Explaining the Criminalization of Atrocities

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-49
Author(s):  
Mark S. Berlin
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Rational Expression ◽  
Reform Processes ◽  
Technical Features ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
Code Reform

This chapter presents a theory explaining why states criminalize atrocity offenses in national law. It identifies and theorizes two different pathways to criminalization: targeted legislation and wholesale criminal code reform. These two pathways result from the efforts of different actors with different motivations, and thus represent distinct behavioral logics. Drawing on research on commitment to human rights norms, this chapter argues that criminalization through targeted legislation reflects policymakers’ preferences over the use of violent abuse. Following Simmons, this explanation is referred to as the “rational expression thesis.” In contrast, criminalization though criminal code reform reflects the views of technocratic criminal code drafters over what features they deem to be important for a “modern” code. The book refers to this as the “technocratic legal borrowing thesis,” and it is the main focus of this chapter. The chapter draws on comparative law scholarship and research on professional communities in policymaking to argue that large-scale legal reform processes are a unique and potent opportunity for international legal norms to be incorporated into domestic institutions. It theorizes how these processes empower technocratic legal experts and motivate them to seek out emblematically “modern” norms. This pursuit leads experts to borrow legal ideas from their regional peers and leading transnational professional associations, and in the post-World War II era, such sources have often favored atrocity criminalization. In turn, the depoliticizing context of technocratic modernization helps paint atrocity provisions as merely technical features of a “modern” code, thus reducing government scrutiny of them and facilitating their ultimate approval.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 174-188
Author(s):  
Mark S. Berlin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Reform Processes ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter summarizes the book’s findings and discuses their implications for research on atrocity justice, human rights, and international law. It highlights the importance of technocratic criminal law specialists in the spread of human rights norms and contrasts these actors with the types of civil society groups that receive much attention in the human rights literature. The chapter also discusses how the book’s findings complicate the narrative of the Cold War period as a time of “hibernation” for the advancement of international atrocity justice. Finally, the chapter highlights the importance of the book’s findings for understanding the domestication of international law more generally. The chapter then discusses how the book’s findings may generalize to explaining the spread of other legal norms that have been shown to be associated with improvements in human rights outcomes. It suggests a number of conditions under which the spread of legal norms will benefit from forms of technocratic legal borrowing inherent in large-scale reform processes.

Criminalizing Atrocity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark S. Berlin
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Professional Communities ◽  
Norm Diffusion ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Global Spread ◽  
Atrocity Crimes ◽  
Criminal Legislation ◽  
Government Initiative

Why do countries adopt criminal legislation making it possible to prosecute government and military officials for human rights violations? Over the past thirty years, dozens of countries have prosecuted their own or other states’ officials for past atrocities. Criminalizing Atrocity tells the story of the global spread of national criminal laws against atrocity crimes—genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity—laws that have helped pave the way for this remarkable trend toward greater accountability. It traces the early-twentieth-century origins of national atrocity laws to a group of influential European criminal law scholars and explains the global patterns by which they have since spread. The book shows that understanding why countries criminalize atrocities requires understanding how they do so. In many cases, criminalization has not been the result of concerted government initiative, but of inconspicuous choices made by technocratic legal experts who have been delegated authority to draft large-scale reforms to countries’ criminal codes. Drawing on research in comparative law and norm diffusion, Criminalizing Atrocity explains how such reform projects prompt technocratic drafters to select legal ideas, like atrocity laws, that have been endorsed by their professional communities and deemed by drafters to be important features of a “modern” criminal code. To test this argument, Criminalizing Atrocity draws on a range of original quantitative and qualitative data, including in-depth case studies of Guatemala, Colombia, Poland, and the Maldvies, and a new, comprehensive dataset tracking the global spread of atrocity laws since Word War II. The book’s findings highlight the importance of professional communities in the modern renaissance of atrocity justice and the domestication of international legal norms.

Determinants of Abuse of the Bodies of the Dead

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-77
Author(s):  
Margarita Khomyakova
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Medical Institutions ◽  
Specific Object ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Dead ◽  
High Level

The author analyzes definitions of the concepts of determinants of crime given by various scientists and offers her definition. In this study, determinants of crime are understood as a set of its causes, the circumstances that contribute committing them, as well as the dynamics of crime. It is noted that the Russian legislator in Article 244 of the Criminal Code defines the object of this criminal assault as public morality. Despite the use of evaluative concepts both in the disposition of this norm and in determining the specific object of a given crime, the position of criminologists is unequivocal: crimes of this kind are immoral and are in irreconcilable conflict with generally accepted moral and legal norms. In the paper, some views are considered with regard to making value judgments which could hardly apply to legal norms. According to the author, the reasons for abuse of the bodies of the dead include economic problems of the subject of a crime, a low level of culture and legal awareness; this list is not exhaustive. The main circumstances that contribute committing abuse of the bodies of the dead and their burial places are the following: low income and unemployment, low level of criminological prevention, poor maintenance and protection of medical institutions and cemeteries due to underperformance of state and municipal bodies. The list of circumstances is also open-ended. Due to some factors, including a high level of latency, it is not possible to reflect the dynamics of such crimes objectively. At the same time, identification of the determinants of abuse of the bodies of the dead will reduce the number of such crimes.

О НЕКОТОРЫХ ИСТОРИЧЕСКИХ АСПЕКТАХ СТАНОВЛЕНИЯ ВОСПИТАТЕЛЬНОЙ РАБОТЫ С ОСУЖДЕННЫМИ В МЕСТАХ ЛИШЕНИЯ СВОБОДЫ

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasiliy Dvortsov ◽  
Alexander Efimenko
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Educational Work ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Education Profession ◽  
Comprehensive Programs ◽  
The Relationship

В статье предпринята попытка теоретического анализа и изучения научной литературы по организации и становлению воспитательной работы с осужденными в местах лишения свободы, продемонстрирована взаимосвязь между политико-воспитательной работой, ресоциализацией и исправлением осужденных в пенитенциарных учреждениях. Проведенное исследование позволяет предполагать, что воспитательная работа является основополагающим средством исправления различных категорий осужденных (регламентировано ст. 9 УИК РФ). На этой основе критерием исправления будет становиться устойчивое правопослушное поведение человека. В связи с этим возникает необходимость использования психолого-педагогической программы по перестройке и самооценке осужденных, позволяющей формировать их готовность к самореализации, когда осознание совершенных преступлений становится внутренне неприемлемым. Авторами отмечается, что, самоисправление человека зависит от ряда направлений воспитательной работы: нравственного, правового, физического воспитания, получения основного общего образования, получения профессии. Очевидно, что для закрепления положительного результата процесс ресоциализации в пенитенциарных учреждениях должен проводиться сотрудниками всех отделов и служб на основе комплексных программ, разработанных с учетом специфики и возраста осужденных.The article attempts a theoretical analysis and study of scientific literature on the organization and formation of educational work with convicts in prisons, demonstrates the relationship between «political and educational work», re-socialization and correction of convicts in prisons. The study suggests that educational work is a fundamental means of correcting various categories of convicts (regulated by article 9 of the criminal code). Based on this criterion fixes will become sustainable human behavior, demonstrating a conscious rejection of the violation of legal norms with the aim of securing sustainable patterns of law-abiding behavior. There is a need to use the psychological and pedagogical Program for restructuring and self-assessment of convicts, which allows to form on this basis their readiness for self-realization, when the awareness of the crimes committed becomes internally unacceptable. In this regard, the self-correction of a person depends on a number of areas, namely, moral, legal, physical education, basic General education, profession, forming the basis of educational work. It is obvious that in order to consolidate a positive result in penitentiary institutions, the activities of all departments and services should be carried out a process of re-socialization on the basis of comprehensive Programs developed taking into account the specifics and different ages of convicts.

Meta-Governance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Egeberg ◽  
Jarle Trondal
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Reform Processes ◽  
The Government ◽  
Central Government Agencies ◽  
Instrumental Control

Chapter 8 draws attention to meta-governance and how the governing of reforms is affected by how reform processes are organized. The chapter asks how reformers can ensure support for large-scale reforms that are likely to attract profound resistance. The focal point of the chapter is a study of geographical decentralization of central government agencies. The chapter argues that successful meta-governance can be provided for by careful organization of the reform process. The empirical case studied is a large-scale relocation of government agencies in Norway during the early 2000s. In carrying out this reform, the government succeeded against the odds. Most importantly, research has revealed huge constraints on the instrumental control of large-scale reforms in general and of geographical relocation of organizations in particular. Yet, this chapter shows that large-scale reforms can be successfully achieved through careful crafting of the reform organization.

Militaries’ Organizational Cultures in a Globalizing World

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Soeters
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
National Level ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Organizational Cultures ◽  
Military Organizations ◽  
Globalizing World ◽  
The Way

Organizational cultures in military organizations consist of symbols, practices, habits, hidden assumptions, and beliefs about what needs to be done, and what is appropriate and what is not, before, during, and after operations. Generally speaking, organizational cultures in military institutions are similar to those in any other work organization. Upon closer examination, however, it appears that the military’s 24/7, communal life outside society, its emphasis on hierarchy and discipline, and in particular its license to use large-scale force make it different. Relatedly, the way in which the military’s organizational cultures are created and recreated has aspects and emphases that are less common in conventional work organizations. Recruiting and socialization patterns of new organizational members in the military have been studied frequently because they are so distinctive in the armed forces. Military organizational cultures are not identical worldwide. Military organizations differ internationally, as military organizations are still strongly connected to their national backgrounds, including the languages, legal regimes, political atmospheres, and general ways of living in the many nations across the globe. National societies and their histories shape military organizational cultures in multiple ways. Dramatic experiences at the national level, for instance during World War II, may lead to a continuation or, just the opposite, the disruption of armed forces’ organizational cultures. Yet despite the differences, something of a world culture impacting on the use of force seems to emerge as well. In an era when international alliances carry out most missions, different national backgrounds influence strategic decision making and the way operations are conducted. Most of the time, national armed forces operate separately, in their own area (or time) of operations, sometimes guiding troops from smaller and less wealthy partnering nations. The coordination of actions between the various areas of operation is generally not very well elaborated. This applies not only to combat operations but also to peace missions. A full integration of national armed forces, such as in a United Nations security force or a European army, is an ideal that some may dream of, but it is still far from reality. The greatest degree of integration is likely to be found in international headquarters.

scholarly journals THE IDEAL AGGREGATE OF CRIMES STIPULATED BY ARTICLES 168, 264 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 37-40
Author(s):  
Evgeniy V. Khromov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Civil Code ◽  
Road Accidents ◽  
Property Damage ◽  
Legal Assessment ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Ideal

The issue of criminal legal assessment of the consequences of road accidents in the event of property damage is relevant. Disposition of Art. 168 of the Criminal Code provides for criminal liability for the destruction or damage of another’s property on a large scale, including through reckless handling of a source of increased danger. By virtue of h. 1 Article. 1079 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, vehicles are considered sources of increased danger.

scholarly journals Lend-lease Program through the Prism of Official and Ego Sources

2021 ◽  
pp. 53-73
Author(s):  
O. Lysenko ◽  
O. Fil ◽  
L. Khoynatska
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Global Challenge ◽  
Military Equipment ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Red Army

Discussions around various aspects of World War II in the world’s scientific space and memory field have continued throughout the postwar decades. Initially, they were determined by polar and antagonistic ideological paradigms, and after the end of the Cold War – the discovery and introduction into scientific circulation of previously classified sources, testing of avant-garde methods of scientific knowledge, the development of interpretive tools. In the late 1930s, the Soviet Union found itself virtually isolated, alone with the Axis bloc and their allies. It was difficult for the Soviet leadership to overcome the existing threats on its own, especially after the German attack. Only the realization by the Western Allies that Berlin’s aggressive course had become a global challenge made it possible to find a constructive way to join forces in the fight against a common enemy. One of the channels of cooperation between the states of the Anti-Hitler Coalition was the organization of supplies to the USSR of military equipment, ammunition, food, and materials necessary for the facilities of the Soviet military-industrial complex within the framework of the land lease program. Until recently, the problem of land lease was more in ideological discourse than in purely scientific. The currently available source base allows for an unbiased analysis of this phenomenon and elucidation of the place and role of foreign revenues to the USSR in strengthening its defense capabilities during the war against Germany and its allies. However, to this day, the researchers look out of focus, because of the perception of this phenomenon by veterans who fought on foreign military equipment, ate food from overseas. The authors of the article sees their task as combining these two dimensions of the lend-lease and finding out its impact not only on the scale of the large-scale armed confrontation, but also on the moral and psychological condition of the Red Army, for whom the war was an extremely difficult test.

scholarly journals Protection of the subsoil of the continental shelf of Ukraine by international and national instrumentalities

2021 ◽  
pp. 186-190
Author(s):  
V. V. Chumak ◽  
O. O. Khan ◽  
I. V. Bryhadyr ◽  
K. V. Kysylova
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
The State ◽  
Structural Method ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Foreign Companies ◽  
Legal Method ◽  
Legislative Changes ◽  
State Protection

Purpose. Identification of international and national mechanisms for protection of the subsoil of the continental shelf of Ukraine and provision of scientifically sound recommendations for improving the legal regulation of their application. Methodology. During the study, the dialectical method was used to learn the essence of such a phenomenon as the protection of the subsoil of the continental shelf; the system-structural method when analyzing objective and subjective features of the crime under Part 2 of Art. 244 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; the comparative-and-legal method in the study on the sanction of Part 2 of Art. 244 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; the logical and dogmatic method when developing recommendations for improving legal norms. Findings. As a result of the study, mechanisms of protection of the continental shelf of Ukraine were determined. The necessity of improvement of the legislative base regulating the order of their realization is proved. Originality. The international legal and national mechanisms of state protection of the continental shelf of Ukraine are determined. In order to improve the state protection of the continental shelf, legislative changes to Part 1 of Art. 26 of the Subsoil Code of Ukraine, Part 2 of Art. 244 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and Part 2 of Art. 216 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine are suggested. Practical value. Proposals to improve the current legislation of Ukraine are presented aimed at improving the efficiency of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine, the National Police, the Security Service of Ukraine and the judiciary to protect the subsoil of the continental shelf of Ukraine from illegal use by foreign companies.

scholarly journals Intellectual Elite of Ukrainian Nation: on the Occasion of Centenary of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

2018 ◽  
pp. 807-820
Author(s):  
Serhii Pyrozhkov
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Ukrainian Academy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Technological Advancement ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Short Time Span ◽  
Comprehensive Development ◽  
Post War ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

The author analyses the history of the establishment of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kyiv. He examines the legal procedures for the Academy’s establishment and emphasises that mutual understanding between the scientific community and authorities provides an opportunity to resolve a fundamental nation-wide problem within a short time span. It is also stressed that the crucial role in drafting the Law on the Establishment of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences belongs to M.P. Vasylenko and V.I. Vernadskyi, like-minded prominent scholars and men of science, towering figures who considered science as the blissful power. In addition, the article examines the main tasks pursued by the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, namely providing a sound scientific underpinning for the development of Ukrainian society as well as increasing the role of sciences in civil life. The article substantiates that the comprehensive development of seminal works has always been and still remains the primary purpose of the Academy. All scholars who took part in its development disinterestedly worked upon the implementation of its concept and dedicated their lives to education. The author singles out five rather different periods in the operation of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences: the establishment, expansion of activities during the World War II, post-war rejuvenation, development, and golden age owing to scientific and technological advancement. The fifth period is modern and has lasted since 1991. In the end, the author emphasises that the establishment of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences was designed as a large-scale and socially significant project, whose implementation has eventually given rise to a powerful national intellectual centre with an ever increasing contribution to the development of the country, nation, and personalities. According to the fundamental principles and strategic goals of the Academy, its activity has been expanding for over a hundred years both in favourable and disadvantageous times, in conditions of social stability and continuous social changes. Keywords: Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, establishment, power, prominent scientists, important role.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document