Africa and the International Criminal Court

Although three African countries have recently announced their withdrawals from the International Criminal Court (ICC), a mass exodus does not appear imminent. Perceptions of the Court's bias towards African member-states are exaggerated, and it has begun to challenge major powers. Exceptions to the ICC's prosecutorial obligations allowing member-states greater flexibility to accommodate conflict resolution efforts among other situations could make African member-states less hostile to the Court.     

Arab States and the Role of Islam in the International Criminal Court

This article assesses the various disagreements between Arab and western states that surfaced at the 1998 Rome Conference and Preparatory Commission. It also discusses the relationship between state repression and cultural adaptation by examining the undeveloped domestic criminal systems of Arab states and the ambiguous role played by shariah (Islamic law) in the constitutions of many of them. It argues two main points: that more mutual accommodation will be needed to resolve these and future conflicts between Islamic and international law; and that such conflicts between the ICC and Arab states expose the need for further cultural adaptation to the ICC Statute. It is out of this process of cultural adaptation that the relationship between Islam and serious international crimes will evolve.     

The Gender of Transitional Justice: Law, Sexual Violence and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Recent efforts to develop and implement progressive models oftransitional justice have been significantly influenced by majordevelopments in the law concerning sexual violence in armedconflict. In particular, the International Criminal Tribunalfor the former Yugoslavia has pioneered accountability for sexualviolence against women in armed conflict. This article takesthe ICTY as a case study of how gender can structure the accountabilitymechanisms of transitional justice. The article analyses howlegal norms and practices instantiate and reiterate, ratherthan transform, existing hierarchical gender relations. It considersthe existing models of sexual violence as a criminal harm underinternational law, and then examines gendered patterns of legalpractice in ICTY prosecutions. To address this engendering oftransitional justice, the article produces a new model of theharm of sexual violence in conflict, suggests the developmentof a new international offence of sexual violence and generatesdifferent strategies for international prosecutions of sexualviolence.     

Agenda Control, the Median Justice, and the Majority Opinion on the U.S. Supreme Court

Some scholars argue that the author of the majority opinion exercises the most influence over the Court's opinion-writing process and so can determine what becomes Court policy, at least within the limits of what some Court majority finds acceptable. Other students of the Court have suggested that the Court's median justice effectively dictates the content of the majority opinion: whatever policy the median justice most wants, she can get. We test these competing models with data on Supreme Court decision making during the Burger Court (1969–86). While we find substantial evidence for both models, the agenda control model gains greater support. This suggests that opinions on the Court on each case are driven, in general, by the interaction of three key variables: the policy preferences of the majority opinion author, the policy preferences of the median justice, and the location of the legal status quo .     

Race,Class, and the Development of Criminal Justice Policy1

Racial disparities in the criminal justice system are profound and well documented. A range of scholarship has examined these trends to assess the degree to which they result from biased decision making at various levels of the justice system. Also key to understanding the origin of these disparities is an analysis of the race and class determinants of criminal justice policy. This can be seen most clearly in the development of drug policy, but also in the means by which policy choices in law enforcement, prosecution, and sentencing are formulated. To the extent that crime is perceived as a “black problem,” the means by which the problem is addressed and the resulting punitiveness of the approach serve to exacerbate societal inequalities.     

Guilty Pleas in International Criminal Law: Constructing a Restorative Justice Approach, Nancy Amoury Combs

The field of transitional justice is entering a new phase bornof several decades of experience and a maturation of the practicaland theoretical engagement with the complex set of problemsinvolved in facing past atrocities. Guilty Pleas in InternationalCriminal Law: Constructing a Restorative Justice Approach focusesattention on the issue of guilty pleas in international criminallaw as an area of legal practice that merits additional attention,     

论刑事法的公正、功利价值

公正与功利是刑事法追求的两大价值目标。处理公正与功利关系应建立在两项原则基础之上 :一是刑事法各具体原则的运作都应以保障最低限度的公正与最低限度的功利为基础 ;二是公正与功利价值关系的定位因刑事法的内部关系不同而有异 ,在刑事实体法中 ,追求的是“功利优先 ,兼顾公正” ,而在刑事程序法中 ,则是“公正优先 ,兼顾功利”。     

The Limits to Evidence‐Based Policy: Evidence,Emotion and Criminal Justice1

While ‘evidence‐based’ or ‘rationalist’ approaches to criminal policy may appeal to technocrats, bureaucrats and a number of academics, they often fail to compete successfully with the affective approaches to law and order policies which resonate with the public and which appear to meet deep‐seated psychological needs. They also often fail to recognise that ‘policy’ and ‘politics’ are related concepts and that debates about criminal justice are played out in broader arenas than the academy, the bureau or the agency. To be successful, penal reform must take account of the emotions people feel in the face of wrongdoing. Further, successful reform must take into account changes in public ‘mood’ or emotions over time and be sensitive to different political and social cultures. This article argues that criminal justice policies are more likely to be adopted if, in addition to the gathering and presentation of evidence, they recognise and deal with the roles of emotions, symbols, faith, belief and religion in the criminal justice system. It also recognises that evidence alone is unlikely to be the major determinant of policy outcomes and that the creation and successful implementation of policy also requires extensive engagement and evidence‐based dialogue with interested and affected parties. This necessitates a different kind of modelling for evidence‐based policy processes.     

论“以人为本”与我国刑事法治

随着世界范围内人权保护的勃兴,刑事法治越来越受到重视.刑事法治是法治在刑事法领域的具体实现,其核心是限制国家权力对公民权利的侵害,标志为罪刑法定,体现了以人为本的价值取向.我国正在推进刑事法治建设,以以人为本的标准来看,我国刑事法治还存在着诸多缺陷,因此,在刑事立法、刑事司法和刑事执行中贯彻以人为本的精神,是我国走向刑事法治道路的理性选择.     

The United Nations International Criminal Tribunals: The Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, William A. Schabas

The United Nations International Criminal Tribunals: The FormerYugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone is the first book entirelydevoted to these three United Nations jurisdictions, providinga comprehensive account of their respective mandates and ofthe main characteristics of their work. The author, William A. Schabas, Director of the Irish Centrefor Human Rights in Galway and former Commissioner     

规范错案追究制,还原司法理性

错案追究制度是司法改革中为消除司法腐败,实现司法公正而推行的一项重要制度,但是,错案追究制度在运行中并没有产生预期的效果。本文从分析这种错案开始,研究错案追究制度在理论上和实践中存在的问题,主张错案责任追究应与法官司法责任制度相结合,确立法官司法责任的主客观标准和程序标准,从法理学的角度对错案追究制度进行理论反思,提出我国司法改革步伐仍然应当保持理性。     

National Constitutional Courts,the Court of Justice and the Protection of Fundamental Rights in a Post-Charter Landscape

This article critically evaluates the possible impact of the Charter on the relationship between the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and national constitutional courts. While it is premature to provide a definitive assessment of the kind of collaboration that these courts will develop, it is crucial to identify a number of features of the new landscape that will influence the direction in which the relationship between the CJEU and constitutional courts will evolve. This article discusses several reasons that may result in better or a higher number of judicial interactions, as well as factors that may create tension or cause problems in the relationship between the CJEU and national constitutional courts. As such, it offers a framework that may help us to understand future post-Charter judgments by these courts setting out how they conceive their engagement with their counterpart(s) on fundamental rights issues.     

试论我国的行政执法与刑事司法衔接机制

当前我国的行政执法与刑事司法衔接的各项基本结构框架已经建立,并且在建立的过程中,行政执法与刑事司法工作的衔接机制也得以逐步完善。但不可否认的是,当前执法实践中仍存在着行政执法与刑事司法相脱节的问题,使不少违法犯罪分子没有得到有效打击,逃避了处罚。由于该衔接机制的相关实体性法律和程序性法律规范的缺失,要从根源上处理好这些问题,真正建立起行政执法与刑事司法的有效衔接仍然是一个复杂的过程。因此,研究行政执法与刑事司法的衔接机制中存在的问题并提出解决的方法无疑具有重要的理论意义和实践价值。