Surveillance and resilience: Relationships,dynamics, and consequences

“Resilience” is a contested term with varying and ambiguous meaning in governmental, business, and social discourses. Surveillance is increasingly relied on as an instrument for resilience, enhancing the capability of anticipating, preventing, or recovering from adversity, thus preserving the fabric of society and the state. However, surveillance itself might undesirably erode social freedoms, rights, and other public goods. In the present study we focus on the interrelationship of surveillance and resilience. Studying the relationships between surveillance and resilience requires not only the theoretical study of possible examples but also the exploration and evaluation of the resilient entity’s core properties, strategies, and tactics and the external observer’s stance toward the entity in question. Furthermore, different contexts may exhibit different effects of surveillance on resilience. For example, an increase in surveillance by a democratic state may lead to increasing resilience of the state in the face of terrorist attacks but may also lead to the decreasing resilience of that society’s ability to exercise democratic values. The various models generated by these differing relationships will be explored with relation to three examples: the surveillance of international migration, the surveillance of extremist views, and the surveillance of digital financial transactions.     

美国《涉外情报监视法》评介

爱德华·斯诺登将美国国家安全局庞大的监控计划曝光,引发世界多国对美国表示抗议。美国政府声称其监控行为是基于《外国情报监视法》的授权而实施。在美国复杂的监控法律体系中,该法有着独特的生成背景、功能定位以及价值选择,自1978年颁行以来历经多次修正,在国家安全领域依然发挥着举足轻重的作用。     

Constructing a surveillance impact assessment

This paper describes surveillance impact assessment (SIA), a methodology for identifying, assessing and resolving risks, in consultation with stakeholders, posed by the development of surveillance systems. This paper appears to be the first such to elaborate an SIA methodology. It argues that the process of conducting an SIA should be similar to that of a privacy impact assessment (PIA), but that an SIA must take account of a wider range of issues, impacts and stakeholders. The paper categorises the issues and impacts to be considered in the conduct of an SIA and identifies the benefits of a properly conducted SIA.     

人民监督员选任条件的理性思考

人民监督员制度试行以来,虽然在实践中发挥了积极重要的作用,但仍存在很多问题与不足。突出表现在所选任的人民监督员中官员化倾向过于严重,部分监督员在监督过程中缺乏相应的监督能力、缺失监督的话语权,相当一部分监督员很少、甚至基本不参加监督活动等等。因此,在推进人民监督员制度法制化进程中,如何科学界定人民监督员的选任条件就显得至关重要。     

新刑诉法中监听措施若干问题的完善——以我国台湾地区相关立法为参考

2012年《刑事诉讼法》的修正将监听措施纳入了刑事诉讼法的规制,是促使侦查程序法治化的一个重要标志。但不可否认的是相关规定仍然存在不完善、不科学之处。我国台湾地区的通讯监察制度经2007年修改后进一步得到完善,鉴于两岸的文化意识和法律传统有诸多相似之处,其在案件范围、适用对象、审批程序、监听通知、非法证据排除等方面,对我国大陆监听制度的完善具有重要的借鉴意义。     

刑事见证及其法律效力研究——诉讼证明中一个被忽视的问题

刑事见证一直被当作一个技术性问题而为我国诉讼法学界所忽视,其所蕴涵的监督制约价值和诉讼证明功能尚未被人们充分认识。我国现有的刑事见证规范不但内容粗疏,而且见证与否对相关的侦查行为及由此所取得的证据材料不产生任何法律效力,从而导致权力滥用和制度变形,这不但与程序正义相背离,而且妨害实体真实的发现。对公权力过分信任的政治哲学、重实体、轻程序的法律文化以及偏重于惩罚犯罪的诉讼目的等,都影响了制度的精细化设计及其应然功能的发挥。无论是顺应证明模式转型的发展趋势还是基于程序法定原则的内在要求,抑或是保障证据证明力及侦查程序正当性的要求,均需要我们重新审视刑事见证问题。只有把见证人见证作为一项独立的诉讼行为予以制度完善并赋予其一定的法律效力,刑事见证才能实现从技术到制度的转变。     

Surveillance cameras and crime: a review of randomized and natural experiments

Research on the effectiveness of surveillance cameras in reducing crime suffers from potential threats to causal validity. This paper reviews seven studies that address some of these problems using the rigorous research designs of randomized and natural experiments. Included studies that reported changes in total crime found crime reductions ranging from 24 to 28% in public streets and urban subway stations, but no desirable effects in parking facilities or suburban subway stations. Moreover, surveillance cameras may help reduce unruly behaviour in football stadiums and theft in supermarkets/mass merchant stores. These findings indicate that video surveillance can reduce crime in several settings.