Beyond CSI: Calibrating public beliefs about the reliability of forensic science through openness and transparency

What drives public beliefs about the credibility of a scientific field? This question is increasingly important, with recent discussion of a “reproducibility crisis” affecting many fields. Such discussions are vital in forensic science, a discipline that has experienced severe scrutiny from both the media and large oversight bodies. In this paper, we make three contributions to this discussion. First, we bring together and compare several studies in which laypeople were asked about the reliability of forensic science practices. This review suggests that forensic practices do not enjoy uniformly high reliability ratings from the public and these ratings are not calibrated with the scientific consensus. We then review three empirically-tested ways that other fields are dealing with their own crises, all centred around transparency and openness. Finally, we make recommendations for how forensic science can leverage transparency and openness to improve and maintain its long-term credibility. As part of these recommendations, we find that empirical research supports the Houston Forensic Science Center’s recent claims that it has improved its credibility through openness and transparency.     

Advancing measures of innovation in the United States

This paper introduces major themes addressed in this special issue, which is based on NSF's Division of Science Resources Statistics (SRS) workshop Advancing Measures of Innovation—Knowledge Flows, Business Metrics, and Measurement Strategies, held on June 6-7, 2006 near Washington, D.C. The first two sections describe the workshop and provide a brief background on R & D and innovation metrics. The last section introduces the papers. They are based on selected workshop presentations along with additional invited papers.

Science Parks’ tenants versus out-of-Park firms: who innovates more? A duration model

We study the successfulness of Science Parks (SPs) as seedbeds of innovation. We investigate whether SPs enhance the innovative output of their tenants and if tenants outperform comparable outside-SPs firms. We rely on original matching datasets regarding in- and out-SP Finnish firms and their patenting activity over 1970–2002. We estimate and compare the ‘before-versus-after’ hazard rates of patenting of both samples. The results suggest that, given the existence of a common tendency to slow down the pace at which all firms patent during their life cycle, Park tenants exhibit a comparatively better performance. Results are robust to various model specifications and to Wald tests performed over the pooled samples.

当前公安执法中存在的问题、形成的原因及对策

牢固树立“立警为公,执法为民”的重要思想是新时期对公安工作的要求。我们只有在执法实践中找准症结,有的放矢,才能从根本上转变执法观念,实现执法观念上的一次革命。     

困境与出路:领域法理论下的警察法学发展

警察法学属于我国法律体系中不可或缺的板块,也是提升社会安全法治能力的理论抓手。遗憾的是,当前我国警察法学的发展深陷概念模糊化、体系碎片化、研究边缘化、教学粗浅化的困境,若不及时矫正,势必将警察法学的研究、教学和实践引入歧途。领域法是近年来新兴的法学理念,强调问题导向与解决策略,能有效融合法教义学与社科法学的思维特点。在领域法学的指引下,研究者需明确警察法学的领域概念,厘清警察法学的法律体系,夯实警察法学的理论体系,增加警察法学的实践色彩,强调在完善警察法学理论体系的同时,提升警察法学的实践与教学效用。     

Reassessment of the state role in the development of high-tech industry: A case study of Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park

This article reassesses the state role in the development of high-tech industries through a case study of one of the earliest science parks in Asia, Hsinchu Science Park. Taking a historical and public policy approach to this issue, the article argues that the state did play a positive role in the growth of hightech industries in Taiwan. However, not all positive outcomes were derived from rational political elites and state bureaucracy. There existed many unintended and path-dependent consequences. In addition, many planned goals have not been achieved and there were many side effects and negative outcomes neglected by previous studies, which give significant implications for the evaluation, of state's capability and limitation in pursuing economic development.     

关于统一司法考试的几个问题分析

文中对统一司法考试的几个问题进行了浅略的分析,指出使用统一司法考试这一名称欠妥,对统一司法考试的一些操作性问题亟待规范化。统一司法考试的实行,将会给我国的法学教育带来较大的冲击,法学教育工作者必须抓住机遇,迎头而上。     

读《本体刑法学》

《本体刑法学》是陈兴良先生在商务印书馆出版的新著。著作具有四大特色 :一是保持批判者立场 ,继承并提升刑法理论品位 ;二是界定本体刑法学的基本范畴 ,构建刑法学的新体系 ;三是提倡问题意识 ,寻求刑法学的真问题及其解决 ;四是创立一种刑法学教科书写作的新范式 ,即体系性叙述、法理性叙述与私人性叙述相结合。尽管存在些许瑕疵 ,但本体刑法学的总体特色可以概括为 :理论的继承和创新并存 ;范式转换或体系完备并重。     

中国近代法政杂志的兴盛与宏旨

自《译书汇编》创办,近代法政杂志纷纷问世,前后计一百五十余种。这些法政杂志面对国家的危局和西方学术的冲击,不得不承担“救时济世”和“阐明学术”的时代使命。由此,各种法政杂志都明确定其宏旨,即昌明法学,养成法治。此种宗旨,不惟一时代的宗旨,而应是久长的宗旨。     

国外识别嫌疑人供词真伪技术的述评

犯罪嫌疑人的供词在解决刑事案件中起着非常重要的作用。国外有三种评估嫌疑人供词真伪的技术,其中基于标准的内容分析和真实监控是针对口头陈述的内容分析,而科学内容分析是针对书面陈述的。在一份虚假的陈述中,并非所有内容都是虚构的,也有真实的内容;在评定材料时,应综合运用三种技术,评定的最终目的不应是孰真孰假,而应是材料中的哪部份可信,哪部份可疑。