未成年人刑事司法中社会调查材料的法律性质

修改后的《刑事诉讼法》规定,对涉罪的未成年人,司法机关可以就其成长环境、教育环境、家庭监护条件等情况进行调查。由于社会调查材料在实践中适用的广泛性和混乱性,学界和实务界对此的认识比较混乱,有品格证据说、鉴定意见说、量刑事实说、法庭教育材料说等观点。本文意在剖析社会调查材料的本质,挖掘其特有的诉讼价值,以期更好维护未成年人的合法权益。     

论勘验、检查笔录的采用标准

勘验、检查笔录的采用标准是我国刑事证据制度问题研究中一个不可或缺的组成部分,是法官对某特定的勘验、检查笔录是否可以作为“定案的根据”行使自由裁量权的依据,是勘验、检查人员制作勘验、检查笔录的“行动指南”,也是刑事诉讼参与人质疑其能否作为“定案根据”的依据。从关联性、客观性和合法性三个方面探讨勘验、检查笔录的采用标准,以期为刑事诉讼实践,尤其是勘验、检查主体制作笔录提供理论方面指导。     

论欧洲人权法院的非法证据排除

欧洲人权法院对于非法证据的处理有其特色,与英美法国家迥然不同.欧洲人权法院并没有就如何排除非法证据制定系列指导性的纲要,而是采取个案中具体考量,重点考察的是公权力人员的非法取证行为是否给整个诉讼程序造成不公以及所获证据与案件的关联性,并在此基础上决定证据排除与否,这一点值得关注.     

品格证据初探

品格证据虽然会带来偏见影响,但其在绝大多数案件中的相关性却无法否认,解决这一问题的办法只能是针对不同的证明对象规定不同的品格证据规则。虽然用于证明某人性格倾向的品格证据一般应当被排除,但基于对被告人、被害人等主体进行特殊保护的考虑,可以设定一些品格证据排除规则的例外。     

Left Diaphragm Laceration Due to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

External cardiac massage is the essential life‐saving gesture for the management of any cardiac arrest. Since the 1960s, many recommendations have been published to improve the effectiveness of chest compressions alongside the development of automated systems intended to maximize the chances of survival. The use of these manual and/or instrumental techniques can cause secondary injuries, of which rib fractures are the most commonly observed by forensic pathologists. However, a comprehensive review of the literature seldom highlights reports of injuries to the abdomen, even less so to the diaphragm. In this observation, an iatrogenic left diaphragmatic laceration for the first time is described, as a result of manual and instrumental cardiopulmonary resuscitation, in a victim from an intrathoracic wound caused by a bladed weapon.     

Empirical evidence for AMBER alert as crime control theater: a comparison of student and community samples

While the AMBER Alert system is intended to facilitate the rescue of abducted children, it has practical and psychological limitations. Participants indicated their emotions and perceptions about Alerts before and after reading a vignette that manipulated details about a child abduction. Results indicate that the Alert system fits some criteria of Crime Control Theater (CCT). CCT polices are emotion-based legal actions that appear to address crime but fail to do so and have unintended consequences. Participants experienced panic about child abduction and believed the system is an effective tool which should be used no matter the unintended consequences. Emotions and panic positively related to perceptions of the system. Still, perceptions were not particularly positive, indicating that some participants recognize the system's limitations. Female and community participants generally had more positive perceptions than males and students, especially when experiencing high emotions or panic. Reading about an abduction reduced emotions overall and led to more positive perceptions (but only in the ‘AMBER Alert success’ condition). Reading about an ‘Alert failure’ did not affect perceptions. Results highlight the role of emotion in shaping perceptions of the system. As with other CCT policies, lawmakers should rely less on community sentiment and more on science when adopting legislation.     

A New Era for Think Tanks in Public Policy? International Trends,Australian Realities

Although the powerful have always sought advice from the knowledgeable, it took the appeal of the policy sciences movement of the late 1940s and onward to build and consolidate a veritable industry of policy analysis and advice. ¹ One of the hallmarks of this development was the advent of institutes that were exclusively devoted to produce research‐based policy arguments and to inject these into the policy‐making process. These organisations were referred to as ‘think tanks’. Half a century later, the project of the policy sciences movement has been amply criticised, and has mutated into various philosophies of policy analysis, each harbouring distinct and often conflicting perspectives on the nature and role of (scientific) knowledge in the battle of arguments that is public policy‐making. The first wave of the policy sciences movement's privileging of science‐based policy has not disappeared. In fact it is currently experiencing a revival under the banner of ‘evidence‐based policy’. But it has to compete with other views of public policy‐making which deconstruct the authority claim of scientific knowledge, emphasising instead its contestability. Yet there are now more organisations that refer to themselves, or can be labelled, as ‘think tanks’ than ever before. Why? And what does it mean to be a ‘think tank’ in the post‐positivist era and in the increasingly boundary‐less, highly networked societies of today? This article first surveys recent developments in the world of think tanks as reported by the international literature on the subject, and then examines the implications for understanding the nature and role of Australian think tanks.     

Political Science Perspectives on Human Rights

This special issue of Human Rights Review is devoted to an exploration of the current human rights research agendas within the political science discipline. Research on human rights is truly an interdisciplinary quest in which various epistemologies can contribute to each other and form a larger dialogue concerning rights and wrongs. This special issue is devoted to an expansive understanding of the state of research on human rights in the political science discipline. One common theme throughout these contributions is the need for a more nuanced conceptualization of human rights, tools to promote these rights and as social scientists, methodologies employed to study these rights. A second theme is the policy relevance that can be derived from our empirical analysis. This volume demonstrates that the integration of theoretically and normatively rich concepts, empirical social science, and policy relevance do not have to be mutually exclusive when studying human rights.     

Rwanda and the question of Commonwealth relevance

Rwanda’s accession to the Commonwealth is often cited as a reason for the organisation’s continued relevance. And yet, in spite of this positioning as poster child for a more cosmopolitan Commonwealth, there is very little evidence, in the corpus of Commonwealth literature, to show how accession of states such as Rwanda boost the argument for relevance. In 2015, I travelled to Rwanda to gain an understanding of the effect that Commonwealth membership has had on the country and vice versa. Using this evidence, I draw conclusions about the effect that Rwanda and the Commonwealth have had on each other.     

Branding in Politics—Manifestations,Relevance and Identity-Oriented Management

ABSTRACT

In contrast to classical marketing, previous research on political marketing has barely considered the branding aspect. This is all the more surprising, given that on the one hand, political parties and their key representatives presumably fulfil the main criteria of an impact-oriented brand as a firmly anchored, consistent perceptual image in the minds of voters. On the other hand, there are many indicators that political brands are of considerable significance for voting decisions. In essence, the importance of brands for voting decisions on the part of the consumers derives from their branding functions, such as orientation aid in the form of an “information chunk” or risk-reduction function in the sense of a confidence surrogate. Based on the hypothesis that brand management thus constitutes a central challenge for the marketing of political parties, it is appropriate to investigate what approach seems best suited to managing political brands and how these should be formulated.