Diagnosing Crime and Diagnosing Disease: Bias Reduction Strategies in the Forensic and Clinical Sciences

Cognitive effort is an essential part of both forensic and clinical decision‐making. Errors occur in both fields because the cognitive process is complex and prone to bias. We performed a selective review of full‐text English language literature on cognitive bias leading to diagnostic and forensic errors. Earlier work (1970–2000) concentrated on classifying and raising bias awareness. Recently (2000–2016), the emphasis has shifted toward strategies for “debiasing.” While the forensic sciences have focused on the control of misleading contextual cues, clinical debiasing efforts have relied on checklists and hypothetical scenarios. No single generally applicable and effective bias reduction strategy has emerged so far. Generalized attempts at bias elimination have not been particularly successful. It is time to shift focus to the study of errors within specific domains, and how to best communicate uncertainty in order to improve decision making on the part of both the expert and the trier‐of‐fact.     

Diagnosing Crime and Diagnosing Disease‐II: Visual Pattern Perception and Diagnostic Accuracy

Previously, we reviewed how general cognitive processes might be susceptible to bias across both forensic and clinical fields, and how interdisciplinary comparisons could reduce error. We discuss several examples of clinical tasks which are heavily dependent on visual processing, comparing them to eyewitness identification (EI). We review the “constructive” nature of visual processing, and how contextual factors influence both medical experts and witnesses in decision making and recall. Overall, studies suggest common cognitive factors uniting these visual tasks, in both their strengths and shortcomings. Recently forensic sciences have advocated reducing errors by identifying and controlling nonrelevant information. Such efforts could effectively assist medical diagnosis. We suggest potential remedies for cognitive bias in these tasks. These can generalize across the clinical and forensic domains, including controlling the sequencing of contextual factors. One solution is an agnostic primary reading before incorporation of a complete history and interpretation.     

论金融诈骗罪的事实认识错误

在讨论金融诈骗罪的构成要件时,刑法理论不自觉地将认识错误纳入到客观要素中展开讨论,因而形成争论不休的局面。关于事实认识错误的处理,应当主张抽象的法定符合说。在金融诈骗罪中,对同一犯罪的并列的构成要件要素的认识错误,以及对同一犯罪的不同行为类型的认识错误,不影响犯罪既遂的成立;对不同犯罪构成之间的认识错误,应在重合的限度内,认定为轻罪的既遂犯。     

艺术品拍卖诈骗的刑法分析

艺术品市场繁荣发展的同时,投机者为了获得暴利,将赝品充斥在艺术品交易市场中,这种知假拍假的行为不仅给买受人带来了巨大的经济损失,也导致人们对艺术品交易市场产生严重的信任危机.因此此种行为具有严重的刑事违法性,应当用刑法予以规制.另外,此种知假拍假行为属于虚构事实、隐瞒真相的欺诈行为,免责条款也不能排除其行为的欺诈性,并且买受人内心的不确信也不能阻却欺诈行为与受骗人陷入错误之间的因果关系,最终,行为人实现了非法占有财物的目的,因此应当用诈骗罪对其予以规制.     

Current Next Generation Sequencing technology may not meet forensic standards

In a Nature paper of 2010, the concern was raised that intra-individual mtDNA variation may be more pronounced than previously believed, in that heteroplasmies are common and vary markedly from tissue to tissue. This claim taken at face value would have considerable impact on forensic casework. It turns out however that the employed technology detected the germ-line variation relative to the reference sequence only incompletely: on average at least five mutations were missed per sample, as an in silico reassessment of the data reveals. Before one can really set out to access to entire mtDNA genome data with relative ease for forensic purposes, one needs careful calibration studies under strict forensic conditions—or might have to wait for another generation.     

重新解读《费尔巴哈和德国古典哲学的终结》

《路德维希·费尔巴哈和德国古典哲学的终结》是马克思主义创始人的基本著作之一，具有重要的理论价值和现实意义，是中共中央党校学习马克思主义经典著作的必修课。鉴于讲授和解读中存在的误解和偏差，为了做到原原本本地领会这篇著作的基本精神，突出重点地把握其中的主要观点，使其真正成为我们党的指导思想的理论基础，有必要在深入研究的基础上重新解读。这篇著作的核心是阐明哲学的终结和与之相对立的马克思唯物主义历史观的确立，学习的主要目的在于掌握唯物主义历史观及其辩证法的一般规律，为系统学习马克思主义奠定科学的世界观和思维方法。     

The use of warnings in the presence of errors

This article studies the effects of warnings, an enforcement instrument which is often used by environmental inspection agencies. Due to regulatory errors, measured emissions are uncertain and some firms are unjustly penalized. Warnings can then be used as a means to reduce the consequences of these errors. Even though the presence of warnings creates some underdeterrence of medium-cost firms, such a system reduces the overcompliance of low-cost firms caused by the uncertainty surrounding measured emissions. Further, warnings reduce the number of incorrect prosecutions in the case of measurement errors, which is also welfare enhancing, albeit at the cost of increasing the number of violators that go unpunished. For small error sizes, the use of warnings is shown to be welfare improving compared to only using fines.     

周予同主编《中国历史文选》校注商略

周予同先生主编的《中国历史选》在各高校历史系中已使用多年，但在校注方面还存在诸多问题，如古今地名对照多有差错，标点亦有误点，少量字还存在讹误，许多清代人物的资料出处亦与事实不符，本对书中的有关问题予以考证。