Sentences and Dispositions

When a child sexual abuse situation is first presented, it is necessary to look down the road to ascertain what can be done, and what cannot be done. The investigation, process, procedures, and court orders can then all be melded into a cohesive whole which will best accomplish what needs to be done. Thus it is necessary at the outset to consider the dispositions and to plan for it. It thus also becomes necessary at the outset to coordinate the plans and activities of all of the authorities and agencies involved, which may be a sticky invasion of various turfs. There are numerous potential remedies, most of them currently available in most communities, which are readily replicated from other communities. The problem is principally educating all of the professionals into all aspects of the problem, all potential solutions, and somehow to persuade them to coordinate their efforts.     

包含名宾心理动词的事件句和非事件句

事件句和非事件句是从认知语言学的角度上界定出的一对语法语义范畴.在句法层面上,事件句、非事件句和构句成分有相互的选择关系.在不同的句法结构中,心理动词的语义表现为属性义和非属性义.当心理动词表现为属性义时,由心理动词作谓语述语构成的句子是非事件句;当心理动词表现为非属性义时,由心理动词作谓语述语的句子是事件句.     

Ordinary Sentences for Extraordinary Crimes

In comparison to sentences meted out by international tribunalsat Nuremberg, Tokyo and Arusha, and by domestic courts, sentenceshanded down at the International Criminal Tribunal for the formerYugoslavia (ICTY) have been inexplicably lenient. Factors thatmay have contributed to the high proportion of low sentencesat the ICTY include undue emphasis on mitigating factors, particularlythose of particular importance to the Tribunal, the use of pleaagreements, the absence of a separate sentencing hearing followingconviction and the practice of using global (rather than separate)sentences. To make sentences more proportionate to the crimescommitted, the objectives of sentencing should be clarifiedand re-evaluated. Greater weight should be given to deterrence.In assessing the gravity of the offence, the quantum of harmcaused to and suffering experienced by direct and indirect victimsof the crime merits more detailed evaluation. The importanceof mitigating circumstances (such as combating historical revisionism,pleading guilty, expressing remorse and voluntary surrender)should continue to be fully recognized but those factors shouldnot attract excessive weight. Plea bargaining and plea agreementsshould be encouraged because they are indispensable to the Tribunal,an institution with significant temporal, practical and resourcelimitations. The sentencing process should take place afterconviction. A sentencing Chamber should be obliged to statethe starting point of the sentence which it deems appropriateand then quantify the discounts it gives to each mitigatingfactor. Greater consideration should be given to imposing consecutiverather than concurrent sentences. The decision not to adoptsentencing guidelines represents a missed opportunity.     

Disproportionate Sentences as Human Rights Violations

The article explores the concepts of disproportionality and gross disproportionality in sentencing. Several constitutions or human rights documents prohibit grossly disproportionate sentences, either expressly or impliedly. The draft constitution of the European Union has a Charter of Fundamental Rights that includes the right not to be subjected to a disproportionate sentence. The possible meaning and application of this are discussed by reference to the development of related constitutional jurisprudence in other jurisdictions.     

The Costs of Surviving Men's Prison Sentences

When men enter prison the lives of their partners change. This paper looks at men's prison sentences from the viewpoint of prisoners' partners. It examines the financial circumstances women find themselves in as the result of men's prison sentences as well as the social and personal consequences. It outlines the survival strategies women develop in the face of their difficulties and considers why the situation of prisoners' partners remains largely unacknowledged by state agencies and policy makers.     

The Effectiveness of a Mental Health Court in Reducing Recidivism in Individuals with Severe Mental Illness and Comorbid Substance Use Disorder

The current study examined the efficacy of a specialized mental health court in reducing recidivism for severely mentally ill defendants with comorbid substance use disorders. There is a wealth of research supporting the efficacy of mental health courts in reducing recidivism for those with severe mental illness; however, the benefit of these courts for individuals with severe mental illness and comorbid substance use disorders has received limited empirical attention. Participants were 514 defendants enrolled in either a traditional adversarial court or a specialized mental health court. Recidivism was assessed across different outcome variables, including frequency of reoffending, severity of new offenses, and length of time to reoffend. When compared to participants in the traditional adversarial court, enrollment in mental health court was associated with a greater length of time to rearrest and fewer participants were rearrested in the mental health court than the traditional court. Group differences between those with and without comorbid substance use disorders who were enrolled in the mental health court were not found across recidivism outcome metrics. Results of the current study are particularly promising given that defendants with substance use disorders are at a greater risk for reoffending.     

Crime Reduction and the Length of Prison Sentences

The issue discussed is whether policies of imposing increasingly lengthy prison sentences on serious criminal offenders reduce crime. The empirical evidence for the deterrence and incapacitation effects of incarceration is first examined and found to be of limited help in answering the question whether lengthy prison sentences reduce crime. Conceptual and normative analysis of deterrence and incapacitation suggest that we have little reason to believe that the general use of lengthy prison terms produces more good than harm for society, especially if the burdens of and alternatives to such prison terms are taken into account.     

Recidivism after Fines,Suspended Sentences,and Imprisonment

In 1969 the Federal Republic of Germany abolished almost totally short prison terms in favor of fines. Between 1968 and 1971 the proportion of prison sentences was reduced by way of penal law reform from 23% to 7%. A corresponding decline in the number of prisoners per 100,000 could be observed within this period, too: whereas about 100/100,000 were incarcerated in 1969, the rate of incarceration in 1971 was 66/100,000. The dramatic decline in the number of prison sentences as well as in the number of prison inmates led to apprehensions that this change in sentencing policy might result in increasing rates of recidivism. A comparative analysis of recidivism after fines, prison sentences, as well as suspended sentences, was carried out in order to provide empirical evidence concerning this question.     

言语交际中判断性“吧”问句的话语功能

判断性"吧"问句实质上是判断和提问这两种言语行为在特定话语位置要求下的融合,它的话语功能可以概括为两点:第一,指明某一事实;第二,引发以这一事实为话题的一段相对独立的会话.     

死刑复核应当以诉讼的方式进行

我国现行死刑复核程序渗透着浓厚的行政审批色彩,缺乏作为审判程序所应有的诉讼性特征,这与我国古代的法制文化传统、建国前后的相关实践以及立法规定的简单粗疏有着密切的关系。要想使该项程序收到预期的功效,应当在先对其性质予以明确定位的基础上,再对其进行全面的改革和完善。     

Linguistic Objectivity in Norm Sentences: Alternatives in Literal Meaning

Assuming that legal science, specifically with regard to interpretation, has to provide the tools to reduce the uncertainty of legal solutions arising from the use of natural languages by legal orders, it becomes a central matter to identify, in this limited domain, the spectrum of semantic variation (and its boundaries) that language brings to the definition of a norm expressed by a norm sentence. It is in this framework that the present paper, analyzing norm sentences as a specific kind of speech act, examines the relation of the legal order to natural language rules, the limits of linguistic uncertainty, and alternatives of meaning as distinct possibilities of norms covered by the text (that are, because of this, still within what literal meaning is). Considering interpretation just as the linguistic decoding process, the reverse of the process of creating norm sentences, the paper also argues that subjects not connected with the relation between norm sentences and norms (mainly, normative defeasibility) are analytically distinct and should be removed from the field of language.     

“您”主语祈使句的标记性表现

"您"作为祈使句主语系统中最高层次的标记项呈现出丰富的种种语法表现:对祈使句肯定式的制约主要表现为祈请事象常具有听者[ 受惠]特征;对强调式的制约主要表现在对强调标记的选择与对意志语气强度的限制两个方面;对否定式的制约主要表现为祈请事象常带[ 受损]性以及对否定标记的选择等方面."您"的标记性表现主要与其自身的表敬性及言语行为的礼貌原则有关系.     

死刑复核程序中的律师辩护

在司法实践中,死刑复核程序中的律师辩护状况堪忧.死刑复核程序的行政化是导致辩护权行使不畅的根源,死刑复核程序应从行政报核程序转化为典型的诉讼程序,并以此为基础,对死刑复核程序中的律师辩护制度进行改革.     

对我国死刑复核程序之检讨——以中国古代及国外的死刑救济制度为视角

人命关天 !死刑乃夺命之刑 ,故为关天之刑 ,不可不慎。天何谓 ?公正仁义之至也。死刑复核 ,乃载天之命 ,公正仁义之昭彰也。然如何复核 ,是乃程序之制 ,故又足称关天之制。但此制之行每每未能一以贯之 ,或因时而异 ,或因人而异 ,或因策而异 ,终未能成一定制。陈永生文取之实案 ,直陈要害 ,又旁征可鉴之制 ,终立文之旨趣。直陈大道 ,曲涉关隘 ,平白敦实处已明大义 ,当与前文有异曲同工之用