The influence of prisons on inmate misconduct: A multilevel investigation

This article presents the results of multilevel analyses of prisoners' misconduct for the population of over 120,000 federal prisoners incarcerated in June 2001. Prior research has focused on individual-level explanations of inmate misconduct, but this study explicitly examines whether prisons vary in their influence on such misconduct. The study demonstrates that model specification makes a difference in our understanding of which variables are related to misconduct, that the type of misconduct is important for understanding the effects of covariates of misconduct, and that results of multilevel models can easily be used to compare the performance of prisons.     

Criminal justice education: The dilemma of articulation

There exists a major problem for criminal justice students in transferring from the two- to four-year institution. This article addresses the historical foundation of this dilemma and provides a path toward solution.     

The effect of faith program participation on prison misconduct: The Life Connections Program

Faith-based programming is one of many potential tools for preparing inmates for successful reentry into society. The current study used official records of inmate misconduct and attitudinal survey data to investigate whether participation in a faith-based program reduced the likelihood of prison misconduct. The results indicated that program participation did lower the probability of engaging in serious forms of misconduct. No effect was discovered, though, for less serious forms of misconduct or for both types of misconduct considered simultaneously.     

The patient who refuses medical treatment: a dilemma for hospitals and physicians

This article reviews recent case and statutory law concerning patients who refuse medical treatment. Among the special cases considered are: the competent adult patient who refuses treatment on religious or privacy grounds; the incompetent patient whose own wishes were never expressed, but whose family refuses treatment; the incompetent patient who expressed the wish not to be treated before becoming incompetent; and parents who refuse treatment on behalf of their child. It is pointed out that recent court decisions have blurred the distinctions between "extraordinary" care and "ordinary" care and between withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. Reference is made to the recent trend toward allowing the family of an incompetent patient to assert the patient's rights without court intervention either in the form of direct court order or through guardianship proceedings. Finally, the implications of these legal developments for health care institutions are discussed. A protocol pertaining to incompetent patients is proposed. Health care institutions are encouraged to develop formal policies for dealing with patients who refuse treatment, and to work with their professional associations in lobbying for legislation which will clarify the law in this area.     

Power and Criminal Law: Criminalization of Conduct Norms in a Colonial Regime

A content analysis of the published materials in the Journal of Criminal Justice: An International Journal (JCJ), and the International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice (IJCACJ) was undertaken to evaluate if the international functional agenda of the journals to fill the present need for dissemination of new information, ideas and methods (to both practitioners and academicians in the criminal justice area) has been achieved. It was found that there is very limited international discourse currently going on in the Journal of Criminal Justice and that the bulk of the discussion in print in the journal is virtually inter- and intra-American. On the other hand, it was found that a substantial number of materials published in the International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice emanated from outside the United States, were written by non-U.S. practitioners and academicians, and focused on non-American criminal justice systems. It was concluded that in terms of regional composition of both journals' editorial staff, regional distribution of articles by source of origin and regional distribution of articles by subject content, the IJCACJ is more global in scope than the JCJ. The net result is that this journal is more “international” because it is seen to be more likely to generate and promote cross-cultural dialogue in the criminology/criminal justice enterprise.     

Withholding and withdrawing of life support: a medicolegal dilemma

The developments in medicine in general and the technology of life support in particular have provided the means of maintaining organ function for prolonged periods of time. However, there are many situations where life-sustaining treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) may lead to a death with lingering and suffering of the patient, as well as burdening their family. Although often equated, withholding and/or withdrawing life-prolonging treatments that allow the patient to die needs to be differentiated from the physician-assisted suicides and euthanasia that involve the active ending of life. There is a difference between an unintended but accepted consequence of forgoing therapy and an intended result of death from suicide or euthanasia. The present-day physicians view most patient deaths as an inevitable process secondary to disorders unresponsive to treatment and/or multiple organ dysfunction syndromes. The large majority of patients dying in ICUs today succumb not after cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but rather, after the forgoing of life-sustaining treatment. Such approach has frequently caused families, institutions, and conservators of patients to resort to judicial fiat for resolution.     

中国刑事司法的实践困境

刑事司法程序是本次中国司法文明指数体系的一个的重要一级指标,我们选取了6项二级指标进行了评估,通过问卷调查和数据分析,可以得出以下结论 :刑事司法程序没有全面贯彻无罪推定原则,侦查行为的合法性和有效性亟待提升,审查起诉活动需要严格规范,刑事审判的公正性缺乏保障,刑事执行存在违规保外就医、不当减刑等问题,刑事司法缺少有效的诉讼救济途径。     

The Rule in Wilkinson v Downton: Conduct,Intention, and Justifiability

The decision in OPO v MLA [2014] EWCA Civ 1277 causes confusion to the rule in Wilkinson v Downton. A strong line of authorities indicates that the defendant must either have an actual intention to cause physical injury or be reckless as to the causing of such harm, the latter being determined by the likelihood of harm being caused by the defendant's act. ‘Imputed intention’ does not form a separate category of mental state. There was also a missed opportunity to develop a ‘justifiability’ criterion, by which policy considerations can be taken into account to preclude an application of the tort. This criterion ought to be developed in a principled manner, in line with the existing jurisprudence concerning human rights and with the policy limitations as developed in the context of other torts.     

Due Diligence Obligations of Conduct: Developing a Responsibility Regime for PMSCs

Abstract

As non-state actors, PMSCs are not embraced by traditional state-dominated doctrines of international law. However, international law has itself failed to keep pace with the evolution of states and state-based actors, to which strong Westphalian notions of sovereignty are no longer applicable. It is argued that these structural inadequacies stand in the way of international regulation of PMSCs, rather than defects in international human rights and humanitarian law per se. By analyzing understandings of legal responsibility, where such structural issues come to the fore, it is argued that, rather than attempting to resolve the essentially ideological dispute about the inherent functions of a state, regulatory regimes should focus on the positive obligations of states and PMSCs, and the interactions between them. Applying the results of this analysis, current and proposed regulatory regimes are evaluated and their shortcomings revealed.     

The emergence of biobanks in the legal landscape: towards a new model of governance

Biobanks are increasingly seen as new tools for medical research. Their main purpose is to collect, store, and distribute human body materials. These activities are regulated by legal instruments which are heterogeneous in source (national and international), and in form (binding and non-binding). We analyse these to underline the need for a new model of governance for modern biobanks. The protection initially ensured by respect for fundamental rights will need to focus on more interactions with society in order to ensure biobanks' sustainability. International regulation is more oriented on ethical principles and traces the limits of the uses of genetics, while European regulation is more concerned with the protection of fundamental rights and the elaboration of standards for biobanks' quality assurance. But is this protection adequate and sufficient? Do we need to move from the biomedical research analogy to new forms of legal protection, and governance systems which involve citizens?