被害人独立诉讼主体地位的回归

原始的刑事自诉模式下,被害人为刑事诉讼的主体之一。但在漫长的中世纪,被害人陷入证人的境地,国家成为唯一的诉讼主体。当代,虽然被害人普遍地被当作刑事诉讼的当事人,但是并不具有独立的诉讼主体地位,所以传统的刑事诉讼结构一直没有被害人的一席之地。现代刑事诉讼制度应当恢复刑事被害人的诉讼主体地位,并设计相应的制度充分保障刑事被害人诉讼主体地位的实现。     

精神鉴定的评价范围——基于鉴定人与司法人员职权划分的思考

精神鉴定的评价范围涉及鉴定人与司法官的职权划分问题。在我国,精神鉴定的评价范围不仅包括医学要件与心理学要件,也包括刑事责任能力的内容,精神鉴定人通常都直接对刑事责任能力作出评定,此做法既与理论上的观点不一致,也与刑事诉讼法的规定不相吻合。较为合理的做法是由精神鉴定人对刑事责任能力的医学要件进行评定,心理学要件的判断则采用以司法人员为主、鉴定人为辅的合作方式。     

论全程录音录像制度的科学构建

全程录音录像制度对于规范执法行为,保障犯罪嫌疑人基本权利,促进司法公正具有重要意义。全程录音录像不是单纯意义上的技术性措施,其构建应当放在整个刑事诉讼架构中进行,辅以必要的配套措施,明确违反全程录音录像规定的制裁性后果,合力形成完整的制度体系。在当前的社会发展条件下,全程录音录像制度的构建尚难以“一步到位”,仍需循序渐进推行,并在主客观条件具备之时全面实施,切实发挥制度的应有功能。     

民事诉讼证据交换制度的立法探讨

证据交换的正当性虽然无可置疑,但其被规避适用却是实务中的普遍现象。设置证据交换制度有诉讼效率的考量,但其首要的价值目标却是公平和公正。审判效率得以提高的秘密不在于证据交换本身,而在于证据交换制度所依存的具有不可逆性的二元性诉讼结构。在制度层面上,司法解释与《民事诉讼法》的不兼容及司法解释技术自身的问题应当予以检讨。完整的具有实效性和可操作性的证据交换规则的确立包括两个大的方面：一是包含有实体性因素的证据交换规则;二是包含有程序性因素的证据交换规则。     

论国际人权法对国际刑法的影响

冷战结束后,国际人权法获得了较为广阔的生长空间,国际刑法也进入复兴和快速发展的阶段。国际人权法对国际刑法各个领域的影响都十分明显,从基本原则到具体规则,从实体法到程序法,从刑罚制度设计到刑罚的执行,并努力在保护被害人与保障被告人权利两者之间保持微妙的平衡。然而,透过国际人权法推动国际刑法发展的帷幔,不难发现其背后＂人权＂和＂主权＂之间的紧张博弈：为保护人权,国际人权法引领着国际刑法试图突破国家领土的藩篱进而穿透国家主权的坚硬＂铠甲＂;国家则奋力祭起＂主权＂大旗并诉诸＂司法独立＂的坚固盾牌,抵御某些外部政治实体利用国际刑事司法机构干涉其内政、侵蚀其＂司法独立＂,以最大限度地维护国家利益。     

社会舆情与刑法运作互动问题研究

随着信息传播的便利,社会舆情可以对刑事裁判的整个过程产生影响。在社会舆情和刑事司法发生冲突的案件中,社会舆情"屡战屡胜",表面上看好似是"公意的胜利",而实质上依然是"正义的胜利"。因为被推翻的刑事判决本身,在法律依据、诉讼程序、定案证据等方面存在各种各样的瑕疵或错误。为了实现刑事司法的公众认同,维护刑事司法的权威性,刑事司法应当做到三点:坚守刑事司法的正当性;加强判决书说理;增强对社会公意的理解。     

Rights in Criminal Law in the Light of a Will Theory

The will theory of rights has so far been considered incapable of capturing individual rights under criminal law. Adherents of the will theory, therefore, have defended the claim that criminal law does not assign rights to individuals. In this article I argue first, that criminal law does assign individual rights and second, that the will theory of rights may enhance our understanding of these rights. The two major implications of the account are: a volenti non fit iniuria principle for criminal law, and a theoretical framework for an idea of punishment as restitution.     

Career Dimensions of Stalking Victimization and Perpetration

Prior literature concerning stalking, particularly in the field of criminology, finds wide variation in fundamental trends regarding stalking victimization and perpetration. There seems to be little consensus regarding when and how stalking is manifested. Furthermore, prior research to date has not addressed the etiology of stalking‐related behaviors by applying principles from criminal career research, including participation, frequency, onset, and duration. The present study builds upon prior research by addressing trends in age of onset for stalking victimization and perpetration, the duration of stalking‐related behaviors, and the relationship between those behaviors and other types of crime over the life course using primary data from a sample of young adults. Findings indicate that stalking victimization and perpetration share important career attribute similarities, and that self‐reported history of intimate partner violence and sexual assault are strongly associated with stalking outcomes.     

Prevalence and Characteristics of Co‐Offending Recruiters

Previous examinations of co‐offending have identified a subset of high‐rate offenders who commit crimes with a large number of co‐offenders, most of whom are younger and less criminally experienced. These so‐called “recruiters” are of particular interest to researchers and practitioners, because of their potential role in facilitating offending onset and recidivism among their co‐offenders. In this paper, data on 61,646 individuals detected by a large UK police force are used to identify offenders who fitted the recruiter profile, and to compare their individual and offending characteristics with those of non‐recruiters. In total, 86 recruiters were identified. In multivariate analyses, recruiters were found to be older than non‐recruiters and were typically involved in property crimes. In addition, they tended to offend in criminal groups that were more heterogeneous and stable than non‐recruiters. These findings suggest that a small but identifiable group of recruiters can be detected using official data and that these individuals may be important targets for police attention and court treatment.     

Opening the Black Box of Officer Decision-Making: An Examination of Race,Criminal History,and Discretionary Searches

Recent evidence suggests that police officers engage in discretionary searches of minority citizens at a disproportionate rate; however, the impact of citizen criminal history on this relationship is largely unknown. Using the theoretical framework of officer suspicion, this study examines the impact of citizen race on the likelihood of a discretionary search and whether this relationship is mediated by citizen criminal history. A series of multilevel models were computed on officer-initiated traffic stops in a manner that conforms to Baron and Kenny's recommendations to test for mediation effects. Results indicated that while citizen race was predictive of a discretionary search, this effect was mediated by consideration of criminal history. These findings have implications for understanding the decision-making process of officers, the influence of citizen race on these decisions, and the role of officer suspicion in police-citizen encounters.