The State of Penal Ideology and Penal Affairs

Author(s):  
Andrew Skotnicki

This chapter explores the two metaethical errors upon which the current system of criminal justice is based: the lack of a life-affirming moral ontology and dualism. The chapter reveals that all philosophical foundations upon which the system is constructed are predicated upon subjective appropriations of reality that can do no other than lead to an emotivism between competing subjectivities that, in turn, can only be adjudicated by the threat or use of violence. The chapter then reviews contemporary scholarship on the penal state to underscore the contention that the only justification for incarceration that honors the dignity of the confined and trusts in their capacity to overcome alienation and violence without need of forcible intervention is conversion.

Commonwealth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennie Sweet-Cushman ◽  
Ashley Harden

For many families across Pennsylvania, child care is an ever-present concern. Since the 1970s, when Richard Nixon vetoed a national childcare program, child care has received little time in the policy spotlight. Instead, funding for child care in the United States now comes from a mixture of federal, state, and local programs that do not help all families. This article explores childcare options available to families in the state of Pennsylvania and highlights gaps in the current system. Specifically, we examine the state of child care available to families in the Commonwealth in terms of quality, accessibility, flexibility, and affordability. We also incorporate survey data from a nonrepresentative sample of registered Pennsylvania voters conducted by the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics. As these results support the need for improvements in the current childcare system, we discuss recommendations for the future.


Author(s):  
Markus D. Dubber

Part III of Dual Penal State uses dual penal state analysis to generate a comparative-historical account of American penality. With comparative glimpses at Germany and, to a lesser extent, England, it distinguishes between two responses to the shared challenge of legitimating state penal power in a modern liberal democratic state: (1) the failure to appreciate the legitimatory challenge of modern state penal power in particular (United States) and of modern state power in general (England); and (2) the failure to address the legitimatory challenge of modern state penal power as an ongoing existential threat to the legitimacy of the state (Germany). Chapter 6 undertakes a critical analysis of Jefferson’s 1779 draft of a criminal law bill for the State of Virginia, concluding that it fell well short of a criminal code that reflected the ideals of the American legal-political project as spelled out, for instance, in Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence of 1776.


Author(s):  
Eva Steiner

This chapter examines the law of contract in France and discusses the milestone reform of French contract law. While this new legislation introduces a fresh equilibrium between the contracting parties and enhances accessibility and legal certainty in contract, it does not radically change the state of the law in this area. In addition, it does not strongly impact the traditional philosophical foundations of the law of contract. The reform, in short, looks more like a tidying up operation rather than a far-reaching transformation of the law. Therefore, the chapter argues that it is questionable whether the new law, which was also intended to increase France's attractiveness against the background of a world market dominated by the Common Law, will keep its promise.


2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-10
Author(s):  
T.K. Lugovkina ◽  

Significance. Free care delivery within the framework of the State Guarantee Programs substantiates the development of electronic platforms for information support of doctors in prescribing medicines and monitoring quality of treatment. Conceptualization of the unified information environment of clinical practice, unified interpretation of the terms and components of the diagnosed clinical situations are important conditions for effective performance of the medical electronic platforms. Purpose: to conceptualize the scheme of information environment of clinical practice to support decision-making and monitor quality of treatment. Material and methods. The conceptual schemes of the information environment of clinical practice have been developed in accordance with the system principles. The methodology for constructing conceptual schemes is based on the general principles of philosophical foundations of science. Results. The conceptual schemes, conceptual apparatus, and information environment of structural elements of the model of information environment of clinical practice have been developed. A glossary of general terms and concepts of the information environment of clinical practice has been created. The structural model of information environment was tested at the prototype electronic platforms across different medical specialties. Conclusion. The use of ontologies and intelligent systems based on the expert knowledge in combination with digital coding of the diagnosed clinical situations serve a promising approach to monitor and control quality of care delivery and cost accounting within the framework of the State Guarantee Programs implementation. Scope of application. The concepts of the components of the diagnosed clinical situations meet the requirements of the interdisciplinary level of the information environment and are applicable for creating electronic platforms in various specialized areas of clinical practice.


FIAT JUSTISIA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maroni Maroni

Monitoring and observation of court decisions made by judges is a new institution in the criminal procedural law in Indonesia. Through monitoring and observation of expected gaps (gap) between what the judge decided and reality implementation of the criminal in prison can be bridged. Judges will be brought closer to the prosecutors and corrections officials so that judges can follow the development of the state of the convict. Keywords: Judge, Supervisor and Observer, the Criminal Justice System


Author(s):  
Milad Dokhanchi

Problematizing Asef Bayat’s notion of “post-Islamism,” this article proposes an alternative definition for the concept, having in mind the case of Iran. The current conception of the term “post-Islamism” may be challenged via a survey of post-revolutionary Islamist movements that resisted the state and as well as Ayatollah’s Khomeini’s concession to the concept maslahat (expediency), through which state expressed preference for modern reason over sharia law. The case of Islamists contesting state power questions the monolithic image of Islamism drawn by Bayat as movements longing to create a state based on the doctrine of velāyat-e faqih. Also Khomeini’s concession to maslahat indicates that the Islamic state must be seen as one of the participants in “post”-Islamist secularizing trends in Iran. Hence, Bayat’s post-Islamism was more of an inevitable political phenomenon adopted by the state itself than a conscious project adopted by Muslim secularist intellectual figures seeking to put an end to Islamism. Unlike Bayat’s post-Islamism, which celebrates the end or a “break” from an Islamist paradigm, this article then invites readers to expose Islamism to post-modern critique, the result of which would not be a negation but rather a revival of Islamism that takes into account the contingencies of the post-modern condition. Similar to post-Marxism and post-anarchism, post-Islamism maintains the ethos of the traditional canon, Islamism in this case, while rejecting its authoritarian and universalist tendencies. A post-Islamist politics has yet to emerge, yet its introductory philosophical foundations have been already developed in the 1990s by figures such as Abdolkarism Soroush and Morteza Avini. Soroush’s post-Islamism, however, ultimately landed in a modernist liberal episteme, hence remained Islamist, while Avini, despite his support for the state, offered a much more radical critique of Islamism while remaining faithful to its ethos.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-87
Author(s):  
Mercy Obado Ochieng

Terrorism is indisputably a serious security threat to states and individuals. Yet, by the end of 2016, there was still lack of consensus on the legal definition of terrorism at the United Nations (UN) level. The key organs of the UN, the Security Council (UNSC) and the General Assembly (UNGA), are yet to agree on a legal definition of terrorism. This disconnect is attributed partly to the heterogeneous nature of terrorist activities and ideological differences among member states. At the UN level, acts of terrorism are mainly tackled from the angle of threats to international peace and security. In contrast, at the state level, acts of terrorism are largely defined as crimes and hence dealt with from the criminal justice paradigm. This article argues that the lack of a concrete legal definition of terrorism at the UN level undermines the holistic use of the criminal justice paradigm to counter-terrorism at the state level. To effectively counter-terrorism the UNSC and the UNGA have to agree on a legal definition of terrorism in their resolutions. This will streamline efforts to combat terrorism at the state level and consolidate counter-terrorism measures at the international level. The draft comprehensive Convention on Measures to Eliminate Terrorism (the Draft Convention) should be tailored to fill gaps and provide for a progressive legal definition of acts of terrorism.


Author(s):  
Heather Hamill

This chapter argues that, from the early days of the political conflict in the 1970s the conditions were such that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) adopted some of the functions of the state, namely the provision of policing and punishment of ordinary crime. The hostility of the statutory criminal justice system, particularly the police, toward the working-class Catholic community dramatically increased the costs of using state services. The high levels of disaffection and aggression among working-class Catholics toward the police meant that the state could no longer fulfill its function and police the community in any “normal” way. A demand for policing therefore existed. Simultaneously, this demand was met and fostered by the IRA, which had the motivation, the manpower, and the monopoly on the use of violence necessary to carry out this role.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-102
Author(s):  
Seth Mayer ◽  

The American criminal justice system falls far short of democratic ideals. In response, democratic communitarian localism proposes a more decentralized system with a greater emphasis on local control. This approach aims to deconcentrate power and remove bureaucracy, arguing local control would reflect informal cultural life better than our current system. This view fails to adequately address localized domination, however, including in the background culture of society. As a result, it underplays the need for transformative, democratizing change. Rejecting communitarian localism, I defend a mass deliberative democratic approach to criminal justice reform that relies on institutions outside localities to democratize local institutions and background cultural patterns. Nonetheless, local institutions must be empowered to exert democratic control, as well as to influence institutions outside the locality. This process of democratic co-development offers greater hope for political equality, non-domination, and inclusive democratic deliberation about criminal law than democratic communitarian localism.


Author(s):  
Martin Partington

This chapter focuses on the criminal justice system. It contains summaries of the different social theories that underpin both the criminal justice system and the fundamental principles relating to sentencing policy. The system is examined in three segments: pre-trial stages, trial stage, and post-trial stages. Each is discussed in turn. This chapter emphasizes the holistic approach by looking not only at what happens in courts, but also the police station and in post-trial contexts such as parole and criminal cases review. The place of the victim in the system is also considered. Particular emphasis is placed on how the current system is changing in the quest for improved efficiency.


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