 ,对出资对外转让的限制条件、确定对内转让条件的必然性和可行性、出资转让约定条件的有效与否、违反条件转让的效力等问题进行了探讨 ,以期能够对完善我国现行公司立法有所帮助。     

Innovation capital

In this paper we compare the relationship between a firm’s innovation capital and the likelihood that a firm will commercialize an invention. Our index of innovation capital is the product of the firm’s human capital, social capital, and reputational capital. We find from our empirical experiment, which uses Small Business Innovation Research data, that innovation capital is a statistically more important entrepreneurial input to the innovation output of commercialization than any of its components.     

On the need for a philosophical investigation of capital punishment by the U.S. Supreme Court

The Supreme Court needs to clearly articulate the legal-political philosophy underlying its decisions so that consistency can be sought. Decisions involving life-and-death issued, such as capital punishment, should be based on sound, articulated philosophy rather than public opinion polls and the perceived mood of the public. Supreme Court justices, like everyone else, bring their own biases to their decisionmaking, but too often cases appear to be decided on “technical” due process issues rather than philosophic grounds. Of course, the “due process” interpretations used actually reflect inarticulated political philosophy.     

Start-ups among university employees: the influence of legitimacy,human capital and social capital

Using a sample of 7,260 university employees, we investigate how legitimacy, social and human capital influence the employees’ start-up propensity. We find that scientific legitimacy, as measured by the number of recently published peer reviewed scientific articles, and conference papers accepted had no significant effect. Scientific legitimacy measured as publications in non-peer review journals even had a negative effect. Popular legitimacy showed mixed results. Measured as number of articles in popular science publications showed positive correlations and other public media appearances had a non significant effect on start-up propensity. Individuals who are older and have higher level of human capital, measured as level of education are less likely to start firms. We also found that, people with more social capital, such as contact with external product development teams are more likely to start new firms. Taken together, the findings suggest that activities spanning the university-business divide increase the start-up propensity, while within university activities had no, or negative effects on the propensity. Consequently, universities interested in encouraging their employees to start firms should focus their attention on creating spanning activities rather than improving conditions for within university tenure.     

信用的重建与规范的选择--由一起虚报注册资本案引起的思考

社会的转型 ,导致了当前经济生活中信用的普遍缺失 ,严重制约了社会主义市场经济体制的建立和经济秩序的正常运行 ,通过法制途径推进信用体系的重建已经成为一种必然的选择。     

试论影响死刑适用的几个因素

死刑是一种最严厉的刑罚方法.如果说理论工作者还只是抽象地谈论死刑的严厉性的话,那么法官在具体适用死刑时不仅要直接面对即将被剥夺生命的被告人,而且还要面对由于死刑判决的不可逆转而带来的心理压力.然而从司法实践来看,死刑的裁量仍存在诸多难以令人满意的地方.其突出表现一是在司法实践中死刑的裁量存在过多、过滥的问题;二是死刑的裁量存在案件不平衡、时间不平衡、地区不平衡的问题.造成死刑裁量过多过滥及量刑不平衡的因素是多方面的,笔者拟选择其中三个主要的因素加以分析,并就教于学者同仁.