Guns and crime revisited

I focus on the effect of changes in public security (policing) on private security measures that potential victims can take. In particular, I look at the tradeoff between different types of private security measures – such as using or carrying guns, carrying less cash or keeping less valuables at home, and using burglar alarms or Lojack – and study how this tradeoff is affected by changes in public security. If private householders’ direct security expenses are strongly substitutable with public policing (e.g., for guns which may be more useful in badly policed areas), an increase in policing results in a drop in these expenses; it also results in carrying or keeping less cash (an indirect security measure which reduces the prize a criminal can seize). If, however, householders’ direct security expenses are “complementary” to policing in the sense that they are more effective when police response is rapid (e.g., for burglar alarms), more policing increases these expenses unless the efficacy of joint (public and private) security expenses on combating crime encounters very sharply diminishing returns; moreover, a rise in policing also induces carrying or keeping more cash. An increase in penalties increases the tendency to keep cash on hand, and also reduces crime, provided that as private precautions increase, with policing constant, it takes a larger increment in security spending to compensate for a specific drop in penalties. The results are consistent with some empirical trends in crime rates, policing, penalties and private precautions.     

论刑事被害人权益的保护——以刑事和解为视角

现代社会,在被告人的主体地位被强调和关注的同时,被害人的主体地位却长期没有得到足够的重视,沦为刑事诉讼中的"被遗忘的人"。在分析了刑事被害人权利保护的理论基础,刑事和解对被害人权益保护的价值所在的基础上,提出了如何建构以被害人为考量的刑事和解机制的对策建议。     

刑事被害人权利保护的若干问题研究

近年来被害人权益保障问题受到越来越多的重视,许多国家纷纷制定、修改立法以加强对被害人权益的保护。而在我国刑事公诉案件中被害人的权益至今仍被强大的国家公诉权所掩盖,没有受到应有的重视。现行立法对被害人各项权利的规定不仅范围狭窄无法适应世纪的需要,而且由于具体操作等方面存在缺陷导致被害人现有权利在司法事务中很难有效实现。因此,借鉴国外的立法经验并结合我国司法实际构建一套完备的被害人保障制度是我国目前司法建设的当务之急。