推进刑事辩护法律援助全覆盖问题之探讨

刑事辩护法律援助制度是刑事司法体制的重要内容,对人权保障具有重要意义。十八大以来刑事辩护法律援助有新发展,正在进行的刑事辩护全覆盖试点工作具有一定突破性,但仍感力度不足,有待进一步加以完善。应当考虑将刑事辩护援助扩大至适用简易程序审理中可能判处3年有期徒刑以上的案件;加强法律援助的资金保障、创新刑事辩护法律援助模式并完善援助质量监督体系。同时,鉴于人命关天,在死刑复核程序中必须为被告人提供全覆盖的刑事辩护法律援助,而且必须保证援助律师高质量的有效介入。     

中国死刑制度的发展与定位

死刑政策一直对中国的死刑立法和实践发挥着重要的指导作用。早期的死刑政策坚持不废除死刑,但推行严格限制死刑的“少杀慎杀”政策。“严打”改变了“少杀慎杀”的死刑政策,使死刑的立法和适用都呈现出上升趋势。在世界性的死刑废除趋势影响下,废除死刑也应当成为中国死刑发展的终极目标。但是,无论在理论上和实践中,关于死刑制度的发展方向设计都存在着巨大差异。我国死刑制度的发展方向应当以废除死刑为目标,但是当前应当重点强调对死刑的限制。     

How regulations undervalue occupational fatalities

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration establishes incentives for safety by setting and enforcing regulatory standards. Using four and a half decades of inspection data, this article provides a comprehensive analysis of the factors underpinning penalties following fatalities. The “fatality premium” for regulatory violations following a worker death is quite modest and is several orders of magnitude below the value-of-a-statistical-life figure needed to establish efficient levels of deterrence in the absence of all other financial incentives. Although there are low statutory caps on penalties, only 8% of the penalties for violations involving fatalities are constrained by the cap, suggesting that current statutes establish norms for reasonable penalty amounts. In situations involving a fatality at firms with union representation during the inspection, the enforcement sanctions are more stringent. Fatalities involving migrant laborers are less heavily penalized.