刑事错案形成的心理原因

刑事错案的成因包括直接原因、环境原因和心理原因,其中心理原因(主要表现为包括"遂道视野"、"证实偏差"等在内的各种心理偏差)对错案的形成有更根本的影响。绝大多数直接原因,如刑讯逼供、隐瞒有利于犯罪嫌疑人、被告人的证据、忽视辩护律师的合理意见等等,都是各种心理偏差的外在表现。而绝大多数环境原因,如不合理的考核方式、司法经费不足等等,之所以会导致错案,主要是因为它们强化了这些心理偏差。根据这些心理偏差对错案形成的可能影响,可以在心理学层面总结出刑事错案的形成过程及规律,而我国近年来纠正的22起刑事错案可以为此提供验证。我国有必要完善当前的刑事司法体制,以减少这些心理偏差对办案人员的影响,进而更有效地防止错案的发生。     

医疗机构产前检查过失致缺陷婴儿出生之法律救济探析

因医院产前检查过失导致缺陷婴儿出生之损害赔偿案件在我国司法实践中并不鲜见,但世界各国对此类案件的处理则没有统一规定,在我国也没有相应的法律规范。本文从法理上剖析了人民法院以医院产前检查过失行为侵犯缺陷婴儿父母的生育选择权为裁判基础的不妥之处,评析了"缺陷婴儿不当出生之诉"的侵权不成立、违约救济之困境,提出在我国侵权法体系中应当增加"违反保护他人的法律规定之侵权类型",以消弭此类纠纷在司法实践中法律适用的困惑。     

错误出生损害赔偿问题探讨

在错误出生之诉中,因医生的过失未检测出胎儿有严重的疾病,致使孕妇生下有缺陷的婴儿,使父母为缺陷儿支付了大量的医疗费、照顾费和抚养费,同时遭受了精神上的痛苦。对这些损害,父母有权要求赔偿。在我国,可以适用侵权法和合同法来处理此类诉讼。     

错误的生命之诉的法律适用

错误的生命之诉是近年来出现的一种新型诉讼。目前,法国、美国五个州的最高法院准许了原告就此提起的财产损害赔偿请求,而英国、美国19个州的最高法院、加拿大的两个省、德国联邦宪法法院均驳回了原告的损害赔偿请求。但实际上,全部或部分驳回原告方诉讼请求所持的理由并不成立,原告的确受到了侵害,受侵害的客体是拥有充分知情的父母的利益。     

The color of confinement: examining youth exoneration decisions and the critical race theory

Abstract

The critical race theory has been predictive of how minority youth are treated in the juvenile and criminal justice systems in the United States. However, the theory has not been applied in explaining the existence of wrongful convictions among juveniles. Using secondary data derived from the National Exoneration Registry, the purpose of this study is to identify specific factors (e.g., DNA evidence, etc.) related to the wrongful convictions of Black youth who have been exonerated. Compared to other racial categories, the results reveal that Black youth are more likely to experience wrongful convictions as a result of false confessions, faulty eyewitness identification, perjury, and official misconduct. Limitations, policy implications, and areas of further investigation are offered.     

船舶扣押中的若干法律与实务问题浅析

船舶扣押关系实质是民事诉讼法律关系 ,其主体、客体和内容应符合法律的相应规定。重复扣船、多次扣船、择地诉讼及错误扣船等是扣船实务中较常见的棘手问题 ,作者在理论上给予了释疑     

How to Improve Forensic Science

Some institutional structures for inquiry produce better approximations to truth than others. The current institutional structure of police forensics gives each lab a monopoly in the analysis of the police evidence it receives. Forensic workers have inadequate incentives to produce reliable analyses of police evidence. Competition would create such incentives. I outline a system of “competitive self regulation” for police forensics.Each jurisdiction would have several competing forensic labs. Evidence would be divided and sent to one, two, or three separate labs.Chance would determine which labs and how many would receive evidence to analyze.Competitive selfregulation improves forensics by creating incentives for error detection and reducing incentives to produce biased analyses. JEL Classification: K14, K42, H11     

Officials' Estimates of the Incidence of “Actual Innocence” Convictions

Evidence indicates that the conviction and imprisonment of factually innocent persons occur with some regularity. Most research focuses on causes, but the incidence of wrongful convictions is an important scientific and policy issue, especially as no official body gathers data on miscarriages of justice. Two methods are available for discovering the incidence of wrongful conviction: (1) enumerating specific cases and (2) having criminal justice experts estimate its incidence. Counts or catalogues of wrongful conviction necessarily undercount its incidence and are subject to accuracy challenges. We surveyed Michigan criminal justice officials, replicating a recent Ohio survey, to obtain an expert estimate of the incidence of wrongful conviction. All groups combined estimated that wrongful convictions occurred at a rate of less than ½ percent in their own jurisdiction and at a rate of 1–3 percent in the United States. Defense lawyers estimate higher rates of wrongful conviction than judges, who estimate higher rates than police officials and prosecutors. These differences may be explained by professional socialization. An overall wrongful conviction estimate of ½ percent extrapolates to about 5,000 wrongful felony convictions and the imprisonment of more than 2,000 innocent persons in the United States every year.     

Advancing Wrongful Conviction Scholarship: Toward New Conceptual Frameworks

As wrongful conviction scholarship grows, some scholars have suggested that existing research on miscarriages of justice lacks theoretical grounding and methodological sophistication, arguing that the use of social science theory may help to better understand wrongful convictions. In this article, we suggest that it may be useful to draw upon conceptual frameworks found in traditional criminal justice studies, discuss what such approaches might suggest about miscarriages of justice, and begin to explore the questions or topics they may encourage interested researchers to pursue. Furthermore, through this broad theoretical lens, we can see that criminal justice theory is present, at least implicitly, in some existing innocence literature, and that making such theoretical connections more explicit may help to move the study of wrongful conviction into the mainstream of criminal justice research.     

论被害人过错影响刑事责任之正当依据

有关被害人过错影响刑事责任的正当依据主要存在“风险创设”、“比较过错”、“值得保护”以及“自我答责”、“期待可能性”几种代表性的理论。这些理论在一定程度上说明了被害人过错影响刑事责任的正当性基础，但这些理论的共同缺陷在于：首先，脱离刑事责任的内在结构本身，片面地理解犯罪构成对刑事责任的决定性作用；其次，将被害人过错理解为纯客观情境因素，无视被害人这一“人”的能动要素对犯罪构成各个层面的复杂、全面的影响。因此，这些理论的解释力和说明性都是有限的。只有从刑事责任的内在构造入手，分析被害人过错对刑事责任内在构成要素的全面影响，才能真正探寻到被害人过错影响刑事责任的正当依据。     

Replevin – Repeal or Retain?

In the light of the current Green Paperproposing extensive reform of bailiff'slaw in England and Wales, this article weighsup the arguments for and against retaining themedieval remedy of replevin (a processfor the summary recovery of goods seized indistraint and the subsequent trial of thelegality of their seizure). The common law andstatutory provisions are reviewed and compared.It is concluded that there is no need to retainreplevin, as the statutory procedure availablein cases of wrongful interference withgoods provide equivalent remedies, without anyof the procedural and costs disadvantages ofreplevin.     

错误扣船的形态、性质及相关问题

错误扣船有三大基本形态,即主体错误、客体错误和其他形态错误而产生的错误扣船。基于请求人原因、法院原因而错误扣船的法律性质从根本上讲是不同的,但两者的损害赔偿范围并无原则性的区别。鉴于错误扣船的重大危害,应采取四方面的措施予以防范和补救。     

想像竞合犯的理论探究

想像竞合犯,是指行为人实施一个事实行为,而同时触犯两个以上罪名的犯罪形态。其基本特征为:想像的犯罪竞合,实质的、裁判的一罪;基于单一或复合罪过的一个事实行为;同时触犯数个不同罪名的具体犯罪。想像竞合犯不同于规范竞合与结果加重犯。想像竞合犯一个事实行为的重复性,强调的是事实行为在数罪评价中的整体重复,包括准整体重复。打击错误原则上可以视为想像竞合犯的情形。对于想像竞合犯从一重处断。     

行政主体适用法律法规错误研究

行政主体适用法律法规错误是行政法治实践中发生的问题，《行政诉讼法》没有作出适用法律法规错误的具体规定，学界对这一问题的讨论亦存在着诸多方面的困惑。因而关于行政主体适用法律法规错误的具体范畴、考量标准等都没能形成比较合理和一致的看法。我们认为，主要有置换法律法规位置、混淆法律法规门类、误读法律法规条文、颠倒法律法规规制事项和曲解法律法规原则等错误适用。应将“适用的法律法规是否与案件事实对应、适用的法律法规是否与当事人对应、适用的法律法规是否与行政职权对应、适用的法律法规是否与行为方式对应”等标准确定下来成为行政法规范，使行政主体在适用行政法时予以注意，并能够为人民法院的司法审查提供法定标准。     

公安机关鉴定人员面临错鉴责任风险

错案时有发生,错案与错误的科学证据有着密切关系。在全面推进依法治国、建设社会主义法治国家的大背景下,公安部对《公安机关人民警察执法过错责任追究规定》做了修订,其中的内容涉及鉴定人员出具虚假、错误鉴定意见的法律责任。除了相关部门加大投入、提高鉴定人员的待遇之外,作者提出了5条建议:加强对鉴定人员的职业伦理教育;鉴定人员应当努力提升自身的业务水平;规范实验室管理,严格鉴定程序;做好送检的检材、样本等物证的交接与保管;增强鉴定文书书写制作意识,保存好鉴定档案。     

Case rethinking: a protocol for reviewing criminal investigations

Mistakes in decision-making have been identified as the most common type of error in police investigations. Consequently, wrongful convictions and other types of criminal investigative failure may require a complete case ‘rethinking,’ particularly when new evidence disrupts the existing theory. A rush to judgment resulting in a premature shift from an evidence-based to a suspect-based investigation can produce a number of problematic thinking errors. Faulty assumptions, tunnel vision, groupthink, and other cognitive biases and organizational traps hinder evidentiary interpretation and evaluation. This article outlines a protocol for reviewing evidence and rethinking a wrongful conviction or unsolved crime when the existing investigative theory appears to be incorrect. The protocol involves four stages: (1) evidence; (2) interpretation; (3) patterns; and (4) analysis.