Predicting pretrial misconduct with drug tests of arrestees: Evidence from eight settings

Identifying defendants at high risk of pretrial misconduct is a major problem for the judiciary. Currently, some have argued that testing arrestees for recent drug use is one way to distinguish between those who will and those who will not commit pretrial misconduct. The research reported here questions whether the incremental predictive power resulting from drug testing always improves predictions of pretrial misconduct. Using survival analysis to study time until rearrest and a probit model to analyze the occurrence of a failure to appear, we show that urine test results have no consistent power to predict pretrial misconduct after accounting for defendant's criminal records, community ties, and other factors commonly known by the court. These results are based on our analysis of eight data sets from different locales, time periods, and age groups.     

Sociodemographic factors, drug abuse, and other crimes: How they vary among male and female arrestees

The push for severe punishment of drug-related crimes drastically increased the prison population over the last decade. The number of female prisoners grew at a rate even higher than that of males. With incarceration rates skyrocketing, it becomes ever more important to understand exactly who is involved in the justice system. An interview study conducted in seven county jails in Ohio examined various characteristics of arrestees, comparing separately by gender the behaviors and needs of arrestees there. The Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) interview schedule and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) constituted the major content of the questionnaire used in the present study. This questionnaire thus recorded details of arrestees' (1) criminal behavior, (2) drug use, (3) experience of drug-abuse consequences, (4) perceived needs for drug treatment, and (5) sociodemographic backgrounds. Only by identifying these factors can one gain adequate understanding of why individuals are involved in the justice system—and of what can, finally, curtail that involvement. Drug treatment and marketable-skill development have been two approaches to curtailing recidivism, and this study found that such programs alleviated arrestees' difficulties most effectively when they incorporated a gender-sensitive approach. Whether or not the interviewed arrestees were ever actually adjudicated, the identification of sociodemographic and other factors pertaining to them should provide useful insights for those seeking to deter future criminal involvement among offenders generally.     

主持人寄语:在考问中推进思考——写在"考问《中国法学向何处去》"栏目开设之际

自拙文"中国法学向何处去--建构'中国法律理想图景'时代的论纲"在《政法论坛》2005年第1-4期连载发表以来,不仅商务印书馆以极快的速度将之印刷出版,而且学界同仁也确实给予了广泛和高度的关注--仅就我个人的阅读范围而言,专门评论性的论文已近百篇.除了学术性会议的讨论以外,多家学术杂志也先后开设了专栏进行讨论,其间重要的有《政法论坛》、《现代法学》、《浙江社会科学》和《社会科学论坛》;而现在,《河北法学》又力图经由专门开设"考问《中国法学向何处去》"这一栏目而积极参与这场学术大讨论.     

Questioning the psycho-socio-cultural factors that contribute to the cases of suicide attempts: an investigation

Suicide attempts can be described to include all actions taken by an individual to end their life as a result of acute desperation. In parallel with the changes in the make-up of human societies both globally and in this country in recent years, suicide attempts are receiving attention in ever increasing proportions. The current study is aimed at investigating the psycho-socio-cultural factors that contribute to the known cases of suicide attempts. The study included 116 cases admitted to the Emergency Internal Medicine and Surgery Units of the University of Istanbul, Faculty of Medicine Hospital between 1 December 1998 and 31 May 1999. In only 47 cases, a 30-point questionnaire was used in several face-to-face interviews with the patients following the preparation of a clinical case study. In establishing the socio-demographic, socio-cultural and socio-economic attributes of each individual case, a range of contributing effective factors is questioned. Including the specific reasons for each suicide attempt, the emotional state of the individual prior to the suicide attempt, the type of suicide action chosen and reasons for this selection, immediate family structure, personal psychiatric antecedent, substance abuse. The results of our investigations are compared with the existing literature in a multi-faceted discussion.     

国产运钞车存在的问题及发展设想

运钞车是近几年来新发展起来的一种专用车,在社会上引起了人们的关注。以防弹运钞车为代表的防弹车系列已逐渐形成特种汽车的一个极具发展前景的重要分支。     

Patterns of substance involvement and criminal behavior: a gender-based cluster analysis of Pennsylvania arrestees

Recent drug-crime scholarship has underscored the importance of conducting disaggregated research that focuses on the consistencies and variations between subcategories of drug misuse and criminal activity and, further, how these associations may vary across sociodemographic and cultural boundaries. The research presented in this article used cluster analysis to independently classify male and female arrestees based on their arrest charges and substance-specific indicators of initiation, use, dependence, and treatment need. The data come from Pennsylvania's Substance Abuse and Need for Treatment Among Arrestees study conducted as part of the State Treatment Needs Assessment Program. Five groups were identified in both the male and female cluster analyses. The results reveal both important differences and strong similarities in the drug-crime typologies of male and female arrestees. Given these findings, implications are discussed for developing and targeting responsive treatment services that match the particular risks and needs of drug-involved offenders.     

French ‘officiers ministériels’: autonomy of the legal professions,protection of their market and an ambivalent relationship with the state

The occupational status of officier ministériel which applies to auctioneers (commissaires-priseurs), bailiffs (huissiers de justice) and notaries (notaires) goes back to the Ancien Régime and continues to embody a remarkable example of a typically French model for structuring professions: officiers ministériels are both the repositories of a slice of public authority and the self-employed members of a profession. This unique status is still upheld by the French state which determines the conditions for entering as well as exercising these professions (granting of monopolies, setting certain fees and competitive practices, etc.). But after having survived intact for so long, the construction of a legal and judicial European space in the second half of the twentieth century has accelerated the transformation of certain professional groups reflected in an entrepreneurial approach and changing business models. Professional representative bodies have also largely contributed to these changes by managing to thwart programmes and political decisions through a wide range of development or resistance strategies.     

Rape perception and the function of ambivalent sexism and gender-role traditionality

This study explores the roles of benevolent sexism (BS), hostile sexism (HS), and gender-role traditionality (GRT) in minimizing rape, blaming the victim, and excusing the rapist. As predicted, hostile sexists minimize the seriousness of the rape in both stranger and date-rape scenarios. In the victim-blame scale, both BS and GRT significantly moderate victim blame in a date but not stranger scenario. BS and GRT moderate the perpetrator-excuse measure in a date scenario but HS is the significant moderator in a stranger scenario. These results show that external observers make different assumptions about a rape incident based on their GRT, BS, and HS levels in different victim-perpetrator relationships.     

A multilevel analysis of the effect of cocaine price on cocaine use among arrestees

Using data drawn from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program, from the Drug Enforcement Administration's System to Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence, and from the 1990 Census, this study examined whether an arrestee's probability of testing positive for cocaine use varied across aggregate levels of cocaine price. Results from a Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling analysis revealed that in cities where the price of cocaine was relatively high, arrestees had a lower probability of testing positive for cocaine use. Specifically, a 10 percent increase in the price of cocaine was associated with a 3 percent decrease in the odds that an arrestee would test positive for cocaine use. Findings also showed that individuals arrested for income-generating crimes did not have a higher probability of testing positive for cocaine when the price of cocaine was relatively high. Thus, it appeared that higher cocaine prices were not inducing users to amplify their criminal activity in order to finance a more costly drug addiction. Finally, results failed to furnish support for the hypothesis that individuals substituted opiates or marijuana when cocaine became more expensive.     

Lawyers' Questioning: The Effect of Confusing Questions on Witness Confidence and Accuracy

The present study investigated the effect on witness confidence and accuracy of confusing questions often used by attorneys in court. Participants viewed a videotaped film and were individually questioned about the incident 1 week later. Half the participants were asked questions using six categories of confusing questions (negatives, double negatives, leading, multiple questions, complex syntax, and complex vocabulary); the remaining half were asked for the same information using simply phrased equivalents. Confusing questions reduced participant-witnesses' accuracy and suppressed confidence–accuracy relationships compared with the condition where simplified alternatives were asked. Witness performance was impaired by the fact that mock-witnesses rarely asked for a confusing question to be explained or qualified their answers. This experiment demonstrates the importance of ensuring that lawyers ask witnesses simple, clear, questions.     

Questioning Fundamentals: Leyland Daf and the 'Ownership' of Charged Property

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Retraction . Modern Law Review 67: 6, 1046‐1046 .
Online publication date: 1‐Oct‐2004. Although the House of Lords decision in Leyland Daf was primarily concerned with the order for distribution of assets in a winding‐up, it has several other far‐reaching ramifications and repercussions. The reasoning of their Lordships in the case alters our understanding of the very nature and operation of a charge over a company's assets. This reasoning strikes at the heart of the law of security interests, bringing into question the fundamental distinction between a charge and a mortgage. Furthermore the decision has given a whole new complexion to the concept of a floating charge which will have tremendous consequences for its application in commercial practice. This paper analyses the decision firstly on the basis of its legal principle and then on the basis of its policy considerations and concludes that its reasoning is neither sound nor justifiable on either ground.     

行政法基本原则的理论构建与价值追问——评周佑勇教授《行政法基本原则研究》

行政法基本原则作为行政法的灵魂与精髓,反映了行政法的核心价值与目的,其基础地位是其他任何具体规范或者应用理论无法替代的。在行政法学领域,不研究和把握行政法的基本原则,就不可能深刻了解行政法,不可能全面掌握行政法,也不可能正确运用行政法。《行政法基本原则研究》①(     

实际出资人股东资格正当性质疑

随着社会经济的发展，隐名投资现象大量涌现。在隐名投资中，实际出资人履行出资义务，却藏身幕后代请他人为名义股东。最高人民法院通过的《关于适用（中华人民共和国公司法）若干问题的规定（三）》明确承认实际出资人具有股东资格。但是，实际出资人的存在是否具有正当性，有必要从法律价值角度加以分析。研究表明，实际出资人的行为通常不具有合法性，承认其股东资格有悖于公平原则、效率原则和秩序原则。     

中国民法法典化检讨

在简单清理中国民法法典化的现实表现后,列举和分析了我国制定民法典背后的原因,并在深刻探讨我国当前的现实社会法律背景基础上,对我国民法法典化提出质疑,得出目前我国尚不存在民法法典化的厚重可靠的社会、学术和政治条件根基这一结论,在此结论下,提出法律界人士当前的历史任务,是摒弃民法典的神化功能,真正面对当今中国亟需解决的法学理论问题和司法实践问题,促进我国民法以及整个法律体制在实践中的有效和协调。     

The development of drug trade and drug control in the Netherlands: a historical perspective

Drug trade is widely seen as a phenomenon rather new to the Netherlands. However, at the beginning of the 20th century the Dutch pharmaceutical industries were already extensively involved in the production of both opiates and cocaine, and they went on exporting large quantities of these drugs after the Opium Act (1919) took force. Until the 1960s, arrests were not at all common, and these largely affected minority groups like Chinese opium smokers and black marijuana users. Since then, drug control efforts have increased by leaps and bounds. At first, cannabis was the main target; then the focus turned to heroin, and that was later joined by cocaine. This paper traces the history of the drug trade and drug control in the Netherlands, with emphasis on their development in Amsterdam. The conclusion is reached that, in spite of drastic changes in both drug trade and drug control, certain ideologies, constructs and strategies have remained remarkably stable.     

讯问战俘的有关问题研究

萨达姆于2006年12月被处以绞刑,但其审判引发了对讯问战俘问题的思考。新情况的出现使俘获方产生了一系列两难选择:一方面要保障战俘受到公正审判的权利,另一方面又希望从他们口中获得更多的情报,并追究其个人的刑事责任。《日内瓦第三公约》第17条是关于此问题的核心条款,保持沉默的权利,不得自证有罪的权利以及相应的被告知上述权利和被控罪行的权利,都是公正审判权利的基本要求。战俘由于被扣押,其在讯问中处于一种极其不利的境地,因此对上述权利给予足够的关注,并从审讯的较早阶段就开始享有具有非常重要的意义。     

刑法解释方法位阶性的质疑

文义解释有诸多局限,需要其他解释方法来印证和检验,因此其并不具有优位性。客观目的解释的功能具有多面性,其仅在目的性缩限时具有绝对优先性,因此不能一概认为其有决定性;主观目的解释仅在提供不处罚的立法资料时具有特殊价值。在刑法解释的商谈、试错过程中,方法的采用有"各取所需"的特点,采用何种解释方法取决于对处罚必要性的判断;解释是一种结果,通常是在结论确定之后再选择解释方法,为法官定罪与否提供"事后注脚";由于司法裁判必须考虑国民的认同感,且要接受后果考察,刑法适用就必须兼顾大量解释方法自身难以涵括的各种复杂因素。因此,如何立足于法条用语的通常含义,将犯罪论体系、规范保护目的、国民的规范认同、处罚必要性等内容一并考虑,并且坚持实践理性,选择对个案最为合适的解释方法,将实质解释的结论限定在特定时代能够接受的范围内,从而平衡好惩罚犯罪和保障人权的关系,是比刑法解释方法的位阶性更为重要的问题。