Parental Alienation in U.S. Courts, 1985 to 2018

Courts have been dealing with alienating behaviors in high conflict family litigation for hundreds of years. Experts in the behavioral sciences have been writing about mothers and fathers manipulating their children to disparage the other parent for more than seventy years. But in the last two decades some social scientists and legal professionals have questioned the legitimacy of parental alienation as a concept and its admissibility in child abuse and child custody litigation. This study was designed to examine the extent to which courts in the United States have found the concept of parental alienation material, probative, relevant and admissible. Thirty‐four years of cases were found with a WESTLAW query and analyzed. Cases were selected for study only if the record reflected that a judge or an independent expert found the concept of parental alienation to be of value in the litigation. Results illustrate increasing awareness of the concept and document its admissibility in every one of the United States. The numbers, sex of the alienating parent and prevalence of significant custody changes are discussed. Limitations inherent in this form of quantitative analysis are also discussed with recommendations for future research.     

Empirical Evaluation of the Reliability of Photogrammetry Software in the Recovery of Three-Dimensional Footwear Impressions

This paper examines the reliability of Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry as a tool in the capture of forensic footwear marks. This is applicable to photogrammetry freeware DigTrace but is equally relevant to other SfM solutions. SfM simply requires a digital camera, a scale bar, and a selection of oblique photographs of the trace in question taken at the scene. The output is a digital three-dimensional point cloud of the surface and any plastic trace thereon. The first section of this paper examines the reliability of photogrammetry to capture the same data when repeatedly used on one impression, while the second part assesses the impact of varying cameras. Using cloud to cloud comparisons that measure the distance between two-point clouds, we assess the variability between models. The results highlight how little variability is evident and therefore speak to the accuracy and consistency of such techniques in the capture of three-dimensional traces. Using this method, 3D footwear impressions can, in many substrates, be collected with a repeatability of 97% with any variation between models less than ~0.5 mm.     

论诉讼证据种类的划分

证据形式问题属证据法的基础问题。从法律上看,《民事诉讼法》第六十三条、《刑事诉讼法》第四十二条、《行政诉讼法》第三十一条分别规定了七种证据形式,构成了我国的证据种类体系。证据种类的划分是证据发挥其证明作用的前提,也是世界各国证据理论上要解决的首要问题。我国有必要建立一个系统的证据体系,一方面使证据种类体系具有开放性、包容性和逻辑性,另一方面有利于审判的进行。     

论当事人收集证据的程序保障

我国在20世纪90年代的民事庭审方式改革中引入了举证责任原则,庭审的对抗性由此得以增强,证据的重要地位也逐渐凸现,这就要求加强当事人收集证据的程序保障。但我国关于当事人收集证据的程序保障的法律规定是严重缺失的,这不仅严重影响了诉讼程序效用的发挥,也阻碍了我国诉讼制度的改革进程。因此应通过加快程序保障措施的法律化,构建独立的审前准备程序,扩大律师的调查取证权,设立书证、视听资料、物证提出命令制度及庭外证人证言收集制度等措施加强当事人收集证据的程序保障。     

网络传销犯罪的司法认定逻辑及其修正

基于传销犯罪的诈骗本质以及网络传销所衍生的诸多形式,原有的组织、领导传销活动罪的界定已经无法适应惩治网络传销犯罪的需要,应当基于体系与实践的双重考量,对网络传销犯罪的立法和司法作出相应的调适。组织、领导传销活动罪与集资诈骗罪系交叉竞合关系,两者在量刑上应保持平衡。网络传销犯罪在法益侵害程度方面未必高于传统传销犯罪。司法解释性文件对于网络传销犯罪的认定不应囿于组织内部参与传销活动人员30人三级的标准。网络团队计酬不应当构成犯罪。对于混合型传销,则应当结合"骗取财物"的要件予以全面判断。对为网络传销犯罪提供网络服务的行为,应区分情况适用共同犯罪、非法利用信息网络罪与帮助信息网络犯罪活动罪。对网络传销犯罪作证据综合认定时,应优先客观性证据,确立互联网电子数据的中枢证明作用,修正逐一收集参与传销活动人员的言词证据规则。     

欧盟反倾销调查不同阶段关于产业损害认定的法律标准及证据规则

根据欧盟现有的反倾销立法及其实践,欧盟反倾销产业损害认定能否成立大致可以分成立案审查阶段、初裁前调查阶段、终裁前后续调查阶段和复审阶段等四个阶段.这四个阶段中,欧盟反倾销调查机构关于损害认定的法律标准的侧重点各不相同,而且在利害关系方证据材料的要求方面各具不同特点.欧盟产业损害调查各阶段法律标准和证据规则侧重点不同的做法并没有违反WTO《反倾销协定》之原则和精神,欧盟反倾销调查各阶段产业损害认定采用不同标准的做法值得我国借鉴.     

Meta‐Governance of Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Actors' Perspectives from Kenya

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development promotes multi‐stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) as a means of implementation while at the same time putting renewed focus on the need for national‐level ownership and implementation. Despite the fact that an ever growing body of literature on the merits and drawbacks of MSPs delineates several success conditions for partnerships, efforts to translate this knowledge into national‐level meta‐governance for MSPs remain marginal to date. This study outlines the benefits the literature alleges for such “meta‐governance” frameworks, before it uses a country‐level study with a series of stakeholder interviews to take a closer look at national‐level context conditions and lessons learned with regard to two water partnerships in Kenya. Our findings suggest that to date the existing meta‐governance for partnerships in Kenya is rather weak and fragmented. Yet respondents support the view that MSPs could benefit from such a framework, in particular regarding local ownership of MSPs and the potential to scale successful cases. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Facts,power and global evidence: a new empire of truth

Abstract

What are the epistemological and political contours of evidence today? This introduction to the special issue lays out key shifts in the contemporary politics of knowledge and describes the collective contribution of the six papers as an articulation of what we describe as a ‘new empiricism’, exploring how earlier historical appeals to evidence to defend political power and decision-making both chime with and differ from those of the contemporary era. We outline some emerging empirical frontiers in the study of instruments of calculation, from the evolution of the randomized controlled trial (RCT) to the growing importance of big data, and explore how these methodological transformations intersect with the alleged crisis of expertise in the ‘post-truth’ era. In so doing, we suggest that the ambiguity of evidence can be a powerful tool in itself, and we relate this ambiguity to the ideological commitment and moral fervour that is elicited through appeals to, and the performance of, evaluation.