JUSTICE, MERCY, AND EQUALITY IN DISCRETIONARY CRIMINAL JUSTICE DECISION MAKING

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-32
Author(s):  
Albert W. Alschuler
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Chief Executives ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Entire Society ◽  
Willingness To Forgive

AbstractThis essay examines whether, in exercising their discretion, criminal justice officials should do justice, grant mercy, and treat alleged or convicted offenders equally. Although it endorses doing justice, the essay maintains that officials should almost never reduce a just punishment simply to be merciful. Public officials are fiduciaries, and they ordinarily have no authority to make unmerited gifts. Sometimes, however, deciding not to inflict a just penalty can reflect the willingness of an entire society to forgive. That may be the case, for example, when truth and reconciliation commissions approve amnesties. The essay focuses on the teachings of Jesus Christ and questions some of them. It asks, for example, whether a modern chief executive would merit praise or condemnation if this executive followed Jesus's example in the case of the woman taken in adultery. The essay also suggests that—unlike other officials—chief executives exercising their pardon power need not act affirmatively to treat like cases alike. A conclusion notes that it would have been out of character for Jesus Christ to refuse a plea for mercy. Nevertheless, few Christians have endorsed an implication of his willingness to forgive—the abolition of criminal punishment.

The Presidency and Decision Making

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas M. Brattebo ◽  
Tom Lansford
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Personal Style ◽  
Chief Executives ◽  
Advisory System ◽  
System P ◽  
The U.S

Given the wide latitude that the U.S. president has in security policy, successive chief executives have created different structures and systems to develop and implement their foreign and defense agendas. One result has been dramatic differences in how information and options reach the president as each chief executive seeks to construct and maintain an advisory system that reflects his or her personal style and preferences. Among the various approaches, multiple advocacy has emerged as the most effective and efficient decision-making process to ensure that presidents consider a full range of security options and steer a more prudent course according to the advisory system.

Using African Truth and Reconciliation Commission documentation for truth telling and reconciliation

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Proscovia Svärd
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Reconciliation Process

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are established to document violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in post-conflict societies. The intent is to excavate the truth to avoid political speculations and create an understanding of the nature of the conflict. The documentation hence results in a common narrative which aims to facilitate reconciliation to avoid regression to conflict. TRCs therefore do a tremendous job and create compound documentation that includes written statements, interviews, live public testimonies of witnesses and they also publish final reports based on the accumulated materials. At the end of their mission, TRCs recommend the optimal use of their documentation since it is of paramount importance to the reconciliation process. Despite this ambition, the TRCs’ documentation is often politicized and out of reach for the victims and the post-conflict societies at large. The TRCs’ documentation is instead poorly diffused into the post conflict societies and their findings are not effectively disseminated and used.

The CEO’s route to the top: The South African experience

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-120
Author(s):  
Chris Van Melle Kamp ◽  
Karl Hofmeyr ◽  
Mandla Adonisi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Senior Management ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Chief Executives ◽  
Leadership Challenges ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Depth Interviews

In this study we draw on a series of in-depth interviews with chief executives of some of South Africa’s most prominent businesses, to investigate how their careers unfolded as they rose to the top of their organisations.Twenty-seven CEOs of South Africa’s top companies were interviewed. Eleven of these companies are listed among the top 50 South African companies.We trace the evolution of leadership, from its embryonic beginnings in childhood and adolescence, through the different stages of a developing career to the crucial transformation of an operational mindset into a strategic one.We examine the circumstances that led to these CEOs being appointed and describe the difficulties of transitioning from a senior management role into that of chief executive. We look at the competencies and experience necessary to be effective as the leader of an organisation, as well as the role played by motivation and self-belief. Finally, we identify the unique leadership challenges faced by chief executives in South Africa and pass on their advice to the country’s next generation of leaders.

scholarly journals Public Officials’ Knowledge of Advances and Gaps for Implementing the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries in Chile

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2703
Author(s):  
Rodrigo A. Estévez ◽  
Stefan Gelcich
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Mandatory Requirement ◽  
Support Decision Making

The United Nations calls on the international community to implement an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) that considers the complex interrelationships between fisheries and marine and coastal ecosystems, including social and economic dimensions. However, countries experience significant national challenges for the application of the EAF. In this article, we used public officials’ knowledge to understand advances, gaps, and priorities for the implementation of the EAF in Chile. For this, we relied on the valuable information held by fisheries managers and government officials to support decision-making. In Chile, the EAF was established as a mandatory requirement for fisheries management in 2013. Key positive aspects include the promotion of fishers’ participation in inter-sectorial Management Committees to administrate fisheries and the regulation of bycatch and trawling on seamounts. Likewise, Scientific Committees formal roles in management allow the participation of scientists by setting catch limits for each fishery. However, important gaps were also identified. Officials highlighted serious difficulties to integrate social dimensions in fisheries management, and low effective coordination among the institutions to implement the EAF. We concluded that establishing clear protocols to systematize and generate formal instances to build upon government officials’ knowledge seems a clear and cost effective way to advance in the effective implementation of the EAF.

Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation: An Under-Explored Relationship

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Natalya Clark
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation

AbstractMuch of the literature on transitional justice suffers from a critical impact gap, which scholars are only now beginning to address. One particular manifestation of this aforementioned gap, and one which forms the particular focus of this article, is the frequently-cited yet empirically under-researched claim that "truth" fosters post-conflict reconciliation. Theoretically and empirically critiquing this argument, this article both questions the comprehensiveness of truth established through criminal trials and truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) and underscores the often overlooked problem of denial, thus raising fundamental questions about the reputed healing properties of truth in such contexts. Advocating the case for evidence-based transitional justice, it reflects upon empirical research on South Africa's TRC and the author's own work on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Cultural competence in criminal justice

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 39-42
Author(s):  
Angela Herbert MBE
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government ◽  
Minority Ethnic

Purpose – Considers the role of cultural competence in the criminal-justice system and the crucial role that can be played by the right kind of training. Design/methodology/approach – Argues that there are no quick solutions to disproportionality of black and minority ethnic people in the criminal-justice system but advances the view that while individuals are incarcerated, it is important for the organization and its staff to make provisions that will make a difference. Findings – Suggests that any training provision should be made subject to those industries that are likely to employ black minority ethnic (BME) people, and that offering skills in prison that do not reflect cultural attainment in industry would be setting individuals up to fail. Practical implications – Urges that awareness and training should be embraced throughout all organizations from government policymakers, chief executive officers, management board, operational staff and partners, voluntary organizations and the client or user. Social implications – Argues that commitment from the government and the prison service can result in the provision of the kinds of cultural-competence learning and skills training that can more appropriately meet the needs of, in particular, BME individuals who are frequently ill-equipped when they leave the judiciary system. Originality/value – Concludes that this support would also help to communicate and promote awareness of other people’s cultures, provide insight into their understanding of the organization’s culture while also enabling the public to understand the importance of implementing positive change.

Guilty Minds

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne C. Dailey
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Rational Decision ◽  
Police Interrogation ◽  
Rational Person ◽  
Unfair Advantage ◽  
Rational Decision Making ◽  
Unconscious Guilt

This chapter examines the puzzling question of why an otherwise rational person would voluntarily confess to a crime, knowing full well that the state will punish in return. Even more puzzling is the phenomenon of false confessions, where an individual inexplicably confesses to a crime she did not commit, in some cases believing in her own guilt. Psychoanalysis gives us important insights into these irrational phenomena. The focus in this chapter is on the ways in which certain deceptive and degrading police interrogation tactics may override a suspect’s conscious rational decision-making powers by enlisting unconscious needs, aggressions, and guilt. Three interrogation tactics are of greatest concern: false sympathy, degradation, and trickery. As this chapter shows, false sympathy and degradation exploit deep-seated, unconscious desires for absolution and punishment that undermine the voluntariness of a suspect’s self-incriminating statements. Similarly, police trickery can take unfair advantage of a suspect’s need to rationalize unconscious guilt for a crime he did not commit. By drawing attention to the risks associated with these methods, psychoanalysis ensures that the most egregious practices can be eliminated from our criminal justice system. Psychoanalytic insights into unconscious processes advances the law’s own best ideals of fundamental fairness in the criminal law.

scholarly journals Routes to the top: the developmental journeys of medical, clinical and managerial NHS chief executives

BMJ Leader ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Till ◽  
Gerry McGivern
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Chief Executives ◽  
Formal Leadership

IntroductionLeadership, and the role of a Chief Executive in healthcare organisations, has never been more important. This review provides one of the first retrospective cross-sectional analyses of the developmental journeys of chief executives within the National Health Service (NHS).MethodsTwenty-eight semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with medical, clinical and non-clinical NHS chief executives from the Health Service Journal’s list of ‘Top Chief Executives’ 2014–2018. Through a thematic analysis of their narratives, lessons for the development of aspiring NHS chief executives emerge.ResultsFew proactively sought leadership opportunities and there was a lack of an active leadership development strategy. Yet the ‘seeds of leadership development’ took root early. Combined with a blended approach of formal leadership development and ‘on-the-job’ informal leadership development, emerging NHS chief executives were exposed to multiple ‘crucible moments’ that helped them develop into and excel at the top of their field.DiscussionTop NHS chief executives possess inherent values and a strong sense of social responsibility that underpin their developmental journeys, guide their behaviour, and strengthen their resilience. Capable, high quality leaders are needed from all professional backgrounds to support high quality care and much more needs to be done, particularly for medical and clinical professionals but for non-clinicians too, to maximise leadership potential within the NHS and develop a pipeline of aspiring NHS chief executives.

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