美国性犯罪者登记制度的实证研究及反思

对性犯罪者进行登记是美国等西方国家普遍采用的用于遏制性犯罪的做法。但不少研究表明,性犯罪立法在控制性犯罪和减少再逮捕率方面并没有起明显作用,相反,性犯罪者登记制度给相当一部分性犯罪分子带来了诸多负面影响。关于性犯罪者登记制度需要进一步的研究,研究内容包括性犯罪者登记法是否能够减少性犯罪行为,谁来对登记程序进行监管,该制度对性犯罪者及其家庭的影响,以及实施登记法律的成本。     

Using EHRs to design drug repositioning trials: A devolved approach to data protection

One area where the application of data protection law has proven complex is in relation to the secondary usage of health data in EHRs for medical research. Here the tension between the privacy interests of patients and the risk of harm if such sensitive data are compromised, and on the other side, the potential societal value of utilizing the data for the benefit of medical science, is especially striking. In this paper, we consider the applicable provisions of the EU Data Protection Directive, and outline a general approach to patient data handling for research, which we believe to be compatible with relevant legal and ethical requirements. We then illustrate and apply this by reference to a specific EU FP7 project, involving EHR data processing to select patients for clinical pharmaceutical trials. After introducing the project (PONTE), we explain the ‘devolved’ data protection architecture it employs and provide a legal evaluation.     

Community Wise: Paving the way for empowerment in community reentry

Theoretical approaches traditionally applied in mental health and criminal justice interventions fail to address the historical and structural context that partially explains health disparities. Community Wise was developed to address this gap. It is a 12 week group intervention informed by Critical Consciousness Theory and designed to prevent substance abuse, related health risk behaviors, psychological distress, and reoffending among individuals with a history of incarceration and substance abuse. This paper reports findings from the first implementation and pilot evaluation of Community Wise in two community-based organizations. This pre–posttest evaluation pilot-tested Community Wise and used findings to improve the intervention. Twenty-six participants completed a phone and clinical screening, baseline, 6- and 12-week follow-ups, and a focus group at the end of the intervention. Measures assessed participants' demographic information, psychological distress, substance use, criminal offending, HIV risk behaviors, community cohesion, community support, civic engagement, critical consciousness, ethnic identification, group cohesion, client satisfaction, and acquired treatment skills. Research methods were found to be feasible and useful in assessing the intervention. Results indicated that while Community Wise is a promising intervention, several changes need to be made in order to enhance the intervention. Community Wise is a new approach where oppressed individuals join in critical dialogue, tap into existing community resources, and devise, implement and evaluate their own community solutions to structural barriers.     

双亲性二氧化硅纳米悬浮液显现手印初探

目的 考查制备的双亲性二氧化硅纳米粒子在配制成悬浮液后对非渗透性客体上手印显现的能力。方法 通过调整溶剂类型、二氧化硅纳米粒子浓度、表面活性剂种类、溶液pH值等因素,探索二氧化硅纳米粒子悬浮液显现手印的最佳方法,并应用于手印显现和效果比较。结果 利用优化后的悬浮液浸显一些非渗透性客体表面的汗潜手印,显出的手印纹线流畅、细腻,细节特征清晰,反差明显,与传统的显现方法比较,此法具有明显优势。结论 研究表明,纳米二氧化硅悬浮液是显现手印的一种有效、简便和经济的方法,具有很好的应用前景。     

Towards an ethics safe harbor for global biomedical research

Although increasingly global, data-driven genomics and other ‘omics’-focused research hold great promise for health discoveries, current research ethics review systems around the world challenge potential improvements in human health from such research. To overcome this challenge, we propose a ‘Safe Harbor Framework for International Ethics Equivalency’ that facilitates the harmonization of ethics review of specific types of data-driven international research projects while respecting globally transposable research ethics norms and principles. The Safe Harbor would consist in part of an agency supporting an International Federation for Ethics Review (IFER), formed by a voluntary compact among countries, granting agencies, philanthropies, institutions, and healthcare, patient advocacy, and research organizations. IFER would be both a central ethics review body, and also a forum for review and follow-up of policies concerning ethics norms for international research projects. It would be built on five principle elements: (1) registration, (2) compliance review, (3) recognition, (4) monitoring and enforcement, and (5) public participation. The Safe Harbor would create many benefits for researchers, countries, and the general public, and may eventually have application beyond (gen)omics to other areas of biomedical research that increasingly engage in secondary use of data and present only negligible risks.     

Studying Peace in and with Central Eurasia: Starting from Local and Trans-Local Perspectives

ABSTRACT

In view of a crisis of liberal universalism peace research must reflect on how it is perceived, how peace is constructed in other places and how it can cope with diversity in ordering and peacebuilding. This Special Issue is an attempt to search starting points for peace research in and with Central Eurasia. The introductory concept clears a path through current research questions, normative problems and barriers of knowledge production. Considering ethnographic methodologies, it starts from the local everyday and takes an interest in how actors and institutions in concrete places and multiple socio-spatial configurations navigate conflict and peace.     

Studying North Korea through North Korean migrants: lessons from the field

This article examines the use of North Korean defectors’ accounts as a source of information for studying the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Information from defectors fills a vital knowledge gap and improves our understanding of North Korean politics, economics, and society. Witness accounts and interview data collected from people who were born in North Korea but have since left have been widely used by journalists, government agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and academics. There are, however, serious methodological issues in collecting, organizing, and interpreting information derived from defectors’ accounts. Selection and demographic biases, power relations between researchers and interviewees, monetary incentives, and language barriers are among those issues. We propose focus group discussions and participatory observation as complementary methods of data collection to mitigate the shortfalls of relying on individual interviews.     

Development of an instrument for assessing the quality of forensic evidence and expert testimony from three feature-comparison methods: DNA,voice, and fingerprint analysis

In a context of rising violence and long-lasting impunity, in 2008, Mexico's criminal justice system underwent a radical change from an inquisitorial model to an adversarial one, to make it more effective, transparent, and expeditious. The new system tasked judges with publicly determining the admissibility of forensic evidence, as well as assessing its technical quality and probative value—tasks for which they currently receive little to no training. With the aim of contributing to the consolidation of the adversarial model, a comparative framework—in the form of a checklist—of the analysis of fingerprints, DNA samples, and voice recordings was created. To do so, a review of the academic literature, published reports, and guidelines was performed. The collected data were synthesized and submitted to a panel of Mexican judges, who provided feedback on its adequacy. The framework focuses on the steps on which quality assurance of forensic evidence depends, organized in five discrete stages that span from the collection of samples at the scene of a crime to the presentation of evidence at trial, specifying the main technical criteria experts should state to allow a decision maker to examine its accuracy and reliability. Differences and commonalities among the three methods were identified, particularly in terms of how qualitative and quantitative analyses are performed in each. Besides its potential usefulness as an aid for judicial decision-making, the checklist could be a valuable resource for training programs aimed at judges, as well as quality assurance programs.     

硅胶高仿指模的检验

在实际工作中,大量的高仿指纹涌现,给指纹鉴定工作带来巨大挑战。为解决案件中高仿指纹的鉴定需求,作者利用真实指纹和文件上的指印,以硅胶和感光树脂板为原材料制作高仿指模,通过其制作原理、形成的机制、变化因素、规律及表现形式,总结和分析高仿指模与真实指纹的特征差异,为高仿指纹鉴定和检验提供科学依据。     

Fingerprint error rate on close non‐matches

The accuracy of fingerprint identifications is critically important to the administration of criminal justice. Accuracy is challenging when two prints from different sources have many common features and few dissimilar features. Such print pairs, known as close non‐matches (CNMs), are increasingly likely to arise as ever‐growing databases are searched with greater frequency. In this study, 125 fingerprint agencies completed a mandatory proficiency test that included two pairs of CNMs. The false‐positive error rates on the two CNMs were 15.9% (17 out of 107, 95% C.I.: 9.5%, 24.2%) and 28.1% (27 out of 96, 95% C.I.: 19.4%, 38.2%), respectively. These CNM error rates are (a) inconsistent with the popular notion that fingerprint evidence is nearly infallible, and (b) larger than error rates reported in leading fingerprint studies. We conclude that, when the risk of CNMs is high, the probative value of a reported fingerprint identification may be severely diminished due to an elevated false‐positive error risk. We call for additional CNM research, including a replication and expansion of the present study using a representative selection of CNMs from database searches.