Prison sentences: last resort or the default sanction?

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the sentencing purposes for penal penalties, judges’ perceptions of sentencing purposes and prison sentences, and the effects of penal sanctions. We examine judges’ positions towards different penalties, with a focus on imprisonment, since their views on the different penalties are related to their sentencing decision-making. Understanding these views is then critical for several practical and political purposes, including bridging the gap between academic discourse and legal practice. We accessed judges’ views on penal sanctions through a questionnaire and an interview. Our sample is compounded by the judges of the criminal courts from the three major cities in Portugal. Despite the most recent criminological empirical knowledge, judges valued imprisonment as the most adequate sentence, both for different crimes and for different judicial purposes. This result is not consistent with viewing imprisonment as a ‘last resort’ solution. Indeed, we did not find this ‘last resort’ position in our data, and it is not apparent in the judicial statistics on imprisonment rates. Our data highlight the importance of increasing judges’ training on criminological and sociological issues as well as the importance of changing the influence of their personal beliefs regarding penal sanctions into research-based positions.     

当代英美刑法中的人格地位与人格评估

随着"报应模式"在当今英美刑法领域的衰微,犯罪人在英美刑法中的地位不断提高,刑法适用越来越重视人格.人格评估的方式在英美之间不尽相同,美国通过犯罪史进行评估,英国使用罪犯评估系统.     

CRACKS IN THE PENAL HARM MOVEMENT: EVIDENCE FROM THE FIELD*

Research Summary For more than three decades, the penal harm movement, which involves “get tough” ideology and policies, has held sway over U.S. corrections. Scholars have justifiably detailed and decried this movement, but in so doing, they have also inadvertently contributed to the view that a punitive worldview is hegemonic. In contrast, we detail four major “cracks” in the penal harm movement's dominance: the persistence of rehabilitative public attitudes, the emergence of second thoughts about the wisdom of harsh sanctions, the implementation of progressive programs, and the increasing legitimacy of the principles of effective intervention for guiding correctional practices. Policy Implications Taken together, these “cracks” comprise evidence that ideological space and political will exist to fight the penal harm movement and to map out a more efficacious and progressive response to crime. Because of the persistence of social welfare sentiments and growing challenges to the legitimacy of “get tough” policies, the potential to continue, if not expand, this countermovement is present. Taking advantage of this opportunity, however, will require forfeiting the belief that there is no escape from a punitive future and undertaking systematic efforts to devise correctional strategies that are based on solid science, improve offenders' lives, and protect public safety.     

香港与内地刑事情报系统的比较研究

起步于20世纪80年代的中国内地刑事情报工作,经过20多年的发展,目前仍然存在很多弊端。主要表现在观念滞后,情报工作后置,涵盖面窄,情报内容设计缺乏科学论证,以及工作机制不健全、管理不统一等诸多方面。它同香港的最大差别表现在:香港警方是情报主导侦查工作,案件未发,情报先行;而内地则是根据案件找线索,被动地收集情报信息。因而,以此为参照和突破口加强内地刑事情报系统改革势在必行。     

从技术到情感：刑民交叉案件管辖

司法与戏剧都是以台上表演、宣讲台词的形式来表达人性化的情感。司法入口的刑民二分法与司法过程的逻辑三段论一样都不能排除情感因素作用。刑民交叉案件很显然是在严格刑民二分观点透视下的模糊和边缘地带。遵循司法制度的合成理论和司法过程的辩证理论，反映世界潮流，体现司法民主，切合和谐主题，采“超越极端，回归情感”的思路，为积极回应和适时流转当事人诉求，把刑民交叉案件管辖的一些历史沉淀和实践探索的边缘性制度逐步固定下来，从而增加现行制度的弹性和适应力。从本质上说，以情取胜而不是以力服人也是司法和竞技的主要差别。     

HISTORICAL CONTINGENCIES AND THE EVOLVING IMPORTANCE OF RACE,VIOLENT CRIME,AND REGION IN EXPLAINING MASS INCARCERATION IN THE UNITED STATES

This article combines insights from historical research and quantitative analyses that have attempted to explain changes in incarceration rates in the United States. We use state‐level decennial data from 1970 to 2010 (N = 250) to test whether recent theoretical models derived from historical research that emphasize the importance of specific historical periods in shaping the relative importance of certain social and political factors explain imprisonment. Also drawing on historical work, we examine how these key determinants differed in Sunbelt states, that is, the states stretching across the nation's South from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, from the rest of the nation. Our findings suggest that the relative contributions of violent crime, minority composition, political ideology, and partisanship to imprisonment vary over time. We also extend our analysis beyond mass incarceration's rise to analyze how factors associated with prison expansion can explain its stabilization and contraction in the early twenty‐first century. Our findings suggest that most of the factors that best explained state incarceration rates in the prison boom era lost power once imprisonment stabilized and declined. We find considerable support for the importance of historical contingencies in shaping state‐level imprisonment trends, and our findings highlight the enduring importance of race in explaining incarceration.     

论单位犯罪刑罚体系之完善

我国现行刑法典对单位犯罪刑罚适用的规定存在着刑种单一、严厉程度不足等缺陷。为了适应惩治和预防单位犯罪的现实需要并贯彻罪责刑相适应原则,在吸收借鉴国外先进立法经验的基础上,提出了构建独立完整的单位犯罪刑罚体系的具体设想。     

Psychiatric disorders and management of sexual offenders in the prison psychiatric consultation unit of Marseille

Since 2017, complaints of sexual violence have increased in France. At the same time, the management of sexual offenders has been at the center of international public health policies. The prevalence of mental disorders among sexual offenders is an essential field of research. There are some published studies on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in sexual offenders in detention, but there are few recent published studies among French individuals who were detained. Our objectives were to determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among persons detained for sexual offenses and the level of care received according to their diagnosis. For this purpose, we carried out a retrospective observational study from January 2017 to October 2021 of all adult sexual offenders, whether accused or convicted, who were seen in the psychiatric consultation unit of Les Baumettes prison, Marseille, France. The primary outcome measure was the psychiatric diagnosis entered in the medical records. One hundred forty-two patients were included in analysis. All patients were men, and the majority (n = 97, 68.3%) of these patients presented with at least one psychiatric disorder, principally a personality disorder (31.7%). 10.6% presented with a schizophrenic disorder, 4.9% a bipolar disorder, 3.5% a depressive disorder, 5.6% pedophilic paraphilia, and 25.4% an addictive disorder. Their management and comorbid addictions were analyzed in subgroups for each psychiatric disorder. Patients appeared to receive an appropriate level of care for their diagnosed disorder. It seems important to develop structured assessment of recidivism risk for better management of sexual offenders.     

展望我国未成年人刑事责任制度的完善

建立独立的未成年人刑事责任制度是一个国家治理和预防未成年人犯罪的必然要求 ,这一制度的建立要遵循三项基本原则 :谦抑原则、相称原则和禁止原则。我国当前的未成年人刑事责任制度基本体现了这些原则的精神内涵 ,但仍需从多方面进一步完善 ,要在构建专门法律体系的基础上完善各项制度 ,设立相关机构 ,以最终实现对未成年人的特殊保护     

“辩护人、诉讼代理人伪证罪”之质疑

刑法第306条辩护人、诉讼代理人伪证罪的设置是一项不公正不平等的规定,存在诸多负面影响,如助长了职业报复,危及律师事业的发展等,且该法条规定本身亦不严谨。笔者建议,考虑到现行刑法完全存在其他可以援引的法条对该罪规定的三种行为予以规制,有必要取消刑法第306条。