Beyond proportionate punishment: Difficult cases and the 1991 Criminal Justice Act

Within six months of implementation, the Criminal Justice Act 1991, which had been hailed as the most important piece of criminal justice legislation in England and Wales for many years, was already being undermined in practice, and a new Act, which amends or even reverses some of its more progressive principles, was brought before Parliament. This paper looks at some problems of proportionality in practice — through discussion of penological principles, and through consideration of the kinds of cases which are most difficult for a desert approach. Alternative ideas are examined to see whether they could offer any better framework for penal policy and practice. A mixed theory is advocated, with parsimony as its most important principle.I am grateful to Nicola Lacey, Mike Levi, Mike Maguire and Andrew Von Hirsch for comments on the first draft of this paper.     

简评《刑法修正案(七)》

本次《刑法》修改的特点有二一是广泛征求专家学者与民众意见,体现了民主立法精神;二是顺应社会发展,提升刑法抗制犯罪效能。《刑法修正案(七)》完善了走私珍稀植物、珍稀植物制品罪的对象规定以及为该罪增加拘役刑等九个方面内容;同时,新增了违规交易、违规提示他人交易罪等9个罪名。     

The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 andthe interviewing of vulnerable groups: A practitioner's perspective

Purpose. To discover practitioners' appreciation of the legislative changes that the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, largely implemented in 2002, will have on investigative interviewing of vulnerable groups. Method. Police officers and social workers completed a questionnaire that asked about their perceptions of the Youth Justice and Criminal Justice Act 1999. Results. Practitioners thought that a large number of interviewees would be eligible for the special measures allowed within the remit of the new act. It was believed that the act would result in achieving best evidence with respect to accuracy and recording of interviews and in less discrimination against vulnerable groups. However, it was believed that implementing the act would be demanding in terms of time and money. Conclusion. Police officers and social workers share positive and negative views concerning the implementation and efficacy of the new legislation.     

论《刑法修正案（八）》对刑事处罚制度的完善

《刑法修正案（八）》彻底贯彻了宽严相济刑事政策,重在完善刑事处罚体系。其最大亮点之一就是取消了13种罪名的死刑以及调整了死缓的相关执行规定;其次是对自由刑的重要调整,使得“生刑”和死刑之间差距更加合理、管制刑更加完善,假释和缓刑规定更加明确和丰富;其三是财产刑得到重视,有所增加;其四是量刑情节相关规定更加完善。总之,本次务实、协调的刑法修订具有极其重要的现实意义。     

The Criminal Justice Approach: Case Examples

The article presents a special form of a European comparative synopsis. For this case examples have been chosen ranging from administrative or minor (criminal) offences to increasingly serious offences and offenders. In this way it can be comparatively demonstrated how the criminal justice systems studied handle specific cases and whether they do so in a similar or different way.     

论刑法学方法对刑事立法与司法的意义

在刑事法治系统中,立法与司法是两个非常重要的子系统。研究刑法学方法,①对于这两个子系统的良性运转,进而促进刑事法治系统的良性运转,具有重要意义。一立法完善,对于中国刑事法治而言,是一项重要的制度建设工作。二十世纪八十年代以来的刑事立法,始终贯穿着这一主题。(一)立法完善的含义与意义完善之意,指(使之)完备美好。②立法完善,即通过立法程序使法律、法规进一步完备的过程与结果。刑法的立法完善亦然。废除、修改非正当、不合理的规定,增补与社会现实相适应的内容,是刑法立法完善工作的基本方式。制定立法解释,是刑法立法完善工作…     

The International Criminal Court and Africa: Exemplary Justice

This is a theoretical and empirical investigation into the causal link (if any) between international criminal trials and preventing violence through exemplary prosecutions. Specifically how do representative trials of persons accused of having the greatest responsibility for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, supposedly bind recurrent violence? The argument pursued is that by using an accused as an example, a court engages in an indirect and uncertain substitution of personal rights for social harmony and order. These prosecutions combine a peculiar rhetoric, logic and aesthetic, all which substitute the responsibilities for a society in general to a particular individual in order to redeem that society by transferring its communal responsibility onto the individual punished as a form of atonement or expiation. International and domestic trials, as well as truth and reconciliation commissions, are part of a suite of options addressing communal mass violence that can work in tandem. However, because those convicted do not have a monopoly on criminality, nor do those merely reconciled have a monopoly on virtue, exemplification through punishment only targets a few on behalf of the many. Indeed such a redemptively sacrificial economy distinguishes legal justice from mere vengeance.