Capital Offenders in Texas Prisons: Rates, Correlates, and an Actuarial Analysis of Violent Misconduct

This study analyzed the records of 136 recently incarcerated capital murder offenders in the initial phase (M = 2.37 years, range = 6-40 months) of their life sentences in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Prevalence rates of institutional violence were inversely related to severity: potentially violent misconduct (36.8%), assaultive violations (14%), serious assaults (5.1%), and homicides (0%). Consistent with prior studies, factors correlated with assaultive misconduct included age (inversely), prior prison confinement, and concurrent robbery or burglary in the capital offense. A simplified Burgess scale entitled the Risk Assessment Scale for Prison-Capital (RASP-Cap) was moderately successful in identifying varying levels of improbability of committing violence-related misconduct however defined (AUC = .715-.766).     

Measures to enhance the success of global climate treaties

We analyze important forces that hamper the formation of successful self-enforcing agreements to mitigate global warming from an economic point of view. The analysis combines two modules: (a) an integrated assessment model that captures the feedback between the economy, environmental damages and the climate system and (b) a game theoretic model that determines stable coalitions in the presence of free-riding incentives. We consider two types of measures to enhance the success of international environmental treaty-making: (a) transfers, aiming at balancing asymmetric gains from cooperation; (b) institutional changes, aiming at making it more difficult to upset stability of a treaty. We find that institutional changes may be as important as transfers and should therefore receive more attention in future international negotiations.

Less‐Lethal Hybrid Ammunition Wounds: A Forensic Assessment Introducing Bullet‐Skin‐Bone Entity

Abstract: Agencies all around the world now use less‐lethal weapons with homogeneous missiles such as bean bag or rubber bullets. Contusions and sometimes significant morbidity have been reported. This study focuses on wounds caused by hybrid ammunition with the pathologists’ flap‐by‐flap procedure. Twenty‐four postmortem human subjects were used, and lesions caused on frontal, temporal, sternal, and left tibial regions by a 40‐mm hybrid ammunition (33 g weight) were evaluated on various distance range. The 50% risk of fractures occurred at 79.2 m/sec on the forehead, 72.9 m/sec on the temporal, 72.5 m/sec on the sternum, and 76.7 m/sec on the tibia. Skin lesions were not predictors of bone fracture. There was no correlation between soft and bone tissue observed lesions and impact velocity (correlated to distance range). Lesions observed with hybrid ammunition were the result of bullet‐skin‐bone entity as the interaction of the projectile on skin and bone tissues.     

Ricochet of a Bullet in the Spinal Canal: A Case Report and Review of the Literature on Bullet Migration

Abstract: Ricochet of a bullet in the spinal canal is well known by neurosurgeons but relatively not a common event in usual medico‐legal autopsy practice. This article presents a homicide case of a penetrating gunshot injury of the lumbar spine through the T12‐L1 intervertebral foramen with active movement of the projectile within the spinal canal to the L5‐S1 level. This case illustrates a bullet intradural and intramedullary active movement because of a ricochet of the body of T12 with active redirection of the path. In the current literature, different types of migration in caudal or cranial direction, intradural, or intramedullary are reported. If spontaneous migration of T10 to S1 seems to be more frequent, some authors reported a C1 to S2 migration. Such migration could be asymptomatic or induce neurological impairment. The medico‐legal consequences of these migrations within the spinal canal are described.     

民事证人评价制度的技术建构

我国民事诉讼法以及民事诉讼理论一直以来以中立证人观规定、理解证人,也以证人与案件、当事人有无利害关系作为判断证人证词证明力的重要方法。其实证人都在一定程度上、一定方式上与案件或当事人有这样或那样的关系,中立的证人不仅是一种乌托邦的设想,同时与现代诉讼制度改革是异质的。为此,应在反思传统中立证人观的基础上,确立与之适应的证人评价法,这就是矛盾评价法。     

伤残评定标准及赔偿方式的比较研究

目的比较目前司法实践中常用的伤残评定标准及赔偿方式,以揭示目前我国人身伤害民事赔偿中存在的现实问题。方法时目前司法实践中常用的工伤标准、交通标准、普通伤害标准三大标准的内容进行比较;对与上述三大标准相对应的赔偿方式进行比较。结果（1）就标准的内容来看：三大标准中伤残条款的设立、级剐有显著的区别,同种损伤依据不同的标准评定,其伤残评定结果差异明显,“同伤不同残”现象较为普遍。（2）就标准的宽严尺度来看：工伤标准宽泛,门槛低,级别评定较高;而交通、普通伤害两个标准严格．门槛高,较轻的损伤不易评定为残疾。（3）就标准的架构来看：工伤标准、普通伤害标准在架构上严谨;而交通标准不够严谨,分级过于简单且涵盖内容不全。（4）就标准的强制力来看,交通标准为国家强制标准,级别最高．工伤标准其次,为国家推荐标准。普通人身伤害标准级别最低,目前尚无全国统一的标准;有的省适用自制标准（如江苏、北京）,有的省适用工伤标准,有的省适用交通标准,其效力常常遭到质疑。（5）就三种损伤类型的赔偿体系来看：赔偿方式各不相同,赔偿额差距显著,“同伤不同价”现象突出。因为目前全国没有统一的普通人身伤害标准．地方对伤残标准及赔偿方式的应用极为混乱,有的地方以宽松的残疾标准（如工伤标准）评定伤残,再配以目前普通伤害案件宽松的赔偿方式,其结果是赔偿额大幅增加,造成明显的司法不公。结论上述问题的解决应从伤残评定的医学标准着手,目前急需制定一部适用于普通伤害的残疾评定标准,这样可以确保在每一赔偿体系中,均存在与其相配套的医学评定标准,以避免因鉴定标准的不同引发的司法不公。     

Data Protection Impact Assessment: A tool for accountability and the unclarified concept of ‘high risk’ in the General Data Protection Regulation

Article 35 of the GDPR introduces the legal obligation to perform DPIAs in cases where the processing operations are likely to present high risks to the rights and freedoms of natural persons. This obligation is part of a change of approach in the GDPR towards a modified compliance scheme in terms of a reinforced principle of accountability. The DPIA is a prominent example of this approach given that it has an inclusive, comprehensive and proactive nature. Its importance lies in the fact that it forces data controllers to identify, assess and ultimately manage the high risks to the rights and freedoms. However, what is first and foremost important for a meaningful performance of DPIAs, is to have a common and objective understanding of what constitutes a risk in the field of data protection and of how to assess its likelihood and severity. The legislature has approached these concepts via the method of denotation, meaning by giving examples of (highly) risky processing operations. This article suggests a complementary approach, the connotation of these concepts and explains the added value of such a method. By way of a case-study the article also demonstrates the importance of performing complete and accurate DPIAs, in terms of contributing to improving the protection of personal data.     

Mission impossible? Assessing the veracity of a mental health problem as result of a road traffic accident: a preliminary review of UK experts’ practices

The number of people claiming for personal injury after being involved in a road traffic accident (RTA) in the UK continues to soar. In April 2015, the UK Government intervened to implement measures aimed at reducing the prevalence of fraud within such personal injury claims. However, these reforms did not include claims for mental disorder that arise because of a RTA despite being responsible for substantially larger payouts in comparison with claims for whiplash. The present study examines the assessment practice for detecting fraudulent claims of this nature using a mixed methods survey analysing UK medico-legal professionals’ assessment methodologies (N = 37). The findings suggest comprehensively that assessment practices in this field are idiosyncratic. The findings evidence limitations in all aspects of the assessment process from medico-legal assessors being asked to undertake examinations without the presence of medical records to 44% of examiners being unaware of the three types of malingering. The article concludes with recommendations for improving both assessments and the assessment process for assessing RTA claimants in the UK.