RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES IN SENTENCING DEPARTURES ACROSS MODES OF CONVICTION*

Recent analyses of guideline sentencing practices have demonstrated that sentences departing from guidelines serve as a significant locus of racial/ethnic and other extralegal disparity. Little is known, however, about the ways that different courtroom processes, such as modes of conviction, condition these effects. Using recent data from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing (PCS), I analyze the overall effects of race/ethnicity and other factors on judicial decisions to depart from the sentencing guidelines, and then I reexamine these relationships according to four modes of conviction (non‐negotiated pleas, negotiated pleas, bench trials, and jury trials). I argue that the mode of conviction provides a useful indicator of the differential exercise of discretion by different courtroom actors in the sentencing process. As such, it is likely to condition the use of stereotypical patterned responses, thus moderating the effects of race/ethnicity and other relevant sentencing factors. Findings support this expectation, demonstrating that extralegal effects vary considerably across modes of conviction. These results raise important questions about the role of different courtroom actors in contributing to racial and ethnic disparities under sentencing guidelines.     

中国北方7个群体血痕GLOI遗传多态性现象的研究

应用琼脂糖水解淀粉凝胶平板电泳法，对中国内蒙古呼盟鄂伦春、鄂温克、达斡尔、布里亚特、（东北）蒙古人及包头市（西北部）蒙古族、汉族人血GLOI遗传多态性进行了调查，抽样检测7个群体GLOI表型分布频率，计算出基因频率和识别能力。并将本组7个群体表型频率、基因频率与国内外不同民族、不同地区的表型频率和基因频率进行了比较，阐述了上述7个群体GLOI遗传多态性特征。根据表型频率计算出识别能力（DP值），并评价了GLOI在亲子鉴定和个体识别中的应用价值。     

论理想信念教育的重要性及其落脚点

理想信念教育是社会主义事业的内在规定和根本要求,目前社会主义理想信念教育的落脚点应是共产主义的共同理想,即坚持共产主义的崇高理想和信念。     

Adolescent Females' Attraction to Male Adolescent Bullies and Victims of Bullying

Abstract

This study assessed adolescent females' self-reported attraction and interest in dating adolescent male bullies and victims of bullying. Thirty-six 9th and 10th grade female adolescents (mean age = 15 years; 69.2% White; 30.8% Non-white) from a city high school in the Mid-Atlantic United States examined three photographs and listened to a verbal account portraying two adolescent males in an episode of physical and verbal bullying. Participants were significantly more likely to be attracted and interested in dating a male victim of bullying than a male bully.     

The “STICKINESS” of stigma: Guilt by association after a friend's arrest

Prior research has examined the consequences of one's police contact, but the consequences of vicarious police contact are not as well known. This study expands on labeling theory and the concept of “stickiness” by assessing whether a friend's arrest increases the likelihood of one's police contact. Using a sample of rural youth (N = 13,170), I find that a friend's arrest is associated with an increase in the likelihood of one's first arrest the next year after accounting for other predictors of police contact. Based on my theoretical framework, I interpret this finding as “guilt by association.” In addition, ending relationships with friends who have been arrested does not significantly impact this relationship. This study concludes that police contact may be harmful for a youth's social network and builds on the concept of stickiness by suggesting that stigma not only sticks from one individual to another but may also stay despite efforts to end one's association with the arrested individual. The study expands on preexisting research on the consequences of adolescent police contact by introducing a friend's police contact as a way in which an individual may be more likely to become involved in the justice system.     

刑事简易程序的多元化建构

刑事简易程序的本质特征是审判方式的简化。域外刑事简易程序的发展趋势是多元化,即简易程序的设计并不局限于单一形式。针对我国简易程序中存在的问题,应当改变简易程序单一的现状,构建多元化的刑事简易程序,具体为重构简易程序,增设处罚令程序、被告人认罪径行判决程序、刑事和解程序和认罪协商程序。     

定罪概念及原则的刑事一体化思考

从刑事一体化的视角将定罪作为动态的司法活动来考察 ,定罪是指国家专门机关依法定程序与证据 ,根据刑法 ,确定犯罪嫌疑人、被告人的行为是否符合刑法规定的犯罪构成的活动。定罪的主体是国家专门机关 ;定罪的对象是犯罪嫌疑人、被告人的行为 ;定罪的根据包括事实根据及法律根据 ;定罪的内容与目标是确定犯罪嫌疑人、被告人的行为是否符合刑法规定的犯罪构成 ;定罪既是司法人员的主观认识过程 ,又充满了法律价值的权衡与选择。定罪的原则包括程序法原则与实体法原则两大组成部分 ,定罪的程序法原则为程序法定原则、证据裁判原则、无罪推定原则 ;定罪的实体法原则包括罪之法定原则、主客观相统一原则、必要性原则。     

青少年暴力行为的预测和评估

青少年暴力行为是全球广泛关注的公共卫生和社会问题,了解青少年暴力行为的风险因素和预测方法有助于减少青少年暴力行为的发生.本文对青少年暴力的个体因素、社会心理因素、生物学因素进行了总结,对预测和评估研究的现状进行了复习,以期对青少年暴力行为发生的减少和进一步深入研究有所帮助.     

Officials' Estimates of the Incidence of “Actual Innocence” Convictions

Evidence indicates that the conviction and imprisonment of factually innocent persons occur with some regularity. Most research focuses on causes, but the incidence of wrongful convictions is an important scientific and policy issue, especially as no official body gathers data on miscarriages of justice. Two methods are available for discovering the incidence of wrongful conviction: (1) enumerating specific cases and (2) having criminal justice experts estimate its incidence. Counts or catalogues of wrongful conviction necessarily undercount its incidence and are subject to accuracy challenges. We surveyed Michigan criminal justice officials, replicating a recent Ohio survey, to obtain an expert estimate of the incidence of wrongful conviction. All groups combined estimated that wrongful convictions occurred at a rate of less than ½ percent in their own jurisdiction and at a rate of 1–3 percent in the United States. Defense lawyers estimate higher rates of wrongful conviction than judges, who estimate higher rates than police officials and prosecutors. These differences may be explained by professional socialization. An overall wrongful conviction estimate of ½ percent extrapolates to about 5,000 wrongful felony convictions and the imprisonment of more than 2,000 innocent persons in the United States every year.     

Advancing Wrongful Conviction Scholarship: Toward New Conceptual Frameworks

As wrongful conviction scholarship grows, some scholars have suggested that existing research on miscarriages of justice lacks theoretical grounding and methodological sophistication, arguing that the use of social science theory may help to better understand wrongful convictions. In this article, we suggest that it may be useful to draw upon conceptual frameworks found in traditional criminal justice studies, discuss what such approaches might suggest about miscarriages of justice, and begin to explore the questions or topics they may encourage interested researchers to pursue. Furthermore, through this broad theoretical lens, we can see that criminal justice theory is present, at least implicitly, in some existing innocence literature, and that making such theoretical connections more explicit may help to move the study of wrongful conviction into the mainstream of criminal justice research.