犯罪心理痕迹分析在系列杀人案件侦查中的运用

系列杀人案件是容易引起社会恐慌并导致人民群众缺乏安全感的恶性案件。此类案件的及时侦破,能稳定人民群众情绪,加强经济转型期的社会稳定。在系列杀人案件中,犯罪行为人的一些心理活动会以现场物质痕迹为载体,通过犯罪行为直接或间接地反映在犯罪现场。因此,运用犯罪心理痕迹分析就可以刻画出犯罪行为人的心理特征和行为特征。在其侦查过程中,犯罪心理痕迹分析可以在个案分析、串并案件、总体分析三方面进行运用,每个方面的运用中都有其各自分析的内容,依据分析的结果可以帮助侦查人员分析案情、确定侦查方向、推断犯罪行为人,使系列杀人案件及时侦破。     

秦汉盗罪及其立法沿革

将张家山汉简《盗律》与相关文献记载相结合 ,通过汉《盗律》与唐律的比较 ,可以看到秦汉时期各种类型的盗罪的特点及相关立法 ,《盗律》的沿革轨迹也是清晰可见。     

论人民监督员制度

为加强外部监督,切实防止和纠正检察机关查办职务犯罪工作中执法不公的问题,最高人民检察院创设了人民监督员制度。本文以法律监督基本原理为基础,对国外相关监督制度进行比较评析,提出人民监督员制度应在监督主体的选择、监督程序及其运作等方面进一步完善,以确保监督目的的实现,防止人民监督员制度在推广中步入形式化、象征性的困境。     

从公案看涉检舆情应对机制

近年来,越来越多的司法个案因为各种原因进入公众视野,受到舆情的广泛关注而演化为“公案”。分析这些“公案”,我们能够发现其共有的规律性特征：多为冤假错案、涉案被告人的身份呈现两极化、刑讯逼供问题广泛存在、网络成为主要媒介。“公案”的出现向涉检舆情应对工作提出了新的挑战,民意诉求、有罪推定、“命案必破”错误思想、公检法机关配合过度而制约不足等都是现阶段涉检舆情应对工作存在难题的深层次原因。本文通过分析“公案”及其成因,以期对建立有效的涉检舆情应对机制提供有益的思考。     

Development and Validation of a Virtual Examination Tool for Firearm Forensics, ,

The transition from 2D imaging to 3D scanning in the discipline of firearms and toolmark analysis is likely to provide examiners an unprecedented view of microscopic surface topography. The digital examination of measured 3D surface topographies has been referred to as virtual microscopy (VM). The approach offers several potential advantages over traditional comparison microscopy. Like any new analytic method, VM must be validated prior to its use in a crime laboratory. This paper describes one of the first validation studies of virtual microscopy. Fifty‐six participants at fifteen laboratories used virtual microscopic tools to complete two proficiency‐style tests for cartridge case identification. All participating trained examiners correctly reported 100% of the identifications (known matches) while reporting no false positives. The VM tools also allowed examiners to annotate compared surfaces. These annotations provide insight into the types of marked utilized in comparative analysis. Overall, the results of the study demonstrate that trained examiners can successfully use virtual microscopy to conduct firearms toolmark examination and support the use of the technology in the crime laboratory.     

死刑案件辩护有效性研究:状况、困境与出路

对死刑案件相关辩护情况进行调查研究可知,我国对于刑事辩护投入不充分,资源分配不均衡;辩护程序依附于定罪、量刑合一的审判传统;公权力机关内凝型关系挤压死刑辩护的空间;民意与舆论压力也妨碍死刑案件辩护的有效性。在党的十九大报告明确社会主要矛盾已经转化,要深化司法体制综合配套改革,同时最高人民法院和司法部试点刑事案件审判阶段的律师辩护全覆盖的改革语境下,职能部门应调整死刑案件法律援助费用及其来源,适时提高死刑案件辩护律师的资质要求,充分保障死刑案件中辩护律师的执业权利,将死刑案件定罪和量刑阶段的辩护程序分离,完善证人、鉴定人出庭机制,在死刑案件中逐步确立无效辩护制度,营造尊重和维护死刑案件辩护权的法律文化。     

A Fully Automatic Method for Comparing Cartridge Case Images,

When a gun is fired, it leaves marks on cartridge cases that are thought to be unique to the gun. In current practice, firearms examiners inspect cartridge cases for “sufficient agreement,” in which case they conclude that they come from the same gun, testifying in courts as such. A 2016 President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report questioned the scientific validity of such analysis (President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, Washington, DC, Executive Office of the President). One recommendation was to convert firearms analysis to an objective method. We propose a fully automated, open‐source method for comparing breechface marks on cartridge cases using 2D optical images. We improve on existing methodology by automating the selection of marks, and removing the effects of circular symmetry. We propose an empirical computation of a “random match probability” given a known database, which can be used to quantify the weight of evidence. We demonstrate an improvement in accuracy on images from controlled test fires.     

Predicting Initiator and Near Repeat Events in Spatiotemporal Crime Patterns: An Analysis of Residential Burglary and Motor Vehicle Theft

Near repeat analysis has been increasingly used to measure the spatiotemporal clustering of crime in contemporary criminology. Despite its predictive capacity, the typically short time frame of near repeat crime patterns can negatively affect the crime prevention utility of near repeat analysis. Thus, recent research has argued for a greater understanding of the types of places that are most likely to generate near repeat crime patterns. The current study contributes to the literature through a spatiotemporal analysis of residential burglary and motor vehicle theft in Indianapolis, IN. Near Repeat analyses were followed by multinomial logistic regression models to identify covariates related to the occurrence of initiator (the first event in a near repeat chain) and near repeat (the subsequent event in a near repeat chain) events. The overall findings provide additional support for the argument that neighborhood context can influence the formation and context of spatiotemporal crime patterns.     

A part-declared blind testing program in firearms examination

In 2015 and 2016 the Central Unit of the Dutch National Police created and submitted 21 cartridge case comparison tests as real cases to the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), under supervision of the University of Twente (UT). A total of 53 conclusions were drawn in these 21 tests. For 31 conclusions the underlying ground truth was “positive”, in the sense that it addressed a cluster of cartridge cases that was fired from the same firearm. For 22 conclusions the ground truth was “negative”, in the sense that the cartridge cases were fired from different firearms. In none of the conclusions, resulting from examinations under casework conditions, misleading evidence was reported. All conclusions supported the hypothesis reflecting the ground truth. This article discusses the design and results of the tests in more detail.     

Legal Reasoning and Legal Theory Revisited

This article deals with the relation between a theory of law and a theory of legal reasoning. Starting from a close reading of Chapter VII of H. L. A. Hart's The Concept of Law, it claims that a theory of law like Hart's requires a particular theory of legal reasoning, or at least a theory of legal reasoning with some particular characteristics. It then goes on to say that any theory of legal reasoning that satisfies those requirements is highly implausible, and tries to show that this is the reason why not only Hart, but also writers like Neil MacCormick and Joseph Raz have failed to offer a theory of legal reasoning that is compatible with legal positivism as a theory of law. They have faced a choice between an explanation of legal reasoning that is incompatible with the core of legal positivism or else strangely sceptical, insofar as it severs the link between general rules and particular decisions that purport to apply them.