允许怀疑:科学证据的新标准

本文阐述了相关的法律判例和科学哲学原理,讨论了法律和科学中对待证据的不同方法,认为现行标准不能满足诉讼证据的目的。最后提出了完善可采性标准的建议,主张走向以相关性作为唯一根据的可采性标准,并辅以针对可靠性问题的陪审团指示,这样有助于事实的审判者得到最准确的结果,会减少那种支持某特定阶层诉讼当事人的偏见,并消除因将科学规范应用于诉讼证据而产生的困惑。     

尸检样本乙醇分析结果的解释策略

由于死后各种复杂的人为现象的存在,使得建立死后血液酒精含量(BAC)和死亡时醉酒状态之间的关系十分困难。在日常检案中必须考虑细菌污染、发酵是否引起死后乙醇再合成,死亡时胃中未被吸收的乙醇是否向周围组织以及血中扩散等问题。本文总结了关于死后乙醇分析及结果解释相关问题的研究文献,旨在为从事法医毒物学乙醇分析的同行在调查此类案件时提供良好的开端。     

医疗纠纷证据保全制度研究

医疗纠纷处理中有关证据真实性的问题越来越突出,证据保全是解决这一困境的较好办法。我国医疗事故处理条例规定了病历资料和可疑医疗物品的证据保全,但存在法律定位不清、具体操作性差等缺陷。对于条例规定的病历资料和可疑医疗物品的封存和管理,从法律性质上来说应属证据契约。当前我国证据保全制度在立法上存在诸多缺陷,长远来看有赖于我国证据保全制度在诉讼程序上的前移与适用范围的扩大,以及通过立法增强当事人的取证能力。在目前的法律体制下,只能通过引入第三方见证人和制作证据保全笔录来解燃眉之急。     

Homeownership,the Great Recession,and Wealth: Evidence From the Survey of Consumer Finances

The owned home is central to both the American Dream and the financial lives of U.S. households. This article explores the typical financial trajectories of homeowners during the Great Recession, assessing the viability of positioning home equity at the core of a household's balance sheet. Using the 2007–2009 reinterview panel of the Survey of Consumer Finances, we describe the diverse balance sheets of groups of homeowning households. While some homeowners lost equity and wealth in the Great Recession, we find that an owned home introduced severe risk of loss, but homeowners were less likely than renters to lose very large proportions of their wealth. The experience of homeowners' balance sheets during the downturn was diverse, and the typical experiences of different groups are compared and contrasted.     

司法鉴定与“案结事了”

本文通过分析一个涉及法医学鉴定的刑事案例,导出司法鉴定对案结事了的积极作用,重点论述了目前司法鉴定制度影响案结事了存在的问题。司法鉴定制度与案结事了密切相关,司法鉴定制度改革决定案结事了这一司法目的。特别强调案结事了背后,可能因对司法鉴定所谓权威性的迷信或盲目遵从而丧失最基本的公平正义。指出专家辅助人制度的建立将有助于真正实现案结事了。     

The Effect of Post-ID Feedback on Retrospective Self-Reports in Showups

This study examined the effects of post-identification feedback on witness retrospective self-reports in showups and lineups, and importantly, focused on guilty and innocent suspect identifications. After viewing a mock crime video, participants were asked to identify the suspect from either a target-present or target-absent photo lineup or showup. Participants were randomly assigned to receive confirming feedback (“Great job, you made the correct decision”) or no feedback about their identification, before self-reporting confidence, view, attention, willingness to testify, and trust of a witness with a similar view. We replicated the typical finding that confirming feedback inflated witness self-reports and resulted in a larger proportion of witnesses meeting the credibility threshold necessary to testify. Importantly, we also found that showups had significantly higher self-reports than lineups, despite the equal discriminability achieved in this study between these two procedures. These data provide yet another reason for the police to restrict use of showups.     

Beliefs about secondary confession evidence: a survey of laypeople and defense attorneys

We surveyed students, community members, and defense attorneys regarding beliefs about secondary confession evidence (i.e. when a third party tells authorities that a person has confessed to him or her) from jailhouse informants and other sources. Results indicated that laypeople perceive secondary confessions as less credible than other types of evidence (e.g. forensics, DNA, eyewitness testimony), and they are knowledgeable about factors that may influence the veracity of secondary confessions, such as incentives or previous testimony. However, they underestimated or were uncertain about how persuasive secondary confessions would be to themselves or other jurors. Compared to laypeople, defense attorneys were more sensitive about issues affecting the reliability of secondary confessions.     

割裂下的融合:中国宪法与刑事诉讼法关系解读

当下中国的宪法超脱于刑事诉讼法之上,刑事诉讼法游离于宪法之外,两者之间呈现一种割裂的态势。然而,在割裂的大背景下,"宪政—富强"成为统摄宪法与刑事诉讼法的价值理念,为中心工作服务成为宪法与刑事诉讼法融合的连接点,以为中心工作服务为取向的中国式司法能动主义成为宪法与刑事诉讼法融合的关键因素,二者在这样一个背景下实现了"割裂下的融合"。