Legal Professionalism and International Criminal Proceedings

In criminal practice before international tribunals, the boundariesbetween lack of professionalism (serious misconduct) by prosecutionand taking an erroneous position on the law (procedural error)are particularly blurred, if only because the backgrounds andexpectations of all persons involved in the proceedings areprofoundly different and the playing field is still insufficientlydefined. This is illustrated by the Furundija case brought beforean International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia(ICTY) Trial Chamber in 1998. In that case the Chamber heldthat the prosecution, by failing to disclose a document to thedefence, had both engaged in serious misconduct and made a seriousprocedural error. Instead, the Lord Advocate and the Crown Agentof Scotland, later consulted by the ICTY Prosecutor, concludedthat there had only been an error of judgment. National caselaw, for instance that of Canadian courts, makes it clear thata good faith decision not to disclose a document, made in theexercise of professional judgment on a difficult and novel issue,may constitute an error of judgment, but certainly does notamount to misconduct.     

Forlorn daughters? The role of social motherhood in transnational African Methodist Episcopal missionary women networks, 1900–1940s

Abstract

This paper examines the transnational networks formed between women who were part of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) within the United States (US) and its South African missionary societies during the early twentieth century. From the outset, these networks enabled South African women to gain tertiary education in the US, but were nonetheless entrenched in unequal power dynamics. US-based women considered themselves metaphorical mothers to the female South African members, portraying the African women as daughters in need of social and financial support. US AME women were complex role models for Black African women who could not reasonably maintain the lifestyle enjoyed by many AME missionary women. Often, however, South African women appear to have utilized these unequal power dynamics, embracing the rhetoric of being “forlorn daughters” of Africa to maintain the AME’s support. Nevertheless, these networks helped sustain both US and South African women’s participation within the AME Church.     

Regional Offices in the New NHS: An Analysis of the Effects and Significance of Recent Changes

This article reports on a two-year, multi-method, qualitative study in two regional offices in the UK National Health Service of the changing role of the regional tier from the autumn of 1994. The nature of the changes from fourteen semiautonomous regional health authorities to eight regional offices of the NHS Executive, whose staff became civil servants, are described together with the way this reorganization changed the role and relationships of NHS Executive HQ, the regional offices and the field. By the end of our research in the autumn of 1996, the change from regional health authority to regional office had gone well in the two regional offices studied; they had become smaller organizations, had established closer working with HQ and believed they had more influence over policy, while retaining good relations with health authorities. Emerging issues from the changes and some of their implications are discussed, particularly the pressures towards greater centralization and the particular forms that these have taken, despite the aim, and in part the achievement, of greater devolution, and the cultural differences between the NHS and the civil service. We conclude by assessing what the future holds for regional offices, in the light of the recent NHS White Paper (Secretary of State for Health 1997)     

Implementing a COAG Reform Using the National Law Model: Australia's National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for Health Practitioners

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is undertaking a program of reform part of which requires moving from diverse state and territory based legislated systems to a nationally consistent system. A method which is being increasingly used for this purpose is the national law model. On 1 July 2010 a new national registration and accreditation scheme (NRAS) for health practitioners commenced using this model. The challenges faced in implementing NRAS may be faced by other initiatives using the same approach. The challenges of reaching agreement on a national system, avoiding variations within a national system at local level and delays in legislation across multiple parliaments are considered in the light of NRAS experience and lessons for similar projects are drawn out.     

Eithne Dowds: Feminist Engagement with International Criminal Law: Norm Transfer,Complementarity, Rape and Consent

Feminist Legal Studies -     

Introducing a New Diminished Responsibility Defence for England and Wales

A divisive law from the outset, the diminished responsibility defence has continued to arouse criticism since its inception over fifity years ago under section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957. Increasing pressure from academics, practitioners, and mental health professionals, among others, to restructure the law has resulted in a reformulation of the wording of section 2 under the unassuming auspices of section 52 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. This paper examines the new definition of diminished responsibility on two levels: the broader context and structural significance of the Act and section 52's place within it; and, the technical detail of the section itself. In so doing, consideration is given as to whether the new law appeases the critics of the old, in addition to whether the Government has succeeded in bringing to bear its objectives of clarity, fairness and effectiveness.     

Fading lies: applying the verifiability approach after a period of delay

ABSTRACT

We tested the utility of applying the Verifiability Approach (VA) to witness statements after a period of delay. The delay factor is important to consider because interviewees are often not interviewed directly after witnessing an event. A total of 64 liars partook in a mock crime and then lied about it during an interview, seven days later. Truth tellers (n?=?78) partook in activities of their own choosing and told the truth about it during their interview, seven days later. All participants were split into three groups, which provided three different verbal instructions relating to the interviewer’s aim to assess the statements for the inclusion of verifiable information: no information protocol (IP) (n?=?43), the standard-IP (n?=?46) and an enhanced-IP (n?=?53). In addition to the standard VA approach of analysing verifiable details, we further examined verifiable witness information and verifiable digital information and made a distinction between verifiable details and verifiable sources. We found that truth tellers reported more verifiable digital details and sources than liars.