Criminal justice policy and the psychology of peacemaking

Psychology which once was a primary influence on the development of criminal justice policy has, in recent decades, lost much of its ability to inform how laws and policies are made that concern punishment and social control. The reason for psychology's loss of inluence can be traced to the war on crime political rhetoric adopted by politicians and criminal justice administrators. This paper argues that an emerging peacemaking perspective in the criminal justice system allows the discipline of psychology to once again inform the discourse on criminal justice policy. Issues such as drug abuse, gun control, and capital punishment are appropriate subjects for a psychological perspective in the national debate on criminal justice policy.     

Creative Death Penalty Reform in China: The Case of Drug Transportation

China's criminal justice system has, for decades, been consistently notorious as one of the world's most punitive. Recent reform of the nation's decades‐long harsh criminal justice policy to instead balance severity with greater leniency has given reformist‐minded judges and legal experts some cause for optimism. However, it has also created a judicial dilemma in determining how to apply this more lenient ethos in sentencing some capital crimes. This is particularly the case for the capital crime of transporting drugs, which is the focus of this article. This article reveals how reform can be achieved through skillful legal maneuvering for a crime category that is caught between two contesting views of the social benefits of punishment.     

“重重”：世界范围内教育刑主义的反动

面对严重危及社会生存与发展、民众安宁与秩序的一些严重犯罪,"重重"是世界范围内的一种刑事政策选择现实与趋势."重重"绝非一种重刑主义政策,其核心含义与要求是严密法网并严格责任.其基本的理论假定是:既然刑罚的矫治罪犯、回归犯罪人并预防犯罪的目的对有些犯罪与犯罪人难以达到,那么起码有一点能够做到,那就是,让刑罚发挥其能够起到的惩罚犯罪的作用,从而更好地保护社会.     

The belief that guns deter crime and support for capital punishment

One of the many reasons for gun ownership in the USA is the belief that citizen gun ownership helps to reduce crime. The rationale for this belief can be linked to deterrence – the perception that the threat of harm from confronting someone with a gun outweighs the potential benefit from crime – and will reduce the likelihood of engaging in criminal behavior. Similarly, deterrence is often referenced as a reason to support capital punishment. This is the first study to explicitly link support for the individual threat of lethal violence and the state threat of lethal violence by testing the hypothesis that the belief that guns reduce crime is positively correlated with support for capital punishment. Tests using a 2010 survey support this hypothesis for general support of capital punishment and for support of capital punishment with the life without parole option. The theoretical implications of considering deterrence as a value-expressive argument are explored.     

基于社会资本解释范式的刑事政策研究

社会资本理论为刑事政策研究提供了新的解释范式,有着重要的方法论意义。社会资本是资本的一种表现形式,是一种嵌入在社会网络中的资源。社会资本与刑事政策之间存在着密切关系:宏观而言,社会资本存量与控制犯罪效果成正比;微观而论,不同形式的社会资本对犯罪生成会产生不同的影响,进而影响到相应的刑事政策。因此,从社会资本角度来反思和发展我国现行刑事政策有着重要的理论和实践价值。     

中美两国死刑制度之立法原因比较

中美两国尽管在文化传统、社会制度、经济发展水平等方面均存在较大差异,但在废止或严格限制死刑的世界性潮流面前,对死刑却采取了相似的政策——既保留死刑又限制其适用,其中既有民意因素,也有政治因素。美国现阶段的高犯罪率、南方的私刑传统、历史上未经纳粹统治等因素导致其支持死刑的民意高涨,这对于政治精英、联邦最高法院及地区法官和检察官都有影响;在中国,现阶段社会治安形势恶化、礼法传统与家族主义的深远影响,以及缺少西方启蒙运动洗礼等因素导致民意支持死刑,这对于执政党、立法机关和司法机关,以及法官与检察官个人,都产生了深刻的影响。在政治因素方面,美国联邦与各州的权限划分以及盛行的联邦主义是影响其现行死刑制度的重要原因;在中国,统治者所奉行的"乱世用重典"的治国之策和重刑主义的历史传统、特殊历史时期所形成的"左"的错误,都是影响中国死刑制度的重要原因。对于中美两国死刑制度进行改造,应注意从民意与政治因素方面着手进行。     

犯罪控制的惩罚主义及其效果

1979年以来我国刑事立法和司法忽视或遗忘了刑法的特征与内在价值,高估了刑法影响人的行为的可能性,刑法一直保持着在功能化方向上的惯性,刑罚结构和刑罚适用面临着重刑主义的突出问题。我国的犯罪控制存在着惩罚主义的结构特征,然而惩罚主义的意愿和努力,并没能有效遏制犯罪规模和犯罪的总体严重程度迅猛发展的势头。在刑事政策和刑罚体系的主导思想没有做出重大调整前,刑罚轻缓化的改革仍然任重道远。     

美国轻罪治理体系的现状、困境及反思

美国轻罪治理体系作为两极化刑事政策中的一极,不仅基于对诉讼效率的追求,开拓了与重罪不同的速决式诉讼机制,还以非刑罚化、刑罚社会化为基本导向,通过多元刑罚处遇实现特别预防和行为规训,修正了传统的刑事处罚模式。轻罪制度在缓解轻罪数量过多与司法资源有限的供需矛盾的同时,也因入罪门槛过低、程序任意性过度,以及罪刑不均而酿生刑法治理危机,其制度设计和缺陷可以给我国提供启示。轻罪化的刑事立法和以轻罪为主体的刑事司法已然成为我国目前刑事法治的重要面向,加快轻罪立法步伐、创建中国特色轻罪治理体系,正成为犯罪治理的关键策略,应进行全面的配套制度跟进,实现犯罪治理的精细化、科学化。     

制度经济学视野下宽严相济的经济犯罪控制对策研究

随着"宽严相济"刑事政策的出台,刑法势必重新选择对经济犯罪的控制对策,以摆脱效益与公正性的困境。根据这种对策所形成的制度安排应当在减少交易成本和保障制度创新方面符合市场经济的基本要求,具体包括两个方面:构建非刑法的经济犯罪控制体系;根据经济违法行为的不同危害性构建相应的刑法控制体系。     

刑事政策下的刑事责任研究

刑事政策发展的历史表明,在实证主义刑事政策下出现的人身危险性将刑事政策和刑事责任联系在一起,人身危险性此时成为决定责任存在和大小的依据。在人权与法治刑事政策下,人身危险性实现了从征表潜在犯罪可能和处罚依据到征表犯罪原因和预防的转变,表现在刑法机制上,是积极责任主义到消极责任主义转变的结果,这也同时促使人身危险性具有了减轻刑罚之意义。因而,刑事政策对刑事责任的影响表现在两个方面,一是对作为处罚结果意义上之责任的影响,二是对作为责任主义之＂责任＂的影响,在刑法机制上,前一影响是通过后一影响完成的。在刑事政策视角下,我国刑事责任的转型应实现向责任主义的倾斜,并通过人身危险性角色的转变使传统刑事责任消解单纯处罚结果之内容从而具有预防之功效,最终实现传统刑事责任内容、功能乃至地位的转变。     

论中国死刑的保留与限制及其对故意杀人罪的适用

死刑问题不是一个纯粹的刑法问题 ,死刑的存废取决于主导性社会观念的支持。在中国刑法理论界 ,虽未一般地将废除死刑作为自己的目标 ,但严格限制死刑的适用却一直是中国刑法界的态度。现行中国的刑事法律从适用对象、适用程序和死缓制度三个方面来严格限制死刑 ,故意杀人罪是当今中国刑法中死刑的主要适用对象。     

需罚性在犯罪论体系中的功能与定位

作为对我国近年来发生争议的热点案件的一个理论回应,需罚性在犯罪论体系中的功能与定位被提出。我国目前的犯罪论体系均是以应罚性为中心展开的,缺乏对需罚性的判断,从而带来严重的理论与实践困境。犯罪论体系须认真对待刑法体系内的应罚性与刑法体系外的需罚性。从理论上,需罚性就是从刑事政策或宪法上判断有无刑罚处罚的必要性,是以预防的必要性为理论根据架设起刑事政策或宪法与刑法体系之间的桥梁,具有兼顾体系正义与个案正义的合目的性。同时,将需罚性导入我国犯罪论体系具有立法与司法基础,与我国实定法之间具有融贯性。我国应当建构应罚性与需罚性并重的犯罪论体系。     

The Emergence of Penal Extremism in California: A Dynamic View of Institutional Structures and Political Processes

This article examines legal and political developments in California in the 1970s and early 1980s that led to extreme changes in the state's use of imprisonment. It uses historical research methods to illustrate how institutional and political processes interacted in dynamic ways that continuously unsettled and reshaped the crime policy field. It examines crime policy developments before and after the passage of the state's determinate sentencing law to highlight the law's long‐term political implications and to illustrate how it benefited interest groups pushing for harsher punishment. It emphasizes the role executives played in shaping these changes, and how the law's significance was as much political as legal because it transformed the institutional logics that structured criminal lawmaking. These changes, long sought by the law enforcement lobby, facilitated crime's politicization and ushered in a new era of frenetic and punitive changes in criminal law and punishment. This new context benefited politicians who supported extreme responses to crime and exposed the crime policy process to heightened degrees of popular scrutiny. The result was a political obsession with crime that eschewed moderation and prioritized prison expansion above all else.     

强迫职工劳动罪初探

根据无刑罚即无犯罪原则,应认为强迫职工劳动罪的犯罪主体是直接责任人员,所谓单罚制在刑法分则中并无体现。暴力、胁迫、殴打、非法拘禁等均是限制人身自由的手段。从立法完善的角度考虑,应规定本罪的主体包括自然人和单位,将罪状修改为“以限制人身自由的方法强迫他人劳动,情节严重的……,”并增设转化犯的规定。     

Public perceptions of white-collar crime and punishment

Although financial losses from white-collar crime continue to exceed those of street crime, the criminal justice system has traditionally focused on the latter. Past research suggested that citizens are more likely to support punitive sanctions for street offenders than white-collar offenders. Recent corporate scandals have increased public awareness of white-collar crime, but whether public attitudes have been altered remains to be determined. Using a 2005 national sample of 402 telephone survey participants, the current study examined citizen perceptions of white-collar and street crime, as well as attitudes regarding apprehension and punishment. This research extended prior studies by also considering the influence of sociodemographic characteristics as well as perceptions of white-collar crime and punishment on the public's support for increasing resource allocation. Implications for future research and development of more effective white-collar crime control policy are discussed.     

A Comparison of Punishment Systems in Denmark and the United States

The Danish prison system is recognized worldwide as a model incorporating the most progressive principles of punishment. This article is the result of the author's research in Denmark undertaken to clarify the foundations of Danish penal philosophies. Findings suggest that penal practices are the outcome of a complex interaction of social and criminological theories. Formulated in an atmosphere that minimizes the emotionalism and politicization of crime, Danish crime control policies represent a pragmatic and reasoned approach to dealing with criminal offenders. Prison conditions reflect the social and political attitudes regarding the causes of crime and the treatment of marginal citizens.     

抢劫犯罪死刑适用实证研究

在我国短时间内废除死刑并不现实,当务之急是规范死刑适用。抢劫犯罪的死刑主要适用于致人重伤、死亡的抢劫犯罪和其他情节极为恶劣的抢劫犯罪。在认定主要刑事责任人时应全面考察罪中、罪后、罪前等多方面情节。自首、立功等法定从宽处罚情节一般只及一罪;"先杀后抢"、"先抢后杀"的宣告刑应基本一致;在抢劫犯罪中一般不存在被害人有过错的情形;"赔偿免死"的前提是犯罪分子真诚悔罪。酌定从宽情节的适用亟待规范。     

税收犯罪刑事政策探析

为更有效地预防与控制税收犯罪,税收犯罪刑事政策的重要作用应为人们重视起来。在税收犯 罪立法的应对上,刑事政策的主流呈现出税收犯罪法网不断扩张的趋势,即犯罪化、刑罚趋重化; 税收犯罪刑事政策在刑事司法领域比在刑事立法领域作为的空间更为广阔。对税收犯罪刑事政 策的静态体系和动态体系进行科学地探索,将更有助于预防和控制税收犯罪。     

刑事政策的精神:惩治犯罪与促进社会发展的统一

惩治犯罪与促进社会发展的统一是刑事政策的精神。新中国成立以来,随着情势变迁,刑事政策审时而变。新中国的基本刑事政策经历了由"镇压与宽大相结合"至"惩办与宽大相结合",再至"宽严相济"的演进历程。镇压与宽大相结合刑事政策,主要针对反革命分子适用,其精神内涵是:镇压反革命,巩固新政权;恢复国民经济,保障三大改造。惩办与宽大相结合刑事政策则适用于所有的犯罪分子,并成为新中国第一部刑法典的立法指针,其精神内涵是:惩治各类犯罪,保障改革开放。在构建"和谐社会"的语境下,宽严相济的刑事政策应运而生,其精神内涵是:打击犯罪与保障人权相统一;以宽济严,构建和谐社会。三种基本刑事政策,不仅仅是在时间上的接续,而且就具体精神内涵而言,后者都是对前者的传承与超越,但总体精神都是惩治犯罪与促进社会发展相统一。     

死刑赦免制度构建的必要性和可行性分析

死刑赦免制度是限制死刑适用的重要途径。我国古代死刑赦免适用范围较为宽泛。我国宪法规定了赦免制度,刑法和刑事诉讼法提及了赦免。从1959年至1975年我国总共进行过7次特赦,之后没再实施过。在我国经济发展、社会进步、人权保障、政治昌明的今天,构建死刑赦免制度不仅必要而且切实可行。