We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
The concept for more effective civic participation in support of four vulnerable groups aims to identify legislative changes, improvement of practices and policy development by decision makers and the civil society to facilitate vulnerable communities in their interaction with state institutions and establish effective support mechanisms. The publication proposes concrete solutions and a roadmap for their implementation for each of these groups - prisoners, victims of human trafficking, victims of domestic violence, asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups of foreigners.
More...
The Center for the Study of Democracy has undertaken a special inquiry into the topic of drug abuse - which was fueled by the drug epidemic of the late 1990s and has grown to become a real social threat - and the problem of drug dealing, which is a major mechanism for the generation of organized crime in Bulgaria. This report addresses drug supply and demand in Bulgaria with the ambition of mapping a vast information void and identifying the basic mechanisms and stakeholders of the drug market. However, the peculiarities of drug diffusion and consumption do not allow the use of the standard suite of economic research tools and vehicles throughout the study. This analysis has been divided into three sections. The first addresses the genesis of drug distribution, while the second describes its structure and functioning. The findings about supply presented in the first two parts are based on a series of in-depth interviews with dealers of different groups of drugs, long-term drug users, with police and security officers (experienced in combating drug traffic, drug production, and drug dealing), doctors, and civil organizations engaged in treatment services to drug addicts. Section 3 highlights drug demand, and brings into play the findings of the First National Population Survey on Drug Consumption in Bulgaria conducted by Vitosha Research. For the purpose of this study, CSD and Vitosha Research used the research tools of the European Monitoring Center on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).
More...
The present report summarizes researches and discussions conducted by members of the expert group within the framework of the Bulgarian anti-corruption initiative Coalition 2000 established in 1997. The report is dedicated to one of the most serious problems of the Bulgarian transition towards market economy, stable democratic institutions and legal state. The exploding growth of trans-border crime during the last 12 years has led to the emergence of criminal infrastructure, developed and maintained by criminal groups and semi-legal "power groups," which have appeared in the mentioned period. The trans-border crime in Bulgaria is a part of the new network of international organized crime, which was established after the end of the Cold War and which is closely connected to the regional channels of smuggling and trafficking. Smuggling (including drug smuggling) and trafficking are in particular the main sources of income for organized crime in the country. It is impossible to successfully fight the trans-border crime in the country without a determined effort to counter systemic corruption within the law-enforcing and law-protecting institutions. Enormous part of the criminal acts and irregularities concerning import and export of goods, drugs and weapons, as well as illegal trafficking of human beings, is conducted through unlawful cooperation with customs officers, employees of the National Border Police Service and other state institutions, responsible for border control. Corruption networks are part of the systemic smuggling or of the so-called smuggling channels, and the funds for bribing state employees represent "production costs" for organizers of smuggling. Without doubt, it is difficult to present an accurate assessment of the discussed problems, due to the lack of information about the exact parameters of smuggling, in particular of the drug smuggling, and about the real scale of corrupt practices. Hence the huge importance of indirect indicators like marketing researches in regard with the presence of particular goods on the market, and methods for comparison of such data with official customs statistics for import and exports of the same goods. Apart from these methods, of particular importance is the role of export analyses, reporting on informal "price-lists" of corrupt services, as well as of the scope and value of the realized smuggling deals and operations.
More...
Smuggling in Southeast Europe analyzes and reviews the connection between the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and the growth of the trans-border crime in the region, and also looks at the related issue of corruption. The paper highlights the decisive impact the Yugoslav wars had on the development of the regional criminal networks, which were often set up and maintained not only with the knowledge, but even with active participation of the highest state officials. The research also represents a contribution to the study of conflicts in the Western Balkans. The majority of existing interpretations of causes, course and consequences of the Yugoslav wars try to provide the answers through ethno-political explanations. They unjustly ignore the importance that interweaving of interests of political elites, the organized crime groups, which appeared in this period, and the "mediating class" of corrupt state officials had in this process. The paper is divided in three parts: • An analysis of the causes and course of emergence of Balkan smuggling channels in the context of Yugoslav wars and international sanctions; • A review of the recent developments in trans-border crime in Southeast Europe; • An overview of prevention efforts, undertaken both by the regional governments and the international community’ The first part analyzes the emergence of officially sanctioned "state-building" smuggling in those parts of the former Yugoslavia, which were involved in the war. The intermediary role of Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania is also discussed. In these four countries, smuggling networks were not developed under open patronage of the governments, but the role of high-positioned politicians was nevertheless extremely important. The second part traces the evolution of the initial semi-official smuggling channels and their transformation into "classical" criminal networks. The so-called "suitcase trade," cigarette smuggling, smuggling of narcotics, and the trafficking in human beings are discussed in more detail.
More...
The study analyses the mechanisms for interaction between public institutions and NGOs in supporting four vulnerable groups: persons deprived of their liberty, victims of trafficking in human beings, domestic violence survivors, and persons seeking international protection and other vulnerable foreigner nationals. Furthermore, it identifies trends in the cooperation between institutions and NGOs in assisting these communities. The report sums up the profile of the bodies and organisations involved and identifies problems in their interaction. Instruments for cooperation between public institutions and NGOs in relation to each vulnerable group are reviewed in detail, both on legislative and practical level. Correlations between identified problems and aspects of the interaction between public institutions and NGOs that could help resolve these problems are highlighted. In conclusion, recommendations are made to involve civil society in providing comprehensive support, in particular legal, social and administrative assistance, to vulnerable persons. These recommendations rest on the shared experience and opinions by public authorities and civil society, as well as on applicable foreign models and good practices.
More...
American prison system is organizationally complex, with several jurisdictions and many penitentiary institutions. Divided jurisdiction between federal, state and local authorities from one side, and many kinds and types of prisons from another, make this prison system complicated and disunited. Thus there are inexplicable differences in conditions, standards and many other issues from state to state. American penologists look toward the future of state control of crime with much of anxiety. Enormous rise of a number of prisoners, an inefficacy of correction system and lack of really efficient corrective programs capable of correcting prisoners’ behavior strengthen a dark foreboding of the future in this field. The construction of prisons primarily for isolation of prisoners, not for ther behavior correction gets more and more frequent. At the end of 2006 there were 2.333.331 persons in prisons or jails in the USA or one-in-98 residents, presenting the biggest prison population rate in the world. From one year to another the number of prisoners rises by an average of 3.7 per cent. In recent years there has been noticed a tendency of increasing of number of prisoners in federal and state prisons while the numbers of prisoners in local prisons have been decreasing because of lack of resurces at the level of local community. As a reaction to permanent growth of prison population and more and more distinct danger to the safety of citizens, it has been developing the idea of super-maximum custody or ’supermax’. These prisons are described as “prisons of the future“ that should serve a purpose of harsher sentencing of those who are too violent, or for settling of those prisoners who must not be placed together with usual prison population.
More...
The report explores the meaning of the term „conditional sentencing “. The established understanding of the term is to mean suspended execution of imposed punishment. Major part of the survey focuses on the conflict between the implied meaning that the term linguistically brings up of purely conditional and even missing element of a punishment itself and the true legal nature of this important Criminal law institute. The paper further discusses some of the legal consequences for the so called „conditionally convicted persons“ that give ground to assert that what we have is a clearly penal treatment. The report draws attention to the conclusion that the state makes use of the suspended sentence as a tool to enforce its corrective and preventive criminal law policy.
More...
The aim of rehabilitation activities is to lead a person to a condition of adequate adaptation to standards of social life, develop skills which enable socialization and participation in culture and as a result to develop their own identity. Unfortunately, the theory does not coincide with practice which is shown in the author’s research. The article presents the connection between the human’s identity and his life before his imprisonment. The author associates the process of developing the identity with the lifestyle according to Walter’s conception and then, basing on her own studies, the author shows that the rehabilitation in the Polish prison system does not have a good influence on the convict’s reshaping process. It is believed that the cause of that is the biography. The author can see the connection between the developing of the criminal identity with the influence of school, peer group and criminal group. Moreover, the author pays special attention to the need to use creative methods of rehabilitation which support the development of the proper identity.
More...
No common reasons can be identified for the fundaments of the right to punish, the right not to punish or the right to decriminalize, although, at first sight, the three rights seem to have similar origins. As the right to impose a punishment derives from the law, so a law must also reflect the right to defer a punishment, to waive its application, or to decriminalize a certain conduct. A brief analysis of the right not to punish can also reflect the reason, the conditions, and, possibly, its limits. These can often be arbitrarily interpreted in practice due to reasons that must be identified. An arbitrary exercise of the right to amnesty or to grace, or poor implementation in the Romanian-German law of restorative justice, may have adverse consequences in terms of the safety of social values. To prevent arbitrariness and to ensure social security, the functions of the public authorities play an essential role. At present, only the legislative function generates the law, and the judicial function ensures that the law is implemented or it may order a punishment to be enforced if the law is violated.
More...
All material (corporeal), processing and executive provisions related to criminal law in Republic of Serbia about juveniles are in the new Law about juvenile committers and criminal law protection of juveniles from 2006. January 1st (LAJCCA), conjoint in one place. That is how the juvenile criminal law has been created. It is characterized by: 1) principally, inquest of the juvenile injurers guilt is excluded, 2) among criminal sanctions towards juvenile injurers the priority belongs to the educable provisions compared to the punishment that presents the exception expressed in juvenile jail implementation. By the way of exception, with the juvenile jail can be punished only the older juvenile if he committed a crime for which the proposed punishment is over five years; if he is sufficiently mentally mature so that he can understand importance of that crime and he can control his acts; and when the consequences of the committed crime are that severe, and the extent of guilt that high that the application of educative provisions wouldn’t be justified, 3) in the criminal proceeding towards juveniles, prosecution and juridical apparatus have wide authority in terms of starting, processing and terminating the proceeding. Those authorities consist of discrete rights to withdraw prosecution regardless of what the committed crime is, if it is considered that it would be useful in terms of education and reeducation of the juvenile delinquent. The principle of utility has the priority over the principle of objectiveness. The court mandates consist of not only a wide scale of optional means and provisions, but of possibility to replace already delivered verdict with some other more convenient provision, if it is required by the specific situation and 4) in juridical system of the Republic of Serbia there are special jurisdictional bodies for struggle against juvenile criminality: special departments for juvenile delinquency in internal affairs agencies, a prosecuting attorney for juveniles and special juvenile council i.e. the juvenile court that supervises the whole criminal proceeding against any juvenile delinquent. The new juvenile criminal law anticipates two basic types of the juvenile criminal sanctions. These are:1) the educational measures and 2) the juvenile prison. They are legally anticipated measures of the social reaction towards the juvenile committers of the crime activities that are sentenced the legally determined organs in aim to protect the society from the criminality trough the education, reeducation and proper development of the juvenile. In this paper the author has analysed application of juvenile prison against juvenile perpetrator of crimes in new juvenile criminal law of Republic of Serbia and comparative law from theoretical, practical and comparative law aspects.
More...
Within the scope of Law No. 6284, it is possible to take a protective cautionary decision with regard to the persons who are protected and a preventive cautionary decision with regard to the perpetrator of violence. The followings are the persons protected within the scope of this Law; the women, the children, the family members and the victims of stalking who have been subject to the violence or at the risk of violence. The followings are the authorities that can take a cautionary decision; the judge of family court, the administrative chiefs and law enforcement officers. The judge of family court can take both protective and preventive cautionary decisions, the administrative chiefs can only take a protective cautionary decision. In cases where delay is considered to be risky, the law enforcement officers can take some of the the protective cautionary decisions identified within this Law which can be taken by the administrative chiefs and some of the preventive cautionary decisions which can be taken the judge. The cautionary decision can be taken for the victims and perpetrators of violence within the scope of this Law upon request or ex officio. The cautionary decision can be taken for a six month period at most initially. No evidence or report providing violence is required in order to take a cautionary decision. The fact that the cautionary decision haven’t been pronounced or notified to those concerned does not constitute an impediment to implement the decision. With regard to the perpetrator of violence who acts contrary to the requirements of the preventive cautionary decision, the preventive imprisonment is ruled by a judicial decision even if the act constitutes crime. In each recurring action contrary to the requirements of the cautionary decision, the period of the preventive imprisonment is increased. But the total duration of the preventive imprisonment shall not exceed six months. The judge has no discretion with respect to decide on the preventive imprisonment in the event of violation of the cautionary decision. In order to decide on the preventive imprisonment, the cautionary decision must be pronounced or notified to the perpetrator of violence including the legal warning stating that in case of acting contrary to it the preventive imprisonment in respect to him will be issued. The cautionary decisions and decisions regarding to the preventive imprisonment may be appealed to the family court by the relevant persons. The decisions on appeal are final. In this paper, it is aimed to examine and evaluate the issues of making and implementing the cautionary decisions, acting contrary to the cautionary decisions, appealing against the cautionary decisions and the decisions regarding to the preventive imprisonment by making use of relevant legislation, scientific studies and judicial decisions, besides addressing and offering solutions to the problems encountered.
More...
Compliance with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, ie the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, entails, inter alia, the provision of appropriate conditions of detention. In order to be considered as suitable conditions for the accommodation of persons deprived of their liberty, it is necessary to ensure, in an optimal way, an accommodation capacity according to the number of detainees in the respective detention rooms, as well as decent material conditions. As regards the Romanian penitentiary system, it has undergone numerous legislative changes recently, in line with the imperative to comply with European and international standards in the field and has resulted in an improvement in the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty and conditions of detention, as well as the increase of the institutional capacity, so that it can be seen that at present the cases in which Romania is condemned to Cedo are more and more rare.
More...
In Poland, the function of social rehabilitation for convicts with intellectual disabilities is implemented by both: the penitentiary and probation system. In prisons there are therapeutic departments adapted to the needs of prisoners’ disabilities. In community supervision, methodology of working with offenders with intellectual disabilities is not regulated by any procedures. This paper presents results of a research focused on the probation service supervision of offenders with mild intellectual disabilities. Difficulties in implementing social rehabilitation tasks, methodology of probation officers’ work, as well as legislative proposals that may improve the probation system in Poland for offenders with mild intellectual disabilities are indicated. The study is based on qualitative methods using the focus panel method. The research group are probation officers for adults from the District Court for Bydgoszcz. The data is analyzed using legal provisions regulating probation service, as well as selected theories and concepts of special education and social rehabilitations of convicts.
More...
The paper discusses life imprisonment as one of the most debatable and controversial types of criminal sanctions. Criminal sanctions are criminal law instruments of response to crime. Whether this type of criminal sanction justifiably has its place in the system of criminal sanctions, whether the arguments for or against it prevail, whether they exist and what the mechanisms for reviewing the same may be, are the questions that the author of this paper deals with.
More...
The aging of prison population is a planetary phenomenon that should be observed in the context of the accelerated aging of the total population at the turn of the 2nd and 3rd millennium. Also, the increase in number of elderly prisoners resulted partly from the changes on the legislative level, as well as in the area of criminal prosecution and sentencing. Namely, with the aim of more successful control of crime, in 1980s and 1990s in the USA (and later in other parts of the world) an approach was promoted that involves the adoption of stricter laws, the prescription of high special minimum prison sentences for numerous crimes, the impositions of long sentences and restrictive enforcement, early release, introducing the practice of sentencing returnees convicted of a third serious crime to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (three-strikes and you're out), etc. Given that prison sentences, if they are imposed en masse and last unreasonably long, result in the aging of the prison population (silver tsunami) and a series of unfavorable social, ethical, health and economic consequences, the awareness of the necessity of articulating a new paradigm of combating criminality has gradually matured, This qualitatively different approach includes more frequent application of alternative sanctions, reduction of incarceration, revision of harsh practice of imposing long sentences and easier approval of parole and compassionate release of older prisoners (back-door strategy) who do not pose a high security risk. Along with the development of policies and strategies to reduce the incarceration of the elderly, it is necessary to design and implement action programs aligned with their specific needs, as well as the highest international standards. This will make the prospects for re-socialization and social reintegration of the members of this vulnerable group much more realistic, and at the same time relieve the prison systems which, due to the numerous problems they have faced during the last decades, are on the verge of collapse.
More...
Legal texts are documents that aim to ensure that the society lives in peace. In addition to the social issues in these documents, it is also known that there are a large number of regulations on economic issues. Especially in the texts of laws in Mesopotamia, where the first written laws were encountered throughout history, articles of economic life were found. From this point of view, the laws determined were examined. As a result of the examinations, Assyrian laws have been the subject of this study. It is aimed to reveal the economic articles in the articles of this law and the findings related to the history of accounting from these economic articles, to bring these findings to the literature within the scope of accounting history studies and to contribute to the approach of the lawbooks with an accounting field view. In line with the subject and scope of the study, firstly, a brief will be given about the Middle Assyrian Laws. Dr. Mebrure TOSUN and Assoc. The articles taken from Kadriye YALVAÇ's work "Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian Laws and the Ammi-Shaduga Edict" are given directly, and the findings that directly or indirectly lead to accounting in the content of these articles will be pointed out.
More...
In criminological and penological theory and practice, prisoners who represent a threat or a real source of danger for other prisoners, employees and themselves are considered high-risk. Under danger is understood both the endangering of physical integrity and existence as well as the assumption of escape, destruction of inventory, attacks on visitors and convicts who for any reason pose a risk to the community after serving their sentence. Very often in treatment programs, work with high-risk convicts is based solely on the security aspect, on guarding and preventing escape, self-harm and attacks on another person. It is precisely for this reason and the aim of this paper is to point out the complexity of working with this category of prisoners, as well as the operational procedures that are important during serving a prison sentence.
More...
In the paper, the author analyses the characteristics of the North Macedonian penitentiary system, the position of prisoners de jure and de facto, and the protection of the rights of prisoners through the prism of the last highly critical report of the Committee for Prevention of Torture and points to the need for urgent reforms of the penitentiary system in the Republic of North Macedonia. The author concludes that the penitentiary system in Macedonia has the features of a modern system. It is one of the penitentiary systems that fully incorporates the Nelson Mandela Rules, the Revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the European Prison Rules in the Law on Execution of Sanctions. But the system de facto faces serious weaknesses. Also, the author disputes the question why prisoners in such conditions of the penitentiary system do not require judicial protection of their rights. Also, the author emphasizes the need for systematic research on the protection of prisoners’ rights using legal means, such as, legal advice and legal means of convicted persons and the right to appeal to international bodies.
More...