A review of developments and changes in the world＇s constitutions

The constitution is a living document, which being the case, there is a need to increase the understanding of the constitution through systematic research and teaching at various levels. This paper aims to be a catalyst that inspires creative action to claim and advance certain new constitutional rights encapsulated in various world＇s constitutions. It seeks to raise awareness of new constitutional rights. World＇s most constitutions have incorporated constitutional provisions that ensure the entrenched new fundamental human rights. The latest constitutions, including South African constitution of 1996 are advanced and have included significant number of rights which were left out in the old constitutions. The courts are given the widest possible powers to develop and forge new remedies for protection of constitutional rights and the enforcement of constitutional duties.     

China’s stolen children: internal child trafficking in the People’s Republic of China

Trafficking in children has attracted worldwide attention in the last two decades primarily due to its links with global migratory movements and the role ‘transnational organised crime’ is perceived to play in these. Internal trafficking is largely ignored primarily because of a preoccupation with cross-border, transnational migratory movements. Arguably, the growth of the relevant literature has given rise to certain widespread perceptions about the uniformity in the trade characteristics and actors under the common rubric of ‘trafficking in human beings’. By capitalising on direct linguistic access to a wide range of Chinese open sources, the purpose of the article is to offer an account of the various dimensions of the issue as they present themselves in the particular Chinese context. Our main concern has been to perform a systematic presentation of this material in light of the extant wider literature. In the Chinese case the combination of socioeconomic, political and cultural factors set a complex picture that highlights the shortcomings of dominant ways of thinking about the phenomenon. This complex picture serves usefully to cast doubts with regard to how the criminal activity itself is being conceptualised as well as to perceptions of victimisation embodied in current discourses on human trafficking.     

A critical review of past studies on China’s corrections and recidivism

This article reviews studies of China’s correctional system and recidivism in approximately the last two decades. Studies on the Chinese correctional system may be grouped into two subfields, one on studies of the correctional system itself (e.g., the composition and the function of the system), and the other on studies of prison inmates in other related topics (e.g., their criminal behavior). Studies on China’s recidivism showed a very low recidivism rate, and China’s crime prevention strategies were closely related to its societal structure and social control. Future studies in these two areas need to focus on the most recent changes in the Chinese criminal justice system, and gain more access to Chinese prisons to do empirical testing.

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Business to the rescue: private sector actors and global environmental regimes’ legitimacy

In 2006, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted decision VIII/17 to further involve the private sector in the activities of the Convention. This initiative mainly aims at improving the current regime’s legitimacy. By increasing business involvement, decision VIII/17 can be viewed within the context of the current academic debate on the ‘privatisation’ of environmental governance, which refers to the growing importance of private actors in the formulation of environmental policies. Against this background, this article aims at: (1) assessing the extent to which decision VIII/17 might reverse the CBD’s legitimacy crisis and (2) analysing the issues at stake when private sector actors are involved in environmental regimes. In order to do so, the article analyses the consequences of decision VIII/17 in terms of internal—representation and transparency—and external—institutional efficiency and implementation—legitimacy. The study is based on an extended empirical scrutiny of the negotiations linked to decision VIII/17. While adopting a general conceptualisation of legitimacy, the value added by the study is to broaden the usual understanding of business strategies towards environmental issues. In particular, this article shows how decision VIII/17 has generated several reactions—defensive as well as proactive—among the business community. At the practical level, the article proposes several recommendations to secure a constructive participation of all categories of business actors in biodiversity governance. At the theoretical level, it calls for a change in deterministic visions of economic actors’ interests.

A Hunter’s Moon: the Effect of Moon Illumination on Outdoor Crime

We use National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data and an AutoRegressive Integrative Moving Average (ARIMA) study design to investigate the effect of moon illumination on reported crime occurring outdoors between the hours of 10 pm to 2 am in 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Prior research analyzed a confounded dependent variable that amalgamated indoor and outdoor crimes. This situation is problematic in that there is little reason to speculate a relationship between moon illumination and indoor crime because artificial illumination is used within dwellings. Findings show that while moon illumination has little influence on total crime and indoor crime, the intensity of moonlight does have a substantive positive effect on outdoor criminal activity. As moon illumination intensifies, outdoor crime increases markedly. Plausible explanations for this relationship are discussed.     

It’s a man’s world: barriers to gender transformation in the South African judiciary. Perspectives from women advocates and attorneys

The judiciary in South Africa has made great strides in creating a diverse bench. However challenges continue as regards the appointment of women, some of which are attributable to the nature of the legal profession. Currently, there are 86 women judges in the Superior Courts nationally out of a total of 243. Judges are drawn from the professions of advocates, attorneys, magistracy and academia. Women in these areas of law are confronted with issues that have a bearing on any aspirations of future accession to the judicial bench. The aim of this article is to analyse two specific challenges faced by women advocates and attorneys that were identified over the course of the last three years through legal sector meetings. These are the unequal distribution of work and discriminatory perceptions of women’s abilities. I argue that the two factors are directly related to the inadequate representation of women on the bench. My argument will be informed by, amongst others, dialogues from the legal sector meetings, observations of the judicial appointments process and desktop research. I conclude that failing to engage with the identified obstacles will negate any efforts to further increase the number of women judges.     

The Dragon’s shadow: an introduction to the special issue on ‘Chinese organized crime’

This paper provides an introduction to the articles submitted to the special issue of Trends in Organized Crime bringing forward numerous empirical research findings and theoretical accounts on Chinese organized crime in China and beyond.     

The Cat and Dog Fur Regulation: A Case Study on the European Union’s Approach to Animal Welfare

The Cat and Dog Fur Regulation, which bans the importation and exportation of real cat and dog fur, has been in force since 2008. The Regulation was a welcome development, however, a recent investigation carried out by the Humane Society International/UK and Sky News uncovered the sale of items of clothing containing real cat fur on the British high-street. This discovery, coupled with a recent report by the European Commission on the application of the Cat and Dog Fur Regulation, has undermined the efficacy of the Regulation. It raises questions as to the enforcement of the Regulation, and indeed the enforcement of EU animal welfare protection and legislation in general. The Cat and Dog Fur Regulation is but one piece of legislation, however, using this Regulation on a micro-level, helps understand the EU’s approach on a macro-level. The Cat and Dog Fur Regulation typifies the supineness of the EU when it comes to dealing with ethical issues. The European Commission needs to ensure that Member States are fulfilling their obligations under the Regulation and EU animal welfare provisions in general, by adopting a more forceful approach, which may necessitate it taking infringement proceedings under Article 258 TFEU. There is a need for Member States to carry out DNA testing for real cat and dog fur on goods purchased online, especially those coming from outside the EU. There is a dearth of academic commentary on the Cat and Dog Fur Regulation. The lack of discussion undermines the importance of this piece of legislation. Brexit also has implications for EU animal welfare. UK had already banned fur farming before the Regulation, thus the ban on the importation and exportation of fur should remain under domestic law.     

Nozick’s Reply to the Anarchist

Central to Nozick’s Anarchy, State and Utopia is a defense of the legitimacy of the minimal state’s use of coercion against anarchist objections. Individuals acting within their natural rights can establish the state without committing wrongdoing against those who disagree. Nozick attempts to show that even with a natural executive right, individuals need not actually consent to incur political obligations. Nozick’s argument relies on an account of compensation to remedy the infringement of the non-consenters’ procedural rights. Compensation, however, cannot remedy the infringement, for either it is superfluous to Nozick’s account of procedural rights, or it is made to play a role inconsistent with Nozick’s liberal voluntarist commitments. Nevertheless, Nozick’s account of procedural rights contains clues for how to solve the problem. Since procedural rights are incompatible with a natural executive right, Nozickeans can argue that only the state can enforce individuals’ rights without wronging anyone, thus refuting the anarchist.     

Potholes on the Path to Purity: Gideon Yaffe’s Overly Ambitious Attempt to Account for Criminal Attempts

Gideon Yaffe??s ??subjectivism about attempts?? rest on the Transfer Principle: ??If a particular form of conduct is legitimately criminalized, then the attempt to engage in that form of conduct is also legitimately criminalized.?? From the perspective of a moral concern with culpability, this principle seems to get to the heart of the matter: the true essence of what is wrong with attempting to commit a crime. Unfortunately, Yaffe??s argument for the Transfer Principle is based on an equivocation and therefore logically unsound. The moral core of the Principle is still sound, but we can??t tell from Yaffe??s book how far that principle would take us in the criminal law.     

Confessing their Crime: Factors Influencing the Offender’s Decision to Confess to the Police

Confessions are crucial to successful police investigations but scholars have significantly overlooked factors that contribute to an offender’s decision to confess a crime. This study aims to examine a large array of factors that play a role in the offender’s decision to confess a crime to the police and potential interaction effect among them. A total of 221 adult males incarcerated in a federal Canadian penitentiary were recruited. Correctional files, police reports, and offenders’ self‐reported data were collected and analyzed. Controlling for sociodemographic, criminological, and contextual factors, a series of logistic regression analyses were conducted. Findings highlighted the predominant role of police evidence over and above other factors analyzed. Furthermore, sociodemographic and criminological factors played a more important role in the offender’s decision to confess when police evidence was weak. Findings are discussed in light of the current scientific literature on the determinants of offenders’ decision to confess their crime.     

Effects of an Alibi Witness’s Relationship to the Defendant on Mock Jurors’ Judgments

Two studies tested the impact of an alibi witness’s relationship to a defendant on the perceived credibility of that witness. In the first study, 291 mock jurors estimated the frequency with which individuals would invent alibis, the frequency they themselves would do so, and the frequency of interpersonal contact among individuals of varying relationships. The degree of relationship between an alibi witness and a defendant remained a predictor of witness credibility when contact frequency was controlled. In the second study, 512 mock jurors were randomly assigned to case scenarios. Skepticism toward witnesses who are biologically or affinally related to a defendant was greater than skepticism toward a socially linked witness. Both studies supported predications from kinship theory and reciprocal altruism.     

Transitions in the negotiations on climate change: from prisoner’s dilemma to chicken and beyond

Frequently, international environmental negotiations have been analyzed in two-agent (2 × 2) games. Yet, in order to involve additional strategies, (3 × 3) games gained attention recently. We employ such a (3 × 3) game setting in order to depict international negotiations on climate change and integrate both the prisoner’s dilemma and the chicken games in this setting. We analyze transitions of negotiation states and describe how ancillary benefits and first-mover advantages influence agents’ behavior in the negotiations, when three different strategies or levels of climate protection efforts are available. Finally, we also integrate strategies to mitigate and to adapt to climate change into the analysis in the (3 × 3) game setting.     

A review of the CDM literature: from fine-tuning to critical scrutiny?

As negotiations on the post-2012 climate regime are now taking off, it is time to look back and assess the experiences of the clean development mechanism (CDM) to this date. The CDM has been subject to extensive discussion in academic literature during the last few years, and this article reviews that literature in order to sum up its main themes. A common assessment is that the current structure of the CDM leads to a focus on cheap emissions reductions at the expense of sustainable development benefits for the host countries. Recently, the questionable additionality of many CDM projects has become a central issue. The article further argues that whereas a substantial body of work exists on the CDM, this work is mainly preoccupied with a ‘fine-tuning’ of the mechanism. As the CDM now becomes increasingly institutionalized, scholars should also take a step back and study the CDM in a more theoretically oriented way.

I Nomi Degli Dei: A Reconsideration of Agamben’s Oath Complex

Law and Critique - This essay offers an exegesis and critique of the moment of community formation in Agamben’s Homo Sacer Project. In The Sacrament of Language, Agamben searches for the site...     

‘I Can’t’: Capacity to Marry and the Question of Sex

To some extent the nature of the marriage contract has always been ‘about’ sex. Yet it is only in recent years that sex has become an explicit aspect of the legal test of capacity to marry. This paper explores how that test has been developed by the courts since the late 19th century. Through an examination of the case law it traces the nature of the relationship between sex and the capacity to marry; explores how capacity to consent to sexual relations has become a prominent strand within capacity to marry; and asks whether one effect of that prominence has been to marginalise the necessity for an individual to understand certain other important aspects of the marriage contract when assessing his or her capacity to marry.     

A Life-Course Perspective on Incarcerated Women’s Views on Adulthood

Drawing on 35 in-depth interviews with incarcerated women, supplemented by mail correspondence with a sub-sample of these women, I explore how the participants interpret their early life-course experiences when reflecting on their transition to adulthood and, subsequently, their views on adult roles and responsibilities. The women’s narratives indicate that early experiences with trauma, along with premature entries into adult roles, result in a disorganized transition to adulthood. The findings also suggest that the women’s accelerated transitions to adulthood shape their views on adult roles, pointing to a need to incorporate discussions of age-normative timetables in efforts to assist at-risk and incarcerated women.