Seen or Unseen? The Role of Race in Police Contact among Homeless Youth

Homeless youth are at an increased risk of police contact—being stopped by police and arrested, yet it is less clear if this interaction is patterned by race. The current study draws on diverse scholarship to examine three possible effects of race on homeless youths’ interaction with police: that non-White homeless youth are more likely (disproportionate minority contact/symbolic assailants), less likely (out-of-place policing) or no different than White youth (master status) to experience police contact. Using the Midwest Longitudinal Study of Homeless Adolescents, we examine homeless youths’ odds of self-reported police harassment and arrest. Non-White homeless youth are more likely to report police harassment and arrest, but living on the street neutralizes these racial disparities. Further, prior police harassment is linked to subsequent arrest, operating similarly for White and non-White homeless youth. We discuss the implications of these findings for advancing scholarship on the challenges faced by homeless youth.     

Only a Matter of Time? The Role of Criminal Competence in Avoiding Arrest

While prior research has shown that the probability of detection plays a role in the decision-making of many offenders, much less is known on offenders’ relative success in avoiding arrest. In this study, we draw from detailed criminal career data on 172 offenders involved in lucrative criminal activities to examine the role of criminal competence in the probability of being arrested in a given month. We examine a particular aspect of competence, criminal efficiency, which is defined as the ability to earn a relatively large amount of money for each crime committed. Our research design allows us to disentangle the effect of criminal efficiency as a static trait of offenders from the dynamic variations in efficiency that offenders experience over time. Results show that efficiency is a strong, negative predictor of arrest, both at the static and dynamic levels.     

EFFECT OF SUSPECT RACE ON OFFICERS’ ARREST DECISIONS*

Many respondents to opinion surveys say that the citizen's race influences how police officers treat the public, yet recent expert social‐science panels have declared that research findings are too contradictory to form a conclusion on whether American police are biased against racial minorities. We perform a meta‐analysis of quantitative research that estimates the effect of race on the police decision to arrest. Screening nearly 4,500 potential sources, we analyze the results based on 27 independent data sets that generated 40 research reports (both published and unpublished) that permitted an estimate of the effect size of the suspect's race on the probability of arrest. The meta‐analysis shows with strong consistency that minority suspects are more likely to be arrested than White suspects. Depending on the method of estimation, the effect size of race varied between 1.32 and 1.52. Converting the race effect size to probabilities shows that compared with the average probability in these studies of a White being arrested (.20), the average probability for a non‐White was calculated at .26. The significant race effect persists when taking into account the studies’ variations in research methods and the nature of explanatory models used in the studies. Implications for future research are presented.     

论人权保障语境下的捕前羁押制度改革

目前,人权保障已经成为时代主题.国家要尊重和保障人权,政府要保证公民幸福而有尊严地生活.犯罪嫌疑人在无罪推定的语境之下,应该享有正常的人权保障,在未经公正审判确定其罪的情况下,以羁押的方式剥夺其作为基本人权的人身自由,需要严格的审查方式,因为羁押在折抵刑期的意义上与徒刑所带来的惩罚是相当的.     

博弈视野下的职务犯罪侦查监督关系

最高人民检察院出台相关规定,确立了职务犯罪案件由上一级检察院决定逮捕的模式。从博弈论的角度看,职务犯罪案件决定逮捕权上提一级的模式实质上是确立了上级检察院侦监部门、下级检察院侦监部门和下级检察院自侦部门的侦查监督三角博弈关系。自职务犯罪案件决定逮捕权上提一级实施以来,司法实践中出现了一些问题,三角博弈关系在现实中处于失衡状态,究其原因在于博弈的前提规则的不完善。有必要重塑博弈规则,完善职务犯罪案件侦查监督的相关措施。     

论相对刑事责任年龄承担责任范围的标准

我国《刑法》第17条第2款规定:"已满14周岁不满16周岁的人,犯故意杀人、故意伤害致人重伤或者死亡、强奸、抢劫、贩卖毒品、放火、爆炸、投放危险物质罪的,应当负刑事责任。"对于这8种犯罪是指犯罪行为还是具体罪名,刑法学界展开了激烈的争论,大体上有罪行说、罪名说两种观点。相对刑事责任年龄承担责任范围的标准具有不确定性,对于相对刑事责任年龄承担刑事责任的范围标准不能一概而论,应该具体问题具体分析。因此在罪行说和罪名说的基础上引入附条件的刑事责任年龄制,对于完善相对刑事责任年龄人承担责任范围的标准具有一定意义。     

我国刑事强制措施制度的现状及完善

刑事强制措施制度的本质体现了实现刑罚与保障人权的对立统一关系,在实现国家刑罚的同时要最大限度的实现人权保障。我国现行刑事诉讼立法对刑事强制措施的采用规定了较为严格的条件和程序,但该制度仍存缺陷及不足,有必要在立法上进一步完善。     

Policing Domestic Violence 1967–2017

The U.S. President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice under President Johnson in 1967 called for a program of research that would support evidence‐based tracking, targeting, and testing of policing domestic “disputes.” During the past 50 years, the amount of research on domestic violence has grown. The findings from targeting studies reveal a steep pyramid from many low‐harm cases at the base rising to a tiny fraction that are lethal. The findings from testing studies reveal that arrests reduce reoffending among employed persons in the short run while increasing recidivism among unemployed suspects. Arrests in one experiment increased all‐cause mortality of victims over 23 years. The findings from tracking research reveal wide variance across police agencies in implementing mandatory arrest. Since the Crime Commission, however, mandatory arrest laws were also enacted in 28 states in the 1980s, with uneven enforcement for misdemeanor domestic abuse. New research is needed to test the effectiveness of other domestic violence interventions, including restorative justice, as well as follow‐up studies of previous research sites.     

逮捕条件中的社会危险性问题探究

逮捕的社会危险性条件是刑事诉讼法修改的一项重要内容,是逮捕条件的进一步细化,也是刑事诉讼法尊重和保障人权、保障犯罪嫌疑人合法权益、落实宽严相济刑事司法政策、慎捕等执法理念的重要体现。对于逮捕条件中的社会危险性,应结合案件的证据情况,通过对法条的五项社会危险性规定逐项进行准确把握。