When risk‐based regulation aims low: Approaches and challenges

Risk‐based regulation is becoming a familiar regulatory strategy in a wide range of areas and countries. Regulatory attention tends to focus, at least initially, on high risks but low‐risk regulatees or activities tend to form the bulk of the regulated population. This article asks why regulators need to address low risks and it outlines the potential difficulties that such risks present. It then considers how regulators tend to deal with lower risks in practice. A body of literature and survey‐based research is used to develop a taxonomy of intervention strategies that may be useful in relation to low‐risk activities, and, indeed, more widely. In an article to be published in the subsequent issue of this journal, we will then develop a strategic framework for regulators to employ when choosing intervention strategies and we will assesses whether, and how, such a framework could be used by regulatory agencies in a manner that is operable, dynamic, transparent, and justifiable.     

试析非法证据排除规定

很多冤假错案都是刑讯逼供、暴力取证造成的,为制止冤案频发,提高审判质量,"两院三部"共同出台了《关于办理刑事案件排除非法证据若干问题的规定》(简称非法证据排除规定),它强调了采用刑讯逼供等非法手段取得的言词证据,不能作为定案的根据,完成了我国刑事诉讼理念从单纯的"反对刑讯逼供",到明确"非法证据排除"转变,但是该规定在执行时还将面临一定的困惑。     

外国人待遇新论

如何理解"外国人待遇",国内学者有不同意见。从词义、词源及逻辑关系来看,"外国人待遇"就是一国依法给予外国人的权利。给予外国人待遇(权利)的原由多种多样,国际上从主权、法治、政治、经济的角度给出了不同的答案,但从国家主权的相对性来看,外国人待遇缘于国家主权、国际人权保护和国家之间的关系。     

论省部共建机制下的高效生态农业发展

创建黄河三角洲国家现代农业科技示范区核心区,东营市高效生态农业示范区基于对当地农业历史、地理方位、区域环境与资源禀赋的深刻把握。实施高端规划,创新体制机制,落实创建载体,省部会商共建的配套政策及推进机制,构建跨区域、跨园区的战略联盟,以现代服务业引领现代农业,建立国内领先并与国际接轨的现代农业发展新模式。     

在法治方略下寻求社会管理创新

社会管理创新是我国社会建设事业推进过程中回应现阶段经济政治社会发展的必然要求.在法治方面成为国家根本治国方略的当代,在法治方略下寻求社会管理创新具有现实正当性和优越性;依法适度培植社会组织和规范引导社会组织发展、在立法模式上改过去的行政主导立法为博弈立法、完善税收法制、立法中更多地吸收社会生活中形成的习惯和惯例、构建政府与社会分工合作各司其职的适法格局等是法治方略下寻求社会管理创新的根本性举措.社会管理法治化是人类社会发展和法治发展之逻辑必然.     

医疗产品损害责任三论

医疗产品损害责任是《侵权责任法》第59条规定的医疗损害责任类型,关于责任分担的规则规定得不够完善,应当根据产品责任的一般规则以及侵权责任法的连带责任规则进行补充.血液属于准产品,应当适用医疗产品损害责任规则确定医疗机构的赔偿责任.消毒药剂构成医疗产品损害责任,其缺陷的判定有一定特点.     

“两岸四地”海上货物运输留置权法律冲突初论

随着中国大陆《关于审理涉台民商事案件法律适用问题的规定》于2011年1月正式实施,四地间法律效力的相互承认问题获得基本解决。至此,需要面对的便不仅仅是四地间法律规定的表面歧异问题,更应关注为具体案件确定准据法时所要面对的现实法律冲突问题。试就"两岸四地"海上货物运输留置权法律冲突问题作初步探讨。     

Index of Reviewers for 2005

Drawing upon literature from developmental criminology and place‐based policing, the Redlands, California Police Department developed the Risk‐Focused Policing at Places (RFPP) approach to preventing and reducing juvenile delinquency. The RFPP program is a community‐oriented policing and problem‐solving strategy that targets risk and protective factors related to delinquency and problem behaviors of youths living in census block group areas. We used a matched block randomized experimental design to evaluate the effects of the program on youths living in 26 census block groups in Redlands. We find that the RFPP program did not influence self‐reported delinquency, or perceptions of risk and protective factors and police legitimacy. We argue that the primary explanation for the absence of a program effect centers on the unit of analysis used for the program. The census block group is too large a geographic unit of analysis to achieve the kind of targeted and focused interventions that lead to positive crime‐prevention outcomes.     

GENERATIVE EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME: USING SIMULATION TO TEST CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY*

This study demonstrates that computational modeling and, in particular, agent‐based modeling (ABM) offers a viable compatriot to traditional experimental methodologies for criminology scholars. ABM can be used as a means to operationalize and test hypothetical mechanisms that offer a potential explanation for commonly observed criminological phenomena. This study tests whether the hypothesized mechanisms of environmental criminology are sufficient to produce several commonly observed characteristics of crime. We present an ABM of residential burglary, simulating a world inhabited by potential targets and offenders who behave according to the theoretical propositions of environmental criminology. A series of simulated experiments examining the impact of these mechanisms on patterns of offending are performed. The outputs of these simulations then are compared with several well‐established findings derived from empirical studies of residential burglary, including the spatial concentration of crime, repeat victimization, and the journey to crime curve. The results from this research demonstrate that the propositions of the routine activity approach, rational choice perspective, and crime pattern theory provide a viable generative explanation for several independent characteristics of crime.     

The Influence of Places on Police Decision Pathways: From Call for Service to Arrest

Research on factors that influence police discretion usually focuses on individual or situational characteristics (e.g., an officer or citizen's age, race or gender, or the seriousness of the incident). In contrast, this study examines whether characteristics of places influence police decisions to “upgrade” or “downgrade” their response to incidents. Earlier research is expanded in three ways: first, rather than examining an isolated decision within the series of decisions that make up an incident, a series of chronological decisions within a “decision‐making pathway” is derived and analyzed. Second, multiple categories of racial and ethnic composition of places and their influence on police decision‐making pathways are examined. Third, decision pathways of a variety of incidents at small geographic places are compared across an entire jurisdiction. Findings indicate that, even when controlling for the level of violence, places with a greater proportion of Black or wealthy residents significantly influence officers' decisions to downgrade crime classifications and actions taken on incidents reported to the police.