刑事案件精神病鉴定实施情况调研报告

本文以法律职业群体和司法精神病学鉴定专家为调研对象,就刑事程序中的精神病鉴定及相关问题进行了调研,通过运用访谈、问卷、阅卷、调取司法统计数据等实证研究方法对目前我国刑事程序中精神病鉴定的现状、问题及成因展开了研究。研究的主要问题包括司法精神病鉴定主体与鉴定管理体制,鉴定程序的启动,公安司法人员对鉴定意见的审查、判断,对精神病人的强制医疗等问题。     

论司法承诺规则在侦查讯问中的应用

司法承诺规则在侦查讯问中发挥着重要作用。侦查讯问有很强的对抗特征,较量的双方必然要采取一定的手段,这种思维的对抗具有博弈性。司法承诺规则能够保证犯罪嫌疑人得到某种利益,使犯罪嫌疑人自愿同司法机关协作,从而有效地降低侦查成本,提高侦查效率。文章在对司法承诺规则作详细介绍的基础上,从实体法和程序法两方面对其进行了构建,以实现侦查讯问中司法承诺的法治化,从而更好地指导实践工作。     

Does commitment affect the meaning of fairness?: Commonality and stability of fairness criteria in a political setting

This study explored political fairness criteria in Japan: examining their commonality and stability. Respondents were divided into three groups according to their commitment to the incumbent Government, as measured by neutrality, trust, and respect. Regression analyses revealed that Procedural Fairness was the commonly used criterion in judging the total fairness of the consumption tax. Citizens' commitment affected fairness criteria and their relative weights. Another regression analysis was performed to examine the meaning of procedural fairness. A comparison with our previous study (Takenishi and Takenishi, 1990) indicated that the procedural fairness criteria remained stable: however, voice became a criterion because of the Government's campaign. Results suggested than democratic ethicality, which consists of social values and beliefs, was important.Each author contributed equally.     

多边主义与东亚高政治合作

中国在国际关系中积极倡导多边主义,充分体现了中国外交与时俱进的精神和当代中国外交文化的先进性内涵.推动东亚政治合作是面向21世纪中国奉行多边主义外交战略的重要步骤,它事关东亚能否崛起为世界重要一极.中国在东亚的多边主义战略目标是构建一个和谐的东亚政治经济和安全环境.由于传统和历史的原因,东亚国家一直比较重视在"低政治"领域展开合作,但对"高政治"领域的合作却畏首畏尾,显得比较缓慢和迟钝.其实,东亚国家在战后初期就存在着大国主导"高政治"领域合作的空间.东亚虽然是世界主要的文明发祥地、战后各主要国家也先后实现了经济的起飞,但是政治上的作用却未能很好发挥出来.相反,东亚却成为霸权主义和强权政治轻易得手和随意操纵的地方,特别是由于政治合作意愿淡薄,直接导致了东亚大国政治上的分散化和政治问题的频繁发生,进而也威胁到经济社会发展领域,中日关系就是一个突出的例子.解决朝核问题的多边主义模式应该机制化,这是东亚"高政治"合作的重要起点,而中国应该成为该机制化过程中的主导力量.     

Implicit Consitutional Change-Changing the Meaning of the Constitution Without Changing the Text of the Document

Constitutional change is often thought of as explicit constitutional change, i.e., as change that implies a modified wording of the constitutional document. In this paper, the possibilities of implicit constitutional change, i.e., change that is not accompanied by formally changing the constitution, are analyzed. The separation of powers a la Montesquieu is taken as a starting point and it will be argued that constitutional change can be brought about by all government branches, i.e., by the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. If this argument is accepted it follows that the judiciary-even when endowed with the competence of judicial review-is not the ultimate arbiter in supervising constitutional change. It is the main hypothesis of this paper that the judiciary in bringing about implicit constitutional change is subject to a number of constraints among which the original document plays a rather marginal role. Instead, it is claimed that the current preferences of the other government organs as well as those of the population are more relevant in ascertaining the meaning of the constitution at a given point in time.     

Community not the Councillors: A Study of Commitment of Australian Senior Council Officers Working under a Politicised Employment Relationship

Council officers as public managers are expected to work for the community. Yet, it has been argued that council officers working under a politicised employment relationship are likely to be more committed to the elected councillors than to the community. This proposition has been examined through a survey of senior council officers across Australia and the results are presented in this article. This study develops an analytical approach which combines for the first time the multi-focus and the multiple bases of managerial commitment approaches, applies this to the case of Australian local government managers and finds that although most senior council officers perceive that their employment is politicised they remain committed to the community. Based upon these findings, it is argued that a conceptual framework utilising a combined multi-focus and multiple bases approach is more appropriate to the study of commitment of local government managers and to managers in the public sector in general than the use of either approach alone.     

JOURNEY FROM SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE

One of the most important journeys that we can take as individuals is the journey from success to significance. Success is what we become and what we achieve when we value ourselves. Significance, however, is what we become and what we achieve when we value others. In this article, based on remarks by Judge David W. Young at the May 2007 “Summit on Unified Family Courts,” Judge Young invites us on a journey, first described by John Maxwell in The Journey from Success to Significance. Judge Young further explores what the journey from success to significance entails and reminds us that any success we have will leave the world with us while our significance will continue to live on in future generations through our service to children, families, and others.     

Credibility and Flexibility: Political Institutions,Governance, and Foreign Direct Investment

This article argues that the relationship between political institutions and foreign direct investment is both nonlinear and conditional upon status quo policies. The empirical analysis demonstrates an inverted U-shaped relationship between political institutions and foreign direct investment in developing countries, with four veto players being the most attractive institutional arrangement. Countries with too few or too many veto players are not favored because of either high policy uncertainty or high policy rigidity. In addition, the benefits and costs of credibility and flexibility vary in good times and hard times. The benefits of maintaining status quo tend to outweigh the costs in countries with good initial regulatory environment. The costs of maintaining status quo tend to outweigh the benefits when countries are more vulnerable to exogenous shocks.     

Does Interrater (Dis)agreement on Psychopathy Checklist Scores in Sexually Violent Predator Trials Suggest Partisan Allegiance in Forensic Evaluations?

Many studies reveal strong interrater agreement for Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) when used by trained raters in research contexts. However, no systematic research has examined agreement between PCL-R scores from independent clinicians who are retained by opposing sides in adversarial legal proceedings. We reviewed all 43 sexual-offender civil-commitment trials in one state and identified 23 cases in which opposing evaluators reported PCL-R total scores for the same individual. Differences between scores from opposing evaluators were usually in a direction that supported the party who retained their services. These score differences were greater in size than would be expected based on the instrument's standard error of measurement or the rater agreement values reported in previous PCL-R research. The intraclass correlation for absolute agreement for the PCL-R Total score from a single rater (ICC 1,A = .39) was well below levels of agreement observed for the PCL-R in research contexts, and below published test-retest values for the PCL-R. Results raise concerns about the potential for a forensic evaluator's "partisan allegiance" to influence PCL-R scores in adversarial proceedings.     

Decision-Making About Volitional Impairment in Sexually Violent Predators

The Kansas v. Hendricks (1997) decision, in which the Supreme Court authorized post-sentence civil commitment for certain sex offenders, appeared to be constitutionally legitimized by limiting the class of offenders eligible for this special form of civil commitment to those who are "unable to control" their dangerousness. Nowhere in the available record, however, did the Court elucidate what they meant by this notion of volitional impairment. This study sought to examine factors that legal professionals (n=43), psychologists (n=40), and mock jurors (n=76) deem most relevant to a determination of sex offender volitional impairment. Participants, who were randomly assigned to a sexual predator commitment or an insanity hearing context, read a series of 16 vignettes that described a pedophilic offender and included combinations of variables hypothesized to be related to judgments of volitional impairment. Results suggested that participants, who as a group made remarkably high estimates of likelihood of future sexual violence, considered verbalization of control, history of sexual violence, and the context of the hearing as highly relevant to determinations of volitional impairment. Implications for policy and practice are explored.