未成年人案件刑事检察工作的探索与实践——以上海市浦东新区人民检察院为例

当前我国社会正处于改革转型期,政治、经济、文化环境处于不断变化之中,未成年人违法犯罪越来越严重,已成为影响社会稳定和国家长治久安的重要问题。上海市浦东新区人民检察院未成年人案件刑事检察处自1996年成立以来,结合自身办案实际情况,注意把握未成年人犯罪的特征,分析其原因,并通过不断创新实践,探索建立了未成年人捕诉监防一体化运作模式、法律援助、附条件不起诉、轻罪记录封存和观护帮教等一系列具有浦东区位特色的未检工作机制。这些有益的探索和实践是现代检察理念在检察机关未检工作中的贯彻落实,也是社会管理机制创新在检察工作领域的体现。     

我国古代未成年人犯罪刑事立法的启示

中国古代法律制度深受儒家仁义道德主义思想的影响,对未成年人犯罪的处理就是其中之一,古称"恤幼"。"恤幼"思想认为统治者和社会对未成年人的健康成长负有不可推卸的责任,主张对未成年人犯罪实行不同于成年人的特别宽容制度,在刑事实体法和程序法上都主张对未成年人给予更多的关爱,并将其体现在刑事立法和司法实践中。这些刑事政策和法律规定不仅为当时的未成年人犯罪惩罚、预防工作指引了正确方向,为维护未成年人的特殊利益起到了积极作用,也为当代科学完善未成年人犯罪刑事政策的形成和发展提供了宝贵的资源。     

Decomposing disproportionate minority contact in juvenile justice

The objective of this study was to decompose racial disparity in juvenile justice decision-making into a part explained by differing characteristics of racial groups, and an unexplained part often attributed to discrimination. Individual case-level data from Alabama and logistic regression were used to model detention, petition, and disposition decisions in the juvenile justice system. Decomposition of racial disparity between white and black juveniles using the nonlinear Blinder-Oaxaca methodology suggested that about a half to three fourths of the racial gaps in the three juvenile justice decision points were caused either by discrimination or unobserved predictors. Decomposition of racial disparity in juvenile justice can help devise effective public policy by quantifying the extent to which specific policies can reduce disproportionate minority contact.     

Effect of Psychopathy, Abuse, and Ethnicity on Juvenile Probation Officers’ Decision-Making and Supervision Strategies

Probation officers exercise substantial discretion in their daily work with troubled and troubling juvenile offenders. In this experiment, we examine the effect of psychopathic features, child abuse, and ethnicity on 204 officers’ expectancies of, recommendations for, and approach to supervising, juvenile offenders. The results indicate that officers (a) have decision-making and supervision approaches that are affected by a youth’s psychopathic traits and history of child abuse—but not ethnicity; (b) view both abused youth and psychopathic youth as highly challenging cases on a path toward adult criminality; and (c) have greater hope and sympathy for abused youth than psychopathic youth. For abused youth, officers are likely to recommend psychological services and “go the extra mile” by providing greater support, referrals, and networking than is typical for their caseload. For psychopathic youth, officers expect poor treatment outcomes and are” extra strict,” enforcing rules that typically are not enforced for others on their caseload.     

宽严相济政策在未成年人犯罪案件中的适用——以刑事诉讼程序中的检察环节为视角

检察机关要正确领会和切实贯彻宽严相济刑事司法政策,以"宽"与"严"相济为导向来处理未成年人犯罪。在具体执法手段上,要区分未成年人犯罪的不同动机和不同情节,采用多元的"宽"的执法方法;对未成年人犯罪性质恶劣、情节严重的要及时给以打击,该捕要捕、该诉要诉,当严则严;还可以考虑借鉴"恢复性司法"司法措施,以兼顾未成年犯罪人的权利保护和受害人损失的恢复与补偿。"宽"与"严"都要以实现社会公平、正义、和谐为其终极目的。     

未成年人犯罪刑罚适用区域性考察及其罚则改革探讨

现阶段,我国处置未成年人犯罪存在矫正措施单一、监禁刑的适用比例过高、非监禁刑基本处于空置状态、缓刑适用率不高、对非本地户籍的未成年犯罪人基本不适用缓刑等缺陷。应实事求是地从未成年人既容易受惑犯罪、又易于矫治的立场出发,从既要“惩罚”他们,更要教育、拯救他们的立场出发,建立科学的刑罚体系、取消未成年人犯罪无期徒刑的适用、扩大非监禁刑的适用比例、设立未成年人犯罪前科消灭制度。     

Kids are Different: The United States Supreme Court Reforms Youth Sentencing Practices for Youth Prosecuted in the Criminal Justice System

In a series of decisions issued between 2005‐2016, the United States Supreme Court relied on emerging scientific research detailing the developmental differences between children and adults to revamp its juvenile sentencing jurisprudence under the Eighth Amendment. The research established that youth’s developmental immaturity reduces their culpability for their criminal conduct, while also demonstrating their heightened capacity for change and rehabilitation. The Court focused on the most extreme sentences for youth, banning the imposition of the death penalty on youth under the age of eighteen in Roper v. Simmons (2005), and severely limiting the availability of life without parole sentences even for youth convicted of murder, in Graham v Florida (2010) and Miller v Alabama (2012). This article traces the Court’s evolution in reviewing sentences for youth in our justice system, and considers how the Court’s reasoning in these cases may influence further reforms in the justice system’s treatment of youth looking ahead.     

联合国刑事司法准则视野下的我国少年司法程序

在《公民权利与政治权利国际公约》以及联合国其他关于少年司法的有关文件中,针对少年犯罪的司法程序有着许多方面的具体规定。以此视野关照中国的少年司法实践, 我国在少年法庭,少年犯的羁押、量型、非刑罚措施,以及少年犯案底和改造方面仍存在一定的问题。如何参照国刑事司法准则,完善我国少年司法程序,以更有效地预防少年犯罪,更地地改造失足少年,是我国批准和实施公约以健全法治所急需思考的问题。     

Using shortest path to discover criminal community

Extracting communities using existing community detection algorithms yields dense sub-networks that are difficult to analyse. Extracting a smaller sample that embodies the relationships of a list of suspects is an important part of the beginning of an investigation. In this paper, we present the efficacy of our shortest paths network search algorithm (SPNSA) that begins with an ‘algorithm feed’, a small subset of nodes of particular interest, and builds an investigative sub-network. The algorithm feed may consist of known criminals or suspects, or persons of influence. This sets our approach apart from existing community detection algorithms. We apply the SPNSA on the Enron Dataset of e-mail communications starting with those convicted of money laundering in relation to the collapse of Enron as the algorithm feed. The algorithm produces sparse and small sub-networks that could feasibly identify a list of persons and relationships to be further investigated. In contrast, we show that identifying sub-networks of interest using either existing community detection algorithms or a k-Neighbourhood approach produces sub-networks of much larger size and complexity. When the 18 top managers of Enron were used as the algorithm feed, the resulting sub-network identified 4 convicted criminals that were not managers and so not part of the algorithm feed. We directly validate the SPNSA by removing one of the convicted criminals from the algorithm feed and re-running the algorithm; in 5 out of 9 cases the left out criminal occurred in the resulting sub-network.     

对与未成年人有关的法学研究的反思

《未成年人法学》一书以未成年人权利保护为核心 ,将民事、行政、刑事、诉讼程序等部门法学中与未成年人有关的内容综合成一个新的体系 ,构建了一门新的法律学科———未成年人法学的理论框架。该书在研究了自然法、观念法、制定法以及一些基本法学理论的基础上 ,以“权利与义务转化理论”为基础 ,全面研究了未成年人与监护人、未成年人与学校、未成年人与国家、未成年人不良行为矫治、未成年人为主体的犯罪、未成年人为被害人的犯罪、未成年人司法制度等法律关系以及具体相关的法律制度。