普法应侧重培养法律思维——从贪官忏悔“不懂法”谈公务员群体“五五”普法内容

据媒体报导,中组部干部监督局在分析违法犯罪的86名原领导干部的反省材料时发现,其中81.4%的人认为自己犯罪与不懂法有关。难道这是全民普法20年工作没做到位?“我不是很懂法,并不知道事后收人家钱是犯罪行为。”说这话的是安徽省委政法委原副书记、曾担任过铜陵市委书记、阜阳     

多元价值背景下价值教育的挑战及其转向

当多元价值成为社会存在的一个不争事实时,一元价值社会中价值教育存在的合理性理据就丧失了。30年来,我国社会价值模式的转变也必然导致了对灌输式价值教育模式的否定,然而在转变后的多元价值社会中,价值教育不可能支持价值中立和完全宽容的立场。因此,多元价值背景下,价值教育需要向培育价值理性和捍卫客观的价值秩序,以及促进价值分享和价值对话方向转变。这不但是捍卫价值教育自身的需要,同时也是捍卫多元价值社会存在的需要。     

The role of people in information-sharing: perceptions from an analytic unit of a regional fusion center

Information sharing research has largely focused on capturing operational practices related to the exchange of information. A noticeable shortcoming of this developing literature is the lack of scholarly attention focused specifically on analytic personnel. The present study employs semi-structured interviews with 23 personnel that comprise the analytic unit within a regional fusion center located in a large metropolitan area in the United States. Findings indicate that there is significant ambiguity surrounding the organizational and geographic audiences to which intelligence products should be tailored. Moreover, it appears information sharing is sparse and reliant upon personal relationships between analysts and external organizations. Lastly, analysts do not receive feedback pertaining to the content and effectiveness of intelligence products created. These findings may be generalized to other analytical organizations whose primary goal is to gather, analyze and disseminate intelligence. Action steps for policymakers are provided.     

Race-Based Peremptory Challenges: An Empirical Analysis of Litigation from the U.S. Court of Appeals, 2002–2006

This paper examines race-based peremptory challenges. Such challenges occur during the voir dire jury selection process. The process allows both the defense and the prosecution to strike jurors who they believe will not decide cases fairly. However, in the case of Batson v. Kentucky 476 U.S. 79 (1986), the Supreme Court ruled that race could not be used as a factor in eliminating prospective jurors. This paper examines federal litigation for five years in which it was alleged that race was used as a factor in removing a juror. An examination of the cases revealed that most of the cases involved sole male litigants who allege that there were multiple race-based peremptory challenges used in their cases. Moreover, most of the cases that led to the allegations involved violent offenses. Other case characteristics are noted, but of most significance was the finding that most appellants lost their cases. As such, the courts felt that most of the challenges were, in fact, race neutral. The implications of this research are discussed. This study was funded by an undergraduate research grant from Penn State University.     

Blind validation of postmortem interval estimates using developmental rates of blow flies

This study evaluated the use of different degree day (DD) models, developmental thresholds and developmental data sources for estimating postmortem interval (PMI) based on developmental rates of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Blow fly evidence was collected from three mock crime scenes and sent for blind analysis of PMI. PMI estimates were calculated using averaging, single sine, double sine, single triangle, and double triangle models of DD calculation with minimum developmental thresholds of 0, 6 and 10 °C and Anderson's, Byrd and Allen's, Greenberg's, Nishida's and Kamal's developmental data sets. These estimates were compared with the actual PMI to determine which combination of DD model, developmental threshold and developmental data provided the most accurate estimate. For all three cases, at least one method gave a PMI estimation that was within 1 day of the actual date of death. There was no variability between PMI estimated using the five models of DD calculation. Overall, as lower developmental threshold increased, the PMI interval estimates increased. Depending on the developmental data set used, increasing the lower developmental threshold caused some overestimations of the date of oviposition, with estimates given that were prior to the actual death. Future PMI estimates should include error ranges, so that overestimation of PMI is avoided.