构建中国认罪协商制度研究

台湾地区的认罪协商制度有别于西方国家的“辩诉交易”,它独具特色,在许多方面值得我们借鉴。在中国当下,建立认罪协商制度不仅必要,而且可行。中国未来的认罪协商制度,应当在认罪协商的适用范围、认罪协商的内容、认罪协商的主体、认罪协商的程序、认罪协商的救济措施等方面作出科学、合理的构建,并建立起认罪协商制度的保障与监督机制。     

论刑法量刑情节设计上的缺陷及完善途径

我国刑法中的量刑情节体现了罪刑相适应原则,有助于刑罚目的的实现,但量刑情节无论在立法上还是在司法中都有不少问题需要面对。剖析量刑情节的不足,并提出完善之策,无论对理论提高、立法完善、司法规范都有极为重要的作用。     

论量刑合法

量刑合法是罪刑法定原则在量刑上的要求和表现,意即量刑符合刑法规定,但这并不意味着只符合刑法分则的规定,而应是综合地符合刑法总则与分则的所有相关规定。就法定刑而言,量刑合法并不只是静态地符合法定刑的规定,而是还动态地符合法定刑的司法变型即处断刑、宣告刑、执行刑或免刑的要求。量刑合法与量刑合理并不是彼此分离的两个独立之物,而是同时实现和互为表里的有机统一体,其中,量刑合法以量刑合理为实质内容,并表现为形式合理与实质合理的有机统一。     

强奸罪的行为对象与量刑——兼谈伦理在强奸罪量刑中所应有的地位

强奸罪是一种古老的＂伦理犯罪＂。在强奸罪的量刑上,必须虑及伦理所应有的地位与作用,做到＂法中有情＂。对于乱伦强奸,不应认定为＂情节恶劣＂而适用加重的法定刑,但可以作为酌定情节予以从重处罚。强奸的行为对象为前妻的事实可以作为从轻处罚的酌定情节。妻子可以成为强奸罪的行为对象,但必须严格其成立条件,并在量刑上与一般的强奸区别开来。     

量刑建议制度探析——以重庆市A区检察院量刑建议工作为调查分析样本

量刑建议制度在试行过程中逐渐暴露出定罪建议权限设置低于量刑建议权、量刑建议随起诉书移送导致出现因量刑理由变化影响量刑的准确性、量刑建议在庭审中提出的阶段缺乏统一规定等制度设计上的缺陷,以及面临量刑建议与法院判决存在一定偏差、量刑建议是否被采纳受法院内部标准和刑事政策变化的影响大、法院就低采纳量刑建议、量刑建议未完全纳入判决书等制度运行中的弊端。应当建立量刑建议听取辩护人和被害人意见的制度,取消量刑建议讨论程序,实行庭前证据开示,赋予公诉人在法庭上改变或者撤回量刑建议权,将量刑建议采纳情况作为抗诉依据,设置科学合理的量刑建议考核标准。     

Weapon choice and American political violence

Research Summary
The criminal use of firearms presents a unique challenge to policymakers and is the subject of scientific study in fields such as criminology, public health, sociology, and law. Previous research has described firearm use by terrorists in the United States as uniformly common; however, little systematic attention has been focused on this phenomenon. Although valuable, progress in this area has been hampered by the absence of reliable quantitative information. Using data from the American Terrorism Study and the U.S. Sentencing Commission, we examine the firearm-offending characteristics of 923 federal felons and 336 terrorists.
Policy Implications
Findings indicate that many systematic differences exist between terrorists and other types of federal felons and that terrorists are more likely than other felons to be convicted of firearm-related crimes. We recommend that official efforts to monitor weapons sales—such as the Brady Act—continue to include those named on the terrorist watch list and that those named on the list be subject to additional law-enforcement scrutiny when attempting to purchase firearms. These efforts should be coordinated by federal law-enforcement agencies to facilitate the effective use of existing antiterrorism mechanisms in both blocking purchases and garnering intelligence on terrorists attempting to obtain firearms.     

Using Administrative Data to Monitor Racial/Ethnic Disparities and Disproportionality Within Child Welfare Agencies: Process and Preliminary Outcomes

Child welfare administrative data are increasingly used to identify racial/ethnic disproportionality and disparities at various levels of aggregation. However, child welfare agencies typically face challenges in harnessing administrative data to examine racial/ethnic disproportionality and disparities at meaningful levels of analysis due to limited resources and/or tools for reporting. This article describes the process through which a multi-state workgroup designed and developed management reports to monitor racial/ethnic disparities and disproportionality using a web-based child welfare administrative data reporting system. The article provides an overview of the process, outcome, and challenges of the group’s work with the goal of offering a starting point for discussion to others who may be seeking to monitor racial/ethnic disparities and disproportionality, regardless of their reporting system.     

Criminal defense and judicial sentencing in China's death penalty cases

Drawing upon 503 cases of violent and drug crimes involving the death penalty from three intermediate courts in China, this study explores various defense arguments, their acceptance rates, and factors that influence judicial sentencing. Our findings reveal that offenders’ post-crime good behaviors are most likely to be accepted by the court, thus helping offenders obtain suspended death penalty. In contrast, being charged with multiple violent crimes and the weight of narcotics in drug crimes are two significant factors related to an increased likelihood of receiving immediate death penalty. This article provides more empirical evidence about mitigating and aggravating circumstances considered in capital sentencing, and supports that private lawyers are not different from court appointed lawyers in China's capital defense. China's current system seemingly leaves little room for defense lawyers to make creative contributions.     

Attitudes and public punishment preferences: Finnish results of Scandinavian sense of justice research

Opinion polls have repeatedly shown that populations favour severe penalties for offenders. However, surveys using a case vignette method, where the attributes of the case described to the respondents are varied, produce more versatile results. Such research gives a nuanced picture of punitive attitudes. In this study, the sentence decisions of laypeople who are informed about the offender’s criminal history, ethnic background, gender, social issues and substance abuse were examined.

A representative mail survey collected in Finland as part of Scandinavian sense of justice research was used as empirical data. Respondents were presented with six criminal cases and asked to determine sentences for them. All respondents received the same vignettes, but the background attributes of the offenders varied randomly.

This study showed that all the background attributes had a clear connection to the sentence decisions. Considering these results, the idea of a ‘general punitive attitude’, which is commonly used in academic literature, appears to be too simple of a way to look at the relationship between attitudes and punishment decisions.     

论刑罚裁量的基本路径

国内学者关于刑罚裁量路径素有争议。刑罚裁量应当按照"确定基本刑———确定量刑情节轻重———修正基本刑"的路径进行。基本刑的确定要在实证基础上合理确定;量刑情节轻重的确定可以考虑借鉴美国的量刑指南的做法进行,然后据此确定量刑情节的轻重;基本刑的修正要优先考虑责难的需要。