Seeing things differently: restorative justice and school discipline1

… helping to incorporate the principles of human rights, democracy, tolerance and mutual respect, the rule of law and peaceful resolution of conflicts into the daily practice of teaching and learning …2 2. Council of Europe (2004) Education for Europe, retrieved from http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/education View all notes     

Dilemmas and Dimensions of Non-indigenous Organisms and Pathogens in the Marine Environment: A Sea Change

“Although scientific and technical approaches are indispensable in managing the problem, bioinvasions are fundamentally a human phenomenon, driven by economic activity and by our choices as consumers, travelers, gardeners, pet owners, fishermen, and so on … No one advocates an attempt to unscramble the world's biota and return it to some historical state, even if that were possible … Our ultimate goal ust be … to preserve or restore something we value: native biodiversity and the wild places and systems where it can thrive, the look of a landscape, a sense of place, the functioning of an ecosystem, the economic productivity of our working lands and waters, the health of people, animals, and plants.” ^{2 2} Yvonne Baskin, A Plague of Rats and Rubbervines: The Growing Threat of Species Invasions, 8, 17 (2002).      

Engaging with the legal profession and the provision of legal aid/assistance

The state of defamation laws within the Commonwealth poses a significant threat to the right to freedom of speech, expression and information. Within the United Kingdom there is a growing movement for the reform of the procedural aspects of libel law following several high profile cases that have brought the public’s attention to a number of problems within existing libel law. ^{1 1} Significant concern surrounded the judgment in this case and the question of costs MGN Limited v the United Kingdom – 39401/04 [2011] ECHR 66 (18 January 2011). In Jamaica, criminal defamation laws are facing reform and the recommendations for change are continuing to make their way through the legislative process. The pernicious effects of libel actions are amplified within small jurisdictions and there is a serious danger that the crippling penalties on defendants as a result of such actions ‘chill’ free speech and stifle dissent. ^{2 2}Guardian editorial, ‘Press freedom: The Singapore grip’ The Guardian (17 November 2010) <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/17/press-freedom-singapore-grip> The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) an independent NGO working for Human Rights in the Commonwealth, presented a paper to the 2010 Meeting of Law Ministers and Attorneys General of Small Commonwealth Jurisdictions (LMSCJ) on the human rights case for libel law reform in small jurisdictions. ^{3 3}Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, ‘Overview of Media Freedom and Defamation: The Human Rights case for Libel Law Reforms in the Commonwealth’ (LMSCJ Paper, Commonwealth, Secretariat, Marlborough House, London). This paper was produced at the London officer of CHRI – written by Frederick Cowell with research assistance from Catherine Fischl, Alix Langrounat and Sirintiya Robberts. This is a summary of the research and the paper presented at the LMSCJ meeting. The basic findings were that the presence of criminal defamation laws on the statute books and procedural aspects of civil defamations laws posed a threat to the realisation of freedom of speech and CHRI put a series of recommendations to the delegates calling for reform in these areas.     

SMPIL Comments on the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan

In early 2016, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, in conjunction with the Long Island Regional Planning Council, released the Conceptual Draft Scope for the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan (LINAP).¹1 N.Y. State Department of Environmental Conservation, Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan, http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/103654.html (accessed February 23, 2016).View all notes Pursuant to standard administrative procedures, the planners sought public comment in response to the Draft Scope Plan. SMPIL Consulting assessed and identified numerous areas for improvement and, therefore, submitted comments to the LINAP planners. These comments incorporated scientific and legal suggestions on a myriad of topics including upland land use, modeling, climate change, and adaptive management. The following article details these comments and notes the responses of the Department of Environmental Conservation as published on their Web site.     

Judge or be judged: accepting judicial appointment in an unlawful regime

Judicial independence is generally accepted as a key component of the rule of law. It empowers judges to make unbiased decisions without concern for political repercussions. In countries governed by an unconstitutional, unlawful or corrupt regime, such as Zimbabwe,2 International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, Zimbabwe: Report Highlighting the Critical Situation Faced by Judges and Lawyers in Zimbabwe (2001). View all notes Swaziland,3 International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, Swaziland: Law, Custom and Politics – Constitutional Crisis and the Breakdown in the Rule of Law (2003). View all notes Pakistan4 International Crisis Group, Building Judicial Independence in Pakistan (9 November 2004). Available at: www.crisigroup.org/home/index.cfm?1=1&id=3100, accessed 1 February 2010. View all notes and Fiji,5 International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, Dire Straits: A Report on the Rule of Law in Fiji (2009). View all notes that independence, and in turn the rule of law, is threatened. More particularly, acceptance of judicial office in an unlawful regime could be regarded as making an implicit bargain with the government to recognise its validity.6 See, in relation to Fiji, Chief Justice R. French, Judges in Fiji face ‘interim’ problem, The Australian (Sydney), 2 May 2008. View all notes

This article begins with a discussion of the importance of judicial independence, both from a national and an international perspective. It then examines the standards of judicial integrity and some of the factors that impact upon independence, including appointment and tenure, and the less obvious influence of jurisdiction. The article then moves on to consider the issues arising from acceptance of judicial office in an illegal regime in the context of Fiji, where lawyers and judicial officers have recently been forced to decide whether or not to accept appointment in a regime with an unelected government. After outlining the background to the latest events in Fiji, the article examines the competing considerations and ethical dilemmas involved in deciding whether to accept judicial appointment in an illegal regime. It then goes on to consider the possible repercussions of accepting such appointment from both a disciplinary and criminal perspective.     

New Zealand: Public Registers Report

In September 2007, the Commonwealth Law Bulletin (Vol. 33, No. 3), published an article on the New Zealand Law Commission’s Issues Paper on Public Registers (IP 3, 2007), including the four options for reform that the Commission was putting forward for consideration by interested persons.

The Law Commission’s Public Registers Report ¹ 1 New Zealand Law Commission’s Public Registers Report, NZLC R 101 2008. (the Report) has now been published, completing stage 2 of the Law Commission’s four stage Privacy Review.

It is available on the Law Commission’s website at http://www.lawcom.govt.nz.     

Burning,Building, and Burying: Coal Combustion Residual Disposal in North Carolina

The fate of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) in North Carolina and the rest of the United States is noteworthy, particularly in light of the recent spills in Eden, North Carolina, and Kingston, Tennessee. The safe storage of coal combustion residuals should be a priority of the state and the federal government, in order to protect the drinking water of citizens from contaminants, like arsenic, lead, cadmium, selenium, and mercury.¹1 “Coal Ash: The Toxic Threat to Our Health and Environment,” Physicians for Social Responsibility and EarthJustice, http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/coal-ash.pdf (accessed September 19, 2015).View all notes Recently, North Carolina has taken steps with the passage of Senate Bill 729, entitled Coal Ash Management Act, and other legislation in order to promote safe storage of CCRs through a capped landfill system, complete with synthetic liners and leachate collection system. This article highlights not only the legislative enactments surrounding the disposal of coal ash in North Carolina, but also the effectiveness of such practices, both in North Carolina and the greater United States as a whole.     

Rediscovering artificial intelligence and law: an inadequate jurisprudence?

Headlines suggesting that Google scientists had developed the first computer programme capable of learning a wide variety of tasks independently, in what has been hailed as a significant step towards ‘true artificial intelligence’¹1 Accessed February 26, 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/25/google-develops-computer-program-capable-of-learning-tasks-independently. may or may not presage a new era of artificial intelligence (AI) research. Nevertheless, they suggest a need to reconsider the story of AI in law. While significant changes have taken place in the application of information technology to law-work, these have resulted mainly from ordinary information technology processes such as data processing, data storage, retrieval and management in combination with the information rich, rapid and global communication and networking capabilities of the Internet. However, when information technology has been applied to deeper legal processes, which involve the very nature of law, the result has not been very successful. This is especially so in relation to the application of AI systems to law. Philip Leith blamed the meagre and unsatisfactory results of costly AI and law research on faulty jurisprudence and especially on almost exclusive reliance on analytical positivism and ignorance of user needs and requirements. Many involved with AI and law still refuse to acknowledge that there are underlying problems with the way they conceptualise the nature of legal reasoning. Does AI in law have a future then? This article explores recent nuanced approaches to AI and law research and suggests the need for rethinking the jurisprudence that underpins AI and law and in particular to consider the realist social economic and political context in which AI and law works.     

Privacy in Commonwealth Caribbean law: emerging trends in the protection of sexual citizenship

This article will explore the three recent judgments of Jovil Williams and Jason Campbell v AG of St. Christopher and Nevis & Chief of Police;¹1 Suit No: NEVHC 2013/0120, Williams J, (Supreme Court of St. Kitts Nevis, 21st March 2016) (unreported).View all notes Caleb Orozco v AG of Belize²2 Claim No. 668 of 2010 (Supreme Court of Belize, 10th August, 2016) (unreported).View all notes and Therese Ho vs Lendl Simmons³3 High Court Claim CV.2014-01949 (Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago, 26th October, 2015) (unreported) [32].View all notes which have broken new ground in constitutional law and the law of torts concerning the protection of (the right to) privacy. It is argued that these judgments hold substantial promise towards the making of a meaningful sexual citizenship in the Caribbean; a citizenship which protects the sexual autonomy of citizens and prevents or redresses the invasion or breach of these rights.     

“Curiosity and a Pimp”: Exploring Sex Trafficking Victimization in Experiences of Entering Sex Trade Industry Work Among Participants in a Prostitution Diversion Program

This mixed-methods study explored entry into the sex trade industry and experiences of sex trafficking victimization among 478 adult women enrolled in a prostitution diversion program in a large southwestern state. Written responses to several open-ended survey questions were coded using a template approach to content analysis wherein a priori codes were identified based on characteristics of sex trafficking victimization identified in the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (U.S. Department of State, 2000 U.S. Department of State. (2000). Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/61124.htm [Google Scholar]). Findings revealed that approximately one third of participants (n = 161) described sex trafficking experiences on entry into the sex trade industry, and quantitative analysis revealed that women who experienced sex trafficking as part of entering the sex trade industry were more likely to report abuse during childhood and adulthood, to report gang involvement, and to be involved in multiple types of sex trade industry work. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Constitutional foundations of commercial and investment arbitration in Nigerian law and practice

Ten years ago Sir Anthony Mason, a former Chief Justice of Australia, warned that ‘a failure to strike the right balance between judicial independence and judicial accountability will result in either an unacceptable weakening of judicial independence or inadequate accountability’. ¹ 1 Judicial Commission of New South Wales (1997) Fragile Bastion – Judicial Independence in the Nineties and Beyond (Sydney: Judicial Commission of New South Wales), Chapt 1, p. 2.

This article examines some of the evolving aspects of judicial independence and judicial accountability within and outside the Commonwealth Caribbean and highlights some of the practical problems that occur in our region or are likely to arise. Decisions of courts and emerging practices in other parts of the Commonwealth provide excellent guidance and lessons for us in the Caribbean.

Judicial independence and accountability are not esoteric matters. They are principles that, admittedly, may resonate particularly with judicial officers because they tend to affect judicial officers in practical ways. But they are principles that are fundamental to good governance in democratic societies. Indeed, Commonwealth Heads of Government acknowledged the importance of these two principles when, at their meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2003, they adopted the Latimer House Guidelines ² 2 The Latimer House Guidelines for the Commonwealth, 19 June 1998. as Commonwealth Principles. Such importance and respect are now accorded judicial independence that the UK Parliament actually enshrined the principle in the text of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005: ‘The Lord Chancellor, other Ministers of the Crown and all with responsibility for matters relating to the judiciary… must uphold the continued independence of the judiciary.’ ³ 3 Section 3(1).

Although this article will discuss judicial independence and accountability separately, it will be argued that the two concepts are not inconsistent and must coexist.     

Economic Insecurity,Blame, and Punitive Attitudes

This study examines the relationship between punitive attitudes toward criminals, two measures of economic insecurity and a measure of blame for stagnating incomes that targets welfare, affirmative action, and immigration. In effect, we are testing whether punitiveness toward criminals is part of a general constellation of resentment toward what Gans (1995 Gans, H. J. 1995. The war against the poor, New York: Basic Books.  [Google Scholar]) has termed the “undeserving poor” and that Garland (2001 Garland, D. 2001. The culture of control, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) has described as the “politics of reaction.” Survey data involving 1,476 adults are assessed using OLS regression. Results indicate that blame of welfare, affirmative action, and immigration is the strongest predictor of punitiveness. Economic insecurity has variable input to punitive attitudes that depends on the measure used and the sex and race of respondents. Some evidence of an “angry White male” phenomenon is also provided by the results.     

Forget-E-Not: Environmental Liabilities Poised to Rise?

Forget-E-Not: Environmental Liabilities Poised to Rise?

All authors

William M Wilt, Vinay Saqi, Brian Church & Vinay Misquith

https://doi.org/10.1080/10406020490506481

Published online:

10 August 2010

Table     

Law school accreditation in the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union: what steps for the future?

Legal education reform has recently emerged as a key component in the rule of law promotion in the former Soviet Union republics,1 1. See Jane M. Picker & Sidney Picker, Jr, Educating Russia's future lawyers—any role for the United States? (2000) 33 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 17, 18–19, arguing that the core building block of the rule of law rests on legal education. See John M. Burman, The role of clinical legal education in developing the rule of law in Russia (2002) Wyoming Law Review at 90, 101, stating that reform of the legal education is the most effective way of creating a culture of law. See Peter J. Sahlas & Carl Chastenay, Russian legal education: post-communist stagnation or revival? (1998) 48 Journal of Legal Education 194 at 194, arguing that “a system of legal education can do more than teach the society's rules to successive generations: it can inspire values of justice and promote social progress”. See also Mark Dietrich, Three foundations of the rule of law: education, advocacy and judicial reform, in: Law in Transition (London, EBRD, Autumn 2002), at p. 57, available at: http://www.ebrd.com/ pubs/law/lit/english/aut02.pdf. The author points out that reform of legal education is the single most important reform to be undertaken in the NIS region. If law students are not taught how to think critically, question authority and be guided by the ethical values of the profession while in law school, it is difficult to expect that they will become honest advocates, judges or prosecutors in the future. View all notes now sovereign and independent states collectively known, for the purpose of this paper, as the New Independent States (NIS). Scholarly articles and international forums2 2. See Europe and Central Asia Division of the Legal Department, World Bank, Selected Issues (2001) Challenges and Strategies. The World Bank Forum on Legal and Judicial Reform in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union 33; see also Dietrich, op. cit., at 58. View all notes suggest that legal education reform could be advanced by developing and implementing accreditation procedures for law schools, updating law school curricula, establishing transparent and rigorous grading standards, and retraining the law faculty. This paper discusses just one of these measures, namely the development and implementation of quality evaluation and accreditation procedures for law schools in the NIS region. In order to explore this issue in detail, the paper has been structured into six parts.

?Part I provides a brief overview of legal education in the Soviet Union, thus placing the issues tackled in this paper into a historical perspective. Part II describes the main changes occurring in the higher education system in general and legal education in particular in the NIS region after 1991, emphasising new challenges that privatisation of the higher education sector posed to the quality of legal education, thus triggering an urgent need for quality-assurance and accreditation mechanisms. The currently existent NIS practices of licensing, evaluation and accreditation of academic institutions, including law faculties within multi-disciplinary academic institutions, as well as separate law schools, are described in Part III. Parts IV and V adopt a comparative approach to accreditation by providing an overview of accreditation procedures in the United States, and the recent initiative and trends in quality evaluation and accreditation in Western Europe. Drawing upon the information provided in Parts I–V, Part VI offers concrete suggestions and recommendations for improving the implementation of accreditation procedures in the NIS region. The materials contained herein represent the opinions of the author and editors and should not be construed to be the view of either the American Bar Association or the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative. The views expressed herein have not been approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the ABA and, accordingly, should not be construed as representing the policy of the ABA. Nothing contained in this report is to be considered as the rendering of legal advice for specific cases, and readers are responsible for obtaining such advice from their own legal counsel. This report is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Research performed on Westlaw country of West Group. View all notes     

The impact of bullying and coping strategies on the psychological distress of young offenders

Abstract

This study investigated the involvement in bullying, the psychological distress, and the coping strategies of 99 males in an English young offenders institution. The Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist (DIPC; Ireland, 1998 Ireland, J. L. 1998. Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist (DIPC), Lancashire, , UK: University of Central Lancashire.  [Google Scholar]), the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995 Lovibond, P. F. and Lovibond, S. H. 1995. The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS) with the Beck depression and anxiety inventories. Behaviour Research Therapy, 33: 335–343. [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the 48-item Coping Styles Questionnaire (CSQ; Roger et al., 1993 Roger, D., Jarvis, G. and Najarian, B. 1993. Detachment and coping: The construction and validation of a new scale for measuring coping strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 15: 619–626. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) were administered. Over 60% of prisoners were involved in bullying (as a victim or bully), as indicated by responses on the DIPC. Emotional and avoidance coping were significantly related to psychological distress. Bully/victims were significantly more depressed than prisoners not involved in bullying, and being a bully/victim was a significant predictor of higher stress scores. Significant correlations were observed between all psychological distress measures and the number of bullying behaviours experienced by prisoners. These findings are discussed in relation to their implications for prisoner care and avenues for future research are proposed.     

People’s justice for everyone

Both William Dean Howells and Edward Bellamy imagine brotherhood as the basis for new social orders in response to the trauma of the Civil War. Responding to the way in which the Civil War had pitted “brother against brother” in a “house divided,” Howells and Bellamy differently seek to reconstitute the American national family through revisioning brotherhood as universal, just, and equitable. William Dean Howells’s 1890 Howells WD (1890) A hazard of new fortunes New York Signet Classics 1965  [Google Scholar] A Hazard of New Fortunes illustrates the difficulties of aligning men in brotherhood following the Civil War and amidst the economic upheaval of the last decades of the 19th century. Bellamy’s 1888 Bellamy E (1888) Looking Backward, 2000‐1887 (Cecilia Tichi, Ed.) New York Penguin Books 1985  [Google Scholar] Looking Backward and Howells’s Altrurian romances (A Traveller from Altruria [1894 Howells WD (1894) A traveler from Altruria In E. J. Cady, R. Gottesman, &; Da. J. Nordloh (Eds.), The Altrurian romances (pp. 5–179) Bloomington Indiana University Press 1968  [Google Scholar]], “Letters of an Altrurian Traveller, I‐V” [1893 Howells WD (1893‐1894) Letters of an Altrurian traveller, I‐V In Edwin J. Cady, Ronald Gottesman, and David J. Nordloh (Eds.) The Altrurian romances (pp. 181–263) Bloomington Indiana University Press 1968  [Google Scholar]‐94] and Through the Eye of the Needle [1907 Howells WD (1907) Through the eye of the needle. 1907 In Edwin J. Cady, Ronald Gottesman, and David J. Nordloh (Eds.), The Altrurian romances (pp. 265–442) Bloomington Indiana University Press 1968  [Google Scholar]]) demonstrate brotherhood’s importance to new visions of community. Brotherhood’s promise for remaking the nation gives rise to the Nationalist movement, which emerged to make real Bellamy’s vision of the future. Brotherhood is a powerful organizing principle for utopian endeavor in post‐Civil War America, despite the limitations coincident with brotherhood, such as the difficulty of imagining brotherhood across race and gender lines.     

Gender and Juvenile Drug Abuse: A General Strain Theory Perspective

This study is a partial test of Robert Agnew's (2006 Agnew , Robert. 2006 . “Pressured Into Crime: General Strain Theory.” Pp. 201 – 209 in Criminological Theory: Past to Present. , 3rd ed. , edited by F. T. Cullen and R. Agnew . Oxford , England : Oxford University Press . [Google Scholar]) general strain theory. The sample consists of 39,879 juveniles between the ages of 10 and 17 from a metropolitan area in Texas with more than 5 million people. Logistic regression is used to determine the effect of living situation on drug offenders, drug recidivists, and juvenile court case outcome when race, abuse, sex, and mental health problems are controlled. Gender-specific analysis is used to test L. Broidy and R. Agnew's (1997 Agnew , Robert and Timothy Brezina . 1997 . “Relational Problems With Peers, Gender, and Delinquency.” Youth & Society 84 – 111 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) hypothesis that girls and boys react differently to strain. Results show partial support for the influence of a strained living situation on drug offenders, drug recidivists, and case outcome. Support is found for the hypothesis that boys' and girls' experiences with strain differ.     

Race and Gang Affiliation: An Examination of Multiple Marginality

Criminological research has historically drawn a connection between race/ethnicity and gang membership. The focus on specific racial/ethnic groups and particular gangs in distinct geographical locations within ethnographic research, along with the lack of a comprehensive explanation, however, has limited this research. Thus, the true nature of the relationship between race/ethnicity and gang membership remains unclear. This research expands the contemporary literature regarding race/ethnicity and gang membership by utilizing multisite survey data to examine Vigil’s (1988 Vigil, J. D. 1988. Barrio gangs: Street life and identity in southern California, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.  [Google Scholar], 2002 Vigil, J. D. 2002. A rainbow of gangs: Street cultures in the mega‐city, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.  [Google Scholar]) multiple marginality framework of gang involvement for Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics. Results suggest that multiple marginality is a viable explanation for current gang membership. When examining the applicability of this theory for members of various racial/ethnic groups, important differences appear when examining current versus ever gang membership. For current gang membership, significant differences between racial/ethnic groups exist, with ecological/economic stress variables being significant for Whites and social control/street socialization elements representing the important predictors for African Americans and Hispanics. This pattern changes when examining those reporting ever being in a gang. For “ever” gang membership, social control/street socialization elements predict membership for all groups. Policy implications of these results are discussed.