Mitigation Evidence and the Ethical Role of a Defense Attorney in a Capital Case

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Furman v. Georgia. This landmark case changed the death penalty in the United States. In Gregg v. Georgia (1976), the Supreme Court made it clear that mitigating factors were to be heard before sentencing to ensure individualized sentencing. Every defendant has a story, a family, a childhood, trauma, and celebration—a reason their life should be spared from execution. In a capital case, a defense attorney’s ethical role is to craft that story and articulate it in a way that enables the jury to have a complete picture of the defendant’s background and character as they decide his punishment. Mitigating factors are not an excuse for the defendant’s behavior, but rather an insight into who the defendant is and what has shaped his life. A defense attorney’s ethical duty in a capital case is to argue the case on all legal points and to present a thorough investigation of mitigating evidence. A thorough investigation of all such evidence is required by case law and explained by the standards set forth by the ABA guidelines.     

Post-Soviet Society and Russia’s Macroeconomic Statistics

This article investigates the causes of the distorted macroeconomic statistics in the Russian Federation. It introduces alternative methods for the estimation of gross domestic product (GDP) growth, and the growth and amount of fixed capital stock, and estimates them by drawing on alternative data. Our estimates for the period of 1992–2015 differ substantially from those reported by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). According to our estimates, GDP declined by 10.2 percent, which is in sharp contrast with the official estimate reporting growth of 13.4 percent. The same is found with regard to labor productivity, for which we find a decline of 30.1 percent instead of a growth of 9.2 percent. Accordingly, the full book value of fixed capital stock shrunk by 29.2 percent instead of the officially reported 50.9 percent growth. The drop in the residual value of fixed capital is estimated at 52.6 percent. The ratio of replacement to book value of fixed capital fluctuated between 4:1 in the middle of the period and 7:1 toward the end of the period. Additionally, we estimate the amount of investment in human and physical capital necessary for producing 3 percent annual GDP growth. Financing such investment would require a decline in personal consumption by about a factor of 2, with a greater part of it falling on the better off population strata. Finally, we make suggestions regarding income redistribution.     

关于“刑讯逼供“问题的思考

刑讯逼供是目前公安机关在办理刑事案件中的一大顽症,它的产生既有历史的原因,也有民警心理方面的原因.公安机关在工作中应加强领导,强化防范刑讯逼供的责任防线;搞好教育,加固防范刑讯逼供的思想防线;强化监督,严密防范刑讯逼供的制度防线.     

警察身心疾病的心理因素分析及其预防

警察身心疾病产生的原因主要有外部应激源和内部心理因素两大方面 ,按照认知论的观点 ,环境———心理———行为三者是相互影响的 ,其中的心理因素更不容忽视 ,并且在诸多心理因素中 ,认知、情绪、人格以及自我评价对身心疾病起着关键性作用。     

玻璃体液钾含量与死亡时间回归方程及影响因素的研究进展

运用玻璃体液中钾离子的浓度升高来精确地推断死亡时间,国内外很多学者已通过各种试验建立大量的相关公式。主要以死亡时间(PMI)为自变量,钾离子浓度为因变量的直线相关和回归方程。本文作者综述近年来的相关公式及其影响因素,包括尸体例数、死亡原因、左右眼取材、玻璃体液中尿素和肌苷水平、环境温度、取材技术、检测方法和分析方法等,以尽可能精确地推断死亡时间。     

大学生婚恋观变化比较研究

大学生的婚恋观在很大程度上受社会环境、群体性社会心理等因素的影响,因而如何注重舆论引导,开展性道德、性健康教育,加强校园文化建设,已成为一个严峻的课题。     

Static and Dynamic Patient Characteristics as Predictors of Criminal Recidivism: A Prospective Study in a Dutch Forensic Psychiatric Sample

If clinicians in forensic psychiatry want to reduce risk of reoffending in their patients, they require insight into dynamic risk factors, and evidence that these add predictive power to static risk indicators. Predictors need to be evaluated under clinically realistic circumstances. This study aimed to validate dynamic and static variables as predictors of reconviction in a naturalistic outcome study. Data on static and dynamic risk factors were collected for 151 patients discharged from Dutch forensic psychiatric hospitals. Community follow-up was prospective, with a 5.5 year minimum. A prediction model was developed using Cox regression analysis. The magnitude of the predictive power of this model was estimated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The final prediction model contained four static and no dynamic predictors. The model's ROC area under the curve was .79 (95% CI .69–.89). Clinical risk ratings were non-predictive. Post hoc analyses exploring the influence of subgroups of patients did not yield better models. It is concluded that a small set of static predictors yielded a good estimate of future reconvictions; inclusion of dynamic predictors did not add predictive power.     

Eating Problems and Their Risk Factors: A 7-Year Longitudinal Study of a Population Sample of Norwegian Adolescent Girls

The longitudinal stability of eating problems and their relationships to risk factors were investigated in a representative population sample of 623 Norwegian girls aged 13–14 followed over 7 years (3 time points). Three eating problem symptoms were measured: Restriction, Bulimia-food preoccupation, and Diet, all taken from the12-item Eating Attitudes Test. The aim of the study was to investigate the stability of these eating problem symptoms both as separate components (as opposed to total symptom load) as well as from a syndrome perspective. Over 7 years, dieting behavior showed the highest correlational stability (0.32). Regarding stable eating problem syndromes, at all 3 time points, 1 group of girls with generalized eating problems was found, characterized by simultaneously pronounced bulimic tendencies and dieting. However, we did not establish individual stability across 7 years for this syndrome group. Through development, eating problem symptoms were associated with characteristic risk factors. Similarities and differences between findings regarding eating problems and eating disorders are discussed.     

Gender Differential Influences of Early Adolescent Risk Factors for the Development of Depressive Affect

Based on a model by Cyranowski, J., et al. (2000), Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 57: 21–27, adolescents at-risk for the development of depressive symptoms were identified. Adolescents were considered at-risk if they had 2 or more of the following early adolescent risk factors: (1) insecure parental attachment, (2) anxious/inhibited temperament, (3) low instrumental coping skills, and (4) early pubertal maturation. Nonrisk adolescents had zero or just one risk factor. Using data from a 10-year longitudinal study on the development of adolescents’ health, with 5 points of data assessment (i.e., 6th, 7th, 8th, 12th, and 12 + 4 follow-up), the impact of the four early adolescent risk factors on the development of emotional tone was investigated. Emotional tone was measured by the Emotional Tone Scale of the SIQYA (Petersen, A. C., et al. (1984), J. Youth Adolesc. 13: 93–111), an indicator for positive emotional tone and low depressed affect. Growth curve modeling was applied to reveal significant gender differences in level and slope for the development of emotional tone over the adolescent years. Latent Growth Curve Models can be seen as a combination consisting of repeated measures analysis of variance and autoregressive analyses to evaluate the latent change of the variables under investigation (Rovine, M. J., and Molenaar, P. C. M. (2000), Multivar. Behav. Res. 35(1): 51–88). At-risk girls revealed poorer levels of emotional tone which stayed almost at the same low level up to young adulthood (i.e., 12 + 4), indicating a long lasting impact of the specified risk factors. In contrast, at-risk boys showed poorer emotional tone in early adolescence, but at the end of adolescence boys at-risk had the same level of emotional tone as nonrisk boys. At-risk girls showed significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms at grade 12 and at 12 + 4.Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. He received his master’s degree from the Technical University Berlin in 1989 and his PhD from the Pennsylvania State University in 1993. His research interests encompass developmental psychology and methodology.Senior Vice President for Programs at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, Michigan. She received her PhD from the University of Chicago.     

知识产权非理性扩张的一种认知模式

本文首先描述了在以美国等发达国家的极力鼓噪下知识产权非理性扩张的一般图像,在此基础上,笔者从知识产权制度与所有权制度哲学理念之差的视角切入,对知识产权制度的非正常发展进行了剖析和解读.文章认为,正是我们把所有权制度的基本理念错误地嫁接到知识产权制度上,才导致了今天知识产权制度的失范.基于前面的分析,文章还对中国究竟应制定物权法还是制定财产的基本法展开了探讨,文章的结论是我们应当制定财产的基本法,这有利于我们纯化知识产权制度和所有权制度这两套各别的制度系统,使二者在其自在自为的世界里获得健康和正常的发展.