Rap sheets in criminological research: Considerations and caveats

The types of errors found in official criminal history records are not completely understood by many researchers, and this lack of understanding can lead to serious misinterpretations. Analyses of a recently developed database of New Orleans offenders indicate that the use of rap sheets with a limited catchment area can lead to gross distortions of the effects of variables related to geographic mobility, such as race and age. Evidence from a number of sources indicates that false-negative error is a serious problem, particularly in fingerprint-based record systems. In addition, arrest records lend themselves to a variety of common misinterpretations by researchers in the coding process, including failing to identify multievent arrests, misclassifying arrests, and treating arrest or custody process events as crimes indicating criminal activity of the individual while free. Solutions to some of these problems are suggested.     

The art of regulation and the regulation of ART: the impact of regulation on research and clinical practice

How a society regulates Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) depends on cultural context. The challenge for the regulatory regime is to balance protection for patients and society with freedom for medico-scientific creativity. Neither an exclusively market-regulated nor a peer-regulated approach is realistic politically, or desirable socially, ethically and legally. Legitimate social issues that go beyond the exclusive expertise of doctors and scientists or market choice by patients need to be accommodated within the regulatory regime. Within this context, four key issues are discussed: the lack of a shared social ethic that helps the needs of the community to be balanced against those of its individual members; the negative impact of intrusive external regulation on scientists and doctors; the requirement for doctors and scientists to review their professional structures reflectively and critically if they are to be entrusted with peer-regulation; and the desirability of constructive dialogue between regulators and regulated rather than the use of coercion and criminal sanctions.     

我国法医物证鉴定领域标准化问题及对策研究

标准化体系可以提高法医物证鉴定的质量,提高鉴定的公信力。法医物证鉴定标准化是开展鉴定业务、推广DNA新技术和我国法律的要求。标准化体系的建设和完善需要集思广益、群策群力,需要加强部门及地区之间合作交流,做好研制、培训和执行标准化文件的工作。标准化不能代替法庭审查,鉴定意见书仍需要法庭质证。     

法医物证学miRNA分析的研究进展

在种属和体液鉴定及降解检材等特殊案件的分析时,转录水平的miRNA所具有的生物属性及表达特点,使其能够发挥基因组DNA所不具备的价值。本文通过概述法医物证学miRNA研究的现状,对法医miRNA分析的研究策略和法医物证学应用前景进行了综述,以期为法医miRNA分析的应用研究提供借鉴。     

Cybersecurity in a post-data environment: Considerations on the regulation of code and the role of producer and consumer liability in smart devices

Smart Devices ‘cross the streams’ of both the physical and virtual worlds and can benefit their users greatly as well as society in general. However, with the growth in popularity of these devices, there is a corresponding growth in risks, both to the user and to the internet at large.This paper outlines the scope of threats which are posed by the hacking of Smart Devices and how these risks can now be physical in nature. The paper then proposes a novel methodology to apportion liability to either the manufacturer or the user, where appropriate. This methodology is based on the principle of negligence, although consumer rights and products liability are also examined from both an American and European perspective.Finally, legislative and judicial shortcomings in relation establishing liability are identified and remedies are proposed, with the intention of establishing a solid legal basis and treatment for cybersecurity.     

法医微生物学在应对生物犯罪中的研究及应用进展

早在2001年,美国炭疽信件恐怖袭击就证实了微生物可以被用作犯罪行为的武器。虽然与其他犯罪类型相比,目前生物犯罪的案件量很少,但这些犯罪行为却引发了为刑事诉讼活动提供法庭科学证据的问题,即如何确定生物恐怖因子的来源以及如何确定犯罪行为人。本文对法医微生物学在应对生物犯罪中的研究与应用进行综述。