Mandatory life sentences for serious sex offenders in England and Wales: tough,but intelligent too?

Abstract

This paper reviews the changes in risk assessment procedures for sexual offenders over the last 15 years from the viewpoint of two active participants in that change. Best practices with this target group have evolved at a dizzying pace, leaving many practitioners and programme managers uncertain about which tests or procedures they should use and, frankly, wondering why things keep changing. We view this ongoing evolution as very positive. Compared to the early 1990s, evaluators now have better knowledge of the static and dynamic factors associated with sexual recidivism, and a number of empirically validated risk assessment tools. We describe the various risk assessment procedures we have introduced (e.g. STATIC-99, SONAR, STABLE-2007/ACUTE-2007), the reasons why practices have changed and the reasons why practices will continue to change.     

Towards a universal framework for democracy assessment

Assessing the state or quality of a country's democracy has become an increasingly widespread undertaking over the past ten years, whether to construct league tables of democratic attainment, to explore correlations between democracy and economic condition or performance, or to identify likely recipients and projects for international aid. This article reports on a civil society-based programme and framework for democracy assessment in which the author has been involved, whose purpose is to contribute to public debate about a country's democracy, to monitor its progress over time, and to identify pressing areas for reform. Distinctive features of the methodology are the derivation of assessment criteria from clearly articulated democratic values, its relevance to new and established democracies alike, and the comprehensiveness of the assessment framework, covering citizen rights and the rule of law, institutions of representative and accountable government, civil society and participation, and international dimensions of democracy. The article explores the intellectual underpinnings of the assessment methodology in the universal validity of democratic norms and a common imperative for democratization in developed as well as developing countries; and argues for the framework's usefulness in teaching as well as research. It concludes with a brief report on the comparative findings from pilot assessments undertaken with in-country partners in eight countries from across the world.     

社区矫正人员再犯风险评估工具实证研究

在社区矫正力量有限、增长速度缓慢,社区矫正规模不断扩大的现实背景下,准确鉴别出再犯风险高的罪犯加以重点控制,并根据高致罪因素进行个别化矫正是目前唯一可行、科学的策略。因此,制定科学有效的社区矫正人员再犯风险评估工具,将其应用于审前社会调查和罪犯监管矫正是一种当然选择。基于同期群比较研究研发的CIRAI系统经过实践部门两年实际应用,多次修订完成了社区服刑人员再犯风险评估评估表修订版(CIRAI-R),并取得了明显的实践效果。     

眼外伤鉴定中辅助检查结果的综合分析评判

眼外伤的司法鉴定主要依据视觉功能状况,即视敏度和视野检测结果。视敏度主要依赖行为视力检测,视野依赖电脑视野检查。上述检查的主观性比较强,目前还没有完全客观的方法。眼部超声、光学相干断层扫描、眼部放射影像学等技术有助于眼球结构的检查,其结果是相对客观的。根据眼球结构变化的情况可以帮助分析、推测视觉功能的损害程度。传统和多焦眼电生理技术等一些眼科辅助检查手段也有助于验证主观检查结果。若能在结合案情、伤情及病历资料的基础上,综合采用多种辅助检查方法,可提高对视觉功能损害情况判断的准确性,进而提高司法鉴定结论的科学性、客观性和准确性。     

人体植入物、移植物损害后人体损伤程度鉴定研究

随着科学技术发展,人体植入物和移植物的应用越来越广泛,人体植入物、移植物损害案件的报道也渐增多,与此同时必然会引起法律上身体概念的内涵变化和相关法医学鉴定等问题争议。本文对法律上身体的内涵和人体植入物、移植物损害后人体损伤程度鉴定原则予以讨论。     

保险诈骗罪疑难问题探析

基于立法对刑法实行行为本质特征的认识的差误,导致对保险诈骗罪实行行为方式设计中的诸多缺陷。在司法实践中,保险诈骗多以共同犯罪的形式出现,有身份者与无身份者共同犯罪时罪名的认定问题也必然成为了理论和实务界关注的焦点。     

论我国环境公益诉讼制度的构建——兼评《环境影响评价公众参与暂行办法》

环境公益诉讼可以分为环境民事公益诉讼、环境行政公益诉讼、环境公诉。环境公益诉讼制度的构建应以《宪法》、《环境保护法》的规定为依据,通过确定诉讼原告、环境公益,对《民事诉讼法》、《行政诉讼法》等作适当修订,并结合一些相关诉讼制度,在实践中逐步进行。《环境影响评价公众参与暂行办法》因缺乏环境公益诉讼制度的规定,将直接影响其立法目的的实现和公众参与的主动性。     

Bad History

If history is a sort of radar for the ship of state, then the machine has broken down, just at the point where Gordon Brown, trained as a historian, takes over control. Caught up in the best-seller business, popularised on TV, it has come to reflect metropolitan commercial drives, the obsessions of The Hitler Channel or the 'publish or be damned' ethos of the Research Assessment Exercise. Fashionable discourses about identity and postmodern consumerism, and the palsied traditions of Fogeydomboth remote from the basic business of getting, spending and governing-may offer a niche-marketing future, but are more likely to speed the vessel towards the rocks.     

公共支出效率评价——带非自主决定输入的两阶段数据包络模型

公共支出的效率评价是政府进行有效公共支出管理的基础,正确评价公共支出效率也是各国政府需要研究和解决的问题.经济学是通过比较公共支出前后的社会福利变化来衡量公共支出效率的,然而,社会福利是由公共支出与私人支出共同决定的,而且公共支出的增加是有机会成本的.因此,我们不能通过忽略私人支出,而单独分析公共支出对社会福利的影响的方式来衡量公共支出的效率.同时,各种原因共同导致政府通过公共支出提供的公共产品组合往往与社会公众的实际需求不一致.本文尝试在分析公共支出的效率时,把私人支出也纳入分析的范畴,同时提出了一种方法--带非自主决定输入的两阶段数据包络模型,试图解决在政府与公众偏好不一致情况下的公共支出的效率评价问题,并按照中国的数据进行了实证检验.     

The Assessment of Gain-Based Damages for Breach of Contract

This article argues that there are two different measures of gain-based damages for breach of contract: the Wrotham Park measure and the Blake measure. The former is assessed by reference to the objective value of the benefit received by the defendant and the latter by reference to the defendant's subjective gain. In assessing Wrotham Park damages the courts apply a fixed formula, determining the price that a reasonable person in the position of the claimant might have demanded from the defendant at the time of breach for relaxing its rights under the contract. The Blake measure is different; it requires the defendant to disgorge the actual net profit received from the breach. Unlike the Wrotham Park measure, it deals only with positive and not negative gains. It is also limited by the doctrine of causation so that only those gains that are 'directly occasioned' by the breach are recoverable.