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The article presents commentaries on the white paper "No More Excuses: A New Approach to Tackling Youth Crime in England and Wales," published in November 1997. It states that the British Home Office has invited those who are affected to give their perspectives in response to proposals for a radical change in the youth justice system in England and Wales. The White Paper has commendable objectives which highlights the importance of youth crime prevention and calls for developing of punitive measures. It concludes that whatever measures applied to the behavior of these children must follow the ethical and moral rights of the child and what is best for the child.

The article examines the progress in the creation of criminal law since 1965. It explains the mischief aimed at by the Servants' Character Act 1792. Its origins lay in a petition by householders who had taken servants into their households on the strength of false references. The passage of the Unlawful Drilling Act 1819 following the Peterloo Massacre is discussed, as well as rulings of the Court of Criminal Appeal whose effect is to support the Judicial Studies Board's (JSB) specimen direction.

The Mawgridge's case in 1707 set the precedent where adultery was recognised as a justified trigger for the husband's killing of his wife's lover; this crystallised a partial defence for provocation. However, in an 1810 case, the killing of the unfaithful wife followed a manslaughter conviction rather than murder for the first time. This study aims to investigate the shaping of a legally permissible violence, that is, the mitigation of the husband's culpability in killing his adulterous wife. This provides the opportunity to question the (ir)rationality behind the judiciary's discourse in the case of R v Clinton 2012; here, despite infidelity being abolished in 2009 in England and Wales as a defence for murder, the judges still insisted on its relevance in our culture and hence on legal culpability. The theoretical framework in this paper draws upon the scholarship of masculinity, the family, and the law. This paper discusses the contribution of the hegemonic male identity in creating this legal violence and fortifying social-hierarchical structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'capacity' has come to assume a variety of meanings in the law of England and Wales, and the failure of statutes and judges to specify its meaning and application across the civil and criminal law leads to problems. Nowhere is this perhaps clearer than in the law relating to sexual capacity. This paper begins with an overview of two streams of law on sexual capacity in the civil and criminal law. The first stream traces through the criminal law provisions of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the work by the Law Commission which led to its enactment, and the ways in which its provisions have been applied by the courts in practice; and the second examines the Mental Capacity Act 2005 ('MCA 2005') and its parallel application by the civil courts. We illustrate how the case of A Local Authority v JB [2021] UKSC 52 brought these problems to the fore, as the Supreme Court was at last confronted with the differences between the definition and use of the term 'capacity' by the civil and criminal law on sexual capacity. We suggest that the decision made by the Supreme Court in JB has left open terrain which ought to be used to reframe, or perhaps even replace, the concept of 'capacity' within the criminal law on sexual capacity. 1 ., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Alex Ruck Keene KC (Hon) acted in the case of A Local Authority v JB [2021] UKSC 52 considered in the article., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

As the psychological impact of childhood exposure to domestic abuse gains more traction, referring to children as 'the hidden victims of domestic abuse' is becoming increasingly inaccurate and reductionist. Representing children as mere witnesses of domestic abuse also poses wider implications from the view of law and policy. Jurisdictions which recognise children as direct victims rather than hidden witnesses of domestic abuse, for example, send a clear message that the psychological harm of experiencing domestic abuse merits robust intervention (e.g. additional funding for child-specific support and services). Using a comparative approach, this study analyses the legal recognition of children who experience domestic abuse for the purposes of exploring how the child should be conceptualised in laws regulating childhood exposure to domestic abuse. For this comparative review, the jurisdictions of England and Wales, New Zealand and the United States (specifically the State of Washington) were selected, on the basis that they all respond to child experiences of domestic abuse in distinct ways that raise pertinent points of contrast. Whilst the State of Washington relies primarily on perpetrator-centric, criminal law responses to child experiences of domestic abuse, England and Wales and New Zealand resort to family law mechanisms that focus more on the child and the parent–child relationship. All in all, these points of contrast are pertinent because they provide an exploratory view of how the child should be conceptualised in law and policy. As this paper submits, conceptualising the child as a direct victim of domestic abuse––as reflected in England and Wales and New Zealand's legislative efforts––works to send a powerful message about the severity of harm that children suffer when they experience domestic abuse. The State of Washington, on the other hand, has much to learn from England and Wales and New Zealand's conceptualisation of the child, as its current legislative efforts appear to be rooted in an outdated understanding of the child as a mere collateral witness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will interpret and critically analyse the new offence for organised crime in England and Wales (Section 45 of the Serious Crime Act 2015) from a criminological perspective in light of evidence found in research in the country. It will argue that changes in the law relate to changes in political narratives rather than to variations in the criminal panorama of organised crime. It will discuss these changes within three perspectives, which address various levels of concern: a narrative perspective, which reflects on the overlapping of meanings in the use of the words 'organised crime'; an evolution perspective, which reflects on the origins of the new participation offences with reference to both national and international pressures; a management perspective, which reflects on some of the immediate effects of the new offences of organised crime on the criminal justice system. This paper will conclude that political narratives have indeed influenced criminal policy, while there is no significant change in the phenomenon of organised crime to justify such narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its inception in the 1980s, the growing body of Therapeutic Jurisprudence scholarship has continued to challenge and optimise not only our understanding of what the law "is", but also how we can leverage its agency to improve the ways in which we apply, observe and evaluate the law. By focusing on the emotional, human and psychological consequences of legal processes, Therapeutic Jurisprudence empowers practitioners to design emotionally intelligent and remedial strategies to either minimise harmful consequences or enhance restorative legal goals and outcomes. As the influence of Therapeutic Jurisprudence scholarship and its practical applications has continued to gain traction in rapid and organic growth, collaborations brokered with a wide range of social science disciplines have called for a more robust focus on validated measurement scales. To that end, there is a clear and growing need for a suite of Therapeutic Jurisprudence specific tools for empirical evaluation. As there has been no formal attempt within the Therapeutic Jurisprudence research community to begin this process, this paper breaks new ground by providing a validated tool for empirical measurement of the therapeutic quality of judicial officers' behavioural and interactional styles in problem-solving court jurisdictions. Using original empirical data recently collected at a problem-solving court in England, the paper takes the reader through the journey of statistically validating the levied scaling systems by performing Principal Component Analysis and Cronbach's Alpha. In doing so, the paper offers an original contribution to Therapeutic Jurisprudence methodology., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper mainly is to examine the relevant rules concerning documentary letter of credit (L/C) fraud under criminal law in England and China. Design/methodology/approachThe paper analyses the regulations about such crime and relevant literature. Findings -- The similarities and differences of such rules have been identified briefly. L/C fraud is considered a conduct crime; and unspecific or vague provisions concerning this crime may cause difficulties of application in judicial practice in both England and China. But the possible punishment for L/C fraud criminals under Chinese criminal law seems more severe than that under English law. Dealing with L/C fraud in international trade under national criminal laws is not effective. Regional and international efforts on legal assistance in cross-border criminal cases still remain to be improved. Research limitations/implications -- The limitation is that it examines merely relevant substantial rules in legislation. This opens the paths to future research on the approach towards L/C fraud demonstrated in court cases in England and in China. Social implications -- The research underlies the need to take serious attitude and make more effective efforts towards cross-border criminal cases, although different countries may have different rules concerning specific economic crimes. Originality/value -- This paper fills the gap of a comparative study on how L/C is regulated under criminal law regime in England and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, jurists have distinguished between voluntary/involuntary behaviour via the theory of volition. Though perceived as the conventional approach, this paper argues that the volitional understanding of voluntariness is an inadequate instrument for assessing complex behaviours which seemingly portray a striking level of intelligence and purposiveness on the part of the accused. In particular, the phenomenon known as hypnotically-induced behaviour, which forms the focus of this paper, is one such troublesome case. To this end, the version of the volitional theory most staunchly advocated by Professor Michael Moore is singled out for scrutiny, due to his strong sentiments supporting the application of his philosophy to these aforementioned behaviours. In contrast to Moore, this paper suggests that the position most recently proposed by the Law Commission of England and Wales within their discussion paper on the defences of insanity and automatism is to be preferred. Specifically, the Commission recommend substituting the theory of volition for that of 'control' as a means for assessing the voluntariness of any given behaviour. This paper submits that a theory of control has two major advantages over the traditional theory of volitionalism. First, the possession/absence of control more accurately reflects the contemporary system of criminal law in England and Wales. Second, a theory of control is more conceptually defensible as an explanation for why behaviours performed under hypnosis are typically perceived as involuntary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mentally disordered offenders may suffer discrimination on the basis of mental disorder, or on the basis of being offenders, or both., Aims: The aim of this paper is to outline a framework for examining discrimination affecting mentally disordered offenders. It is argued that there should be systematic comparisons between offenders with mental disorder and nonoffenders with mental disorder in order to identify and characterise specific failures to ensure equivalence of mental health care; and systematic comparisons between offenders with mental disorder and offenders without mental disorder in order to identify how mental disorder may constitute a barrier to forms of support and constructive intervention available to other offenders., Methods: A critical review was conducted of official documents presenting criminal justice and mental health policy for England and Wales, principally since 2012, together with reports of inspectorate and oversight bodies and relevant research studies., Findings: There is evidence that offenders with mental disorder may not be able to access mental health care equivalent to that for nonoffenders with mental disorder. There is also evidence that they may not be able to access interventions available to other offenders. Further disadvantage may arise in the criminal courts since, in England and Wales, if inpatient care is required, the powers of criminal courts to effect hospital admission under Part III of mental health legislation are weakened by the statutory requirement of information that places are available. This is discriminatory against offenders with mental disorder insofar as forms of court disposal for other offenders are not prevented by the capacity of criminal justice agencies., Conclusions and Implications: The review supports the need for systematic comparisons to identify forms of disadvantage and discrimination experienced by mentally disordered offenders in relation to both mental health and criminal justice policies services., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

In this paper, I explore how viability, meaning the ability of the fetus to survive post-delivery, features in the law regulating abortion provision in England and Wales and the USA. I demonstrate that viability is formalized differently in the criminal law in England and Wales and the USA, such that it is quantified and defined differently. I consider how the law might be applied to the examples of artificial womb technology and anencephalic fetuses. I conclude that there is incoherence in the meaning of viability and argue that it is thus a conceptually illegitimate basis on which to ground abortion regulation. This is both because of the fluidity of the concept and because how it has been thus far understood in the law is unsupported by medical realities. Furthermore, it has the effect of heavily diluting pregnant people's rights with overly moralistic limitations on access to healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The policy and service response to anti-social behaviour and crime among young people in England and Wales was transformed by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and subsequent legislation. The new youth justice system that emerged involves radical change across the dimensions of policy, institutions, management, practice and knowledge. A range of new service interventions have been established with the objective of preventing youth offending. In line with the official commitment to ‘evidence based policy’, these interventions are subject to extensive research evaluation. The paper describes and assesses the emerging body of research that is concerned with evaluating preventive interventions targeted at young people ‘at risk’ of offending. It shows that the ‘new youth justice’ has initiated a very substantial body of work across England and Wales involving very large numbers of young people. It identifies the main messages from the research findings about the effectiveness of these interventions but also addresses issues in the organisation and design of the research. The paper concludes that evidence for the success of the new range of interventions in preventing youth offending is very limited, although the research contains valuable findings on the processes of project development and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of a generic community sentence first emerged officially in England and Wales in 1988. The first half of this article traces the development of this policy initiative through its various guises, until its introduction in the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The new order, not surprisingly, given its fragmentary development as a policy, is expected to achieve a variety of objectives, many of which move in the direction of a more punitive penal culture. In the second part of the paper, using official statistics, trends in the use of the order are examined and compared with the suspended sentence order. The implications of the results of this analysis for the probation service are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In England and Wales (in 2008) and Northern Ireland (in 2004) legislation has been enacted to render it a criminal offence to incite hatred based on sexual orientation. This paper examines the relevant pieces of legislation and considers whether they can be kept sufficiently narrow in operation to protect one's freedom of expression. The paper also addresses criticism of such legislation, notably by Eric Heinze, based on arguments on equal protection and cause and effect. It concludes that in the UK, narrowly drafted legislation may have a useful, if marginal, impact and will not necessarily lead to the immense restrictions on freedom of expression that Heinze fears. Nor, however, will the legislation be likely to achieve radical social change while other powerful sources of discriminatory discourse remain uncontrolled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractCriteria for the permissible exchange of relevant data within crime and disorder partnerships are to be found in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Partnerships have experienced difficulties in reaching agreement about data-sharing. This paper proposes an approach which minimises formal data-sharing while maximising relevance to crime reduction. It should be read as a radical alternative to the approach advocated by Brookes et al (2003) and is based on the excellent work undertaken in the Government Office, East Midlands.Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal (2004) 6, 7-12; doi:10.5555/crpr.2004.6.1.7 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When does a punishment for crime cross from being a legitimate goal of the state to a dignity taking? From the Norman Conquest until the middle of the eighteenth-century, the Common Law provided that in addition to execution, the property of convicted felons or traitors was forfeited to the crown and their blood corrupted so that their heirs could not inherit. I argue this is a clear instance of dignity takings. The colonists who traveled to Massachusetts Bay wanted a fresh start and so sought to create a model society based on Biblical law. Using around 6,000 criminal cases from 1630 to 1683 this paper argues that a different form of dignity takings ensued. The use of "scarlet letters," pillorying, whipping, and other public punishment were all designed to single out unworthy members of the com munity. I push Atuahene's concept of dignity takings by expanding the idea of a dignity taking to include not only the destruction of real or personal property but also the destruction of peoples' actual bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers whether section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which has been used to prosecute those who transmit the HIV virus in sexual relationships (eg, R v Konzani), could be used to prosecute women (in England and Wales) who transmit the virus to their child during pregnancy, delivery or via breast feeding. The discussion concludes that prosecution for transmission in pregnancy/delivery is unlikely. However, it is argued that there might be scope to prosecute the transmission of the virus via breast feeding in the event that there was sufficient evidence. However, this would also be subject to the Crown Prosecution Service deeming such a prosecution to be in the public interest. The paper does not seek to examine the ethical issues involved. However, it acknowledges that this issue is part of a broader debate as to whether, and if so, when, it is appropriate to criminalise the transmission of disease., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.)

The proper boundaries of criminal liability with respect to those with questionable mental capacity are currently under review. In its deliberations in the areas of unfitness to plead, automatism and the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity the Law Commission for England and Wales have been cognizant of particular difficulties in fairly attributing criminal responsibility to those whose mental capacities may or may not have impinged on their decisions, either at the time of the offence or at trial. And they have referenced the potential breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) posed by the state of our current laws. However, in their efforts to remedy these potential deficiencies is the Law Commission heading in a direction that is fundamentally incompatible with the direction embodied by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD)? Whether one must cede sensibly to the other, or whether some compromise might emerge, perhaps through an extension of supportive services or through the development of disability-neutral criminal law, forms the subject of this paper., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper investigates the link between cannabis depenalisation and crime using individual-level panel data for England and Wales from 2003 to 2006. We exploit the declassification of cannabis in the UK in 2004 as a natural experiment. Specifically, we use the fact that the declassification changed expected punishments differently in various age groups due to thresholds in British criminal law and employ a difference-in-differences type design using data from the longitudinal version of the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey. Our findings suggest essentially no increases in either cannabis consumption, consumption of other drugs, crime and other forms of risky behaviour., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In England, Wales and Scotland, those who unintentionally transmit HIV through sexual intercourse are at risk of criminal prosecution, and furthermore may be at risk of imprisonment under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. These sentences have ranged between 1 and 10 years. There has been a long debate on whether this is an acceptable use of the law, and indeed whether those who transmit HIV in this manner should be subjected to legal proceedings. Previous debate has embraced the rhetoric of shared responsibility and public health. In this paper, we wished instead to apply traditional justifications for sentencing (including retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, incapacitation and reparation) to imprisonment for non-intentional transmission of HIV through consensual sexual intercourse. We argue that when these principles are applied to imprisonment for this 'crime', we are unable to justify imprisonment sufficiently, and therefore, that imprisonment is a misguided response to HIV transmission.

In England and Wales, criminal prosecutions for recklessly causing serious bodily harm by transmitting HIV have occurred since 2003. Understanding how people respond to the application of criminal law, will help to determine the likely impact of prosecution. As part of a wider qualitative study on unprotected anal intercourse amongst homosexually active men with diagnosed HIV in England and Wales, 42 respondents were asked about their awareness of criminal prosecutions for the sexual transmission of HIV, and how (if at all) they had adapted their sexual behaviour as a result. Findings demonstrate considerable confusion regarding the law and suggest that misunderstandings could lead people with HIV to wrongly believe that how they act, and what they do or do not say, is legitimated by law. Although criminalisation prompted some respondents to take steps to reduce sexual transmission of HIV, others moderated their behaviour in ways likely to have adverse effects, or reported no change. The aim of the criminal justice system is to carry out justice, not to improve public health. The question addressed in this paper is whether desirable public health outcomes may be outweighed by undesirable ones when the criminal law is applied to a population-level epidemic.

Court diversion schemes have been running for a decade in New Zealand and are increasing in number in Australia. This paper aims to give an international and historical context to these developments, by reference to psychiatric initiatives at courts in the US and in England and Wales. From a review of the specialist literature, an account is given of three forms of psychiatric intervention in courts over the last 90 years: court psychiatric clinics and mental health courts in the US, and court diversion schemes in England and Wales. High levels of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners, coupled with a continuing increase in prisoner numbers, demonstrate the need for systems for dealing with mentally ill people who come before the courts. Court diversion in England and Wales developed as part of a system where the mentally ill who are found guilty are sent to hospital in lieu of any other sentence. Its focus is on a form of psychiatric triage, and its ethos is the health of the patient. Court psychiatric clinics in the US grew up as an alternative to assessment in prison. Their focus has been on full psychiatric evaluation in an insanity and incompetence jurisdiction. The ethos has been that of serving the court. Mental health courts are heavily influenced by ideas of therapeutic jurisprudence, and their emphasis has been on a judge holding minor offenders in community care through the threat of judicial sanction. Experience in England and Wales has shown that court diversion can be a powerful and effective intervention. In order for it to function properly, those running court schemes need direct admission rights to psychiatric beds, both open and locked. Court diversion schemes are best as part of a spectrum of services to police stations, courts and prisons, which involved both general and forensic psychiatrists.

This paper presents an analysis of responses to the first criminal convictions for HIV transmission in England and Wales within a sample of people living with HIV. These findings represent an important contribution to the development of well-informed prosecution policy. The responses were collected during 20 focused group discussions with a community and web-recruited sample of heterosexual African men and women, and gay and bisexual men (n = 125) living with diagnosed HIV in London, Manchester and Brighton. The vast majority (90%) of comments made were critical of the implementation and impact of criminalization. In particular, respondents expressed concern about the way in which criminal convictions conflict with messages about shared responsibility for 'safer sex', and the extent to which such cases will exacerbate existing stigma and discrimination related to HIV. Most felt that the successes achieved by human rights approaches to HIV prevention, treatment, and care were placed under threat by the growing culture of blame encouraged by criminal prosecutions.

For over 300 years, criminal courts have regarded sexual infidelity as sufficiently grave provocation as to provide a warrant, indeed a 'moral warrant', for reducing murder to manslaughter. While the warrant has spilled over into diminished responsibility defences, wounding, grievous bodily harm and attempted murder cases, it is provocation cases that have provided the precedents enshrining a defendant's impassioned homicidal sexual infidelity tale as excusatory. Periodically, judges and law reformers attempt to reign in provocation defences, most recently in England and Wales where provocation has been replaced by a loss of control defence that, most controversially, specifically excludes sexual infidelity as a trigger for loss of control. This paper reflects on this reform and its reception, glossing Shakespeare's scathing critique of warrants for murder in Titus Andronicus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Those who campaign for law reform to permit "euthanasia" may seek different things and at least some of what they seek may already be permissible under the criminal law of England and Wales. In this paper I examine one means whereby the criminal law delivers outcomes acceptable to the euthanasia lobby, that is the curious notion of "causation" deployed by the law, which adds a value override to the more usual notion of factual causation such that, for example, if medical treatment falls within the acceptable range as normal and proper, the pre-existing injury or illness is treated as exclusively the cause of death and the doctor escapes criminal liability, even where the medical treatment will shorten life to the certain knowledge, possibly even the wish, of the doctor. Thus the law may already be delivering a range of outcomes--euthanasia in a weak sense--acceptable to the euthanasia lobby. If so, it achieves this by stealth. That is inappropriate to the doctor-patient relationship, which is one of trust. So there is a strong case for greater transparency. Moreover, there are limits to the acceptable outcomes which an unreformed criminal law can deliver and in a range of cases the criminal law condemns the doctor to impotence and the patient to a prolonged, miserable and undignified death. So there is also a case for going beyond the current law and legalising euthanasia in a strong sense.

Four rules minimize the likelihood of a false conviction resulting from the misidentification of a suspect from a lineup: (1) The person conducting the lineup should not know which member of the lineup is the suspect. (2) The eyewitness should be warned that the criminal might not be present. (3) Foils should be selected based on the eyewitness's verbal description of the criminal. (4) Confidence should be recorded at the time of identification. In this paper the relevant law relating to lineups in England and Wales is outlined and the extent to which they satisfy the four rules is reviewed. It is concluded that the way in which lineups are conducted in England and Wales would, with minor modifications, satisfy the four rules, and this demonstrates that the rules can be applied practically.

In this paper, we draw on our experience as evaluators of three restorative justice schemes in England and Wales which were funded under the auspices of the Home Office's 'Grime Reduction Programme' to reflect upon the theoretical and empirical potential of restorative justice (in particular, conferencing) to bring about reductions in reoffending on the part of participating offenders. We propose that there is a case to be made for a subtle shift in ways of thinking about the recidivism reduction potential of restorative justice: that is, as an opportunity to facilitate a desire, or consolidate a decision, to desist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-intensity crime areas are areas where high levels of violent crime coexist with large numbers of offenders, thereby creating an area that may present significant policing problems. In an earlier paper, the authors analysed police perceptions of high-intensity crime areas, and now extend that earlier work by comparing the police's perception of where such areas are located with offence/offender data. They also report on the construction of predictive models that identify the area-specific attributes that explain the distribution of such areas. By focusing on the city of Sheffield, the authors draw on a wider range of local area data than was possible in the original paper, and also question how widespread such areas may be in Sheffield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes two legislative developments in the English-speaking world — the precedent of statutory criminalization of treason in England, and the establishment of federal criminal law in the United States — and compares them with the development of two distinct branches of supranational criminal law: international criminal law and European criminal law. In doing so, the author demonstrates two different approaches to criminal law and the way in which criminal law can be used to protect different values. The author argues that the criminalization of certain violations follows two distinct patterns. In some cases, criminal law aims at preserving self-interest: for example, in the EU, this has taken the form of concentrating efforts to criminalize fraud against the EU's budget. This is what the author calls ‘parochial criminal law’. In other cases, criminal law has the broader purpose of pursuing the protection of universal interests: this is the case of the provisions criminalizing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The author concludes with some suggestions for reform of the general parts of both international criminal law and European criminal law. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Michel Foucault's analysis of penal torture as part of a regime of truth production continues to be routinely applied to the interpretation of English Renaissance drama. This paper argues that such an application misleadingly overlooks the lay participation that was characteristic of English criminal justice. It goes on to explore the implications of the epistemological differences between continental inquisitorial models of trial and the jury trial as it developed in sixteenth-century England, arguing that rhetorical and political differences between these two models are dramatized in the unfolding action of Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on Tony Smith's criticisms of criminal lawyers' use of the concept of actus reus. It explores how those criticisms relate to the proliferation of types of actus reusin the last five decades, especially in connection with the spread of offences of omission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a comparison of the approach of the US courts and of the Solicitor's Disciplinary Tribunal in England to disciplinary proceedings concerning lawyers suffering from alcohol dependence and/or depression. A richer case law in the USA indicates a more sophisticated approach, higher standards as to evidence and better support systems for lawyers in recovery. Useful lessons could be learned from the American experience and the experience of doctors and dentists by English lawyers.

Similarities in the trends of the number of offences and the level of alcohol consumption are often used as evidence as a link between alcohol and many forms of criminal activity. However, such crude correlations may be misleading as they neither take account of other factors that might be important, not assist the understanding of the causal links between alcohol and crime. In this paper, the role that economic models may play in furthering the understanding of the potential links between alcohol and crime are explored. A complete model is presented which allows for complex interactions between alcohol, crime and the criminal justice system. Results from testing this model with time series data (1960-88) for England and Wales for different types of crime are discussed in detail. Data defined by standard regions and for the years 1980 to 1988 were also compiled and a summary of the results discussed. The argument that alcohol consumption may be one of the determinants of a wide range of crimes receives some support and is also found that alcohol consumption may affect the probability of detection for some types of crime.

This paper surveys the criminal justice system in 16th and 17th century England, for the purpose of pointing out important similarities between its workings and the operation of the criminal justice system in the modem United States. Topics covered include (1) the nature and incidence of crime; (2) citizen participation in and cooperation with the criminal justice system; and (3) the disposition of persons and cases. The authors conclude that, contrary to popular opinion, early modem England was not a halcyon period of law and order. That the English criminal justice system was beset by problems similar to those faced today seems to indicate that the interaction between law and society is inherently problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the case for codification of the criminal law of England and Wales. It proposes that the Law Commission’s codification project should be revived and should begin with codifying the law of criminal evidence. The arguments in favour of codification are strong and the arguments against are weak. The paper suggests that codification of the law of criminal evidence would not be an unduly difficult exercise. Most of the law is contained in a collection of modern statutes, the provisions of which could be simply consolidated. The remaining law is a mix of older legislation and common law that would require restating in a consistent modern style. There are relatively few issues requiring important decisions of policy. The experience of Australia and New Zealand shows that the drafting of an evidence code is a feasible undertaking and need not result in an excessively lengthy Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Corporate foreign bribery can have devastating consequences on communities and states. Over the past decade, there have been several promising developments, both national and international, that might increase the chances of victim states to receive remediation for the harm they suffered from foreign bribery. In particular, awareness has risen that victim states must be considered and new innovative items have been added to the toolbox of prosecutors in the fight against corruption that is assumed to also improve victim states' standing in these procedures. This study aims to assess whether indeed victim states receive compensation through these novel procedures. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses the three case studies of Switzerland, France and England and Wales for a comprehensive empirical and normative analysis of settlement agreements between defendants and prosecution authorities and of court jurisprudence. Findings: This study shows that although de jure, it seems warranted to order the payment of remedies to victim states within domestic criminal proceedings, in practice, this rarely happens. A number of legal and practical obstacles account for this situation. This study, therefore, calls for the formulation of international guidelines containing the obligation to inform victim states of ongoing criminal proceedings on corporate foreign bribery, and guidance on how to identify the victim of this crime, as well as the damage caused. Originality/value: This is the first contribution to verify whether claims that settlement agreements, recently introduced in England and Wales and France (and similar procedures are available in Switzerland), are beneficial for victim states in their quest to receive compensation. As this study shows that this is – not yet – the case in practice, this study proposes solutions that could lead the way for remediation of the harm caused by corporate corruption – and thereby, ultimately, to a more just outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between impairment, disabling barriers and risk factors relating to hate crime incidents. The study analyses quantitative data collected in 2011–2012 where there were 81 incidents of disability hate crime reported in the Tyne and Wear area of England. The research discovered that in the Tyne and Wear region people with learning difficulties have a greater likelihood of experiencing hate crime than do people with other impairments. Although there was no significant difference between impairment and types of hate crime incidents recorded (i.e. verbal abuse/harassment, violence and criminal damage), there were distinct differences between police and victim support responses to victims which correlated to impairment categories (p ≤ 0.05). The study concludes by suggesting that owing to specific disabling barriers experienced by people with learning difficulties, this group is at increased risk of being victimised and is less likely to receive support from criminal justice agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

American and English criminal law is characterized by wider use of strict liability than one finds in the criminal law of many European jurisdictions. With respect to English law, scholars have suggested that the use of lay juries explains the prevalence of strict liability offenses. This paper investigates that idea in American law and finds some evidence for it. Courts and legislatures sometimes worry that mens rea is difficult to prove when the only available evidence is circumstantial--it must be inferred from conduct and circumstances. Just as the evidence rules reflect a concern with the limits of jurors' abilities to handle certain kinds of evidence, the rules regarding strict liability as well as reverse burdens of proof (under which defendants must prove defenses) manifest a concern that juries are worse than judges at inferring culpability from available evidence. One way to address But then what safeguards remain to ensure that only the culpable are criminally punished? The answer in American law, broadly, is that adversarial criminal procedure is thought to compensate for this deficiency in substantive criminal law. Courts identify, somewhat obliquely, two procedural components in particular: the use of prosecutorial discretion, and, paradoxically, the jury. While courts are somewhat skeptical of the jury's capacity to accurately recognize proof of culpability, they profess faith in the lay jury's "common sense" instincts--or political judgments--to prevent convictions of the non-culpable. On that view, strict liability addresses the jury's weakness regarding a challenging issue of proof, while the jury's purportedly strong capacity for normative judgment, in turn, provides a safeguard against unjustified punishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of the English Coroners and Justice Act of 2009 to the penal legislation in Singapore. It examines the significance of the English law, which deals with the defenses of provocation and diminished responsibility, to the area of law which the Singaporean courts borrowed from it. It states that the English statute abolishes the common law defense of provocation and replaces it with a defense of loss of control.

‘Fair labelling’ has become common currency in criminal law scholarship over recent decades, but the principle's scope and justification has never been analysed in detail. Basic questions remain unanswered, such as the intended audience for these labels and whether they assume the same importance in respect of both offences and defences. This article traces the intellectual history of the principle and examines its possible justifications in respect of offence labelling, noting that labelling is important in two distinct senses: that of description, and that of differentiation. It goes on to sketch out some considerations which are of importance in the principle's application, before concluding with a discussion of its applicability to defences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information about the issue of intoxicated mistakes of self-defense in England and Wales. The criminal law considers several cases where an intoxicated individual attacked someone in a mistaken belief that the victim was about to attack. There are inconsistencies of the law which deals with intoxicated acts of aggression and mistakes about self-defense. An example of the murder case and the impact on criminal liability are discussed.

Penal reformers in the 1810s and 1820s condemned the English criminal law as a 'bloody code': a monolithic mass of draconian statutes inherited from a former, less civilized age. This overwhelmingly negative image underpinned the drama tic and unexpected repeal of the capital statutes in the 1830s and survived to define a whole era of criminal justice history. This article explores the conditions that enabled the reformers to establish such a powerful critique of the law in such a short space of time. It contends that a key to their success was their ability to exploit contemporary scandals to argue that the law had lost touch with public opinion. Forgery aroused more controversy than any other species of capital crime in the 1820s and became the focal point for opposition to the capital laws. By analysing how reformers used the scandal surrounding forgery to foster the notion that the law was a 'bloody code', this article presents a new perspective on the early nineteenth-century penal reform debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In January 2013, new court procedure rules were introduced in England and Wales, which resulted in significant changes to the instruction of expert witness psychologists (EWPsychs). This study aims to build on the results of previous survey studies of psychologists working as expert witnesses in identifying the current challenges faced by EWPsychs. Design/methodology/approach: Using a mixed-methods design, a sample 58 practicing psychologist expert witnesses were surveyed, and qualitative data was analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Findings: Six overarching themes emerged from the online survey data: training and knowledge, changes to procedure rules and Legal Aid Authority fees, quality of reports, pressures to change opinion, conflict with EWPsychs and expert witness feedback. Over a third of psychologists working as expert witness have not received specific expert witness training, with a quarter of respondents indicating that the capped legal aid fees are a determining factor in whether they accept instruction as an expert witness, and almost two-third of respondents believing that the legal aid rates do not accurately reflect the work that they do. Practical implications: There is clear demand for high-quality EWPsychs and a need to develop expert witness training programmes and guidance documents to better support the next generation of EWPsychs. Originality/value: These results inform existing policy, clinical practice and guidance documents in supporting psychologists working as expert witnesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of a conference held at The Inns of Court in London, England on July 26-29, 1987 to examine the emergence of national movements for the reform of criminal law. One of the topics discussed in the seminar is the impact of human and constitutional rights on the criminal law. Among the papers presented in the conference are "The New Ancillary Offenses," by Norman Abrams, "Towards a Theory of Criminal Legislation," by Andrew Ashworth and "Act and Omission," by Sanford H. Kadish.