Diagnosing Crime and Diagnosing Disease: Bias Reduction Strategies in the Forensic and Clinical Sciences

Cognitive effort is an essential part of both forensic and clinical decision‐making. Errors occur in both fields because the cognitive process is complex and prone to bias. We performed a selective review of full‐text English language literature on cognitive bias leading to diagnostic and forensic errors. Earlier work (1970–2000) concentrated on classifying and raising bias awareness. Recently (2000–2016), the emphasis has shifted toward strategies for “debiasing.” While the forensic sciences have focused on the control of misleading contextual cues, clinical debiasing efforts have relied on checklists and hypothetical scenarios. No single generally applicable and effective bias reduction strategy has emerged so far. Generalized attempts at bias elimination have not been particularly successful. It is time to shift focus to the study of errors within specific domains, and how to best communicate uncertainty in order to improve decision making on the part of both the expert and the trier‐of‐fact.     

法治视野下的警察执法违法行为规制

近年来,新闻媒体不断披露的有关公安机关或人民警察违法犯罪案件,引起人们对公安机关及人民警察的极大关注。不仅对警民关系的健康发展造成影响,而且带来“法律信仰”危机。“执法者违法”现象的形成固然有执法者自身素质不高等原因,但其根源在于我国现有警察制度自身的缺陷。通过分析我国警察制度的现状,从制度层面上分析“执法者违法”现象的产生原因,探析现有警察制度存在的不足,进而提出制度改革的若干意见。     

公害民事侵权行为的违法性问题

公害民事侵权责任是一种特殊的侵权民事责任,其在构成要件上有别于传统民事侵权责任,在学术界,对公害民事责任的构成要件基本上形成了“三要件”通说。文章对公害民事侵权责任构成要件中,是否把行为“违法性”作为必要要件进行了探讨。     

浅析赔偿与补偿的融合

传统上对于区分赔偿与补偿,都是从违法性说起。但是,随着＂结果违法说＂的兴起和过失的客观化,同时,通过德、日等国补偿理论的发展,赔偿与补偿的理论基础以及国家责任的救济体系的融合,赔偿与补偿的界限已经模糊。这一现象应当引起我们对传统研究国家赔偿的方法的反思。我国新修订《国家赔偿法》第二条也取消了＂违法＂二字,这将对行政补偿立法方向产生新的影响。     

解读《庄子与惠子游于濠梁之上》的哲学内涵

《庄子》被誉为"天下第一奇书,"《秋水》篇又被人们公认为《庄子》中第一等文字,作为《秋水》篇中一则著名故事,《庄子与惠子游于濠梁之上》自然也属于极妙之作。庄子与惠施两位辩论高手,同游于濠梁之上,俯看儵鱼出游从容,因而引发联想,开展了一场人能否知鱼快乐的辩论。对这一话题,现有些学者发表论说,认为庄子与惠施的濠梁之辩反映了庄子与惠施的思想。但笔者认为,庄子与惠施的濠梁之辩涉及到了几个十分严肃的哲学问题,具有很强的启发性,并对此文的哲学内涵作了一些探索。     

违法性认识若干问题研究

违法性认识的内容在理论界有众多分歧。违法性认识是指行为人对其行为违反整体的法制性、法规范的认识,认识的内容不应当是伦理道德等前法律规范,也不宜是某具体的法。而基于违法性认识认定的推理逻辑,对其存在性的认定应当侧重于反向推定即如果特定情形下存在法律认识的丧失那么就应当排除行为人的违法性认识,反之即存在违法性认识。从学界的研究来看,对违法性认识与犯罪过失的关注相对较少,就二者关系来讲,犯罪过失的成立不需要违法性认识。     

故意犯罪认定标准研究——以违法性认识和社会危害性认识的比较论证为视角

对于刑法第十四条关于故意犯罪的规定,理论界存在不同的认识,争论的焦点在于故意犯罪中"认识"的内容。并在此论战的基础上基本上形成了两大观点——违法性认识和社会危害性认识。在我们现阶段法治还相当不健全的时代,应该以社会违法性认识为故意犯罪的主要判断标准,辅之以违法性认识。     

行政违法的检察监督制度之缺陷分析

检察机关有权对行政行为和行政诉讼实行法律监督,这是我国宪法和行政诉讼法确立的基本原则。行政违法检察监督作为法律监督的重要内容之一,要求检察机关通过对行政行为的合法性进行检察监督来保障国家行政主体的合法行政。针对行政违法检察监督制度的缺陷,需要对我国现行的行政违法检察监督制度进行相应调整,使之成为监督行政的重要保障。     

Diagnosing Crime and Diagnosing Disease‐II: Visual Pattern Perception and Diagnostic Accuracy

Previously, we reviewed how general cognitive processes might be susceptible to bias across both forensic and clinical fields, and how interdisciplinary comparisons could reduce error. We discuss several examples of clinical tasks which are heavily dependent on visual processing, comparing them to eyewitness identification (EI). We review the “constructive” nature of visual processing, and how contextual factors influence both medical experts and witnesses in decision making and recall. Overall, studies suggest common cognitive factors uniting these visual tasks, in both their strengths and shortcomings. Recently forensic sciences have advocated reducing errors by identifying and controlling nonrelevant information. Such efforts could effectively assist medical diagnosis. We suggest potential remedies for cognitive bias in these tasks. These can generalize across the clinical and forensic domains, including controlling the sequencing of contextual factors. One solution is an agnostic primary reading before incorporation of a complete history and interpretation.     

Moral disengagement and self-reported harassment proclivity in men: the mediating effects of moral judgment and emotions

Three online studies investigated the association between moral disengagement and men’s self-reported harassment proclivity. Participants (total N?=?336) were required to read a vignette depicting either quid pro quo harassment (studies 1 and 2) or hostile work environment harassment (study 3). A salience manipulation was used in each study to explore the causal directionality of this association. The mediating effects of moral judgment, negative affect (guilt and shame) and positive affect (happiness) about the harassment were also assessed as participants were asked to imagine themselves as the harassment perpetrator. Across the three studies, it was shown that moral disengagement had an indirect effect in predicting men’s proclivity to harass by lowering their moral judgment and negative affect about the harassment, conversely amplifying positive affect. Overall, the findings support social cognitive theory, indicating that moral disengagement may enable people to self-regulate their own behavioural inclinations to harass.