Justice in Siberia: a case study of a lower criminal court in the city of Krasnoyarsk

Empirical investigation of justice administration udertaken in post-Soviet Russia has been insignificant. Consequently, there is a dearth of knowledge about realities of justice administration ‘on the ground’, at the level of districts or towns. The author's research project, an in depth empirical investigation of the activity of a single criminal court located in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, represents a step toward filling this gap. This paper concludes that the rule of law has made rather limited inroads in the day-to-day operations of criminal courts in the Russian deep provinces. The correspondence between earnestly declared legal principles and the mundane reality of judicial practice is loose and at some junctions non-existent.     

Race,rape and capital punishment in Connecticut to 1830

ABSTRACT

Goodheart's narrative of the death penalty in early Connecticut argues that the racist depiction of black men as violent sexual predators who preyed on white women goes back hundreds of years and flourished in New England. The depiction of African American men as lascivious and dangerous was well established during slave times. The resulting prosecutorial treatment of black-on-white rape was remarkably consistent during the colonial and early national period. After the only white man was hanged for rape in 1693, the remaining five executions were all of Blacks. No one of any race was hanged for the rape of a Native American or African American woman. A marker of the marginalization of African Americans is that the final person hanged in Connecticut for a crime other than homicide was a black man for rape in 1817. This persistent pattern of prejudice is a telling example of the impact of race on criminal justice, especially the capital crime of rape.     

微博实名制之思

作为网络社会的新型信息舆论平台,可以说近年来微博在众多的社会公共事件中扮演了重要的媒介角色,因此即将实行的微博实名制一经公布便引起了多方关注,这一政策的推出给微博平台带来了许多积极的影响,如更加稳定的运行环境、用户的言语自律等,同时也带来了一些无法忽视的问题。重点即在于对此政策利弊之处给予综合考量,并对实名制之后的微博管理提出合理的思考和建议。     

公众预期对我国房地产宏观调控政策影响分析

1998年以来中国的房地产宏观调控发展历程经历了五阶段,各阶段公众预期呈现出不同的特征,并对调控政策效果产生了影响。因此,房地产市场调控政策的出台必须从调整房地产市场供求关系、建立长效机制、加强媒体与舆论的引导和管理以及保持政策的连续性、稳定性和长期性等加强公众预期管理等方面考虑。     

电子证据在刑事诉讼中的收集与认证

基于计算机和互联网的犯罪案件急剧增长,由此形成的电子证据给诉讼中的证明提出了挑战。刑诉法修正案将电子证据增加为一种证据种类,但是,电子证据的收集与认证与传统证据既有相同之处又存在着很多的不同。电子证据的保护、搜查扣押、实时收集与鉴证等是传统调查方式无法取代的,也不能完全使用传统方法进行。依靠电子证据定案既要追求客观真相、依靠科学的证明,又要遵循既定的程序性规则,从而对电子证据的证明能力和证明力进行判断。     

司法对法律体系的完善

人民法院的司法活动对完善法律体系具有不可替代的独特作用。司法通过作用于法律体系的微观向度、调适过程、法与社会联系的建立、成文法固有缺陷的克服来完善法律体系。完善的具体方式包括司法解释、法律解释、指导性案例、司法审查、司法建议、参与和配合立法、送请有权机关审查和裁决、提出法律案等。对于通过司法完善法律体系,需要树立正确的理念。     

担保物权与时效的关联性研究

时效制度为公共秩序而牺牲公平,担保物权则是为实现公平而保障债权。夸大时效的作用而削弱担保物权的效力无益于社会信用的培育。现代法律理论已否定了法实证主义观念,将道德上的义务重新纳入法的范畴,将其视为法律上的义务,故时效并不产生消灭权利的效果,担保债权的担保物权仍有理由存在。物权法第202条的规定不但有立法技术上的缺陷,而且有价值选择上的偏差,应当重新检讨和修正。为符合社会正义观念和满足现实需求,构建不受债权时效影响的担保物权制度是必要的。     

Determination of an effective housekeeping gene for the quantification of mRNA for forensic applications

The potential application of mRNA for the identification of biological fluids using molecular techniques has been a recent development in forensic serology. Constitutively expressed housekeeping genes can assess the amount of mRNA recovered from a sample, establish its suitability for downstream applications, and provide a reference point to corroborate the identity of the fluid. qPCR was utilized to compare the expression levels of housekeeping genes from forensic-like body fluid stains to establish the most appropriate assessment of human mRNA quantity prior to profiling. Although variability was observed between fluids and individuals, results indicated that beta-2 microglobulin exhibited the highest expression for all body fluids examined and across donors. A one-way analysis of variance was performed for housekeeping gene variability between donors (at the α, 0.05, significance level), and the results indicated significant differences for semen, vaginal secretions, and menstrual blood.     

Does the Criminal Justice System Treat Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Offenders Leniently?

We examine whether men who physically assault their female partners or who commit sexual assault receive more lenient treatment than offenders who commit other types of assaults. Analyses of the National Violence Against Women Survey do not support these hypotheses. Rather, they suggest that women who assault their male partners are particularly likely to avoid arrest. In addition, both men and women who assault partners are more likely to avoid conviction than other offenders. Evidence suggests that there has been an increase over time in rates of arrest and conviction for partner violence.     

Gender and Justice in the Progressive Era: An Investigation of Saint Louis Juvenile Court Cases, 1909–1912

There is increased interest in the history of the juvenile court and its role in the social control of youth. In this context, feminist scholars have emphasized the long‐standing legacy of the court's attempt to control girls' violations of gender images, particularly sexual behavior and status offenses. This perspective argues that girls are penalized more harshly than boys, despite being charged with less serious offenses. The present study tests hypotheses about the relationships between gender and charge, prehearing detention, and disposition using St. Louis juvenile court records for the years 1909–1912. Qualitative content analysis is used to probe more deeply the connection between gender and sexually based charges in the early history of the St. Louis juvenile court. Findings indicate that girls were subject to harsher forms of social control than boys, despite less serious charges, and that sexual behavior was described and treated much differently in girls' records than in boys'. Connections to contemporary practices are delineated.