Mediation as an alternative to criminal prosecution

In several American communities, paraprofessional mediation has become a substitute for criminal prosecution when defendant and victim have been engaged in a prior relationship. This article describes such a mediation project and its training program. It present a detailed account of two actual mediation sessions. An analysis of these sessions highlights some of the problems in mediating interpersonal disputes, particularly questions about underlying cause and the effects of different perceptions about the role of conflict in human interaction. The article also suggests a series of hypotheses to be investigated in further research on mediation.The research on which this paper is based was partially supported by grant No. 77-NI-99-0019 from the National Institute for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. The views expressed are those of the authors only. We appreciate the cooperation received from George Nicolau and Ann Weisbrod of the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution and from the staff of the Fosterton mediation project.     

Vertical prosecution and career criminal bureaus: How many and who?

In recent years LEAA has encouraged prosecutors to establish vertical prosecution units to handle the cases of defendants with serious conviction records. The vertical units, called Career Criminal Bureaus, result in enhanced trial posture and permit greater managerial control over plea bargaining. Because vertical handling is more costly in manpower than the horizontal handling commonly employed in large prosecutors' offices, the optimal organizational structure is likely to involve a mixture of both vertical and horizontal prosecution. A theoretical model for determining the optimal mix is developed in the first part of this article. In the second part, a simulation model is used to evaluate the various rules that are or could be used to select cases. Contrary to actual practice, the analysis suggests that relatively weak cases should be selected for vertical handling.     

Some samples of weapons and instruments used as weapon in criminal offenses in Turkey

The variety of instruments used for crime of violence is wide. Besides the manufactured legal weapons, there are comparable numbers of purchased instruments, which are used as lethal weapons and significant numbers of comprising home-made ones.The instruments used during the commission of a crime shows similarity throughout the countries. Nevertheless, there are small differences to be seen.The topic of this subject features the types of weapons used in criminal offenses in Turkey.     

The insulin pump as murder weapon: a case report

Microprocessor-controlled insulin pumps designed for continuous delivery of short-acting insulin analogs into subcutaneous tissues offer several important potential benefits for diabetic patients. The delivery of other substances using these systems is technically feasible. We present a case of homicide involving lethal doses of etomidate and atracurium injected via the victim's insulin pump. This unique situation could be encountered by homicide investigators more frequently as the popularity of these systems continues to grow.     

Difficulties in the criminal prosecution of insider trading—A clinical study of the Bekaert case

If the enforcement of insider trading prohibition is of crucial importance to ensure the integrity of financial markets, then the current criminal prosecution in Europe fails in reaching this goal. This article illustrates several difficulties in prohibiting and prosecuting insider trading by using a clinical study of the Belgian industrial company Bekaert, NV. It is shown that courts currently seem to lack knowledge of the functioning of financial markets to assess an insider trading case. Therefore their decisions give little guidance to future litigants. Using, a law and economics framework, this clinical study is clarifying in several aspects compared to a traditional legal analysis. The analysis focuses on two aspects of an insider trading case. First, the price-sensitive character of the information is examined. Second, the standard of proof is examined. JEL classification G14 · K22 · K42     

The prosecution of bias crime in the Netherlands and the problem of net-widening: fundamental limits to criminal liability

Crimes that are committed with bias motives are categorised as ??hate?? or bias crimes and are punished more severely than nonbias crimes. However, bias crime laws are often applied to offences where there is no clear evidence of a bias motive. Based on the results of 318 case studies into bias crime prosecutions in the Netherlands, this paper demonstrates that the causes of net-widening should be sought in the action-oriented nature of criminal law reasoning. Decision makers rely on objective behavioural indicators to infer motives. However, these are rarely reliable. We argue that this process results in a transformation of bias crime laws. They are no longer used to punish harmful motives. Rather, they are used to combat behaviour that is considered socially harmful on account of its perceived intolerant, racist or xenophobic message. This forces us to reconsider the justification behind trying to punish motive.