论我国鉴定意见可采性规则的构建

可采性是英美证据法的核心概念,以美国为代表的英美法系国家,通过建立关联性规则、排除性规则和可靠性规则来保障专家证言的客观可靠;而以德国为代表的大陆法系国家则主要通过程序控制来实现这一功能。我国鉴定意见应当在借鉴美、德两国的基础上,构建包括一种以程序控制为主导,包括鉴定意见关联性规则、合法性规则、可靠性规则在内的可采性规则体系,并在法律中明确规定异议鉴定的强制出庭制度。     

政府公信力：内涵、弱化与提高

政府公信力根源于政府的公共性诉求,它以政府行政行为为载体并表现为政府的社会影响力和政治合法性。目前,我国地方政府公信力弱化现象较为突出,主要表现为：政府决策缺乏预期;政府人员行为不当;政府职能定位不准;政府工作效率低下;政府信息不公开。因此,政府应着力从四个方面提高政府公信力：依法行政,加强制度管理;建立、健全政府决策科学民主化机制;优化行政管理体制,提高工作效率;加强公务员队伍素质建设,改善政府公共形象。     

公安机关执法公信力有关问题探析

在当前复杂的社会环境和执法环境下,公安机关执法公信力问题越来越受到人们的关注和重视。文章阐释了公安机关执法公信力的涵义,从外部影响因素和本体影响因素两个方面分析了公安机关执法公信力建设面临的挑战,进一步寻求其受到挑战的根源,提出了提高公安机关执法公信力的有效途径。     

涉警网络舆情中公安机关公信力建设探究

网络媒体的崛起构建着涉警网络舆情生态。正面、负面或中性类型的舆情都与公安机关公信力相关联。当前公安机关公信力危机的主要症结在于自身建设不过硬和涉警网络舆情引导培育不到位两个方面。公安机关必须采取“软”“硬”兼施策略：既练好网下硬功夫,取信于民,又增强网上软实力,授信于众,稳步创建和提升涉警网络舆情中的公安机关公信力。     

Interactions of News Frames and Incivility in the Political Blogosphere: Examining Perceptual Outcomes

The anonymity and flexibility of the online world allows the free expression of views. This same anonymity and unconstrained expression can initiate uncivil debate. The political blogosphere is thus replete with uncivil discussions and becomes an apt context to examine the influence of incivility on news frames. Moreover, although there is an increasingly growing literature on framing, few have examined framing effects in the contemporary media landscape. Thus, the present study brings in literature from incivility and framing effects to examine the influence of incivility on news frames for perceptual outcomes. The study uses an experiment embedded in a Web survey. Findings show that incivility increases the credibility of a news article while decreasing political trust and political efficacy. Further, results demonstrate the interactions of incivility and news frames. For instance, news credibility is increased only in the value framed condition. And a combination of strategic frames and incivility results in the least political trust and external efficacy. Implications are discussed.

[Supplementary material is available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Political Communication for the following free supplemental resource(s): stimulus material for the experiment.]     

The Accuracy of Auditors' and Layered Voice Analysis (LVA) Operators' Judgments of Truth and Deception During Police Questioning*

The purpose of this study was to determine if auditors could identify truthful and deceptive persons in a sample (n = 74) of audio recordings used to assess the effectiveness of layered voice analysis (LVA). The LVA employs an automated algorithm to detect deception, but it was not effective here. There were 31 truthful and 43 deceptive persons in the sample and two LVA operators averaged 48% correct decisions on truth‐tellers and 25% on deceivers. Subsequent to the LVA analysis the recordings were audited by three interviewers, each independently rendering a decision of truthful or deceptive and indicating their confidence. Auditors' judgments averaged 68% correct decisions on truth‐tellers and 71% on deceivers. Auditors' detection rates, generally, exceeded chance and there was significantly (p < 0.05) greater confidence on correct than incorrect judgments of deceivers but not on truth‐tellers. These results suggest that the success reported for LVA analysis may be due to operator's judgment.     

Credibility of the emotional witness: A study of ratings by police investigators

Abstract

Credibility judgments by police investigators were examined. Sixty-nine investigators viewed one of three video-recorded versions of a rape victim's statement where the role was played by a professional actress. The statements were given in a free recall manner with identical wording, but differing in the emotions displayed, termed congruent, neutral and incongruent emotional expressions. Results showed that emotions displayed by the rape victim affected police officers’ judgments of credibility. The victim was judged as most credible when crying and showing despair, and less credible when being neutral or expressing more positive emotions. This result indicates stereotypic beliefs about rape victim behavior among police officers, similar to those found for lay persons. Results are discussed in terms of professional expertise.     

Mock jurors' perceptions of identifications made by intoxicated eyewitnesses

Abstract

Psychology research has generally neglected intoxicated eyewitnesses. The current study addressed this need by exploring mock jurors' perceptions of intoxicated witnesses. Undergraduate participants read summarized sexual or aggravated battery cases in which either the victim or a bystander identified the defendant under varying intoxication levels. They answered questions about the case and provided verdicts. Participants were sensitive to the effect that intoxication may have on witnesses' cognitive ability, but not to varying degrees of intoxication. Neither the role of the eyewitness nor the type of crime committed had an effect on perceptions of witness impairment. Participants' perceptions of witness impairment informed identification credibility ratings, and credibility assessments affected verdicts. Impairment and credibility ratings fully mediated intoxication's effect on verdicts. Unlike much prior research, our results suggest that mock jurors can consider potentially important witness information when rendering verdicts.     

Dangerous decisions: the impact of first impressions of trustworthiness on the evaluation of legal evidence and defendant culpability

Abstract

There is little support for the long-standing assumption that judges and jurors can accurately assess credibility. According to Dangerous Decisions Theory (DDT; Porter & ten Brinke, Legal and Criminological Psychology, 14, 119–134, 2009), intuitive evaluations of trustworthiness based on the face may strongly bias the interpretation of subsequent information about a target. In a courtroom setting, the assessment of evidence provided by or concerning a defendant may be fundamentally flawed if its interpretation is influenced by an initial, spontaneous assessment of trustworthiness. In an empirical test of DDT, participants were presented with two vignettes describing major or minor crimes, accompanied by a photograph of the supposed defendant, previously rated as highly trustworthy or untrustworthy in appearance. Participants evaluated culpability following the presentation of evidence in each case. Participants required less evidence to arrive at a guilty verdict and were more confident in this decision for untrustworthy-appearing defendants. The current evidence supports DDT and has implications for legal decision-making practices.