Exploring the Justice of Punishments: Framing, Expressiveness, and the Just Prison Sentence

This paper examines views about the justice of punishments for offenders convicted of five major types of offenses—drug, violent, corporate, property, and victimless crimes. We focus on the just punishment and the just dispersion in the punishment distribution, together with observers' framing and expressiveness; and we test for interrespondent differences. Data are drawn from six U.S. samples interviewed in 1982, a probability sample of the adult population of a major city and samples of five special groups, prison inmates, police officers, law-school and high-school students, and Job Corps trainees. Respondents' judgments were obtained using Rossi's factorial survey method. Fictitious offenders were constructed by randomly combining offender, offense, and victim characteristics; and respondents used a line-matching technique to rate the justice of punishments randomly assigned to fictitious offenders. Analysis is guided by the framework for empirical justice analysis, which provides an integrated set of procedures for estimation and testing. Results indicate that respondents in all samples save one disagree with each other on the just punishment; and the six samples yield four distinct average orderings of just prison sentences. However, large majorities in all six samples find the dispersion in the punishments experimentally put into the vignette world to be too small relative to the just dispersion. More broadly, comparing the results obtained here from the probability sample of a major city with results from a comparable study on the justice of earnings, we find two interesting symmetries—approximately 1% of the general population is contrarian, regarding earnings as a bad and time in prison as a good; and approximately 92% to 94% of the population regard earnings inequality as too high and prison-time inequality as too low. Finally, this study provides additional evidence that the general population in the United States exhibits independence of mind informing their ideas about what constitutes the just earnings and the just punishment.     

深化政治理论课教学改革，全面推进素质教育——浅析政治理论课的现况及改革

深化教育改革,全面推进素质教育,政治素质教育是关键。一、政治理论课目前的状况:目前各院校的政治理论课都处于举步艰难的境地,其原因是:政治理论课自身存在严重的滞后现象,缺乏吸引力;教育推向市场后,出现“政治理论课无用”的观念。通过调查,其结论是政治理论课在学生中还是有很大的教育市场,关键是还需要对政治理论课进行改革。二、深化政治理论课的教学改革:首先要对政治理论课的教学内容加以改革,以提高学生的政治素质为出发点;其次政治理论课的教学方法要改革,从灌输式转为启发式;再次要加强政治理论课教师队伍的建设;最后政治理论课的考试方法要改革。     

在文明背景中寻求法律秩序相洽的根据

反思传统已经成为中国法治现代化过程中一个不可回避的问题,但是另一方面,反思法治本身之不足却常为人们所忽略。在知性文明的发展史上,承认人类智慧的至上性,就是有意无意地反对另一种文明的存在。如何协调知性文明同心性文明的关系,就成了中国法治建设中最为重要的环节。只有从最高的文化精义中寻找终极依据同法律技能的相洽,方有可能构造一个温润圆通的法律秩序。     

宋代的法律方法论——以《名公书判清明集》为中心的考察

宋代名公们的断案模式大致属于法律论证模式,经常运用的法律方法主要有演绎论证、类比论证以及价值衡量等。与西方法律论证方法相比,这些论证方法虽然形式方面不及西方的逻辑,但却有着"学理的基本,而没有形式的累赘"。由于中国传统思维方式带有整体性特点,因此,中国传统的法律思维模式也带有整体性特点,具体表现为整体论的法律观、整体论的司法观以及整体论的法律方法论。这种整体性的思维模式与西方的分析性思维模式相比,并不显得落后,也不是"不合逻辑的"。     

生物检材DNA碱性裂解提取法的优化与改良

目的通过对DNA碱性裂解提取法进行优化和改进,建立一种操作更简便、检验快速、结果更可靠的生物检材DNA提取方法。方法以抗凝血作为检验样本,通过改变提取试剂的浓度、pH值、保存时间及孵化样本的温度、时间等条件,观测对检验结果峰值的影响,以确定提取试剂最佳条件,DNA提取物最佳保存条件。通过用改良后的碱性裂解法及Chelex100法同时提取不同量的抗凝血样本、各类法医生物检材,用不同厂家的DNA试剂盒扩增,对碱性裂解法的灵敏度、适应性和适用性进行评估。结果改良后的碱性裂解法只需将生物检材用NaOH（0.25mol/L）99℃孵化8min,振荡后加入TrisHCl（0.05mol/L,pH=6.5）中和液,离心后直接扩增检测。DNA提取物于-20℃冰箱可长期保存。对于毛发及精斑类检材优于Chelex100法。DNA提取物适用于现有各种DNA试剂盒扩增检测,其灵敏度与Chelex100法相似。结论改良后的碱性裂解法,操作简便、检验快速、结果可靠,可适合于法庭科学的检案与建库。     

论中国民事立法中的“中国元素”

在中国最近十余年相继颁行的一系列重要民事法律中,存在诸多有资格被称为是中国元素的民事法律制度。如《中华人民共和国合同法》中关于法定解除权产生条件的规定;《中华人民共和国物权法》中关于物权变动模式的规定,《中华人民共和国侵权责任法》中关于侵权责任承担方式多样化的规定以及关于多元损失分配机制的规定。民法学界需要在运用体系化思考方法梳理这些制度的基础上,建构起对中国的民事立法、民事司法以及其它民法实践具有解释力的学说体系。     

Age estimation by measurements of developing teeth: accuracy of Cameriere's method on a Brazilian sample

Developing teeth are commonly the criteria used for age estimation in children and young adults. The method developed by Cameriere et al. (Int J Legal Med 2006;120:49-52) is based on measures of teeth with open apex, and application of a formula, to estimate chronological age of children. The present study evaluated a sample of panoramic radiographs from Brazilian children from 5 to 15 years of age, to evaluate the accuracy of the method proposed by Cameriere et al. The results has proven the system reliable for age estimation, with a median residual error of -0.014 years between chronological and estimated ages (p = 0.603). There was a slight tendency to overestimate the ages of 5-10 years and underestimate the ages of 11-15 years.     

Is the Assessment of Dental Age by the Nolla Method Valid for Eastern Turkish Children?

The aim of this study was to investigate whether or not the Nolla method is appropriate for Turkish children for the determination of the dental age (DA). A group of 719 children between the ages of 6 and 18 years were included in the study. DAs from orthopantograms by the Nolla method were estimated. The results obtained were compared with chronologic age (CA). Paired t and the Wilcoxon tests were performed. Both genders were underestimated in dental maturity when compared with the reference samples in total (-0.3 years) (p<0.01). The differences in girls were statistically significant in total and in all groups except for 7-7.9. The differences in boys between the CAs and DAs were not statistically significant in total and in all groups except for 7-7.9 and 8-8.9. Although the accuracy of this method was suitable for boys, according to our findings, it was not suitable for girls.     

Sulfuric, hydrochloric, and nitric acid-catalyzed triacetone triperoxide (TATP) reaction mixtures: an aging study

The organic peroxide explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP) is regularly encountered by law enforcement agents in various stages of its production. This study utilizes solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to examine sulfuric acid-, hydrochloric acid-, and nitric acid-catalyzed TATP syntheses during the initial 24 h of these reactions at low temperatures (5-9°C). Additionally, aging of the reaction mixtures was examined at both low and ambient temperatures (19-21°C) for a further 9 days. For each experiment, TATP could be readily identified in the headspace above the reaction mixture 1 h subsequent to the combination of reagents; at 24 h, TATP and diacetone diperoxide (DADP) were prominent. TATP degraded more rapidly than DADP. Additionally, chlorinated acetones chloroacetone and 1,1,-dichloroacetone were identified in the headspace above the hydrochloric acid-catalyzed TATP reaction mixture. These were not present when the catalyst was sulfuric acid or nitric acid.     

量刑规范化问题研究——以西安市碑林区人民法院为例

量刑规范化改革是党中央确定的重大司法改革项目,也是人民法院＂三五改革纲要＂的重要内容。量刑规范化问题的研究,对于规范司法行为,统一法律适用标准,促进社会公平正义,提高人民法院公信力,树立司法权威都具有重大意义。量刑规范化就是要进一步规范法官审理刑事案件的刑罚裁量权,将量刑纳入法庭审理程序,增强量刑的公开性与透明度,统一法律适用标准,更好地贯彻落实宽严相济的刑事政策。