Foster children＇s right to family： A description and analysis of the legislative approach in Sweden

This paper emphasizes the foster children＇s right to family life and investigates whether change of custody and guardianship to foster parents is a successful option to achieve this right. Using CRC as the base for my definition of the right to family I will include the right to continuity, well-being and a family environment in the understanding of the term ＂right to family＂ in this article. These rights may, primarily, be fulfilled by the child＇s parents, and, if necessary for the best interest of the child, be complemented or substituted by foster or adoption parents. The analysis of different solutions concerning state interventions will base on Swedish law. In Sweden, a child in need of help or assistance as a result of abuse, neglect, or other inappropriate behavior in the home setting may be helped by the Social Welfare Committee-voluntarily or by a court order-in the child＇s home or a foster home. Other alternatives contain judicial involvement by changing custody and guardianship or making a decision for adoption. Since many years ago, the most commonly used alternative for children needing long term placements outside their homes in Sweden has become foster care. This development of many long-term placements has been criticized for not fulfilling the needs of the children, especially their needs for family continuity, stability and well-being. As a consequence, an amendment to the Social Services Act 200l was enacted in 2003 which states that the Social Services Committee shall consider the ＂permanence＂ of foster care by changing custody and guardianship to the foster parents three years later since a child starts in foster care, and every six months thereafter, as long as the child remains in the foster parents＇ care. Assuming that the foster parents are fit and willing to become custodians and guardians, and the child views the foster home as his or her home, the District Court can decide to change the custody and the guardianship to the foster parents. The assessment is to be based solely on the best interest of the child, and not on the fitness or wishes of the original custodian. However, can changing the custody and guardianship assist foster children＇s right to family？ This paper elaborates on this question by describing a legal reform in Sweden.     

Police-reported school violence among children below the age of criminal responsibility in Sweden – signs of increased sensitivity and segregation?

Since the 1980s in Sweden, children’s violent actions in schools have been reported to the police as criminal offences more frequently than before. This increasing trend is analysed against the background of a general increased cultural sensitivity to violence and slowly developing social changes that affect the propensity to report every form of violent incident to the police. This project analyses 1,239 police reports of assault, unlawful threat, molestation and insulting behaviour committed in schools by 7- to 14-year olds in ten municipalities in the Stockholm area. The time period studied is from 2000 to 2010. Regression analysis shows systematic differences among schools in different areas and social contexts. Average merit ratings, which are a measure of the educational quality of schools, explain most of the variance and correlate negatively with reported incidents. There are also significant differences among municipalities and school forms in terms of police reports. So-called resource schools, which are designed to serve children with special needs, report extremely high numbers of incidents per child. Reporting seems to have been routinised in many schools, including resource schools. Our results can be interpreted as suggesting that increased cultural sensitivity generates a bias against children in less affluent contexts.     

The role of soft law in advancing the rights of persons with disabilities in the EU: A ‘hybridity’ approach to EU disability law

This article discusses the role of soft law in advancing the rights of persons with disabilities in the European Union (EU). In doing so, it revisits the emergence of the standalone, yet cross-cutting, field of ‘EU disability law’ through the lens of the ‘hybridity theory’ advanced inter alia by Trubek and Trubek. Being speculative in nature, this article construes EU disability law as a fruitful area for an enquiry into the dynamic relationship between hard and soft law. Until the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, soft law was crucial to attract disability within the sphere of action of the EU and to embed the social model of disability, displaying a value-setting role. In the post-Amsterdam period, soft law and hard law coexisted, being complementary to one another. Both contributed to a common objective, namely that of advancing equality of opportunities for persons with disabilities. After the conclusion of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the dynamic relationship between hard and soft law has become more complex and akin to what Trubek and Trubek define as ‘transformation’.     

Considering advances in neuroscience through the lenses of law and human?rights

Advances in neuroscience should be subject to a robust public dialogue that includes attention to the legal and human rights issues raised by both research and its applications.     

There’s an app for that: Modernizing domestic violence support through the creation of new technologies,tools, and services

With domestic violence (DV) at an all-time high, police departments are drastically underutilizing technology to combat DV. Currently, New York police departments complete a “Domestic Incident Report” at the scene of domestic incidents but fail to adequately facilitate support services. New York State should mandate a services component into police DV protocols, specifically by commissioning: (1) an application linked to DV organizations presented at the scene of domestic incidents; and (2) a gateway application to refer victims to the correct services. Such tools would allow for the rendering of more efficient support to DV victims in times of immediate crisis.     

Obscuring sexual crime: examining media representations of sexual violence in Megan’s law

Sexual violence remains a pervasive and persistent social problem. In 1996, Congress enacted Megan’s Law, dictating mandatory community notification and potential civil commitment for those deemed by the State to be dangerous sexual offenders. In 2013, Megan’s Law continues to influence the treatment of sexual offenders under law and the social construction of a highly publicized, yet statistically rare, sexual crime – the rape and murder of a young female child by a depraved male stranger. This influence highlights the extent to which this personalized crime bill shapes the social construction of sexual violence in terms of sex and gender systems. This paper examines how sex and gender shape media discourses of the sexual offender and victim that are mobilized in the legislative debate on Megan’s Law. Drawing on theoretical ideas from cultural studies and feminist legal scholarship, we employ discourse analysis to analyze the legislative debate on Megan’s Law. We find that high-profile media images of sex offenders and victims are relied on to construct a singular image of sexual violence, whereby a child is victimized by an adult sexual predator. These images draw on traditional, conservative notions of gender and sexuality.     

War as a pretext to wave the rule of law goodbye? The case for an EU constitutional awakening

The war in Ukraine triggered significant changes at the European Union level. The speed at which the EU has achieved progress on sanctions, migration and defense is particularly impressive. But the Russian aggression against Ukraine has also served as a pretext for putting aside internal discussions about the rule of law, and provided additional political rationales for inaction against Member State governments responsible for the violation of European values, as well as triggered the deepening of double standards in several fields. Against this background, the paper argues that using this crisis as a justification for further inaction in the context of EU values is not a sustainable course of action. The Union must not delay further the need to act to halt the insidious erosion of democracy and the rule of law within its own borders both at the national and supranational level.     

Intervening in domestic violence as a police task: legal reform and policing versus citizens’ perspective

Violence in Western societies has received increased public and legal attention during the past few decades, while simultaneously, evidence of decreased violent behaviour has been identified. A specific type of violence that has undergone changes in visibility and increased legal intervention is domestic violence (DV). Have people become more sensitive to all kinds of violence? In this case, DV would not stand out as a crime demanding increasing police intervention. In this article, the public’s perceptions of the importance of intervening in DV as a police task are analysed. Comparisons with the assessed importance of other types of police tasks are made to evaluate the changes in a broader attitudinal context, and official police statistics are reflected against the trends identified from the survey data. In the results, DV stands out in the comparison of change in the importance of police tasks. The hypothesis of increased cultural sensitivity is not confirmed concerning all types of crimes – or even violent crimes. The results can be understood to support the theory about increased cultural sensitivity concerning an issue previously seen as a private matter rather than a criminal act and police matter – DV.     

How to improve china’s witness protection system: an evaluation on protection of witness in the amendment to the criminal procedure law of china

If the personal and property security of witnesses themselves and their family members could not be protected effectively, witnesses may be reluctant to testify, to present in court, or to give truthful testimony. However, the witness protection system provided by China’s legislation is porous, and the implementation of the current witness protection system in practice is not satisfactory, which causes the serious consequence that a witness is unwilling to testify or does not dare to be present in court. An important measure should be adopted to improve the witness protection system in providing practical and comprehensive protection for witnesses in China. The provisions on the protection of witnesses in the drafted amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China is more advanced than the current law, but still too simple and not enough, which cannot change the weak situation of protection of witnesses, and are needed to be strengthened in judicial interpretations after the drafted amendment is passed. Perfection of China’s witness protection system is necessary in practice, which is still dependent on the reform of the judicial system and the working mechanism in China even if the drafted amendment was passed afterwards. China shall apply the provisions in the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the UN Convention against Corruption Convention as a guide and absorb other countries’ and regions’ experience to improve its witness protection system, but the basic point is that it should be based on China’s realities, and localize the specific systems.     

The negligence of prison authorities and the protection of prisoner’s rights

This article looks at the potential for legal action brought by prisoners (and their dependants) who have suffered from the alleged neglect of the prison authorities. The article will examine the case law in this area to assess the success of prisoners’ negligence claims and whether such claims are unduly fettered by judicial attitudes and other more practical issues such as the difficulty in establishing a breach of duty. In particular the article will consider whether the law and its application has been, or should be, modified in the light of new obligations imposed on public authorities, including the courts, by the Human Rights Act 1998 and by the developing case law of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Convention rights such as the right to life and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment.     

Burundi’s rebel groups and the stigmatisation of wartime sexual violence

ABSTRACT

Despite assumptions about the ubiquity of wartime sexual violence, some armed actors work hard to generate negative views of rape and other abuses. This article qualitatively explores rebel group stigmatisation (and stigma) of wartime sexual violence and prohibitive normative practices. Regularly discussed with reference to the shaming of victims or survivors, stigmatisation is nonetheless utilised here as a concept for understanding how sexual coercion is “made” deviant and consequential for potential perpetrators. Two rebel groups from Burundi’s civil war (1994–2008), CNDD-FDD (National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy) and FNL (Palipehutu-Forces for National Liberation), are compared. The FNL stigmatised rape and sexual assault, and the nature and quality of its practices shaped negative social norms surrounding rape. The article’s main contribution is to demonstrate the need to deepen and widen the evidence base on the prevention of wartime sexual violence.     

Social context,family process,and Turkish boys’ pathway to incarceration: an application of the age-graded theory of informal social control

Although the juvenile delinquency problem in Turkey has become increasingly visible in the last decade, existing research on Turkish youth convicted of delinquency is still in its early stages. The purpose of this study was to apply the age-graded theory of informal social control that was developed by Sampson and Laub to the Turkish context, and to explore the role of family processes that lead young men to prison. Data are from in-depth interviews with 30 convicted juveniles in a juvenile prison. Data analysis highlighted the negative effects of specific family processes such as youth’s lack of attachment to their parents, which may result from harsh or erratic methods of discipline, and low levels of parental monitoring. The findings suggest that it is essential to implement family-oriented interventions to prevent and control serious delinquency.     

Adolescents’ level of knowledge of and supportive attitudes to sexual crime in the Swedish context

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present study was twofold. First, we wanted to quantify the level of knowledge of Swedish young people regarding sexual crime and to evaluate their supportive attitudes, while at the same time we aimed at identifying, through self-report, the sources that most contribute to such knowledge and attitudes. A sample of 245 upper secondary school students was selected from five schools in four Swedish counties. The results indicate that adolescents in Sweden have a high level of knowledge of rape, sexual molestation/harassment, and sexual exploitation of a dependent person. Furthermore, they show non-supportive attitudes to rape, sexual harassment, and sexual crime in general. However, some issues related to these types of crime proved to be confusing to the participants and, therefore, require targeting in education policies, specifically among juvenile males and those born abroad. The results are discussed in the context of the needs for sexual crime prevention.     

Equal reproduction rights? The right to found a family in United Nations’ disability policy since the 1970s

ABSTRACT

With the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2006, disability as an issue of human rights and international law can no longer be ignored. The history of this convention can be traced back to the 1970s, when disability was framed in United Nations (UN) declarations as a human-rights issue at the global level. One of the recurrent topics of debate during this trajectory was the right of people with disabilities to found a family. This right was far from self-evident and was evaluated very differently by various stakeholders.

This study follows the right to have a family in UN disability policy since the 1970s. The history of the family in relation to disability at the global level has been a neglected field of enquiry compared to other concepts such as gender and race. This study investigates how and why the right to found a family was framed in the Declarations on the Rights of Mentally Disabled Persons (1971) and Disabled Persons (1975), the International Year of Disabled Persons (1981), the International Decade of Disabled Persons (1983 ? 1992), the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993) and the UNCRPD in 2006.

The trajectory of the right of people with disabilities to found a family that emerges from these cases shows a change in the 1990s from a social-policy to a human-rights approach towards disability – which reflects a broader trend in global and local histories of human rights. In the case of reproductive rights of people with disabilities this change meant that the emphasis was laid more on providing a legal protection for the individual against the interference of others (so-called negative freedom) than on enhancing the opportunities for disabled people to practice their (positive) freedom.     

Prosecuting in paradise – race,politics and the rule of law in Fiji

This article looks at the violent coup in Fiji in 2000 led by George Speight in which the multiracial Government of Mahendra Chaudhary was overthrown. The article gives an insider's account of a subsequent criminal trial of some senior political figures who had supported Speight, including the Vice-President of Fiji. They were charged with taking treasonous oaths of office to serve in a rebel Government under Speight at a time when the legitimate Head of State, President Ratu Sir Kamasisi Mara, was struggling to prevent the nation from descending into total chaos and anarchy. The article considers how the trial had important ramifications for the rule of law in this developing south Pacific nation.     

Reconciliation of women’s rights and cultural practices: polygamy in Ghana

The article analyzes women’s rights and the practice of polygamy in Ghana. The various justifications given for the practice and the colonial attitude towards the practice are examined. The article focuses on how polygamy impacts the attainment of substantive equality for Ghanaian women. As the total abolition of polygamy would be a challenging and problematic objective at this stage, due to the entrenched nature of the practice, it is instead recommended that law be used to protect women in polygamous marriages from domestic violence and ensure their property rights.     

Parents’ and non-parents’ beliefs about the cues to deception in children

Previous research has suggested that certain groups of experts are better at detecting deception than others. A possible explanation for this finding is that some expert groups have different beliefs about the cues to deception. This study investigated these beliefs in one such expert group, namely parents. Four different scenarios were presented, each scenario depicting a deception for a child at a different age. For each one, participants were asked to indicate whether behaviours would occur more or less frequently during deception. Some differences were found between parents and non-parents for overall beliefs, however there were few differences in their awareness of situational variations, with all participants being aware that deceptive behaviour could change across situations. Results are discussed in terms of the relationship between beliefs and expertise as well as the importance of direct versus indirect experience in the formation of beliefs about the cues to deception.