On August 11, the last day of the ongoing session of Parliament, the Indian Government tabled a notice that it wished to introduce three new bills on the Floor of the House for consideration. These were proposed statutes to replace the holy trinity of Indian criminal law: The Indian Penal Code of 1860, the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, were to be replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam respectively. Even though the reform was marketed as an attempt to break from the colonial origins of criminal law, it actually represents a resurgence of the colonial-style authoritarian approach, rather than an effort to build upon the relatively modest progress made half a century ago in advancing individual freedom and civil rights.
The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Criminal Testimonial Injustice by Jennifer Lackey. Here is a description: Through a detailed analysis that draws on work across philosophy, the law, and social psychology, Criminal Testimonial Injustice shows that, from the very beginning of...
Re'em Segev (Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Faculty of Law) has posted Actions, Agents, and Consequences (Criminal Justice Ethics, Vol. 42. No. 2, 2023) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: According to an appealing and common view, the moral status...
Doron Teichman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Faculty of Law) has posted Evidentiary Graded Punishment: A New Look at Criminal Liability for Failing to Report Criminal Activity (Criminal Law and Philosophy, (Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article...
In a ruling that is important beyond Kenya, the Kenyan High Court has delivered a milestone judgment. By striking down a provision of the Kenyan Criminal Code on subversion, the Court takes a significant step towards further doing away with the colonial legacy in the Kenyan legal system. The judgment exemplifies how judges in postcolonial contexts interpret the law against the backdrop of the country's history.
European law is a very strange creature. It is something that has been created, produced, mostly by jurisprudence and doctrine, and this makes European law especially challenging and interesting for scholars, because it has been, in many respects, a product of scholars. How should we approach the study of European law? How could we approach in a sensible way the study of European law?
Mikkel Jarle Christensen (iCourts - Danish National Research Foundation's Centre of Excellence for International Courts) has posted The Elites of International Criminal Justice: Complementing and Challenging the State (Forthcoming in Social Forces) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Criminal law...
Federico Picinali (London School of Economics - Law School) has posted Evidential reasoning, testimonial injustice and the fairness of the criminal trial (Quaestio Facti. International Journal on Evidential Legal Reasoning (open access)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The article...
Karen E. Woody (Washington & Lee University School of Law) has posted Corporate Crime and Cooperation on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Over the past few decades, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has regularly issued guidance about how companies could...
Sarah Lageson (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - School of Criminal Justice) has posted Criminally Bad Data: Inaccurate Criminal Records, Data Brokers, and Algorithmic Injustice (University of Illinois Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This...
Lessons from the International Criminal Court and the Special Court for Sierra Leone
Conference 3,4 May 2012 Freetown, Sierra Leone
International criminal justice has become a weapon in political struggles in different African states. International court and tribunals, whilst often portrayed as legal bastions immune from politics, have proven to be inherently political. Depending on the definition of what counts as 'political', the politics of international criminal justice can be found at different levels. For instance, international criminal courts are created by political decisions, adjudicate crimes which are frequently related to politics, and depend on a mysterious and seemingly magical 'political will' for the enforcement of their decisions. Moreover, recent studies have shown how the International Criminal Court has become implicated in political struggles by making a distinction between the friends and enemies of the international community which it purports to represent.
This conference studies the politics of international criminal justice at these different stages. Some of the main questions include: • How should the politics of international criminal justice be conceptualized? What theoretical approaches are helpful in articulating the political aspects of criminal courts and tribunals? • What lessons can be learned from experiences in countries affected by interventions of international criminal courts? What is the political role of international criminal courts in countries such as Sierra Leone, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Central African Republic or Kenya? • How can we improve the accountability of those engaged in the politics of international criminal justice?
The conference brings together academics from different disciplines, including international law and political science, and practitioners in the field of law and politics (including diplomats, politicians, judges, legal counsels). While its main focus is on the International Criminal Court and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, contributions from other areas of international criminal justice are welcomed as well.
Submissions and selection If you would like to participate in the conference, please send us a 500-750 words abstract of the paper you plan to present before February 1st 2012. We will select a maximum of 10 papers that can be presented at the conference. Early submissions are welcomed. If you are invited to present, we would like to receive a short position paper two weeks before the conference. The position paper should be max. 2500 words, outlining the main argument.
Please send your paper proposal to: Prof. dr. W.G. Werner w.werner@rechten.vu.nl
Conference fee The fee for the conference is 100 Euro. The money from the fees will be used to provide financial support for scholars or practitioners from (West-)African countries coming to the conference. If you would like to receive such support, please let us know before February 15th 2012. Attendees from African countries are entitled to a waiver of the fee.
