“性贿赂”入罪问题研究

近些年来,权色交易现象渐有猖獗蔓延之势,正日益严重地腐蚀着国家的机体并毒害着社会的风气。但是,目前我国刑法尚未明确规定性贿赂的治罪条款。刑法仅将贿赂的内容限定为财物．也即物质性利益,而对以非物质利益的行贿与受贿留下了刑罚的死角,给不法分子以可乘之机,给社会带来了极大的危害。     

量刑根据和量刑基准

量刑根据是决定刑罚量最根本的依据,对量刑诸要素是否应当作刑法意义上的评价具有识别、过滤功能。责任基础上的预防是量刑的正当化依据。一般而言,量刑基准是法官自由裁量的起点;具体而言,量刑基准是在排除任何法定的或者酌定的量刑情节后,对已经确定适用一定幅度法定刑的抽象个罪所应当判处的刑罚量。量刑根据是量刑的本体论问题,量刑基准是量刑的方法论问题。前者对后者的确定方法具有决定作用。     

Sentencing Female Drug Offenders: Reexamining Racial and Ethnic Disparities

This study analyzes the relationship between race/ethnicity and sentencing outcomes for female drug offenders in Florida. Grounded in the focal concerns perspective, the research examines whether, in the specific case of drug offenders, minority women are treated more harshly than White women. Interaction models are estimated to determine the influence of drug offense type on racial and ethnic sentencing disparities. Differences in sentencing outcomes are also examined following significant policy changes in the state. In general, the findings suggest that minority female drug offenders are disadvantaged at both the incarceration and sentence length decisions. It also appears that perceptions of dangerousness associated with female offenders' race/ethnicity and offense are incorporated into sentencing authorities' patterned responses. That is, the level of disparity between Black, Hispanic, and White females is conditioned by type of drug offense in the interaction models. The changes in sentencing policy also impact the role of race and ethnicity in sentencing decisions. By analyzing drug offenders exclusively, the current study clarifies the role of race in sentencing decisions for females. In contrast to prior research that examined all offense categories together, the current study suggests that for drug offenses, minority females may, in fact, be deemed more dangerous and culpable than White female drug offenders.     

Reassessing the Influence of Criminal History in Federal Criminal Courts

Abstract

Prior sentencing research indicates that defendants with more extensive criminal histories receive more punitive dispositions and that criminal history influences sentencing decisions over and above its influence on the guideline recommended sentence. To date, these additional effects of criminal history have almost exclusively been treated as linear effects. However, there are plausible reasons to expect that criminal history could have curvilinear effects on sentencing outcomes that taper off at higher scores. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential curvilinear effects of defendant criminal history on incarceration, sentence length, and downward departure decisions in federal criminal courts. The findings suggest that criminal history has curvilinear effects on each of these sentencing outcomes. As criminal history category increases, defendants receive more severe sentences, net of other factors, but only up to a certain threshold level, at which point criminal history effects taper off and even reverse.     

论刑事和解的量刑规范化——以“量刑情节和量刑幅度”为视角

刑事和解的量刑规范化建设,是合理规范法官的自由裁量权,实现量刑公正的重要保障。因此,对《刑事诉讼法》视野下刑事和解各种量刑情节的量刑幅度,各种和解方式作为量刑情节的资格及对量刑幅度的影响,可以免除刑事处罚的情节的认定,因侵犯法益比例不同而影响量刑幅度,被害人或被告人人数众多的刑事和解案件的量刑方式,以及对重罪案件刑事和解的量刑规范化等问题进行了研究,以期对指导和规范刑事审判有所裨益。     

体系性思考与量刑的规范化——以《量刑指导意见》及实践为分析对象

随着刑法理论的提升和实践经验的积累，我国刑事司法实务面临的突出问题不再是定罪问题而是量刑问题，解决问题的迫切性催生了《人民法院量刑指导意见（试行）》的出台。然而，问题思考的难题，需要通过体系性思考来解决。量刑规范化的较高境界应该是量刑结果的公正性与稳定性。通过体系性思考，实现犯罪论与刑罚论的逻辑衔接，明确刑罚理念、尊重量刑规律、量刑活动逻辑思维顺畅，量刑的公正性和稳定性才能够实现。     

论被害人过错的性质及其成立要件

刑事被害人过错是指主客观相统一的,对犯罪行为起推动作用的,应受否定性评价,并且影响犯罪人定罪与量刑的行为。据此,其主观成立要件一般是故意或重大过失,客观成立要件是与犯罪过程的推进有着相当因果关系和时间紧密性的过错行为。此外,过错还应当达到充足的程度。     

Race,Medicine, and Social Justice: Pharmacogenetics,Diversity, and the Case of BiDil

In this article, I probe an example of high‐technology medicine as a case study in the problems of the regulation of advancing technology. Specifically, I address the implications of pharmacogenomics—an emerging form of population‐based health care intervention—for public policies designed to eliminate racial disparities in health. Using the case of BiDil, a historical precursor to pharmacogenetic technology, I offer a framework for further studies of high‐technology medicine in which policy analysis is part of a social review based on the justice standard of ex ante mutual advantage. It is the contention in this article that the most just and reasonable deployment of pharmacogenomics is as a compensatory tool to alleviate health disparities.     

Sinners and Saints: The Role of Social Standing Evidence in Capital Sentencing

The authors’ purpose was to examine how the social standing of victims and defendants impacted capital sentencing decision making. Participants were 305 death-qualified community members recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk workforce who acted as mock jurors in the sentencing phase of a capital trial. This experiment was a 3 Victim Impact Statement Social Standing (none, low, high) × 3 Execution Impact Evidence Social Standing (none, low, high) fully crossed, between-groups factorial design. Social standing of the victim did not directly or indirectly impact sentencing decisions, but the introduction of any form of execution impact evidence resulted in more positive evaluations of the defendant and fewer death sentences. These effects were moderated by pro-death penalty attitudes. Our findings have implications for how prosecutors and defense attorneys use character evidence to humanize victims and defendants.