Due to her tender age: Black girls and childhood on trial in South Carolina, 1885-1920

Drawing on local criminal court records in western and central South Carolina, this dissertation follows the legal experiences of black girls in South Carolina courts between 1885 and 1920, a time span that includes the aftermath of Reconstruction and the foundational years of Jim Crow. While scholars continue to debate the degree to which black children were included in evolving conversations about childhood and child protection, this dissertation argues that black girls were critical to turn-of-the century debates about all children's roles in society. Far from invisible in the courts and jails of their time, black girls found themselves in the crosshairs of varying forms of power --including intraracial community surveillance, burgeoning local government, Progressive reform initiatives and military policy -- particularly when it came to matters of sexuality and reproduction. Their presence in South Carolina courts established boundaries between early childhood, adolescence and womanhood and pushed legal stakeholders to consider the legal implication of age, race, and gender in criminal proceedings. Age had a complicated effect on black girls' legal encounters; very young black girls were often able to claim youth and escape harsher punishments, while courts often used judicial discretion to levy heavier sentences to adolescents and violent girl offenders. While courts helped to separate early childhood from the middle years, they also provided a space for African-American children and family to engage a legal system that was moving rapidly toward disenfranchising blacks.

Per una genealogia della giustizia penale internazionale: ambiguita' e paradossi

This article aims to consider the role for a critical criminology outside the national dimension, highlighting its continuities with studies in the critical tradition which have suggested the need to address State criminality and criminogenic structures more in general, but also suggesting a critique of international criminal law as a governmentality project.It reconstructs the genealogy of the international criminal justice system, following on from Schmitt and other well known authors, but it focuses in specific on its paradoxes, contradictions and ambiguities rather than its purely political effect. The authors argue that critical criminologists should engage with the international dimension of crime and control and approach this venture of a international criminal justice system as the possibility of “telling the truth” about State atrocities without missing on using strategically the category of human rights and law to bring to the fore minoritarian interests which are
usually denied by power discourses and economic forces.

Rethinking Prison Disciplinary Processes: A Potential Future for Restorative Justice

The movement for restorative justice (RJ) has struggled with marginalization on the soft end of the criminal justice system where the threat of net widening and iatrogenesis looms large. To realize the full potential of RJ as an alternative philosophy of justice, restorative practices need to expand beyond the world of adolescent and small-level offences into the deeper end of the justice system. Disciplinary hearings inside of adult prisons may be a strategic space to advance this expansion. This paper presents findings from a study of prison discipline in four UK prisons. The findings strongly suggest that in their current form, such disciplinary proceedings are viewed by prisoners as lacking in legitimacy. Although modelled after the adversarial system of the criminal court, the adjudications were instead universally derided as ‘kangaroo courts’, lacking in the basic elements of procedural justice. Based on these findings, we argue that restorative justice interventions may offer a viable redress to these problems of legitimacy which, if successful, would have ramifications that extend well beyond the prison walls.

Controlling Irregular Migration in Canada: Reconciling Security Concerns with Human Rights Protection

International human rights law, international humanitarian law, international refugee law and international criminal law: each chapter of this corpus stands as a fundamental defense against assaults on our common humanity… The very power of these rules lies in the fact that they protect even the most vulnerable, and bind even the most powerful. No one stands so high as to be above the reach of their authority. No one falls so low as to be below the guard of their protection. Sergio Vieira de Mello, United Nations General Assembly, November 2002.

Entrevues auprès d’enfants qui dévoilent une agression sexuelle : examen du processus d’enquête et du parcours judiciaire des dossiers

Cette étude a été rendue possible grâce aux bourses doctorales accordées à la première auteure par les organismes suivants : le Conseil de recherche en sciences humaines (CRSH), la Chaire interuniversitaire Marie-Vincent sur les agressions sexuelles envers les enfants (CIMV), l’Équipe violence sexuelle et santé (ÉVISSA) et le Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les problèmes conjugaux et les agressions sexuelles (CRIPCAS). Cette étude a également été soutenue par une subvention de recherche accordée par le Bureau d’aide aux victimes d’actes criminelle (BAVAC) du ministère de la justice du Québec accordée à Mireille Cyr.

La eximente de responsabilidad penal por trastorno mental en el derecho penal internacional. Su operatividad y relevancia

El Derecho Penal Internacional es una rama bastante reciente del Derecho Internacional Público. En ese orden de ideas, el Derecho Penal Internacional le debe mucho a otras especialidades del Derecho Internacional, como lo son el Derecho de los Derechos Humanos y el Derecho Internacional Humanitario, puesto que si bien estas dos especialidades pueden y deben separarse del Derecho Penal Internacional, ciertos crímenes involucran tanto infracciones a las normas de DIH como a las de Derechos Humanos. En consecuencia, han dotado al Derecho Penal Internacional de parte de su contenido y por tanto podríamos considerarlas –guardadas las proporciones- como ancestros evolutivos de la especialidad, materia de esta monografía.

Estudios de derecho penal internacional

Breve compilación de los numerosos ensayos que el profesor Héctor Olásolo Alonso ha escrito sobre la parte general, la parte especial, la política criminal y diversos aspectos procesales del Derecho Penal Internacional.

Ensayos de derecho penal y procesal internacional

Análisis pionero, serio y riguroso de las posibilidades que el marco procesal del Estatuto de Roma y de las Reglas de Procedimiento y Prueba ofrecen a la Corte Penal, y en particular a su Fiscalía, para desarrollar de manera eficaz acciones preventivas dirigidas a evitar que ciertas situaciones de crisis terminen desencadenando la comisión sistemática o generalizada de crímenes de lesa humanidad, crímenes de guerra o genocidio.

La desaparición forzada de personas: análisis crítico del derecho administrativo colombiano a través de los estándares del sistema interamericano de protección de derechos humanos. Estudio de caso de los mal llamados “falsos positivos”

La categorización jurídica de los mal llamados “falsos positivos” en Colombia es un tema controversial: en algunas ocasiones se habla de ejecuciones extrajudiciales, otras veces de homicidio en persona protegida y en otros casos de desapariciones forzadas, dependiendo de la institución que juzgue los casos. Ahora bien, al no existir unidad de criterios en la categorización jurídica de los “falsos positivos”, se hace imprescindible la integración de conceptos en torno a entender dichos hechos ilícitos inequívocamente como tales, toda vez que esto permitiría generar seguridad jurídica al interior del derecho administrativo colombiano. Precisamente, en lo a referente a la responsabilidad extracontractual del Estado. De igual manera, el concepto de reparación adoptado en los estamentos de Derecho Administrativo Colombiano, no siempre coincide con los estándares delineados por el Sistema interamericano de protección de Derechos Humanos, lo cual repercute de manera negativa en el tratamiento dado a las víctimas de los “falsos positivos” que encuadran en la categoría de desapariciones forzadas, lo que hace necesario el estudio detallado de las decisiones propias de cada sistema y compararlas, para buscar un mejoramiento de los estándares nacionales de reparación. Para dar un aporte teórico importante, esta investigación partirá del análisis sistemático de la Convención Interamericana sobre Desaparición Forzada de Personas, y la jurisprudencia de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, y después inspeccionará los elementos fácticos y la reparación de los “falsos positivos”, determinando el grado de aplicación que se ha dado del sistema interamericano en los fallos proferidos por el Consejo de Estado.

Protección, violación, reparación, y sanción: ejes temáticos de la teoría y práctica del derecho internacional de los derechos humanos (Tema Central)

El tema de los Derechos humanos se ubica en el corazón de la teoría moderna del derecho internacional. Desde el final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, esta rama de la ciencia jurídica ha conocido múltiples desarrollos, buscando primordialmente la protección de esos derechos, conceptualizados en generaciones. Este proceso se ha caracterizado por la creación de mecanismos –de alcance regional y universal– cuyo papel es reparar el daño causado a las víctimas de violaciones de los derechos humanos, y, en ciertos casos, castigar a sus verdugos. El presente artículo analiza estas varias facetas de una disciplina en constante evolución, a través de ejemplos concretos que permitirán efectuar una ponderación de la eficacia del sistema internacional de salvaguardia de los Derechos humanos.

Truth commissions: a barrier to the provision of judicial assistance?

Truth commissions and criminal trials have come to be perceived as complementary transitional justice mechanisms. However, where effective prosecutions are dependent on the exchange of information and transfer of suspects between states under existing mutual legal assistance and extradition arrangements, the operation of a truth commission in the state of territoriality may act as an obstacle to international cooperation. At the same time, requests for assistance from a third state pursuing prosecutions may impact negatively on the truth commission process in the requested state by inhibiting those reluctant to become involved in criminal proceedings from offering testimony. This article demonstrates a practical discord between these bodies when they operate in different states and questions whether they can truly be considered “complementary”.

Att prata ihop sig i rätten

Negotiating experience in the court How do judges assess witness credibility, and how do they proceed to reach sustainable conclusions in a criminal court? This article is based on discussions in four focus groups with lay judges in Swedish district courts. In criminal court trials, a version of an event is generally reinforced if it is confirmed by witnesses. However, if their narratives are too similar, none of them is found trustworthy. The focus group participants agreed that if witnesses were suspected of having discussed their individual experiences of an event and accommodated them into a common story, their testimonies were not considered credible. While testimonies should ideally be untainted by other people’s impressions and opinions, other rules govern the truth of the court. The lay judges appreciated their deliberations, including negotiations on impressions and memories of the trial, and they sometimes adjusted their perceptions in the light of information provided by other members of the court. However, if the lay judges are viewed as witnesses of what takes place in the trial, this gives rise to a paradox: While witness negotiations on experiences are regarded as a means to construct a false or biased story, the same kind of interaction between the judges is considered necessary to establish a consensual truth of what actually happened.

Justiça restaurativa: uma possível alternativa a pena de prisão e sua utilização pelo poder judiciário

O presente trabalho tem por finalidade estudar a Justiça Restaurativa como uma alternativa a pena de prisão e sua utilização pelo Poder Judiciário. O trabalho foi realizado pelo modelo plan francês, desenvolvido em duas partes, uma parte teórica e uma prática; cada uma das partes foi dividida em dois capítulos. Na parte teórica, no primeiro capítulo foi estudada a justiça restaurativa, seus conceitos e peculiaridades, além de sua contextualização no universo jurídico. No segundo capítulo foram estudados os institutos da mediação e da conciliação, bem como à aproximação dos referidos institutos da justiça restaurativa. Na segunda parte, a prática; primeiramente abordamos o Projeto de Lei nº 7006/2006, que visa introduzir a Justiça Restaurativa em nosso sistema penal de forma institucionalizada e a Resolução nº 125 do Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ). No segundo capítulo analisamos os programas de justiça restaurativa existentes no Brasil, a criação dos Núcleos de Mediação pelo Tribunal de Justiça do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; mapeamos a justiça restaurativa no Estado do Rio de Janeiro e não identificamos nenhum projeto em andamento. E por fim analisamos os indícios da Justiça Restaurativa existentes no Juizado Especial Criminal (JECRIM) da Barra da Tijuca, onde esse tipo de procedimento não existe de forma estruturada. Não existe um programa que dê aporte a prática, sendo utilizada, quando possível, como mais um instrumento para resolução dos conflitos, por meio da mediação penal.