论刑罚轻缓化

刑罚轻缓化是人类文明程度提高、社会进步的标志.刑罚轻缓化是历史发展的必然.在我国,应严格限制死刑的适用,限制短期剥夺自由刑的适用,采取适用财产刑和缓刑、管制等替代方法.     

论预防之刑

在现代的刑事立法和司法实践中,刑罚之预防论可谓占据重要的地位.国家以剥夺人之生命、自由等重大权益之方式处罚犯人的目的就是预防犯罪.深入考察刑罚之预防论的诸种形态,可以看出,尽管预防之刑使得刑罚终成有用之物,但是它却潜藏着非道德主义的成份,毕竟,它有可能将神圣的正义抛在一边.     

Public attitudes towards the death penalty

Responses to a general question regarding the use of the death penalty were compared with the sentences that respondents chose in a set of scenarios describing homicide cases. The percentage of respondents who assigned the death sentence in one or more of the following scenarios was higher than those who favored the death penalty in the abstract question, but there were inconsistencies in the answers. A majority assigned the death penalty only for the most heinous offender described, and the figures were lower for other crimes, even clear cases of first degree murder. At the same time, a manipulation involving information about methods of execution did not affect answers. These results strongly suggest that the abstract questions typically used in public opinion polls do not accurately reflect the public's feelings about use of the death penalty in specific cases. More generally, research on public opinion regarding criminal justice policies should survey a variety of specific circumstances.     

经济犯罪之刑罚结构研究

刑罚在经济犯罪中的运用需要理想的刑罚结构。为此,可结合经济犯罪的特点分析各刑种在调整经济犯罪时的利弊得失,并以此为基础设计出一种以罚金刑和有期徒刑为主体,以无期徒刑和没收财产刑相结合为辅助,以拘役刑作为罚金刑替代措施处于次要地位的“三角形”式的刑罚结构模式。以此为指导,以破坏社会主义市场经济秩序罪为例,对我国现行经济犯罪的实然刑罚结构进行分析,可以发现我国现行经济犯罪的刑罚结构由于死刑、管制刑的存在,而使其具有不合理性,因此,要优化现行经济犯罪的刑罚结构,必须废除死刑,取消管制刑,并对其他刑种进行微调。     

Dilemmas in administering the death penalty

This article critiques ethical arguments against conducting forensic evaluations of capital defendants or condemned prisoners and against treating prisoners found incompetent for execution, and considers the impact of widespread professional abstention on the legal system. It concludes that arguments for abstention by forensic evaluators are grounded mainly in personal moral scruples against capital punishment, rather than in tenets of professional ethics, but that abstention would be ethically required if the evaluator's scruples preclude objectivity. It also concludes that treatment of incompetent prisoners known to want treatment is ethically permissible but that treatment for the sole purpose of readying the prisoner for execution is not.Editor's note: Adversary Forum is edited by Gary B. Melton. Stan Brodsky was asked to respond to Professor Bonnie's article, and Professor Bonnie was given an opportunity to reply.This article is based on a paper presented as the Keynote Address to the Annual Meeting of the     

Death penalty attitudes and conviction proneness

Attitudes toward the death penalty are consistently predictive of jurors' verdicts in criminal trials. Two studies were conducted to find out why. In Study 1, eligible jurors viewed a videotape showing conflicting testimony by a prosecution and defense witness in an assault case. Death-qualified subjects (those permitted to serve on capital juries) interpreted testimony in a manner more favorable to the prosecution than excludable subjects (those excluded from serving on juries in capital cases due to their opposition to the death penalty), suggesting that differing interpretations of evidence may mediate the relationship between attitudes toward the death penalty and verdicts. In Study 2, the same jurors indicated their reactions to a number of hypothetical situations in which a jury had convicted an innocent defendant or acquitted a guilty one. Death qualified subjects expressed less regret concerning erroneous convictions and more regret concerning erroneous acquittals than excludable subjects. Theoretical interpretations of this pattern of results suggest that death qualified subjects may have a lower threshold of conviction than excludable subjects; thus the relationship between attitudes toward the death penalty and verdicts may also be mediated by differing thresholds of conviction.During the course of this research, William C. Thompson was supported, in part, by a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship.     

希腊刑罚制度要论

希腊的近当代刑罚制度源于德国 ,其 1 95 1年刑法典规定的主刑有死刑、监狱禁闭、监禁、禁闭于精神治疗机构、拘禁、财产刑。监禁刑可转换为罚金刑 ,可缓期执行。在某些情况下 ,法院可赦免被定罪人。服监禁刑者 ,可以有条件假释。希腊刑法还规定了劳动减刑和刑罚执行机构     

一起卫生行政处罚案件引发的思考

恶意举报在群众举报中占有一定的比例。本文在分析探讨了恶意举报类别、危害性、存在的原因基础上,建议完善法律责任制度,给举报者设定责任义务,建立奖惩激励制度,加大宣传力度,改善执法方式,从而减少恶意举报的发生。     

the death penalty: An American history

Stuart Banner's thoughtful book, The Death Penalty: An American History (2002), serves as the basis of this review essay which explores the forces shaping the nation's experiences with capital punishment. The essay traces Banner's account of important death penalty developments throughout American history and examines justifications traditionally offered in support of capital punishment, issues of administration, and execution protocols. It concludes by projecting that, consistent with historical trends and nagged by serious and recurring administrative problems, the death penalty in America will in due course become a thing of the past.     

Death penalty sentiment in the United States

Pro-death penalty sentiment, at its all-time low in 1966 at 42% of the country's adult population, steadily rose to 71% in 1986. This average percentage varies widely for various subgroups of the population-as widely as between 43 and 93% at the extremes: political leanings, ethnic background, sex, and economic status are the main determinants. Death penalty sentiments are not of uniform strength: about one-third of the pro-death penalty population might give up their position if the alternative were life without parole and if they were convinced that the death penalty is not a deterrent. In the main, death penalty sentiment is not determined by utilitarian considerations but by moralistic ones, which in turn are part of the liberal-conservative dividing lines.     

Behavioral science and the juvenile death penalty

Behavioral science data included in an amicus brief has been introduced into a recent Supreme Court decision (Thompson v. Oklahoma) involving the juvenile death penalty. However, a close examination of the data fails to provide support for either the pro- or antijuvenile death penalty position.     

论死刑的程序控制

死刑作为剥夺生命的刑罚,是所有刑罚手段中最严厉的一种。虽说人们对死刑应保留还是应废除尚有争议,但是,对死刑应予以控制,应慎重使用死刑,并尽可能地减少适用死刑,却是普遍被肯定的基本共识。而就控制死刑的方法来说,主要有两种,即刑事实体法的控制与刑事程序法的控制。所谓通过刑事实体法对死刑予以控制的方法,即以修改刑法规定的方式,如刑法减少可适用死刑的犯罪的种类,或对适用死刑增加各种各样的限制条件等,以达到慎用、少用死刑的目的。对死刑的刑事实体法的控制,是人们一直重视的控制方法,这种方法的控制效果也比较容易显现。例如,我国《刑法》经过(1997年)修改后,取消了     

Confidence in the death penalty and support for its use: Exploring the value-expressive dimension of death penalty attitudes

Recent media and political attention has raised public awareness of a number of issues surrounding the death penalty. Questions regarding innocence, fair trials, and equitable access to counsel and the appellate process are ubiquitous in coverage of the death penalty. Adequate information about public attitudes toward the death penalty in light of these issues is currently lacking. In 2002, as part of the annual Texas Crime Poll, questions were asked about confidence in the administration of the death penalty, support for the death penalty, and support for a moratorium. The results indicate that, although a majority of respondents support the death penalty, a substantial proportion lack confidence in its use and support a moratorium on executions. Of those lacking confidence and those supporting a moratorium, strong majorities maintain support for the death penalty (68% and 73%, respectively). These findings suggest that death penalty attitudes may be largely value expressive.     

The juvenile death penalty and the Eighth Amendment

The present study investigated the Eighth Amendment tests of societal consensus and proportionality as applied to juvenile death penalties. A sample of former jurors (N=179) voted on whether to execute the defendant in a hypothetical case. Defendant's age (10, 15, 16, or 19) and level of remorse were varied. A large percentage of participants voted to execute the defendant in each condition, but the defendant's age and the participant's attitude toward juvenile culpability significantly predicted the likelihood of execution. Implications for the constitutionality of the juvenile death penalty and future research directions are discussed.     

The enduring racial divide in death penalty support

One of the more enduring observations in the study of death penalty support within the United States is the strong divide between Whites and Blacks. Whites show significantly higher levels of support for capital punishment than Blacks. This divide between Whites and Blacks appeared in all surveys, over time, and across a variety of methodological designs. Using data from three separate studies (two local surveys of venirepersons and the NORC-General Social Surveys), this study attempted to understand the basis for this divide. It examined racial differences in socioeconomic status, religion/religiosity, political ideology, positions on right-to-life and other social issues, fear of crime and victimization experience, experience with the criminal justice system, philosophies of punishment, and attribution styles. The findings revealed that the effect of race/ethnicity on capital punishment support continued to hold while controlling for the effects of nearly all of these “explanations.”