Nigeria

Conclusion Organized crime activities flourish in Nigeria because law enforcement is weak or nonexistent at all levels. The police were corrupt even before organized crime emerged in its present form in Nigeria. Since “corruption is necessary for the successful operation of organized crime,”⁹⁴ the structure and operation of the Nigerian police, together with the activities of corrupt heads of state and corrupt politicians, made Nigeria fertile ground for organized crime. When those who make the laws and those who enforce the law are shamelessly corrupt, then the entire society is cor-rupted. These leaders are supposed to be the role models of the younger generations in Nigeria. Instead, they represent what Gresham Sykes and David Matza have termed the “appeal to higher loyalty”—a technique for rationalization of wrongs by under-privileged elements of Nigerian society who willingly engage in criminal activity.     

Accommodating Religion and Shifting Burdens

With some qualifications, this article endorses Brian Leiter’s argument that religious accommodation should not shift burdens from believers to non-believers. It argues that religious believers should take responsibility for their beliefs and for meeting the demands of their beliefs. It then examines the implications of that argument for British law on indirect discrimination (disparate impact) as it relates to religion or belief: burden-shifting from believers to employers and providers of goods and services should be deemed acceptable only insofar as the burden incurred by the employer or provider is ‘insignificant’. Legal exemptions should satisfy a similar test. Why should there be religious accommodation at all, even if it entails no significant burden-shifting? The author agrees with Leiter in finding the most plausible answer in the claims of conscience rather than in general theories of equality or features special to religion. Those claims can reasonably be made in respect of liberty of conscience but also when conscience is merely disadvantaged.     

尼日利亚的普通法仲裁浅谈

尼日利亚的普通法仲裁源于英国的普通法,由于其存在的一些弊端,现已很少使用。此外,在实 践中,很难区分一个产生于口头仲裁协议的仲裁是习惯法仲裁还是普通法仲裁。     

Fatalities Caused by Spherical Bullets Fired from Blank Cartridge Guns in Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract:  Blank cartridge guns are generally regarded as being harmless and are not considered to be firearms in the legal sense in most countries. To show the danger of these guns upon simple modifications, we report 59 fatalities resulting from these simply modified blank cartridge guns in Istanbul, Turkey. The great majority of the victims were males and the age of those ranged from 11 to 61 years. In 55.9% of these cases, homicide was the origin followed by suicide (39%). The right temporal region was detected to be the preferred region in suicidal shots by blank cartridge guns with a frequency of 56.5%. In trial shots, all these guns were detected to discharge steel or lead spherical objects, generally 4 or 5 mm in diameter, successfully. Our findings strongly suggest that these guns should also be considered as handguns in the legal sense.     

Freedom of Religion and Minority Religions in Hungary

Religiosity in Hungary is not especially high; however, the vast majority of the population has a denominational identity. There has been a religious revival since the early 1980's, both in the mainstream churches and due to some religious groups newly active in the country. Religious claims are mostly accommodated on an individual basis. Legal entities called churches can be founded for the purpose of exercising religion, but the registration of a church is not a condition of the free exercise of religion. Religious freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution. The Hungarian state regards itself neutral in matters concerning ideology and religion. Church and state operate separately. The state, however, appreciating religious phenomena, provides support for churches and is open for cooperation with them on a sophisticated legal basis. A new method of offering state support for religions using taxpayer choices is described, which shows some interesting patterns of support for minority faiths as well as traditional ones.     

Colonialism,state and policing in Nigeria

Police forces in Nigeria have been variously described as corrupt, oppressive and subservient to the whims and caprices of the government of the day. This paper analyses the development of police forces in Nigeria since the era of British colonial domination in the country. Police corruption and repression in Nigeria is analyzed in the context of the wider political and socioeconomic structures and dynamics in the country.     

The Use of Near‐Infrared Photography to Image Fired Bullets and Cartridge Cases

An imaging technique that is capable of reducing glare, reflection, and shadows can greatly assist the process of toolmarks comparison. In this work, a camera with near‐infrared (near‐IR) photographic capabilities was fitted with an IR filter, mounted to a stereomicroscope, and used to capture images of toolmarks on fired bullets and cartridge cases. Fluorescent, white light‐emitting diode (LED), and halogen light sources were compared for use with the camera. Test‐fired bullets and cartridge cases from different makes and models of firearms were photographed under either near‐IR or visible light. With visual comparisons, near‐IR images and visible light images were comparable. The use of near‐IR photography did not reveal more details and could not effectively eliminate reflections and glare associated with visible light photography. Near‐IR photography showed little advantages in manual examination of fired evidence when it was compared with visible light (regular) photography.     

Religion,Conversion, and Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation and conversion within the penal context are deeply ambiguous concepts. This ambiguity stems in part from the fact that little consensus has been reached among scholars as to the meaning of the terms beyond their ability to foster adjustment to institutional rules and obedience to law. This paper argues that each concept receives greater clarity and practical significance when understood in terms of moral transformation. The article will utilize the methodological framework of social scientific studies to underscore a contention, most commonly found in theological literature that conversion, and a fortiori rehabilitation, signal a shift from a divided to a unified consciousness based upon the experience of unconditional acceptance and, ultimately, its bestowal upon others and upon all forms of life.     

Religion,masculinity and fertility decline

This paper provides the sketch of a new mechanism explaining the delay of Catholic fertility, namely the changing norms of masculinity and fatherhood, through a comparative study of the first fertility transition in Switzerland (1880–1930).

Comparative analysis of religious discourse attests to striking differences in norms of respectable masculinity. In the Protestant canton, men were especially targeted and strongly incited to change their sexual behaviour and limit their offspring in order to comply with a new model of the good husband and father. The religious teachings had an impact due to the social position of the persons enouncing the norms, to the efficient diffusion reaching the majority of men, and to the effective sanctioning, as the example of pastoral enquiries demonstrates. In the Catholic canton by contrast, men were not specifically addressed; the religious discourse supported the husband's rights to frequent sexual intercourse and encouraged him to trust Providence to bring up many children, thus sustaining high levels of fertility. The political repression of public discourse on sexuality defeated every attempt of contesting the husband's marital rights and the Catholic doctrine of procreation. Sexual taboos were particularly severe for women and their total ignorance of sexual matters weakened their bargaining power in fertility decisions.

In the last part of the paper, using quantitative methods, we tried to demonstrate that these norms and mechanisms did indeed influence men's behaviour in the Protestant sample. For this purpose, we measured comparatively the results of some indicators introduced to capture the impact of the norms of respectable masculinity, regarding men's responsibility in contraception and men's ability to maintain dependent children. We hope thus to strengthen the position of a growing number of scholars who state that historical demographers cannot avoid incorporating gender into their explanations of historical trends of fertility and who foster the bridging of qualitative and quantitative methods.     

论宗教与和谐社会

宗教作为一种社会意识和文化系统,它几乎与人类文明史上的所有社会形态都结下了"不解之缘".它既有深广多面的精神资源,又有丰厚辉煌的历史文化遗产,同时还是民族融合的纽带.在社会主义社会,它将具有长期性、民族性、群众性、复杂性、国际性等特点.在和谐社会的构建中,具有很强的道德教化作用、社会稳定作用、心理慰藉作用、文化展示作用和对政治文明建设的推动作用,是社会主义和谐社会的有机组成部分.     

Prison Administration in Modern Nigeria

The Nigerian prison system, as it is known today, was introduced by the British during the time when Nigeria was her colony (1861–1960). The British left a two-tier system (Native and Federal) of prisons which became unified into one prison system in 1968. The Nigerian prison system is headed by a Director who is assisted by Assistant Directors, Chief Superintendents, Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents of prisons. These are all senior officers. The junior level is comprised of wardens of various grades. Both junior and senior officers wear uniforms. Classification of prisons and prisoners is rather loose and sometimes arbitrary—leading to occasional mixing of first offenders and career criminals. The aim of imprisonment is not specifically spelled out in any statutes or decrees. The problems of prison administration in Modern Nigeria include high staff turnover rate, inadequate classification of inmates, etc. To alleviate such problems it will be necessary to review and improve the general working conditions for staff, find alternatives to imprisonment, and carry on more research on criminality in Nigeria. Many of these will be easy to carry out if the government provides sufficient funding.     

Veiled Women and the Affect of Religion in Democracy

The veiled woman troubles feminism and secularism in much the same way. Both feminism and secularism face a problem of finding a position that respects individual autonomy, and simultaneously sustains a conception of politics freed from heteronomous determination. This article gives an account of what is being resisted and by whom in modes of politics which seek to produce an autonomous subject emancipated from 'other laws'(heteronomy). It also draws on Jean-Luc Nancy in order to consider what has been termed the problem of Islam in Europe as a wider juridical and political problem centred on the significance of affect as heteronomy. It thus explores the tension between piety and polity.     

State,Law and Religion in Edith Stein's Thought

This article presents a paradox in the thought of Edith Stein betweenher attitudes in relation to the state/law problem and her vision ofreligion. I seek to explain the paradox through the study of the Theoryof the State and Sovereignty. In this regard, basing herself onclassical authors, Edith Stein disagrees with the great jurists of hertime who did not always recognise the priority of the concept ofsovereignty. The examination of the relationship between the State andlaw breaks new ground within her phenomenological position, by, on theone hand, defending a strong concept of sovereignty of the State seen asa legal a priori while on the other hand stating that the State doesn'trelate to spiritual values. This leads us to propose a particular viewof the semiotic processes relevant to the relation between law/stateand religion, illuminating the semantic-pragmatic factors which promptedStein towards the above contradiction.