美国宪法视野中的校园陪审团制度研究

陪审团制度作为美国司法制度的重要组成部分发挥着重要作用。在斯坦福大学《学生司法宪章》中，陪审团制度作为校园司法制度的核心，发挥着实践民主，实现公平的重要作用，它从校园陪审团的设立、产生程序、工作方式等方面保证了宪法规定的公民权利的实现，不仅使受指控学生得到公正审理，还为大家展现了美国校园民主政治的架构，提供了了解美国社会现象的窗口。     

Religious Characteristics and the Death Penalty

Using one mock trial scenario, this study investigated whether religious and demographic factors were related to death penalty attitudes and sentencing verdicts. Those who favored the death penalty differed from those who had doubts about the penalty in gender, affiliation, fundamentalism, evangelism, literal Biblical interpretism, beliefs about God’s attitudes toward murders, and perceptions of how their religious groups felt about the death penalty. These relationships generally held after mock jurors were death qualified. Gender, fundamentalism, literal interpretism, beliefs about God’s death penalty position, and perceptions of how one’s religious group felt about the death penalty predicted death penalty sentencing verdicts. Future research could determine whether using peremptory challenges to exclude potential jurors based on religion can help lawyers choose a more favorable jury. The present research was supported by the National Science Foundation award number 0351811, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the American Psychology-Law Society, and the University of Nebraska Law-Psychology Program. This research was presented at the 2006 conference of the American Psychology-Law Society. The authors are grateful for the research assistance of Nick Fanning and Beth Herschlag and for the helpful comments from Brian Bornstein, Rich Wiener, Bob Schopp, Dick Dienstbier, and several anonymous reviewers.     

电子证据的相关问题

在美国，使用电子证据已经成为法庭上非常普遍的现象。陪审团审案时，试图使用电子证据的检察官要想使得初审法官采纳该电子证据必须克服一些阻碍。一些证据标准被设计来限制陪审团的事实发现过程。检察官可要求法院启动庭前审理程序来决定电子证据是否可以被采纳。建立一个电子证据保管链和专门处理电子证据的既定机构程序是检方工作的关键环节，这样能确保法庭调查中获得陪审团的信任。挑选能认同电子证据重要性的人员担任陪审团成员非常重要，同时还要避免选择那些想要根据自己专业知识来主导陪审团决议的人员。     

Effects of pretrial juror bias,strength of evidence and deliberation process on juror decisions: new validity evidence of the Juror Bias Scale scores

This study examines the validity of the Juror Bias Scale scores in relation to the mock juror decisions reached in two real life homicide cases before and after the deliberation process. The judicial cases used varied in terms of the ambiguity of the evidence presented at both trials. The WLS methodology for statistical modelling of categorical data was used to analyse data. The findings indicated that the Juror Bias Scale scores successfully predict the verdicts and other related questions before and after deliberations in the case with ambiguous evidence. Furthermore, deliberations caused a generalisation effect on the pretrial juror bias in such a case, and enhanced the differences between defense-biased and prosecution-biased jurors in the verdicts delivered after deliberations. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the use of pretrial juror bias questionnaires in jury selection.     

我国人民陪审员制度的完善——评《关于完善人民陪审员制度的决定》

2004年8月28日,第十届全国人大常委会第十一次会议通过了《关于完善人民陪审员制度的决定》,无疑是我国人民陪审员制度发展的一个里程碑,具有极大的进步意义,文章从人民陪审员的学历、任期以及法官对其在审判过程中的引导和提示,健全人民陪审监督惩处机制四方面予以完善,使该制度更好地发挥民主监督与保障司法公正的价值。     

Strength of Evidence,Extraevidentiary Influence,and the Liberation Hypothesis: Data from the Field

To examine relationships between strength of evidence (SOE) and extraevidentiary variables in the context of Kalven and Zeisel’s (The American Jury, 1966) liberation hypothesis, post-trial questionnaire data were collected from judges, attorneys, and jurors associated with 179 criminal jury trials. SOE ratings were strongly correlated with jury verdicts on the three most serious charges against the defendant, and several extraevidentiary variables (i.e., pretrial publicity, trial complexity, charge severity, and foreperson demographics) were moderately correlated with verdicts. Extraevidentiary-verdict relationships remained significant when SOE was controlled, although extraevidentiary variables yielded only modest improvement in classification accuracy beyond SOE. In partial support of the liberation hypothesis, several case-related extraevidentiary variables were significantly related to jury verdicts only when the prosecution’s evidence was rated as moderately strong.     

The Use of Religion in Death Penalty Sentencing Trials

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys have presented religious appeals and testimony about a defendant's religious activities in order to influence capital jurors' sentencing. Courts that have objected to this use of religion fear that religion will improperly influence jurors' decisions and interfere with their ability to weigh aggravators and mitigators. This study investigated the effects of both prosecution and defense appeals. Prosecution appeals did not affect verdict decisions; however, use of religion by the defense affected both verdicts and the weighing of aggravators and mitigators. These results could be due to differences in perceived sincerity and remorse that are conveyed in the various appeals.     

党内程序如何介入行政程序——论重大行政决策程序与中国共产党重大事项请示报告程序的衔接

《重大行政决策程序暂行条例》第三十一条“重大行政决策出台前应当按照规定向同级党委请示报告”的规定,明确了党内请示报告程序介入行政程序的制度安排。作为衔接党规与国法的新型制度尝试,党内程序介入行政决策程序,既是中国国家治理体系下的必然趋势,又是宪法“本质特征条款”的重要体现。在上述制度安排中,行政决策机关不是以机关的名义履行请示报告程序,而是以决策机关内设的党组名义履行上述程序,在特殊情况下,也可由领导干部以自己的名义向党委请示报告。行政机关重大行政决策事项与党内重大事项报告之间为包含关系,意味着重大行政决策事项作为重大报告事项中的一部分均应履行向党组织请示报告程序,并贯穿于行政决策程序全过程。     

论中日刑事司法改革与公民参与——以日本《裁判员法》为研究视角

以日本《裁判员法》的制定、颁布和施行过程为分析对象，我们发现日本的刑事司法改革注重吸收普通民众的参与。这种公民参与司法的理念对于当下中国的刑事司法改革特别重要，在中国未来参与改革的主体、改革方式以及改革路径的选择方面都有极大的借鉴意义。