Sentencing

While there is nearly unanimous agreement among social scientists that the defendant's prior record is important in explaining the sentence imposed on the defendant, there is little agreement on the "best" or most appropriate measure of prior record to use in examining sentence disparity. This study provides an assessment of the utility of 11 commonly used measures of prior record. We find that the various measures are not interrelated highly and thus necessarily are not interchangeable. We also find that the measures of prior record affect sentence severity differently and that the relationships between these measures and sentence severity varies for black and white defendants.     

量刑轻缓化趋势与非监禁刑

一、序言苏格兰的刑法与英格兰和威尔士有显著差异。在英格兰和威尔士 ,刑法基本上是一种以制定法规定犯罪的制度 ,该制度对每一种犯罪都有明确规定的刑罚 ,通常表现为法定最高刑。而在苏格兰 ,大多数刑事犯罪的法律渊源是普通法 ,也就是那些来源于 1 70 7年以前苏格兰议会所颁布的古老法案 ;或者来源于著者们所描述的无可追忆的惯例 ;或者来源于法庭在适用法律过程中对法律所作的发展的法律。一般而言 ,苏格兰法律中的法定犯罪是指那些规定于英联邦议会颁布并适用于整个英联邦国家的制定法中的犯罪—例如道路交通、毒品和攻击性武器等领域…     

量刑的价值判断与公正量刑的途径

量刑是事实判断与价值判断的有机统一。量刑的事实判断以犯罪的主客观事实为基础,量刑的价值判断体现国家和社会惩罚与预防犯罪的特殊需要。《刑法》第61条规定的是量刑的事实根据与法律根据,在价值判断上有所缺漏。量刑的价值判断与规范判断并不相同。影响量刑的非规范性价值评价因素主要包括:情势变迁、文化背景、价值观念以及犯罪人的家庭、生活状况等。公正量刑的途径在于:坚持事实判断与价值判断相结合;适时调整量刑的依据和标准;赋予法官适度的自由裁量权;建立和完善相关的程序机制。     

Beyond Sentencing Guidelines: Additional Functions for Intermediate Sentencing Entities

The first part of this two-part special issue on structured sentencing in the U.S. focused on individual jurisdictions and the relationship of five types of sentencing reforms to judicial discretion and to the political and legal forces that originated, maintained, altered or sometimes ended the reform. This issue moves the focus to a comparative one, looking across a variety of different jurisdictions to report common threads of advantage and disadvantage to the various structured sentencing systems. Originating in political and legal arenas, structured sentencing affects not only the sentencing process, but can itself affect the political process and the distribution of sanctioning discretion among the different branches of government.     

论量刑建议

量刑建议源于起诉权中的量刑请求权,它具有启动量刑程序、制约量刑裁判、明确证明责任、预设监督标尺的效力,对于提高量刑的公开性、公正性和公信力,保障当事人诉讼权利,强化对量刑裁判的制约监督,提高公诉质量和水平,都具有重要意义,同时也给检察机关带来严峻的挑战。在对域外量刑建议制度考察分析的基础上,本文对我国量刑建议制度作了设计,并对量刑建议对诉讼制度等方面的影响作了研究。     

论量刑精确制导

我国《刑法》第5条既是刑法的基本原则,也是量刑公正的一般标准,它要求量刑精确制导,最大限度地避免刑罚误差。实现量刑精确制导的根本出路是理论创新和方法创新,这主要表现在三个方面:(1)依法构建量刑标尺,将法定刑空间划分为200个刻度,把其中各种刑罚折算或者虚拟为有期徒刑的月数,明确1个刻度所体现的不同性质刑罚的度量,用以计算刑罚的轻重程度;(2)在正确定罪并找准法定刑的前提下,理性评价犯罪人具有的量刑情节,将其所反映的社会危害程度和人身危险程度用一定数值(积分)表示,借以计算行为人罪责的大小程度;(3)将量刑情节的轻重积分与量刑空间的轻重刻度按"1∶1"的标准相对应,前者在相应量刑空间中的读数,便是量刑公正的最佳适度。     

量刑程序研究

作为量刑正当性的表征,量刑程序以英国普通法上的"自然正义"及美国宪法中的"正当法律程序"为法律渊源,而在英美法系国家风行至今,经久不衰,有其自身的理论基础和价值构造.中国应在合理借鉴国外成功经验的基础上,建构独具特色与符合国情的量刑程序.其中,在刑事审判中实行定罪阶段和量刑阶段的分离,从技术与制度上制定量刑的程序规则,从举证和责任上完善量刑的证据规则,是目前中国建构量刑程序要补的"功课".     

Sentencing Disparity and Sentencing Guidelines: the Case of China

Asian Journal of Criminology - This study investigates sentencing disparity under the sentencing guidelines in China. Drawing upon the firsthand data of 509 criminal cases from a county-level court...     

论量刑辩护

量刑辩护是随着量刑制度的改革而逐渐引起重视的一种辩护形态.相对于无罪辩护、罪轻辩护和程序辩护来说,量刑辩护具有独立的诉讼目标,也需要有相对应的独立辩护操作方式.收集量刑信息、遘选出量刑情节、提出量刑意见、对公诉方量刑建议进行质疑并最终说服法院接受本方的量刑主张,是量刑辩护的基本内容.对于有着"重定罪、轻量刑"传统的中国法院来说,对量刑辩护的重视,可以帮助其获取更为丰富、全面的量刑信息和量刑意见;而对于偏重"无罪辩护"的中国律师界来说,应当将量刑辩护视为一种独立的、专业化的辩护形态,并确保这种辩护活动得到富有成效的展开.     

Derrida,Semiotics and Justice

In this essay, one of Derrida’s early texts, Plato’s pharmacy, is analysed in detail, more specifically in relation to its reflections on writing and its relation to law. This analysis takes place with reference to a number of Derrida’s other texts, in particular those on Freud. It is especially Freud’s texts on dream interpretation and on the dream-work which are of assistance in understanding the background to Derrida’s analysis of writing in Plato’s pharmacy. The essay shows the close relation between Derrida’s analysis of Plato’s texts and Freud’s study of the dream-work. The forces at work in dreams, it appears, are at play in all texts, which in turn explains Derrida’s contentions in relation to the pharmakon as providing the condition of possibility of Plato’s texts. The essay furthermore points to the continuity between this ‘early’ text of Derrida and his ‘later’, seemingly more politico-legal texts of the 1990s. A close reading of Plato’s pharmacy, with its investigation via ‘writing’ of the foundations of metaphysics, and thus also of the Western concept of law, is obligatory should one wish to comprehend how Derrida attempts to exceed the restricted economy of metaphysics through his analysis of concepts such as justice and hospitality.     

量刑程序改革语境中的量刑证据初探

在量刑程序改革的背景下，对量刑证据的研究显得尤为重要扣迫切。以证据为核心进行量刑裁判是量刑公正性和合理性的有效保障。量刑证据在证明对象、证明标准、证据能力规则等层面均表现出不同于定罪证据的特质。在死刑案件中，对量刑证据规则的设定以及量刑证据的判断和运用应该更加严格。     

From Disparity in Sentencing Towards Sentencing Equality: The German Experience

This article addresses movements in Germany towards greater uniformity in sentencing since the entry into force of the first federal criminal code in 1871, with a particular focus on developments since the second half of the twentieth century. The author reviews the empirical evidence for sentence disparity; addresses the limitations of the constitutional principle of equality as a means for overcoming sentencing disparity; identifies the causes of sentence disparity and tracks practical efforts made to overcome that disparity, specifically through the introduction of prosecutorial guidelines and judicial manuals for certain frequent types of offending. He also explains and critiques different theoretical models for increasing sentencing equality, and reviews the advantages and potential uses of sentencing information systems such as a judgment database created in Japan. The author then turns to the contribution made by the appellate courts to greater uniformity in sentencing and expresses the hope that recent trends towards intensified guidance for trial courts in appeals concerning tax offences will be extended to other types of offences as well.     

量刑与定罪互动论:为了量刑公正可变换罪名

现行刑法理论中定罪与量刑的关系被扭曲了,刑法理论把准确定罪置于至高无上的地位,司法机关把大量精力耗费于准确判断罪名,定罪决定量刑、量刑不可能影响罪名成为刑法公理。但是,判断罪名意义上的定罪,并非刑法的目的;对被告人和社会最有意义的是量刑,判断罪名只是为公正量刑服务的;因此,如果常规判断的罪名会使量刑失当,就可以为了公正量刑而适度变换罪名。     

从量刑基准到基准刑:量刑方法的革新

量刑基准的内涵存在广义与狭义之分,狭义的量刑基准通常是针对抽象个罪予以确定,并将适用于个案或者作为法官对个案量刑的参照物。量刑指导意见认为脱离具体犯罪事实去寻找量刑基准不符合法官量刑思维,在方法论上也不具有可操作性,主张结合个案具体犯罪事实分步骤确定作为量刑情节发挥调节功能的基准点,该基准点即量刑指导意见中基准刑。基准刑作为区别于狭义量刑基准的概念的一个范畴,其提出有一个过程,并具有自身的规定性。基准刑概念的提出使量刑步骤得以具体化并具有可操作性。从量刑基准到基准刑的转变,反映出我国量刑方法的革新。     

论量刑情节的适用和基准刑的确定

中段论假定,均质化的、排除任何情节的"裸"的犯罪行为类型,其客观的法益侵害还是主观的人身危险都是中间程度的,但是这一假设不能成立。因此,基准刑应当针对具体罪行分别确定,而不能按照法定刑的中点抽象地、简单地确定。而适用量刑情节时,基准刑应当为起点刑,在从重从轻情节竞合情形,在量化的前提下,可以通过加减方式量刑,但是在适用减轻情节时,必须把握减轻处罚优先原则。