China’s private international law (1978–2008)

Since 1978, China’s private international law has made great achievements in publication of textbooks and reference materials, translation of foreign works, academic research, construction of subjects and disciplines as well as participation in international exchanges. The research on academic issues, to some extent, has helped to address various puzzles in legislation, judicature and construction of the discipline of China’s private international law, and has formed some theories in the representation of “one body of two wings.” Although there are still some flaws and issues, Chinese scholars in this field have both the capability and the mission to create a theoretical system for private international law with Chinese characteristics.     

Psychiatric injury in women's workplaces

Sexual discrimination and sexual harassment have been receiving increasing attention. Women who are subject to this harassment often find themselves under severe psychiatric stress. Because there is an increased economic, as well as personal, need to work, women often find themselves trapped in a very stressful situation. The forensic psychiatrist working in this area must be aware of the various legal issues involved as well as of the different types of psychiatric consequences of sexual discrimination and harassment.     

“A CROSS-BURNING IS NOT JUST AN ARSON”: POLICE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF HATE CRIMES IN BALTIMORE COUNTY*

Growing public concern over racial and ethnic conflict and a perceived increase in hate crimes during the 1980s have led to legislation expanding the scope of the law and the severity of punishment for such offenses and to police-initiated efforts to focus attention on hate crimes. Although a number of critiques have examined the legislative approach, little attention has been devoted to the police response. This article examines the rationale for a police initiative in addressing hate crimes; the characteristics of incidents labeled as such in one jurisdiction, Baltimore County, Maryland; and some of the problems in defining, identifying, and verifying bias motivation. Because about 40% of the offenses initially considered by the Baltimore County Police Department to be motivated by racial, religious, or ethnic (RRE) prejudice subsequently are not verified as RRE motivated, a closer examination of all such cases permits insight into the social construction of “bias motivation” and related issues raised by a police hate-crime program. These include determining what forms of bias are eligible for special responses; identifying bias motivation; weighing the victim's perception of the event; determining the line between criminal and non-criminal incidents; and adopting consistent standards for verifying ambiguous events.     

Understanding deliberate indifference to suicide in corrections facilities: A review of recent legal cases

The US corrections system is the largest provider of mental health care in the country. Suicide is a leading cause of death in corrections facilities with rates of inmate suicide being far higher than the national average. Suicide is an event that can lead to legal action against the facility, staff, and treating health-care providers. Some claims are based on medical malpractice. In this setting, claims may also be brought based on violations of the detainee's constitutional rights. Pretrial detainees and prisoners, alike, have a constitutional right to adequate medical and psychiatric care through the Fourteenth Amendment and Eighth Amendment, respectively. But, there is limited information on constitutional claims made against correctional health-care providers for cases of inmate suicide. To help bridge this gap, the authors conducted a search of federal legal case decisions involving claims against health-care providers for deliberate indifference to a detainee's serious illness or injury in the event of attempted suicide or death by suicide over a 5 year period from 2016 to 2021. Fifteen cases were identified. Five themes emerged from the cases, which could serve as bases for claims against health-care professionals: receiving screening, mental health assessment, treatment, documentation, and attention to facility policies. The cases and their clinical significance are summarized in this article. The materials provide an overview of the problems surrounding correctional suicides and can serve as practice pointers in the corporeal setting.     

体系前研究到体系后研究的范式转型

我国法律体系形成过程的特点,造就了同时期法学研究的“立法中心主义”特征,具体表现为以功能设计与规范建构为路径的立法论研究范式、大规模引进域外立法材料引致的外源型研究范式、基于立法引导型建构的学术导向范式。这种“立法中心主义”的研究为法律体系的建构和充实作出了重大贡献。然而,社会主义法律体系形成后,“体系前研究范式”隐含的学术缺陷也日益明显,难以满足法治不断发展的需求,有必要向“体系后研究范式”转型。在建构体系后研究范式时,宜确立以中国问题为中心的学术取向、立足中国场景发现和讨论中国问题、基于平等心态拓展法学知识的域际交流、开展问题导向的新综合研究、赋予解释论研究以应有的时代使命。     

“Memorialization Laws in the United Kingdom: A Response to Fear or an Increased Occurrence?”

Issues of sexual abuse, predation and rape have received an increased degree of attention over the last decade and as a result have overshadowed similarly offensive crimes. Various highly publicized cases of sexual violence against women and children have gripped both the United States and the United Kingdom and have resulted in the implementation of sexual violence laws. Media coverage of an ‘epidemic’ of sexual violence has led some to question whether the frenzy surrounding these publicized cases has created a “fear factor” among parents and caregivers, begging the question as to whether the incidence of sexual violence has increased or whether the heightened sensitivity is a result of increased media reporting. This article examines approximately 12 years of aggregate sexual abuse prevalence data (crimes reported to the police) in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and compared prevalence change points and sexual offense law implementation. The article then examines the possible theory of whether Sarah’s Law could potentially to be a result of increased fear or a moral panic. Findings indicate sex crime rates were declining prior to the law’s implementation, lending cautious support to the proposition that the genesis of Sarah’s Law may have been due to fear, rather than actual increases in sexual crimes.     

Gangs and public policy

Research Summary Attention to gang issues has dramatically increased in the last several decades, both in the scholarly literature and in law enforcement. Despite widespread attention to the gang problem, researchers, police officers, and lawmakers have yet to agree on definitions used to characterize and understand the problem. This article summarizes the existing literature concerning the importance of accurately defining and classifying gang members, documents and analyzes state and federal gang legislation in the United States, and provides a detailed analysis of one state's system that might serve as a useful model for other states. Policy Implications Serious risks to public safety and civil liberties are associated with Type 1 and Type 2 classification errors regarding gang membership. The wide variation in state statutory definitions of “gang member” and in the construction and administration of gang databases presents major challenges for policymakers and academic researchers. This article addresses these challenges and argues that a more rigorous and unified system, based on one state's existing model, might be possible and could offer significant advantages in our efforts to address the delinquent and criminal behavior of gangs throughout the United States.     

Analytical methods used for the discrimination of substances suspected to be bar soap: a preliminary study

The submission to forensic laboratories of unknown specimens suspected of being biological or chemical warfare agents has increased tremendously with the threat of terrorism. Oftentimes, a threatening correspondence that contains hoax materials is intended to make the recipient(s) believe they have been exposed to a toxin. In some cases, the perpetrator can use standard household products, such as detergents and soaps. Once these materials are received, they become forensic evidence and may be analyzed for identification and/or comparison with known seized material from a suspect(s). Two separate studies were conducted using different analytical protocols for bar soaps. In the first set, the forensic laboratory at the United States Secret Service conducted tests on 68 bars of soap using solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The 68 different soaps displayed unique total ion chromatogram profiles. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis in conjunction with scanning electron microscopy was also used to characterize 46 of the 68 soaps as a preliminary study. In a second set of studies, as part of a homicide investigation, the laboratory at the California Department of Justice, Riverside, conducted examinations on 13 bars of soap by utilizing Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy. The case study demonstrated that it is possible to distinguish some bar soaps using infrared analysis. Furthermore, the bar soaps could be distinguished from typical laundry detergents using this technique.     

The political management of managed care: explaining variations in state health maintenance organization regulations

In the 1990s, strong incentives for managed care organizations to control costs, once regarded as a fortuitous confluence of interests, came to be seen as antithetical to consumers' interests in quality of care. In response to this change in political climate, many states have greatly increased their regulatory control of managed care organizations since the mid-1990s. This activity is surprising in an era when public policy on health care issues is usually described as frozen, gridlocked, and/or stalemated as a result of intense activity on the part of organized interests. We take advantage of the variation in state regulations of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to discover why some governments are able to address policy problems that are often perceived as intractable in a political if not in a true policy sense. From the history of HMOs, the backlash against managed care, and state responses to that backlash, we first extract a number of hypotheses about state regulatory activity. We then test these hypotheses with data on regulatory adoptions by states during the late 1990s and the early 2000s. Last, we discuss the findings with special attention to the role of politics in health care.     

Forensic science does not start in the lab: the concept of diagnostic field tests

An attempt to improve an analytical system can focus either on the actual processing or on the input. In forensic science, much emphasis has been placed on improving laboratory procedures, as though the input is already the best that can be obtained. Means of improving the basic input have gained much less attention. Yet, it must be agreed that even the best laboratory cannot gain from an item more than has been contained in it when it arrived from the field. The detection of latent materials at the crime scene by physical or chemical techniques and the diagnostic examination of material already discovered belong to the concept of diagnostic field tests. This group also includes "mapping" for the presence of certain materials, such as latent fingerprints through the distribution of amino acids on the surface. These tests are conducted outside the laboratory, without sophisticated instrumentation, at the crime scene, the suspect's home, or elsewhere. A significant advantage of the use of diagnostic field tests is the ability to deal with "dissipating evidence" such as gunshot residue or explosive traces on the hands of suspects. If time is lost, there is a risk of losing such evidence, which is liable to deteriorate rapidly. In my presentation, I will discuss older and some newly developed forensic field tests, with specific emphasis on the Israeli experience.     

THE EFFECT OF VICTIM PARTICIPATION IN SENTENCING ON SENTENCE OUTCOME *

The role of victims in the criminal justice process has been a neglected area of research. In the past two decades, however, victims of crime have received increased attention, and recently this attention has centered on the involvement of victims in sentencing. This paper addresses the concerns of critics of the involvement of victims in sentencing and assesses the impact of victim participation on sentence outcome using felony crimes in one midwestern county. Analysis reveals that filing a victim impact statement has some effect on sentence outcome (probation versus incarceration), although offense and offender characteristics are of primary importance. Victim requests for a particular sentence do not influence the choice of sentence. Legal considerations largely explain length of imprisonment, although several of the victim-related variables have explanatory power. The implications of these results for the debate concerning victim participation are discussed.     

国外政府信息公开的救济制度及对我国的启示

政府信息公开制度是人类文明的成果,在世界诸多国家已经建立起来,但要保证其具有生命力,必须完善相应的救济制度。本文重点介绍了美国、英国、日本等国家关于政府信息公开救济制度的规定,期望对我国相应制度的建设与完善能有所启示。这种启示体现在立法策略上,要注意立法层级的选择,注意权利的完善规定;体现在具体救济制度建设上,重点探讨了救济制度中的司法救济的建设与完善并分析了有关程序问题。     

Of Mandarins,Legal Consciousness,and the Cultural Turn in US Legal History: Robert W. Gordon. 1984. Critical Legal Histories. Stanford Law Review 36:57–125

This article traces the impact of Robert Gordon's “Critical Legal Histories” on scholars writing at the intersection of law and history. While Gordon's central claim about the constitutive character of the law has come to serve as a working assumption in the field, the case he made for the intellectual history of doctrine as articulated by legal mandarins has proven less influential in the twenty‐five years since the article was published. Instead, legal historians have focused their attention on the interaction between official and lay forms of law‐making with a decided emphasis on popular legal consciousness. For precisely this reason, the time may be ripe for reconsideration of mandarin materials, not only for what they have to tell us about the dynamics of cultural change, but also as sources of insight into basic puzzles of the human condition that have tended across time to be expressed in and through legal forms.     

列宁的法律监督思想与中国检察制度

列宁从苏联法制的现实和国家政体的建构上,提出了建立统一的检察机关来履行法律监督的职能。中国检察制度的选择与建构中,既对列宁的法律监督思想及其指导下的苏联检察制度进行借鉴,又根据中国国情进行了本土化,并在制度和思想上进行了发展。正确认识列宁的法律监督思想,要区分清楚其具有的普遍性和局限性,从而指导中国的检察体制改革。     

Perceptions of gangs among prosecutors in an emerging gang city

Gangs were a target of widespread political and social attention during the 1990s, and despite a short-lived lull in policy focus, gangs are recently receiving increased attention from policymakers. In spite of political concern about gangs, very little research had examined perceptions of gangs. By conducting face-to-face interviews with thirty of thirty-five county prosecutors, this study was among the first to examine prosecutors' perspectives of gangs in Gainesville, Florida, an area that could be considered an “emerging” gang city. Themes from the interviews were extracted and included prosecutorial perceptions of the: (1) definition and prevalence of gangs in Gainesville, Florida; (2) personal and social characteristics of gang members; (3) reasons people join gangs; and (4) best approaches to stop or eliminate gangs. The ways in which prosecutors' perspectives mirror prior research on gangs is highlighted.     

论限制债务人高消费的法理基础及其制度完善

限制债务人高消费的实质是限制债务人的财产处分权，体现了“债务人所有的财产是全体债权人所有债权的总担保”的民法原则的要求，符合民事执行的权力性、强制性、执行标的所有权权能与所有权的分离性等程序法理，是防止债务人财产不当减少、维护国家法律制度权威性以及养成社会诚信意识的必然要求。为了充分发挥限制高消费制度的应有功能，确保其实践适应性，应当将限制债务人高消费普适化并构建完善的、可操作的监管机制和制裁机制，注意原则性与灵活性相结合，形成完善的限制债务人高消费制度。     

The criminalization of immigration and the privatization of the immigration detention: implications for justice

In recent decades, the criminalization of immigration and the use of private prisons have increased in popularity. The criminalization of immigration and the privatization of prisons work hand in hand in shaping the American criminal justice response to immigration. Privatization creates a powerful opportunity for the social construction of the undocumented immigrant into a powerful potential source of revenue for for-profit corporations. Private prison corporations, such as Corrections Corporation of American and The GEO Group, stand to profit significantly from the private immigration detention center. Several investigative reports have focused on how these companies stand to profit, but little attention has been given to the psychosocial consequences that impact immigrant detainees and their families.     

Blood droplet dynamics--I

The interpretation of bloodstain patterns at crime scenes has received increased attention in recent years. Important to an understanding of this is knowledge of the fundamentals of blood droplet formation and impact dynamics. A review of the literature reveals that a considerable amount of work has been done with aqueous drop dynamics. Workers in the forensic science area seem to have been unaware of this. In addition, some of the most important and comprehensive early work with blood droplet dynamics seems to have been forgotten. It is not cited in more recent publications dealing with bloodstain pattern interpretation. This literature is reviewed and discussed as well. The present study presents results of experiments with blood droplet dynamics and high-speed photographs of blood droplet impacts on stationary target surfaces. Some longstanding misconceptions of importance to forensic scientists engaged in crime scene reconstruction are discussed.     

回顾与展望:我国司法鉴定制度变迁与实践

《关于司法鉴定管理问题的决定》出台至今司法鉴定制度建设可大致划分为制度建立、细化管理、严格监管三个阶段。15年以来,鉴定制度建设成效显著,鉴定活动及管理日趋规范,鉴定数量和规模大幅增长,鉴定研究成果丰硕。但仍有一些问题有待进一步解决,更高层次的统一立法尚未突破,存在标准化与科学化的技术瓶颈,鉴定资源与司法需求仍的矛盾,行业自治和认证认可有待完善,鉴定研究手段和成果发表也存在局限。应进一步加强司法鉴定立法,关注司法鉴定实践,注重引导电子化时代司法鉴定的发展。     

鉴定资料收集之法律控制研究

随着我国法制的健全和人权保障意识的增强,鉴定资料收集过程的控制问题已经引起理论界的关注。总体来看,我国比较注重鉴定的结果价值,即获取鉴定结论,这就使得制度设计上偏重于如何有效地运用鉴定结论,而忽视了对于鉴定资料收集过程的法律控制。与此相对的是,各国立法都对鉴定资料的收集过程作出法律规制。对鉴定资料收集过程予以完善的法律规制,有助于司法鉴定质量的提高,同时也是正确认定案件事实的保障。