新《刑事诉讼法》特别程序对诉讼效率价值的坚持与完善

诉讼效率是《刑事诉讼法》应始终追求的重要价值,诉讼效率应当包括"效益"和"速率"两层含义。其中的效益是指通过诉讼程序办理的案件质量较高、结果合理,强调效益有利于司法工作、法律效果和社会效果的良好统一;而速率是指遵循诉讼程序使得刑事案件处理较快、过程迅速,强调速率有利于对司法资源的合理调配和充分利用。但效益和速率并不能完全地同步实现,任何诉讼程序都可能向其中一者倾斜而忽略另一者,尤其是忽略对效益的追求。同样地,新《刑事诉讼法》特别程序也应当尽力保持这两者间的平衡,通过一定制度设定弥补因速率带来的效益损失。     

刑事诉讼视野下的法医物证应用研究

法医物证在刑事诉讼中发挥着多种功能,但目前实践中对法医物证的有效发现、提取、保管、检验鉴定及应用的技术规范和证据规则尚不完善。本文从技术规范、诉讼程序以及证据应用的角度发掘法医物证应用的规律性内容,用以指导实践部门提高法医物证的发现、提取、检出的比率以及法医物证在刑事审判中的采用率及证明力,从而较好地解决定案证据的来源和案件事实的认定问题,并避免因法医物证错用而导致的错案。     

The irresponsible criminal in Norwegian medico-legal discourse

This article discusses discourses on criminal responsibility in Norway in the 19th and 20th centuries, in light of Michel Foucault's regimes of power and knowledge: the apparatuses of law, discipline and security. The passing of two criminal codes, in 1842 and 1902 marks a development from neo-classical law to a law influenced by positivist criminology. In these consecutive ways of thinking law, the figure of the irresponsible criminal constituted a contentious issue. From being a figure marking the limits of the law, the irresponsible criminal became an object to be disciplined and a security threat. This redefinition of criminal responsibility created or was created by new groups of experts speaking from positions increasingly close to the criminals. The most important professional group was of course the psychiatrists, that emerged in Norway as a distinct professional group in the second half of the 19th century, and whose influence in the legislative process culminated in the 1920s.     

Psychiatrists,criminals, and the law: Forensic psychiatry in Switzerland 1850–1950

Between 1880 and 1950, Swiss psychiatrists established themselves as experts in criminal courts. In this period, the judicial authorities required psychiatric testimonies in a rising number of cases. As a result, more offenders than ever before were declared mentally deficient and, eventually, sent to psychiatric asylums. Psychiatrists also enhanced their authority as experts at the political level. From the very beginning, they got involved in the preparatory works for a nationwide criminal code. In this article, I argue that these trends toward medicalization of crime were due to incremental processes, rather than spectacular institutional changes. In fact, Swiss psychiatrists gained recognition as experts due to their daily interactions with judges, public prosecutors, and legal counsels. At the same time, the spread of medical expertise had serious repercussions on psychiatric institutions. From 1942 onwards, asylums had to deal with a growing number of “criminal psychopaths,” which affected ward discipline and put psychiatry's therapeutic efficiency into question. The defensive way in which Swiss psychiatrists reacted to this predicament was crucial to the further development of forensic psychiatry. For the most part, it accounts for the subdiscipline's remarkable lack of specialization until the 1990s.     

Mental disorder and criminality in Canada

This article examines the relationship between mental disorder and criminality in Canada from the colonial period to the landmark 1992 Mental Disorder Amendments that followed the passing of Bill C-30. The history of this relationship has been shaped by longstanding formal and informal systems of social regulation, by the contests of federal–provincial jurisdiction, by changing trends in the legal and psychiatric professions, and by amendments to the federal Criminal Code. A study of these longer-term features demonstrates that there has been no linear path of progress in Canada's response to mentally unwell offenders. Those caught in the web of crime and mental disorder have been cast and recast over the past 150 years by the changing dynamics of criminal law, psychiatry, and politics. A long historical perspective suggests how earlier and more contemporary struggles over mental disorder and criminality are connected, how these struggles are bound by historical circumstance, and how a few relatively progressive historical moments emerging from these struggles might be recovered, and theorized to advantage.     

Forensic psychiatric units in Italy from the 1960s to the present

This article addresses the long-standing continuities in the history of the Italian forensic psychiatric units and views them as the result of conflicting forces, interests, mentalities and strategies at the cross-road of forensic psychiatry, psychiatry, prison and health services. It focuses on the period from the 1960s to the present and deals with, among other issues, the long-term impact of the anti-asylum movements and the on-going debate on the ‘phasing out’ of the forensic psychiatric units.     

Electronic evidence: A proposal to reform the presumption of reliability and hearsay

There is a general concern amongst judges, lawyers and legal scholars that evidence in digital format is not to be trusted, given that it can be altered and manipulated with ease. Some jurists have called for a UN Convention on matters relating to the authentication and admissibility of electronic evidence. It is debatable whether such a Convention is necessary, but guidance of an international nature might be welcome, providing that any such guidance remains guidance, and does not ossify into legal requirements that fail to take into account the dynamic and constantly developing changes in information technology. In any event, the accuracy of the presumption in England & Wales that a computer is in order at the material time is highly debatable, and it is suggested that this presumption ought to be reformed.     

Developments in cybercrime law and practice in Ethiopia

With increasing access to information and communication technologies such as the Internet, Ethiopia has recently taken responsive legislative measures. One such legislative measure is enactment of cybercrime rules as part of the Criminal Code of 2004. These rules penalize three items of computer crimes namely hacking, dissemination of malware and denial of service attacks. The cybercrime rules are however slightly outdated due to changes that have occurred in the field of cybercrime since the enactment of the Code. The surge of new varieties of cybercrimes previously uncovered under the Code and the need to legislate tailored evidentiary and procedural rules for investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes have recently prompted the Ethiopian government to draft modern and comprehensive cybercrime legislation, but the draft law still needs further work on cybercrimes in light of other major legislative developments at regional and national levels. This article closely examines major developments in cybercrime law and practice in Ethiopia since the enactment of the first set of cybercrime rules and proffers recommendations towards a unified cybercrime regime.     

再论司法鉴定统一立法——兼评新刑诉法中鉴定制度的变化

新刑诉法对鉴定制度有诸多改进,如：将鉴定结论改为鉴定意见、初步建立起中国式＂专家证人＂制度、打通了法庭寻求专门知识的人帮助的通道等,但如鉴定启动权的配置、鉴定机构设置等问题却仍未解决。刑诉法调整的乏力,再次证明只有制定统一的《司法鉴定法》才能实质性解决我国鉴定制度存在的问题。从必要性上看,统一立法既是完善鉴定制度的需要,又是保障法制统一和理顺鉴定管理机制的需要;从可行性上看,当前具备时代背景、民意基础和客观条件。在统一立法时,要处理好适度超前与立足实际、精密立法与开门纳谏、统一立法与既有立法的关系,以《全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于司法鉴定管理问题的决定》为基础,找准着力点推进立法。     

行政证据与刑事证据衔接机制研究——以新《刑事诉讼法》第52条第2款为分析重点

2012年修正后的《刑事诉讼法》第52条第2款建立了行政证据与刑事证据的衔接机制。在肯定这一机制建立的正当性的同时,有必要对"可以作为证据使用"的内涵、行政证据与刑事证据衔接的范围、有权移交行政证据的主体等基本问题予以分析和阐释。行政证据与刑事证据的衔接可能造成司法实践操作的混乱,导致侦查活动前置,架空非法证据排除规则,侵犯犯罪嫌疑人、被告人的合法权利。为此,应当完善相关法律规则,划清侦查机关与其他行政机关的职能界限,严格行政证据的审查标准,加强对辩护方权利的保护。