Toward an Interpretive Criminal Justice

This paper presents the academic field of criminal justice as an interpretive social science. The opening section discusses academic criminal justice from scientific and interpretive perspectives, arguing that the terminology of “justice” is essentially contested. The second section presents the key implication of a contested core terminology: that an interpretive approach is the best way to develop the academic field of criminal justice. Section three reviews central elements of the Gadamerian tradition, with an eye towards its application to the field of criminal justice. The fourth section considers two issues pertinent to an interpretive criminal justice—the problem of interpretation in a field where professional practice is destructive to other normative systems, and the contribution of an interpretive criminal justice to public policy.     

Historicising Criminalisation: Conceptual and Empirical Issues

This paper charts a renaissance in scholarly analysis of criminalisation, and suggests that we do not have the conceptual tools or empirical knowledge to make the claims about 'overcriminalisation' which motivate much of this scholarship. My argument gives further shape to projects under the umbrella of criminalisation, setting out some of the conceptual issues to be resolved before we can work towards an adequate interpretive, and normative, vision of how criminal law has been and might be used. The paper elaborates a number of projects in 'criminalisation scholarship', and suggests there is a failure adequately to distinguish the different senses of 'criminalisation' in the literature, or the varying methods which might be applied within historical, interpretive, analytic and normative studies of criminalisation. In conclusion, the paper argues for a certain genre of criminalisation scholarship, and for a multi-disciplinary criminalisation research agenda informed by history, sociology and political science as much as by law, criminology and philosophy.     

Law reform: in the Commonwealth,in small states and in the Caribbean

This paper first outlines the constitutional methods of law reform in the Commonwealth as a whole, in small states like those of the Caribbean, and in the Caribbean itself. It considers possible ways in which small states, which tend to have especially limited human and financial resources, might still be able to make greater use of independent law reform. The possibilities include the establishment of more Law Reform Agencies (LRAs), and greater regional co‐operation in law reform or even a Regional Law Reform Agency (RLRA). In this regard, it raises several issues for consideration, in its concluding paragraphs.     

Courting the Environment – A Comparative Analysis

Statutory interpretation is of central importance to the daily work of all judges. This paper explores the reasons why statutory interpretation is necessary and then considers how judges have explained the way in which they carry out this task. It examines how judges consider the text, the context and the purpose of statutory provisions. It also looks at how human rights instruments can be used as an interpretive tool. It then considers the issue of whether judges can ‘fill in gaps’ in a legislative scheme and whether there is a Rubicon which judges cannot cross in the interpretive process.     

少数人权利及其保护的平等性

少数人作为弱势群体的一部份 ,其权利日益受到各国的关注与重视。然而 ,在对少数人具有重要意义的经济、社会、文化权利上 ,各国却有不同的看法 ,本文在比较了各国在权利问题上的文化传统和近现代的各种平等理论之后 ,分析指出在以经济、社会、文化权利为核心的相当一部份权利上 ,各国政府应当在避免形成“反向歧视”的前提下 ,采取积极措施 ,让少数人有更多机会参与社会竞争 ,实现社会整体的平等和更公正意义上的平等     

Police use of TASER devices in mental health emergencies: A review

The proliferation of TASER devices among police forces internationally has been accompanied by concerns about injuries and health effects, and about the use of TASER devices on vulnerable populations such as people with mental illness. TASER devices have generated a flood of research studies, although there remain unanswered questions about some of the key issues. This paper outlines the introduction of TASER devices to policing and their subsequent widespread adoption. The paper considers the role of police in mental health emergencies with a particular focus on use of TASER devices. Some factors contribute to the special vulnerability of people with mental illness to the effects of TASER devices. The paper also reviews research into use of TASER devices and raises issues about conflict of interest in research into TASER devices. We conclude that TASER devices look set to play a significant role in policing in the future. We make suggestions for a future research programme, and suggest guidelines for publication of papers in which there may be a conflict of interest.     

Using subsampling to estimate the strength of handwriting evidence via score-based likelihood ratios

The likelihood ratio paradigm has been studied as a means for quantifying the strength of evidence for a variety of forensic evidence types. Although the concept of a likelihood ratio as a comparison of the plausibility of evidence under two propositions (or hypotheses) is straightforward, a number of issues arise when one considers how to go about estimating a likelihood ratio. In this paper, we illustrate one possible approach to estimating a likelihood ratio in comparative handwriting analysis. The novelty of our proposed approach relies on generating simulated writing samples from a collection of writing samples from a known source to form a database for estimating the distribution associated with the numerator of a likelihood ratio. We illustrate this approach using documents collected from 432 writers under controlled conditions.     

Attack of the killer acronyms: the future of information technology law

This paper looks at the field of information technology (IT) law and its reliance on the buzzwords, jargon and acronyms that tend to alienate serious discussion about some of the deeper socio‐legal issues involved. It is often easy to become confused by the terminology and the technology, which has led to some non‐issues receiving too much interest (the year 2000 bug for example) and some valuable and worthy topics being almost ignored. Some writers and researchers may be tempted to neglect the field because of a lack of understanding of the technology, which may eventually lead to the end of IT law as a serious field of research. This paper will attempt to re‐ignite the jurisprudential debate about the future of IT law research, teaching and practice by looking at the possible trends emerging from the literature.     

Bystander reaction to women fighting: developing a theory of intervention

This article explores accounts of bystanders to female-on-female public violence. Group interviews with participants in the night-time economy are carried out. Whereas men tend to respond to the discussion topic of female-on-female violence with laughter, this laughter reveals ambivalence and discomfort as much as amusement. Men seem to negotiate the tension between the expectation that they should intervene in emergencies and a catalogue of costs that attend intervention. Female bystanders appear to have a different set of concerns. They talk about feelings of shame at the interpersonal and the group level. Women cite the public spectacle, and the opportunity for men to demean or sexualize women, as reasons for intervention. The article concludes with some recommendations about the importance of exploring female violence in its own terms, beginning with a series of identified moral and social dilemmas incurred within possible third-party intervention.     

The impact of Brexit on the careers of EUI law graduates

ABSTRACT

This paper raises some questions about the possible impact of the UK leaving the European Union on the career pathways of mobile and internationally oriented PhD graduates interested in an academic career in law, with particular reference to the specific case of the European University Institute (EUI). It first addresses some of the reasons for the popularity of the UK academic job market as a destination for EUI law graduates and then considers the potential impact of Brexit on these factors. While a number of factors have made the UK an attractive market for these highly mobile young scholars, their mobility means that should the balance shift, other countries may replace the UK as top choice.     

Pacific Perspectives: Fa’afafine and Fakaleiti in Samoa and Tonga: People Between Worlds

The law is full of labels which serve to define the concept, person or principle under consideration. These labels have their uses but can also create straight-jackets when applied in different social and cultural environments. This paper considers some of the challenges posed by groups of people in the Pacific countries of Samoa and Tonga. A variety of labels may be used to describe such people: transgender; gender-liminal; transvestite; gay, but none fully encompass what it is to be fa’afafine or fakaleiti. These individuals are both integrated and marginalised in their island countries and among the Polynesian Diaspora. They have a place in customary society, but are also influenced by the more global contemporary picture. They are therefore part of tradition but also symbols of change. The legal environment in which they lived is shaped by colonialism but there are also neo-colonial forces at work which threaten and shape their identity. In many respects therefore, they find themselves between two worlds: gender enlightened and gender repressed.     

Legal identity for all

This paper examines Sustainable Development Goal 16.9 on legal identity for all. It considers notions of legal identity in international law and looks at legal frameworks for legal identity in Commonwealth member countries, including in respect of birth registration, national identity registers and cards, legal identity requirements for transactions and services, and new forms of digital identity. The paper examines specific legal issues relevant to identity, including privacy and data protection, identity theft and property rights. It concludes by reviewing the latest developments in concepts of identity, and applicable emerging technologies. It makes recommendations in respect of legal and policy reform that Commonwealth member countries may undertake with a view to meeting SDG Target 16.9.     

The treatment of prisoners: International standards and case law

Objective. In some countries questions are asked about the extent to which human rights should be applied to those who have been detained in prison, particularly if they have been convicted of a criminal offence. However, the international human rights treaties and instruments are quite clear that detained persons are entitled to all human rights that are not expressly removed by the fact of their detention. Method. This article describes in detail what these standards are and how they apply to imprisonment. It also considers how these issues have been interpreted judicially by the European Court of Human Rights and the lessons to be learned from its increasing body of case law. Conclusion. All those who are involved in the management of prisons or who deal in any way with prisoners must always bear in mind ‘the inherent dignity of the human person’. This obligation applies particularly to psychologists and others who develop programmes and other activities aimed at influencing the future behaviour of prisoners.     

What is good criminal justice theory?

This article assesses current work in criminal justice theory and identifies two criteria for theory—that which appeals to empirical validation, and that which appeals to historical tradition. Appeals to empirical validation are consistent with a scientific model, while appeals to historical tradition are consistent with an interpretive model of social science. Both models are described and the way in which each contributes to theory in criminal justice is discussed.     

Breaking the Principle of Secrecy: An Examination of Judicial Dissent in the European Constitutional Courts

As “oracles of the law,” judges are trained to provide certainty and guidance within an often‐uncertain legal landscape. Nowhere is this statement truer than in the civil law tradition, where the idea of legal certainty has been prized as a “supreme value.” Despite this tradition, dissenting opinions are now quite common within most European constitutional courts. Using new data from five countries and interviews with constitutional court judges and clerks, I investigate factors that contribute to dissent on constitutional courts. Results indicate that legal and policy characteristics matter, but so do judicial backgrounds and the issues reviewed.     

“Where's Whitey?”: Black Mass, ethnic criminality, and the problem of the informant

The essay is an interdisciplinary examination of the popular American tradition of organized-crime narratives based on the testimony of criminal informants. Primarily, it examines the most prominent current instance of this tradition: a book entitled Black Mass: The Irish Mob, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal (2000), depicting the recent scandal involving James “Whitey” Bulger. While this book is often received as a contemporary exposé of the ethical perils of informant use in combating organized crime, it actually reiterates the chronic interpretive pitfalls of more traditional “gangland” informant narratives like Murder, Inc. (1951) or Peter Maas's The Valachi Papers (1968). Black Mass's adoption of a classical “noir” literary form, meanwhile, imports certain traditional assumptions that often make these popular narratives immune to recent academic revisions: assumptions about the “Fordist” character of criminal organization, about the uncanny but invisible skills of modern ethnic gangsters, and about the relationship of the state to organized crime. Portions of this paper were presented at a conference hosted by the University of Chicago in May 2004: “Constructing the Current: Theorizing Media in a New Millennium”.     

Confidentiality and public protection: Ethical dilemmas in qualitative research with adult male sex offenders

This paper considers the ethical tensions present when engaging in in-depth interviews with convicted sex offenders. Many of the issues described below are similar to those found in other sensitive areas of research. However, confidentiality and public protection are matters that require detailed consideration when the desire to know more about men who have committed serious and harmful offences is set against the possibility of a researcher not disclosing previously unknown sensitive information that relates to the risk of someone being harmed.     

John Vincent’s Reading at Gray’s Inn, 1668/9, on the Merchants’ Assurances Act 1601

In Lent Term 1668/9, John Vincent, a bencher of Gray’s Inn, gave a reading on the Merchants’ Assurances Act 1601 (43 Eliz. I, c.12). The notes of the law reporter, Joseph Keble, record this observance of the centuries-old tradition of readings, which was destined to expire within the next two decades. This paper situates Vincent’s reading within the changing tradition of readings in the seventeenth century. It highlights the role readings continued to play in disseminating sophisticated legal learning, particularly in relation to newer areas of practice such as marine insurance, which were largely uninformed by statute, common law precedent or reference works, and would have been difficult to master through book-study alone. It examines a selection of issues discussed during the reading, focussing on legal outcomes grounded in the ‘customs’, usages, practices and understandings of merchants, and illustrating how these were perceived as exceptional by comparison to the ordinary rules of the common law. The nature and jurisdiction of London’s court of assurances, reconstituted and empowered by the 1601 Act, are also discussed. More generally, this paper demonstrates the value of post-Restoration readings for historians of English law in the late seventeenth century.     

Criminology, the Chicago School, and sociological theory

Although the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago wasnever known as a center for sociological theory, major contributions were made in suchareas as social disorganization, human ecology and demography, urbanism,professions, institutional development, community organization anddevelopment, as well as criminology and deviance. These theoreticalcontributions did not qualify as grand theory, but all were in the Chicago tradition of theoretically interpretive empirical work. The Project onHuman Development in Chicago Neighborhoods – Chicago-style researchat its best – continues that tradition, wherever it is practiced and whateverits specific aims.