Adolescents’ perceptions of the ‘substance use-violence nexus’: a South African perspective

The aim of the study was to explore adolescents’ perceptions of substance use as a contributing factor to community violence by employing a conceptual framework proposed by Goldstein. Data were collected from a sample of adolescents between the ages of 15 and 16 years by means of focus group interviews. Theoretical thematic analysis was used to analyse and interpret the findings. The participants’ perceptions indicated that substance use and withdrawal symptoms induce physiological and behavioural modifications resulting in aggression and violence. The findings also suggest that participants believed that substance users frequently commit property and violent interpersonal crimes such as theft, robbery, assault and murder to procure their substances. Further, the adolescents’ perceived violence to be rooted within gang culture as well as the involvement in shared markets for illicit substance trading.     

Bid-rigging networks and state-corporate crime in the construction industry

This study highlights the symbiotic relationship that may arise between political and business actors in conspiracies organized around public construction bids. Based on a core-periphery social network analysis, the study tracks the emergence of such a conspiracy in the city of Laval (Canada) by illustrating the evolution of bid-rigging networks revolving around suspected and persistent acts of corruption, bid-rigging, and bribery. To assess this process, the study monitors irregular bidding indicators across a data set compiled from more than 7000 public construction tenders that were processed by the city from 1966 to 2013. Findings reveal that firms suspected of bid-rigging activities were perennial core participants largely as a result of a state-corporate crime system that served as the guiding force for agreements between the main construction entrepreneurs.     

论拒不执行判决、裁定罪的犯罪构成之改革

拒执罪以立法形式出台以来,虽对"执行难"的情况起到了一定的遏制作用,但由于在犯罪对象、犯罪行为、犯罪主体等构成要件方面存在重大立法缺陷,致使执行实务中适用此罪的情形尚不多;在"诚信守约"的社会风尚遭到严重破坏的新时代背景下,除保护其法益之外,拒执罪的任务还应包括保护"社会信用";拒执罪应以保护"人民法院判决、裁定的正常执行活动和人民法院判决、裁定的权威性"和构建"社会信用体系"为改革方向,以与其他相关的社会信用体系的法律制度形成动态衔接为改革方法,从犯罪对象、犯罪行为和犯罪主体三个方面对犯罪构成进行改革,从而改善本罪的适用状况、推进社会信用体系建设。     

Falling into the existential abyss: Ivan Franko’s realist prose in experiments with Gothic and crime fiction modes

This article examines three novels by Ukrainian realist Ivan Franko (1856–1916): Dlia domashn'oho ohnyshcha (For the Home Hearth, 1892), Osnovy suspil'nosti (Pillars of Society, 1894), and Perekhresni stezhky (Fateful Crossroads, 1900). Previous scholars saw elements of crime fiction in these works, but the actual relationship between the two genres of crime fiction and realism has not been fully developed. By studying the conventions of crime fiction, along with its antecedent, the Gothic, and their influence on Franko, the author shows the make-up of the early Ukrainian crime fiction genre and points to its importance in understanding Franko’s vacillation between realist and modernist tendencies. As she argues, the scales of his vacillation are tipped toward modernism in its decadent form, an existential void that characterized fin de siècle Europe. Hence, Franko’s “ideal” or programmatic realism (defined by Franko as a literary style with a didactic tendency aimed at educating society), which he introduced under the appealing cover of crime and Gothic motifs, ultimately failed him. The author proposes that it is the creative modes (Gothic and crime fiction) that Franko chose for voicing his ideas about social reforms that led him, unsuspectingly, away from his programmatic goal and toward the decadent aspects of modernism.     

犯罪圈的扩张及其合理限制——以我国刑事立法的变迁为视角

犯罪圈的扩张是我国刑事立法的主导方向，现代化的发展、权利的保护是犯罪圈在特定时期不断扩大的主要原因。立法上的犯罪化的内在根据，在于行为具有应受刑罚处罚程度的社会危害性。犯罪圈的扩张应当受到合理限制：遵循刑法的谦抑性原则，考虑新增罪名与其他罪名的关系，考虑国民的感受与认同并理性对待民意，在注重入罪的同时，也应做到及时地出罪。     

律师伪证罪的困境与出路

《刑法》第306条有关律师伪证罪的规定一直面临着悖逆民心的困境，但其原因并非实体内容不公正，而是欠缺程序上的合理限制，由此导致它沦为检察机关实施职业报复的工具。将律师纪律处分或行政处罚程序作为刑事诉讼程序的程序性前提，把取消会员资格的行业处分或吊销律师职业证书的行政处罚作为刑事诉讼的实体性前提，并限制刑事侦查的调查范围，可以合理地限制检察机关的偏见和恣意，带领该规定走出当前的困境。     

论污染环境罪主观面的修正构成解释和适用——兼评2013“两高”对污染环境罪的司法解释

2011年通过的《刑法修正案(八)》将重大环境污染事故罪修正为污染环境罪,2013年“两高”发布对污染环境罪的司法解释,二者的出台对于打击环境犯罪具有重要意义.但是,有关本罪主观罪过、共犯形成、严格责任等方面的评价、认定与适用仍是问题.从本罪的罪状描述和司法解释看,本罪的罪过形式应同时包括故意和过失,污染环境共同过失犯罪有其存在的法理依据和现实需要,同时在本罪中适用严格责任也是中国刑法应予采纳的.     

论《刑法》第288条的法律适用之困境及完善

国务院法制办于2014年5月发布了《中华人民共和国无线电管理条例（修订草案）（征求意见稿）》,将无线电频率和卫星轨道资源明确规定为无线电管理条例保护的对象,这无疑给刑法提出了新问题。为了维护无线电通讯秩序,中国1997年《刑法》增设了第288条扰乱无线电通讯管理秩序罪,但此罪在犯罪成立的条件上要求过高、在司法实践的认定上存在困难,几乎沦为“废条”。《刑法》要发挥保护无线电频率和卫星轨道资源的作用,就必须根据现实的需要对第288条做出适当的修改,使其走出“废条”困境。     

强奸犯罪之主观方面比较研究--兼论我国强奸罪主观方面的修正

从两大法系主要典型国家对强奸犯罪主观方面的立法规定或理论学说来看,两者在认定主观方面的标准侧重点不同,其认定标准都存在一定缺陷;相比于大陆法系国家,英美法系国家对强奸罪主观方面的研究更加深入,对行为人“轻率”的心理态度的理解较富特色。我国对强奸罪主观罪过通说的界定不够全面,不符合行为人的正常认知,需要进行修正;将行为人在过失或间接故意心态支配下实施的奸淫行为一律推定为直接故意,违反公平正义原则。我国强奸罪主观方面应当修正为：直接故意、间接故意,以及过于自信的过失可以构成强奸妇女型犯罪;故意和过失皆可构成奸淫幼女型犯罪。     

Visualization for Large‐scale Gaussian Updates

In geostatistics and also in other applications in science and engineering, it is now common to perform updates on Gaussian process models with many thousands or even millions of components. These large‐scale inferences involve modelling, representational and computational challenges. We describe a visualization tool for large‐scale Gaussian updates, the ‘medal plot’. The medal plot shows the updated uncertainty at each observation location and also summarizes the sharing of information across observations, as a proxy for the sharing of information across the state vector (or latent process). As such, it reflects characteristics of both the observations and the statistical model. We illustrate with an application to assess mass trends in the Antarctic Ice Sheet, for which there are strong constraints from the observations and the physics.