论司法鉴定人员职业规则

如何理顺司法鉴定中各个主体的关系,如何规范司法鉴定活动,使司法鉴定活动可以发挥其制度设计中本应具备的职能,是司法鉴定制度进一步完善的重点。在可供选择的多种方式之中,司法鉴定人员职业规则是必不可缺的一环。自从2005年司法鉴定体制改革以来,针对司法鉴定人员职业规则的研究和制定规则的实践均刚刚起步,急需进行系统而具体的探索...     

对建立刑事诉讼专家辅助人制度的思考——以全国首例专家辅助人参与刑事案件为视角

新《刑事诉讼法》中明确了专家辅助人制度的雏形,但是条文的规定简单概括。有关专家辅助人的资格、介入诉讼的方式、权利和义务、启动方式和其意见的可采性等相关问题都没有详细的规定,使其在司法实践运作环节出现许多障碍。构建专家辅助人制度前应准确理解其概念,明确专家辅助人的法律地位,充分认识构建专家辅助人制度的必要性,并建立配套的专家辅助人援助制度。     

侦查终结证明标准的解读与释疑

当前对侦查终结概念的理解存在一定偏差。根据刑事诉讼法的相关规定,公安机关侦查终结的案件并非只能移送检察机关审查起诉,撤销案件同样应当成为侦查终结的可能处理结果之一。2012年《刑事诉讼法》吸收了早前司法解释对证明标准引入主观性的做法,将"排除合理怀疑"正式规定为判断"证据确实、充分"的法定条件之一,这对公安机关正确理解和准确把握侦查终结证明标准提出了新的要求和挑战。"事实清楚,证据确实、充分"这一证明标准是主客观相结合的产物,不论是认知差异的客观存在,还是证据发现的走向纵深,都不应当成为否定其作为侦查终结证明标准的正当理由。     

Finding the missing and unknown: Novel educational approaches to warming up cold cases

In recent years, students in police academies and higher education institutions around the world have worked together to analyse cold cases including long-term missing persons cases in collaboration with investigators and prosecutors. In 2020, three European organisations, the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP), AMBER Alert Europe and Locate International, succeeded in connecting these educational organisations enabling them to work collectively on cases and conduct cold case analyses (CCA) across international borders. The International Cold Case Analysis Project (ICCAP) learning objectives were to 1) collect the necessary information about the victim, 2) reconstruct the crime, and 3) investigate trace control.In a learning objective-based evaluation using Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing, 76 participating students from the German and International ICCAP teams were asked to complete a pre- and post-review questionnaire to self-assess their personal competence development. Participants reported significant increases in competence in all evaluated areas, thus demonstrating that authentic and relevant collaborations can enrich the learning environment, promote the use of professional skills, and provide significant knowledge exchange opportunities between academia and industry.Drawing on case studies of cold case missing persons' investigations and unidentified found remains, this article shares how university academics, students and community volunteers can work together nationally and internationally to find out what has happened to missing people and how we can more effectively identify the previously unidentified. In so doing, we share the expertise required to progress these cold cases and provide recommendations to support other institutions and organisations in adopting this innovative approach.     

Does Ambivalent Sexism Influence Verdicts for Heterosexual and Homosexual Defendants in a Self-Defense Case?

The current research examined the role of defendant and participant sex, presence or absence of expert testimony of the “battered person syndrome”, and sexual orientation of the defendant on perceptions of guilt in a self-defense case. The role of sexism in judgments of culpability was also examined. A sample of 442 participants read a self-defense case scenario and responded to questions pertaining to verdict, defendant culpability, legal element ratings, and sexist attitudes. Results revealed a four-way interaction, showing female participants prescribed the lowest guilt ratings to heterosexual female and homosexual male defendants who received expert testimony of the battered person syndrome. When heterosexual male defendants received expert testimony, ratings of guilt significantly increased. A multiple regression was conducted to determine whether legal and extra-legal factors predicted defendant culpability. Sexist attitudes (benevolent sexism towards men and women) and certain legal elements were predictive of defendant culpability. Limitations and implications are discussed. Study findings were presented in a poster at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society (APLS), Jacksonville, Florida (March, 2008).     

Expert examination and assessment of state under the influence of psychoactive substances

An expert examination is a medical examination performed by a doctor on the order of a police officer or investigating judge. It includes a clinical examination of the subject, collection of samples for toxicological analysis, and the doctor's assessment of whether the subject is under the influence of psychoactive substances. The doctor requires expert knowledge, skill, experience and sufficient time to successfully perform the examination. Since the accurate assessment of the effects of psychoactive substances present depends on a comprehensive evaluation of toxicological test results, the calculation of results at the time of the event and the results of the medical examination, an unprofessionally performed examination can have far-reaching consequences, primarily legal in nature.     

A Two‐Year Study of Δ 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol Concentrations in Drivers; Part 2: Physiological Signs on Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) and non‐DRE Examinations,,

Whole blood samples were examined for ?⁹‐Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) over 2 years in drivers suspected of driving under the influence. Part one of the study examined the link between [THC] and performance on field sobriety tests. This portion examined objective signs, eye examinations and physiological indicators; and their relationship to the presence of THC. Several objective signs were excellent indicators of the presence of THC: red eyes (94%), droopy eyelids (85.6%), affected speech (87.6%), tongue coating (96.2%), and odor of marijuana (82.4%). About 63.6% of THC positive subjects had dialted pupils (room light). THC positive subjects had either rebound dilation or hippus in 88.8% of cases. Pulse and blood pressure (BP) were evaluated to determine any correlation with [THC]. An increased pulse rate correlated well to the presence of THC (88.5%), but not [THC]. BP did not correlate to [THC] and was also a poor indicator of THC in the blood (50% high).     

Building sustainable free legal advisory systems: Experiences from the history of AI & law

The enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI) as a source of solutions to problems is not new. In law, from the early 1980s until at least the early 2000s, considerable work was done on developing ‘legal expert systems.’ As the DataLex project, we participated in those developments, through research and publications, commercial and non-commercial systems, and teaching students application development. This paper commences with a brief account of that work to situate our perspective.The main aim of this paper is an assessment of what might be of value from the experience of the DataLex Project to contemporary use of ‘AI and law’ by free legal advice services, who must necessarily work within funding and other constraints in developing and sustaining such systems. We draw fifteen conclusions from this experience, which we consider are relevant to development of systems for free legal advice services. The desired result, we argue, is the development of integrated legal decision-support systems, not ‘expert systems’ or ‘robot lawyers’. We compare our insights with the approach of the leading recent text in the field, and with a critical review of the field over twenty-five years. We conclude that the approach taken by the DataLex Project, and now applied to free legal advice services, remains consistent with leading work in field of AI and law.The paper concludes with brief suggestions of what are the most desirable improvements to tools and platforms to enable development of free legal advice systems. The objectives of free access to legal information services have much in common with those of free legal advice services. The information resources that free access to law providers (including LIIs) can provide will often be those that free legal advice services will need to use to develop and sustain free legal advisory systems. There is therefore strong potential for valuable collaborations between these two types of services providers.     

Opinion 1/15 of the Grand Chamber dated 26 July 2017 about the agreement on Passenger Name Record data between the EU and Canada

On 26 July 2017, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice rendered its seminal Opinion 1/15 about the agreement on Passenger Name Record data between the EU and Canada. The Grand Chamber considered that the decision of the Council about the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the agreement between the EU and Canada about the transfer and processing of PNR data must be based jointly on Article 16(2) about the protection of personal data and Article 87(2)(a) about police co-operation among member states in criminal matters, but not on Article 82(1)(d) about judicial co-operation in criminal matters in the EU of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. The Grand Chamber also considered that the agreement is incompatible with Article 7 on the right to respect for private life, Article 8 on the right to the protection of personal data, Article 21 on non-discrimination and Article 52(1) on the principle of proportionality of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU since it does not preclude the transfer, use and retention of sensitive data. In addition to the requirement to exclude such data, the Grand Chamber listed seven requirements that the agreement must include, specify, limit or guarantee to be compatible with the Charter.The opinion of the Grand Chamber has far-reaching implications for the agreement on PNR data between the EU and Canada. It has also far-reaching implications for international agreements on PNR data between the EU and other third states. Last, it has far-reaching implications for Directive 681 of 27 April 2016 on PNR data.     

司法文明指数是一种法治评估工具

司法文明指数是法治评估的一种创新性量化工具。司法文明指标体系,由4个领域、10个维度(一级指标)、50个命题(二级指标)、97个问卷题目构成,在5套问卷中形成了190个变量。该指数通过对全国各省、自治区、直辖市司法实践的实际测量,可以体现人民群众对司法工作的满意程度,反映各地司法文明建设的全景或全貌、强项和弱项,描述随时间变化的司法文明进步轨迹,为其加强司法文明建设提供一面镜子。该指数将对法治中国建设发挥积极促进作用,并为学者、学生和各界人士深入研究全国各地司法文明的状况提供比较全面的基础性数据和资料。