Delay reduction in the federal courts: Rule 50(b) and the Federal Speedy Trial Act of 1974

During the 1970s, 94 federal district courts implemented two major policy initiatives, Rule 50(b) of theFederal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Federal Speedy Trial Act, that were designed in Washington to combat delay in the processing of federal criminal cases. Both of these initiatives established a national priority of delay reduction in criminal cases, encouraged local district court planning for delay reduction; established reporting procedures for monitoring local compliance, and provided for the determination of quantitative goals for the time to disposition of criminal cases. Neither initiative mandated specific activities for delay reduction; this determination was left to the discretion of local federal district courts. This research examines the effectiveness of Rule 50(b) and the Speedy Trial Act by constructing a 150-month time series of three measures of case processing time. A multiple-intervention time-series model found that both of these initiatives contributed to the dramatic reduction in the time to disposition in federal criminal cases. These effects persisted after controls for changes in case characteristics and judicial resources were introduced.Points of view expressed in this research are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice.     

反相高效液相色谱法同时测定人血清中氯丙嗪与氯扎平的浓度

作者建立了同时测定人血清中氯丙嗪与氯扎平浓度的反相高效液相色谱(RP—HPLC)法。以利眠宁为内标,用环己烷—乙醚(1:1)混合溶剂提取血清中氯丙嗪和氯扎平。高浓度中毒者血清(>1ug/ml)则用乙腈沉淀后直接进行色谱测定。血清中氯丙嗪、氯扎平的方法回收率乎均各为98.5±4.0(SD)%,CV4.2%;99.9±4.1(SD)%,CV4.1%。两药在血清中的最低检测浓度为10ng/ml。本法应用于临床氯丙嗪、氯扎平合用药物的血浓度监测及司法中毒案例的分析,结果满意。     

Relationships between concentrations of cocaine and its hydrolysates in peripheral blood, heart blood, vitreous humor and urine

Cocaine is known to degrade in vivo and in vitro by several hydrolytic mechanisms. A previous study found that the initial amount of cocaine added to plasma could be accounted for by summing the molar concentrations of cocaine's hydrolysis products and the cocaine remaining after hydrolysis. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether or not relationships might exist between such molar concentration sums for different postmortem bodily fluids. Determinations of cocaine, benzoylecgonine, ecgonine methyl ester, and ecgonine were performed using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) with heart blood, femoral blood, vitreous humor (VH), and urine (UR). The results demonstrate a strong correlation between blood and VH concentrations (correlation coefficients of 0.88-0.94), weak correlation between the UR and blood concentrations (correlation coefficients of 0.61-0.64), and weak correlation between UR and VH concentrations (correlation coefficient of 0.59). The results demonstrate that ecgonine is a significant hydrolysate with concentrations on the same order of magnitude as benzoylecgonine. The results are consistent with rapid distribution of the parent drug and its hydrolysates in the blood and VH. The strong correlation between the blood and VH demonstrates that VH is an important medium for toxicology testing when attempting to make a determination of cocaine intoxication.     

Mental Health Court Outcomes: A Comparison of Re-Arrest and Re-Arrest Severity Between Mental Health Court and Traditional Court Participants

Mental health courts have been proliferating across the country since their establishment in the late 1990's. Although numerous advocates have proclaimed their merit, only few empirical studies have evaluated their outcomes. This paper evaluates the effect of one mental health court on criminal justice outcomes by examining arrests and offense severity from one year before to one year after entry into the court, and by comparing mental health court participants to comparable traditional criminal court defendants on these measures. Multivariate models support the prediction that mental health courts reduce the number of new arrests and the severity of such re-arrests among mentally ill offenders. Similar analysis of mental health court completers and non-completers supports the prediction that a "full dose" of mental health treatment and court monitoring produce even fewer re-arrests.     

Procedural justice at German courts as seen by defendants and juvenile prisoners

The article summarizes German research on procedural and distributive justice at criminal courts. The first German field studies addressing these topics are presented. Procedural justice characteristics like neutrality, courtesy, equal consideration of evidence, voice, and fairness of procedural rules are relevant for Germans. A study on juvenile prisoners shows no support for equity theory and some for the Group Value model. Lay assessors receive positive evaluations by juvenile prisoners.     

论西部地区的禁毒情报协作——西部地区毒品犯罪对全国禁毒工作影响研究之二

毒品犯罪的特殊性决定了情报在打击毒品犯罪中的重要性,而毒品犯罪的跨区域性特点决定了加强情报合作和协作的重要性,西部地区在禁毒斗争中不仅要加强国际禁毒情报交流,也要加强各省市区之间的禁毒情报协作.这种协作的途径主要是通过推进公安情报体制的改革、建立西部地区禁毒协作机制、加强"金盾工程"建设、利用公安部驻滇禁毒联络办公室等来进行,协作的内容主要有战略性情报的交流、禁毒基础信息的共享、毒品专案侦查的情报协作等.     

Prevention science,drug abuse prevention,and Life Skills Training: Comments on the state of the science

There has been tremendous growth in the field of prevention science over the past two decades. The defining features of contemporary prevention science are high quality empirical research using rigorous and well-established scientific methods, careful hyphothesis testing, and the systematic accumulation of knowledge. One area where substantial progress has been made is in our understanding of the etiology and prevention of tobacoo, alcohol, and illicit drug abuse. In this paper, we review the growth in prevention as a scientific enterprise, discuss advances in drug abuse prevention research, and review the effectiveness of one approach to the problem of adolescent drug abuse, the Life Skills Traning (LST) program, and the methodological strengths of the LST evaluation research. In addition, we provide a response to criticism regarding two types of data analysis in evaluation research, and show that these analyses can help address a number of important research questions with implications for theory and practice. First, the analysis of high fidelity subsamples can address research questions about the importance of program implementation fidelity; and second, composite measures of concurrent tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use (i.e., polydrug use) are useful in testing research questions about program effects on more serious levels of drug involvement. With an increasing number of ramdomized controlled trials underway, the field of prevention science is contributing to a new generation of evidence-based approaches and policies that, if widely utilized, offer the potential of reducing the mortality and morbidity associated with a number of major health and social problems.     

我国刑事审级制度的重新构建

刑事审级制度是一国司法制度的重要组成部分,它的构建是否科学、合理,直接影响到司法的统一性、正义性、终局性和权威性的实现。从刑事审级制度的重构目标———公正与效率平衡出发,刑事审级制度的设置应坚持职能分级、审判方便和案情轻重原则,在此基础上,重构我国的三审终审制。     

The Relationship Between Adolescent Physical Abuse and Criminal Offending: Support for an Enduring and Generalized Cycle of Violence

Prospective investigations have demonstrated support for the cycle of violence theory. However, few studies have examined whether or not abuse occurring during adolescence increases the prevalence and frequency of criminal involvement, or explored the long-term consequences of such victimization. In addition, there has been little investigation of whether or not the effects of abuse vary depending on characteristics of the victim, such as sex, race/ethnicity, age, family structure or income. Using data from the National Youth Survey, this study demonstrates that adolescent physical abuse has immediate and enduring effects on the prevalence and frequency of a variety of self-reported offenses, including violent and non-violent crimes, drug use and intimate partner violence. Furthermore, the study reveals that while victimization increases the prevalence of offending for victims of varying backgrounds, the frequency of offending is moderated by family income, area of residence, and family structure. Implications for prevention are discussed.     

适用不方便法院原则与国民待遇原则的冲突与协调——以跨国知识产权诉讼为视角

跨国知识产权诉讼是当今各国对知识产权进行国际保护的主要途径.如何在知识产权保护的国际诉讼中遵循国民待遇原则,是知识产权国际保护的关键.由于跨国知识产权诉讼的复杂性、新颖性以及相关立法的滞后,造成了法院在审理相关案件时为片面追求司法任务的简单化,往往会拒绝外国原告的诉讼.不方便法院原则就成为拒绝当事人诉讼的最好理由,其中美国的做法最具有代表性.这与TRIPS协议等保护知识产权国际条约所确立的国民待遇原则相冲突.为给予国际知识产权流动以更多的保护与协调,各国应完善跨国知识产权管辖权体系,确立严格的适用不方便法院原则的标准.