The Fantasies of a Skinhead: Extremism

The procurator of Kurgan has sent a case to court concerning the creator of the [Web] site "Kurgan skinheads." For two years the accused resident of Kurgan posted articles and verse with a nationalist content on the international Web.     

Vladimir Shapoval: "The CEC Is Destined to Be the Scapegoat"

"The law is harsh, but it is the law"—the well-known ancient Roman saying is entirely suitable as a brief synopsis of the Lb.ua interview with the chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Vladimir Shapoval.

"Any electoral legislation, I emphasize, any, will always be 95 percent the product of political expediency. Always. This way gives them an advantage—so be it." This is how he calmly parried my emotional "How can the advantage of the strong be codified in the law (!), and the weak essentially have no chance? What can you do, how can it be?" "All this ‘whining and crying,’ say, the law is this and that in substance, I do not accept it. The laws were adopted—so we will follow them. You cannot get away from it," he added.

It might seem to someone who does not know Vladimir Nikolaevich that the chief vote-counting official is being clever, "covering up" the "distortions" of the authorities "at the local level." He is in fact speaking frankly. The chairman of the Central Election Commission formed on the eve of the 2007 preterm parliamentary elections by a "coalition"—a retired Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) justice, and a doctor of legal sciences who is an active member of the High Council of Justice (HCJ), he can permit himself that. Shapoval contrives to call things by their names: "How the law is written is another matter. And its parts are written abominably," he states bluntly.

In view of this, my discussion with Shapoval—formally tied to the start of a local elections campaign—went far beyond the bounds of a discussion of the legislation on this topic, and even the specifics of the campaign. The more so as I had already discussed this in detail with CEC Deputy Chairman Andrei Magera. Vladimir Nikolaevich, without concealing his indignation, related just what the HCJ is really afraid of (and it turned out it was not at all, or more precisely not only, what they are portraying it to be). Relying on nine years of experience as a CCU justice, he elucidated the risks of the invalidation of the 2004 constitutional reform by the current Constitutional Court—"only those who have face can lose it." Sketching out the situation in the body politic, he summed up, "If the Party of Regions (PoR) does not win the local elections, many questions will arise."     

The Deputies Have Stopped Extremism: On the Level of Legislation

Yesterday, an amendment to the Federal Law "On Countering Extremist Activity" that was introduced by deputies representing all of the Duma's factions was passed on the first reading.     

一纸鉴定,关乎人命

在百姓眼中,精神病是那么的神秘莫测,是那么的捉摸不定,因此对于许多表现出不易理解的行为和言语的人,人们都一律冠以“精神病”。然而在诉讼中,司法精神病鉴定的工作却是个艰巨而细致的过程,因为,尤其在刑事案件中,法医的     

极端主义犯罪辨析——基础理论与立法剖析

极端主义犯罪是一种新的犯罪类型,价值理念的极端性和行为手段的极端性是其核心内涵。极端主义犯罪并不以政治指向性为必要条件,行为手段也不限于暴力,但它发展到一定程度之后有可能演变为恐怖主义犯罪。国内外关于极端主义犯罪的立法模式大体上可以分为单独式和融合式,我国总体上是一种一般关联犯罪加某些特殊类型犯罪的融合式立法模式。在我国刑法典中,对于极端主义犯罪应当集中规定,并增设极端主义行为罪,组织、领导、参加极端主义组织罪和资助极端主义组织、个人罪,同时明确界定极端主义行为、极端主义组织、极端主义活动的内涵。     

Policies and Developments Relating to the Sexual Exploitation of Children: The Legacy of the Stockholm Conference

This article begins by noting the huge amount of attention that is now being paid at almost every level – international, European, national and by independent organisations and NGOs – to the growing problem of international child sexual exploitation and considers why this is the case. It then comments briefly on what we mean by international sexual exploitation, noting that different definitions are used. The main part of the article reviews developments in this field, beginning with the main international measure: the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and then goes on to review the 1996 First World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation (the Stockholm Congress). After that some key measures subsequently adopted at international and national level, as well as by the European Union (which is increasingly taking international child sexual exploitation within its remit) are outlined. Lastly, some final thoughts are set out in the conclusion.     

The Legacy of the Maastricht-Urteil and the Pluralist Movement

Abstract:  The Maastricht-Urteil of the German Constitutional Court of October 1993 has left a deep mark on EU law. Although some may consider it as part of legal history, the decision has never been overruled, and the ideas behind it are very much alive. This article tries to examine the legacy of that decision. From a practical point of view, the article focuses on the following issues: the current situation in Germany; the influence on other constitutional or supreme courts and on constitutional reforms in some Member States; the influence on the European Court of Justice and on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. Regarding theory, three sections of the article discuss a number of widespread ' idées reçues ' contained in the Maastricht-Urteil on notions such as the state, constituent power ( pouvoir constituant ), and democracy. The next section presents the movement of legal pluralism as an attempt to come to terms with the Maastricht-Urteil and its legacy. It criticises the radical versions of legal pluralism in view of the damage they may cause to essential dimensions of the rule of law. The final section reflects on the real motives behind the Maastricht-Urteil and its legacy, and on possible future developments.     

论我国刑法中的危害行为:实然与应然

危害行为是我国传统刑法理论中一个重要的概念,由于我国耦合平面式的犯罪构成体系导致危害行为在犯罪构成体系中的定位和定性存在明显矛盾。本文在分析这些实然状况的基础上,提出将危害行为提到犯罪构成体系之前,改造为我国刑法中的一般行为概念。     

如何面对中国传统法律文化遗产

改革开放近三十年来,中国社会发生了巨大的变革,社会主义法律文化也取得了令人瞩目的成就.社会的快速发展似乎拉远了我们与传统文化的距离,一种文化的陌生感正悄悄升起.     

The Emergence of Penal Extremism in California: A Dynamic View of Institutional Structures and Political Processes

This article examines legal and political developments in California in the 1970s and early 1980s that led to extreme changes in the state's use of imprisonment. It uses historical research methods to illustrate how institutional and political processes interacted in dynamic ways that continuously unsettled and reshaped the crime policy field. It examines crime policy developments before and after the passage of the state's determinate sentencing law to highlight the law's long‐term political implications and to illustrate how it benefited interest groups pushing for harsher punishment. It emphasizes the role executives played in shaping these changes, and how the law's significance was as much political as legal because it transformed the institutional logics that structured criminal lawmaking. These changes, long sought by the law enforcement lobby, facilitated crime's politicization and ushered in a new era of frenetic and punitive changes in criminal law and punishment. This new context benefited politicians who supported extreme responses to crime and exposed the crime policy process to heightened degrees of popular scrutiny. The result was a political obsession with crime that eschewed moderation and prioritized prison expansion above all else.     

论美国法院对听审请求权的保障——从联邦最高法院判例谈起

听审请求权被美国联邦最高法院视为正当程序的重要内容在司法实践中给予了大力保障。听审请求权是指当事人就民事诉讼中的事实、证据、法律等问题有要求国家尤其是它的法院给予充分陈述其意见、主张其权利的机会,使其能富有影响地参与法院解决争议的活动的权利。美国法院认为诉诸法院的权利是听审请求权的应有之义;受通知权和到场权是听审请求权的重要内容。