The Commonwealth of Virginia is so named (as opposed to being denominated simply a "state") because the term "commonwealth" is used to indicate a government in which "supreme power is vested in the people."' That term is particularly apt, for in what better way does a government provide for the common weal of its people than by protecting them against crime, while at the same time respecting their individual rights and liberties? This is a delicate balance, one that is reflected in this survey of the most recent developments in Virginia criminal law and procedure. The legislative enactments and judicial decisions examined here portray the careful quest to resolve the tensions inherent between respect for the individual and the need for efficient law enforcement.
This paper aims to indicate the changes in Polish criminal law introduced in the COVID-19 acts. The text identifies the new regulations of most importance to society. For this reason, the initial focus is on the issue of suspension of procedural time limits and some substantive law time limits from the Criminal Code. It must be stated that, from the perspective of the legal certainty principle, precisely these provisions are of the most significant importance for the defendant. Next, the changes in the Electronic tagging concerning the possibility of interrupting the execution of an imprisonment sentence and serving an imprisonment sentence were discussed. From a criminal policy point of view, higher penalties for the offences of exposure to infection and stalking should also have been mentioned. A new offence of particularly aggravated theft has appeared in the Penal Code and a new offence of obstructing a Police or Border Guard officer in performing official duties. For a more effective fight, it is also vital to provide for the possibility of imposing a new preventive measure and confiscating objects important to public health. The indicated legal developments are presented in the context of human rights protection and in light of recent literature and judicial decisions.
"Why is the State allowed to punish?" This is the prominent underlying question of every serious examination of criminal law. The author's answer covers a broad range of fundamental legal issues. Following the republican idea of freedom, he conceives punishable wrongdoing as a violation of the duty to contribute to the maintenance of the legal system. In its practice of punishment, the legal community demonstrates the correlation between the performance of the citizens' duty of cooperation and their enjoyment of personal freedom. Nevertheless, practitioners of criminal law cannot escape their responsibility for the hardships associated with the imposition of punishments. They cannot help but strive for a balanced relationship between their professional activities and their personal integrity. With its combination of arguments from the fields of philosophy and of the theory of crime, the book is the result of the author's long-term examination of the fundamental issues of criminal law.
Prostitution activities that occur in society are not only caused by pimps and sex peddlers, but are also closely related to users of prostitution services. The absence of regulations that can ensnare perpetrators of prostitution practices, especially users of prostitution services, shows the government's inconsistency in combating prostitution practices. There are two problems in this study, namely, first, how is the regulation of punishment for perpetrators of criminal acts of prostitution in Indonesian positive law and second, how is the imposition of criminal sanctions against perpetrators of criminal acts of prostitution, especially users of prostitution services through complaint offenses in the Criminal Code. This study uses normative research conducted through an assessment of the legislation and legal concepts. The approach in this study uses a legal concept approach, and a statutory approach. Based on various explanations of articles in Indonesian positive law, it is not at all clear and implicit that there are articles that regulate criminal sanctions against users of prostitution services. With the absence of legal norms related to criminal sanctions for users of prostitution services, other legal remedies can be taken to ensnare users of prostitution services through the application of a complaint offense with the alleged crime of adultery as regulated in Article 284 of the Criminal Code.
The article examines the peculiarities of law and legal security in modern Ukrainian realities. It is determined that law is a mechanism which, through the application of legal norms of which it is a part, should ensure the effective functioning of democracy and democracy in the state and the functioning and further development of the social system. It is established that the Ukrainian legal system is undergoing a reconstruction phase, in which administrative and legal mechanisms are being transformed into mechanisms of self-regulation and self-organisation. The author establishes that essential factors of law stability are correct definition and certainty of each element, completeness and absence of contradictions. It is established that the basis of the concept of legal security is the conditions, sources, methods and mechanisms of negative impact (falsification of legal provisions, conflicts of provisions, legal gaps, inadequate implementation procedures, neglect of the effect of provisions, substitution of concepts, corruption, etc. The author determines that legal security is a component of national security. Its content consists of the implementation of national interests in all areas of national security, protection of national interests in the security sector, as well as legal regulation of legal relations and legal protection of the creation of state and non-state institutions with the necessary and sufficient conditions for the effective functioning of law and legal order as a crucial regulator of social relations. It is noted that legal security is one of the constant needs caused by the natural conditions of life of a person, society and mankind. It should also be considered a universal human value designed to ensure a person's existence as a public good. The author identifies the factors that significantly impact the institutionalisation process of an individual's legal security.
Expanding the use of the principle of encouragement in the criminal law and transforming the punitive system into restorative justice make us pay attention to and explore the experience of other countries regarding the legal implementation of an alternative form of settling criminal disputes. Eight years ago, Kazakhstan was the first country of the CIS to introduce an alternative form of criminal dispute settlement in the context of the criminal policy humanization. Mediation became the basis for excluding criminal responsibility. However, the number of criminal cases in Kazakhstan completed through mediation is still insignificant compared to civil cases. The study of Kazakhstan's experience of mediation legislation in criminal cases demonstrates the main approaches to its legal regulation, reveals the problematic issues of meditative legislation principles, doubting mediator's independence and impartiality in preparations for criminal cases. This article provides practical options for resolving problematic issues of mediation on criminal cases in Kazakhstani legislation. The research will be useful for legislators and future development of the legal framework of the mediation on criminal cases.
