Revisiting Informal Justice: Restorative Justice and Democratic Professionalism

Restorative justice is a form of informal justice growing rapidly among criminal justice practitioners. It decenters the focus of criminal justice from the offender breaking a law of the state to the harm caused the victim and community. Resolution is said to come from offenders taking responsibility and making amends for the harm done and from communities supporting the victim and providing offenders with opportunities and skills to reintegrate as contributing members.
Restorative justice theory largely ignores the role of professionals in the criminal justice process, and yet professionals have played a dominant part in initiating many restorative justice programs. Several theoretical traditions recognize professionals as being important intermediaries between citizens and the state. The theory of democratic professionalism argues that professionals can play crucial roles in increasing and improving democratic participation in public affairs. This article examines two functioning restorative justice programs to flesh out what democratic professionalism might look like in operation—what tasks professionals perform and what citizen involvement means to the professionals. We argue that restorative justice cannot get along without professionals and that democratic professionalism may help restorative justice to avoid some of the problems associated with other approaches to informal justice by increasing true community participation but balancing it with concern for individuals' rights.     

行政正义与争议解决的适当性原则——英国裁判所的经验与课题

经济社会不断深入发展,行政争议无论是数量还是涉及的领域均不断扩张。如何实质性地解决行政争议和实现行政正义,成为各国行政法重点关注的课题。英国行政法自创始以来,就一直围绕裁判所的定位展开改革,特别是提出的争议解决的适当性原则值得关注。目前,英国裁判所朝着司法化的改革方向不断前进,为缓解法院压力带来了积极的作用。但是过于强调司法化导致裁判所丧失了之前较法院系统所具有的优势,近年来立法与行政机关又开始关注行政复议机制的运用。争议解决的适当性原则关注争议性质与方式的互动,对中国行政争议解决方面的立法和实践具有一定的启示。     

Arresting Statistics: The Drift to Informal Justice in England and Wales

This paper re-examines some of the current theoretical models and paradigms of criminal justice in England and Wales based on an analysis of national arrest statistics between 1981 and 1997. The data show that there has been a large increase in the number of arrests in the period but the number of people prosecuted has declined. An increasing number of people are being arrested and released without any further action. The principal argument is that there has been a radical shift in power away from the formal open and public system of justice towards a more informal closed system. The paper concludes that while these trends lend support to a number of theoretical perspectives on the criminal justice process, particularly Choongh's social disciplinary model, the radical transformation which has taken place in the form of criminal justice can only be understood within the broader politics and economic structures of modern Britain.     

Mental Health Review Tribunals

This paper is concerned with the operation of the Mental Health Review Tribunal system and summarizes the findings of an empirical investigation of tribunal decision making. The tribunals constitute an independent body which reviews the necessity for the continued compulsory detention of patients in psychiatric hospitals. The research focuses on the interpretation and application of mental health legislation by individual tribunal members and the manner in which these individual approaches are qualified in the group context. The study comprises three stages: a self-report questionnaire, a national statistical analysis of decisions, and a simulation study of decision making using a videotape of a hypothetical case. The research establishes considerable inconsistency in tribunal decision making at both an individual and group level and attributes some of this inconsistency to individually based factors isolated by the research. The findings further indicate that these factors remain influential within the group decision-making context.     

International Criminal Tribunals and the Media

The media are widely different in outlook and level of interestwhen the subject is international criminal justice. Newspapersand television stations have widely divergent needs. Similarly,there are marked discrepancies between media in countries directlyaffected by the atrocities that are probed during internationaltrials, and media elsewhere. In reporting war crimes trialsfor public opinion at large (in this case in the United Statesand in Europe), one must take into account the difficulty ofcapturing the interest of readers. The crimes in Bosnia or inRwanda were in the headlines more than a decade ago. Today attentionhas moved to other countries. Ideally, the trials should bepresented through captivating narratives, but the complexityand length of criminal proceedings often make this difficult.Although the arrests of senior officials get much attention,interest in the legal aspects of their case wanes quickly. Moreover,the impression that international criminal justice is selective,and seems to wield double standards as to which cases are prosecuted,and which are not, continues to produce scepticism.     

Transitional Justice in Transit: Why Transferring a Special Court for Sierra Leone Trial to the Hague Defeats the Purposes of Hybrid Tribunals

Netherlands International Law Review -     

英国行政裁判所的最新改革及其启示

20世纪90年代以来,英国行政法的一个重要动向是改革行政裁判所制度。作为英国宪政改革大背景下的具体产物,2007年《裁判所、法院和执行法》对行政裁判所的性质和定位、组成和结构、程序规则、裁决、上诉机制、裁决的监督和救济等都作了重大调整。这些做法对我国行政司法制度的完善具有参考借鉴价值。     

论诉讼与仲裁关系中的既判力问题

在诉讼与仲裁的关系中,涉及既判力的主要有两个问题:仲裁庭是否受到法院判决的约束,或者法院是否受到仲裁裁决的约束。在国内仲裁中,判决与裁决的相互约束已为许多国家的法律及司法实践所肯定。在国际仲裁中,如何协调诉讼与仲裁的关系,实践及理论认识中还存在分歧。为避免裁决与判决之间的冲突,法院可依《纽约公约》承认仲裁裁决来认可外国仲裁裁决的既判力;仲裁庭也应尽量尊重他国法院判决的既判力,毕竟法院对仲裁庭的管辖权及仲裁裁决拥有司法最终决定权。比较和研究各国的立法例、判例,剖析我国法律中的相关规定,有助于厘清诉讼与仲裁的关系。     

辩护律师对法庭的真实义务

美国著名的辩护律师艾伦·德肖微茨教授在其名著《最好的辩护》一书曾说到:“被告辩护律师,特别是在为确实有罪的被告辩护时,他的工作就是用一切合法的手段来隐瞒‘全部事实’。对被告辩护律师来说,如果证据是用非法手段取得的,或该证据带有偏见,损害委托人的利益,那么他不仅应     

Self-Representation versus Assignment of Defence Counsel before International Criminal Tribunals

After examining the drafting history of Article 14 of the UNCovenant on Civil and Political Rights, which lays down a defendant'sright ‘to defend himself in person or through legal assistanceof his own choosing’ — the relevant national andinternational case law and scholarly commentary — theauthor argues that the underlying purpose of the right at issueis to ensure a fair trial. This objective can best be met incases of former leaders accused of international crimes by assigningthe defendant a highly qualified attorney who is vigilantlycommitted to representing his client's interests. In his view,there are two main reasons why a court in international crimestrial should be able to require the defendant to work throughcounsel: (1) the likelihood that a defendant will act in a disruptivemanner; and (2) the unique need in a complex international crimescase for an orderly trial.