Between transitional justice and politics: Reparations in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Reparations are a major component of transitional justice in the aftermath of widespread abuse. However, the implementation of reparations programmes often follows the logic of transitional politics, where short-term political interests trump victims’ rights. Using the South African case as a cautionary tale, this article shows that reparations are susceptible to political instrumentalisation and evaluates the role of international redress norms in safeguarding victims’ rights. Civil society groups have used the right to reparations as a basis for political contestation of inadequate reparations programmes and focused primarily on the broadening of redress norms. However, the existing international legislation fails to protect victims’ rights to reparations from political manoeuvring. In conclusion, the article highlights the need for international redress norms to be consolidated and made more concrete in order to more effectively circumscribe the scope states have to avoid meeting their reparations obligations.     

Foreign policy options for a new South Africa

Progress towards the creation of a post‐apartheid South Africa raises questions about future foreign policy. In this article a framework for analysis and forecasting is developed. The basic assumption is that a future foreign policy will be driven by the kind of regime which will emerge in a New South Africa. Such a regime will have to develop foreign policy orientations to deal with its regional and global environments and the manifestation of a variety of foreign policy issues in these environments.

A semi‐democracy is foreseen for a New South Africa which will adopt a regional leadership oreitnation towards its neighbours and a consumer orientation towards the global community. The framework makes provision for regime improvements which will lead to fuller international participation or regime decline which will result in international marginalisation.     

Dualism in Dutch legal education: The Nijmegen Law School

This study presents a pilot project and steps undertaken by Brunel Law School of Brunel University West London (UK) in response to the new challenges and pressures brought by globalisation in higher education. In the last few years there has been emerging consensus in the literature on the importance of internationalisation of higher education and student mobility as a tool for its achievement. Correspondingly, in the UK there has been a significant policy shift from the recruitment of international students to the development of collaborative agendas with overseas institutions and the student experience as the common platforms for the international activities of UK institutions. Thus, the aim of this study is to share with the legal education sector the experience of developing such a process of internationalisation through the design of a sustainable mobility programme for taught postgraduate students which has met the favourable response and financial support of the UK public funding system.     

Beyond Crime Statistics: The Construction and Application of a Criminogenity Monitor in Amsterdam

Criminologists have devoted a great deal of attention to risk factors – also called criminogenic factors – leading to criminal offending. This paper presents a criminogenity monitor which includes 19 risk factors that underlie crime. These factors do not themselves cause criminal behaviour; rather, they must be seen as signals that crimes may be committed. After discussing how the criminogenity monitor was constructed, we apply the risk factors we examined to the situation in Amsterdam, capital city of the Netherlands. The monitor is intended to function particularly as an instrument to rationalise policy-makers’ work in targeting and preventing symptoms of crime at three geographical levels: the entire city, its boroughs and its neighbourhoods.     

What is Fair Punishment for Alex or Ahmed? Perspective Taking Increases Racial Bias in Retributive Justice Judgments

Previous research frequently found that perspective taking may reduce various sorts of racial biases. In the present research, we propose that perspective taking may increase racial bias in the specific context of retributive justice judgments, that is, evaluations of what punishment is considered fair for offenders. In two studies, we manipulated whether or not participants took the perspective of a target offender, who was named either Alex or Ahmed. Results revealed evidence for racial bias under conditions of perspective taking in both studies: Perspective taking increased punishment for Ahmed, but not for Alex, in a theft case (Study 1). Furthermore, perspective taking decreased punishment for Alex, but not for Ahmed, in the case of less severe offense that is less clearly intentional (Study 2). The consequence is similar in both studies: More severe retributive justice judgments for Ahmed than for Alex under conditions of perspective taking.     

International Law and the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict: Actual Problems and Challenges

Cultural property may be under serious threat in the event of armed conflict. In the twentieth century, there were clear developments in international law aimed at preventing and punishing war crimes against cultural property. Despite this, the destruction of cultural property during armed conflict has continued. This article questions whether the existing international law standards with regard to the protection of cultural property during armed conflict are satisfactory, and whether or not a new instrument could be valuable. Although considerable shortcomings remain, instead of pleading for a new instrument, this article advocates raising ratification rates, the enhancement of the implementation of existing instruments, and monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms.     

The association between the offender–victim relationship,severity of offence and attribution of blame in mentally disordered offenders

Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate the association between the offender–victim relationship, severity of violence and attribution of blame for a violent act. Data were collected from 65 male psychiatric inpatients from two secure units. Participants were divided into three groups according to how well they knew their victim: victim well-known, victim acquaintance and victim stranger. Violent acts were further ranked according to offence severity. Participants were administered the Quick Test (QT) and the Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory (GBAI). Although there was a trend towards higher guilt attributions when the victim was well-known to the perpetrator, this relationship was complicated by the severity of the violent act. The most severe ranking of offence (i.e. murder/manslaughter) was most common in the offender group who knew their victim well. Furthermore, guilt-feeling attributions were highest in the most severe ranking of offence. The implications of these findings for assessment and intervention programmes are considered.     

The relationship between psychopathy and moral development in young sex offenders

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between psychopathic traits and moral development (moral judgement and empathy) in 85 Dutch male sex offenders between 13 and 23 years of age. Questions were asked about general life situations, sexual situations with morally relevant features, and questions about the offender's own abuse victim. A weak negative association was found between psychopathy and mature moral judgement, but only when questions involved the offender's own abuse victim. Weak to moderate negative associations were found between psychopathy and cognitive and affective empathy in general and sexual situations, but not in the own abuse victim situations. Further analysis revealed moderate negative associations between psychopathy and affective empathy in the own abuse victim situations, but only when an unfamiliar victim was involved. This is the first study, to our knowledge, showing that juvenile sex offenders with high levels of psychopathy have context-specific moral deficits, and that in this group both cognitive and affective empathy are related to psychopathy.