死刑限制而废止的程序之维--兼论"不杀不足以平民愤"

死刑制度是我国重要的刑罚制度,关于死刑存废问题学界一直都有诸多争论,大致可分为"限制"和"保留"两派观点.持保留观点的学者认为,目前废除死刑的社会物质条件尚不具备,新刑法从实体和程序两个方面对死刑做出的限制性规定,足可以最大程度上减少死刑的负面影响.然而在我国刑事司法程序保障严重缺失的情形下,加之舆论的牵制以及对民意的"高度重视",司法机关时常会作出"不杀不足以平民愤"回应.死刑的限制性规定在强大民意的压力下很难发挥出立法者们所期望的保障"少杀、慎杀"的功能.由限制而废除才是我国死刑制度的必走之路.     

Assertions of “Future Dangerousness” at Federal Capital Sentencing: Rates and Correlates of Subsequent Prison Misconduct and Violence

The federal prison disciplinary records of federal capital inmates (n=145) who were sentenced to life without possibility of release (LWOP) by plea bargain, pre-sentencing withdrawal of the death penalty, or jury determination were retrospectively reviewed (M=6.17 years post-admission). Disaggregated prevalence rates were inversely related to infraction severity: serious infraction =0.324, assaultive infraction =0.207, serious assault =0.09, assault with moderate injury =0.007, assault with major injuries or death =0.00. Frequency rates of misconduct were equivalent to other high-security federal inmates (n=18,561), regardless of infraction severity. Government assertions of "future dangerousness" as a nonstatutory aggravating factor were not predictive of prison misconduct. These findings inform federal capital risk assessments and have public policy implications for procedural reliability in death penalty prosecutions.     

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.     

原发性蛛网膜下腔出血的讨论——附7例尸检报告

本文报告7例法医病理解剖材料,其中脑血管动静脉畸形引起的5例,动脉瘤与巨细胞性动脉炎引起的各1例。因死亡都是发生在头部外伤之后,故引起申诉。肉眼检查时,7例中有6例未查明病因,诊断系依靠病理组织学检查。本文结合文献复习,重点讨论了检验鉴定的方法和注意事项。文中4个重新鉴定的案例,原结论均未发现本病的病因,甚至有的误认是损伤性蛛网膜下腔出血,此点应引以为戒。     

青壮年猝死综合征与SCN5A基因突变的相关性

近几年来,国内外青壮年不明原因猝死的报道逐年增多,对其死因的界定是法医工作者深感棘手的问题。随着病因学向分子水平的深入,心脏病研究已用分子遗传学技术证实了一类“原发性心电紊乱”导致的心律失常与SCN5A突变引发的钠通道疾病有关,本文回顾了法医学中青壮年猝死综合征(SMDS)的特征及临床医学中几种疾病的基因型和表型,分析其相关性,期望为进一步研究获得一些启示。     

浅析死刑案件二审开庭的法律规范

死刑案件二审开庭审理是刑诉法公开审判原则的"回归",对于保证死刑案件质量、加强司法人权保障和建设社会主义法治国家具有十分重要的意义.死刑案件二审开庭审理体现了司法公正,是建设社会主义法治国家和践行社会主义司法理念的需要,是保证基本人权的需要.在保障司法公正的前提下,简化程序、提高诉讼效率.在二审程序中要做好全面审查与重点审理的关系.加强证据合法性的审查,排除刑讯逼供等非法方法取得的口供.完善证人、鉴定人出庭作证制度和律师在死刑案件二审开庭中的辩护制度.注重庭内审和庭外审的关系以及理顺审判组织间的关系.     

The causes of death in fire victims

In 169 consecutive cases of autopsied fire victims about 50% had lethal levels of carboxyhemoglobin. Soot in the respiratory tract was found in about 90% of the cases. The age distribution of the fire victims showed significantly less persons in the 15-35-year group than should be expected according to the age distribution of the population, presumably due to greater agility of younger people. More than half of the fire victims had alcohol in the blood exceeding 0.05%, and alcohol intoxication should be considered accessary to many deaths in fire. The characteristic biphasic distribution of carboxyhemoglobin in fire victims together with other observations suggest that the principal causes of death are carbon monoxide followed by carbon dioxide poisoning and/or oxygen deficiency, while the influence of heat is considered to be of minor importance.     

安乐死的法律定义之思考

安乐死不能理解为“无痛处死” ,它不是“无痛致死术” ,也不是“特殊的死亡方式”。安乐死是一种优化的死亡状态 ,应当具有四个特有属性 ,其本质不是授人以死 ,而是授死者以安乐。安乐死可以分为主动安乐死和被动安乐死。     

去甲肾上腺素对实验性冠状动脉粥样硬化猝死影响的研究

本研究在高血压冠状动脉粥样硬化动物模型建立的基础上,研究了去甲肾上腺素(Nor-adrenaline,NA)对冠状动脉粥样硬化家兔猝死的影响。滴注 NA(600μg/kg)后,实验组动物发生猝死,死亡率为63%。其发生机理与冠状动脉粥样硬化及心肌缺血有关。初步建立了研究心脏性猝死的家兔肾性高血压动物模型。     

Floppy aortic valve presenting as sudden death

A previously healthy 34-year-old Dutch immigrant to Australia died unexpectedly in his sleep. At autopsy the only significant finding was a floppy aortic valve (FAV). Histologic, histochemical and electron microscopic studies corroborated the macroscopic diagnosis. Previously described associations of the FAV include the floppy mitral valve, Marfan's syndrome, aortic root dilatation and aortic cystic medial necrosis. None of these features were found in the present case which is the first recorded example of isolated FAV presenting as sudden death. The mechanism of death is obscure, and while it is presumed to be dysrhythmic, a detailed histological examination of the cardiac conducting system revealed no anatomic abnormality.