Assessing the Role of the Justice-of-the-Peace Courts in the Russian Judicial System

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Hendley
Keyword(s):  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
District Courts ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Civil Cases ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Justice Of The Peace

Justice-of-the-peace courts (JP courts) have been in operation for ten years in Russia. The article assesses the extent to which they have fulfilled the original policy goals of diverting mundane cases away from the raionnye (district) courts and making the legal system more accessible to ordinary citizens. Policy makers have repeatedly tinkered with their jurisdictional parameters in order to find a proper dividing point between the JP courts and the district courts. The caseload data document that the JP courts now handle almost all first-instance administrative cases, as well as about three-quarters of all civil cases. Their role in criminal justice is more constrained. Their success in processing huge numbers of cases is facilitated by the use of “judicial orders” (sudebnye prikazy) in many civil cases, and by the use of a type of plea bargaining (osoboe proizvodstvo) in criminal cases. Each of these procedural mechanisms obviates the need for a full hearing on the merits.

The Politics of Energy Security

2019 ◽  
pp. 247-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Jewell ◽  
Elina Brutschin
Keyword(s):  
Energy Security ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Academic Communities ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Productive Research

Energy security has long been a main driver of energy policies, but its meaning has been contested by policy makers and scholars. The concept incorporates both material and intersubjective aspects, finding different expressions in different contexts and attracting the interest of diverse social actors and academic communities. This chapter identifies, compares, and contrasts five major approaches for analyzing energy security rooted in different scholarly traditions. It argues that in order to facilitate a dialogue among these approaches as well as policy comparison and learning, it is useful to conceptualize energy security as “low vulnerability of vital energy systems.” This definition opens avenues for productive research, unpacking the interplay between material and intersubjective aspects of “vulnerability” and “vitality” of energy systems. Future research should investigate the role of material factors alongside power, values, and trust in defining energy security; explain the gap between energy securitization and action; and explore the interaction between energy security and other energy policy goals.

scholarly journals Managerial Judicial Conflict Resolution (JCR) of Plea Bargaining

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 494-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Luz Kanner ◽  
Dana Rosen ◽  
Yosef Zohar ◽  
Michal Alberstein
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Average Duration ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Judicial Process ◽  
Legal Cases ◽  
Client Relations

This article examines the role of the criminal judge in light of the vanishing trial phenomenon and the emergent reality of many doors to process legal conflicts in both the civil and criminal domains. It focuses on judicial conflict resolution (JCR), which is any activity conducted by judges in order to promote consensual disposition of legal cases, in “Plea Bargains Facilitating Days” (moqed) in Tel-Aviv Magistrate’s Court. We conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses of data collected from observations of 717 hearings in 704 criminal cases and found that, on average, 5.55 (SD = 3.62) hearings were required for disposing of a case, and the average duration of a legal proceeding from indictment to closure was 548.55 (SD = 323.17) days. In most of the hearings the judges’ role was confined to managerial-bureaucratic decisions intended to enable the negotiation between the parties. JCR activities occurred in only 16.9 percent of the hearings, and we identified six types of JCR practices in the promotion of plea bargains: narrow and broad facilitation of negotiations between the parties, forecasting the legal outcome, negatively presenting the judicial process, using lawyer-client relations to promote agreement, and using Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) techniques. These findings are compared to previous findings on the roles of judges in civil pretrial proceedings, and the more active role of the civil judge in promoting settlements is discussed. We further discuss the possibility of expanding a therapeutic and rehabilitative approach in the framework of criminal JCR during preliminary hearing days, which become today the main door of criminal justice.

scholarly journals An inclusive and participatory approach to counter-radicalization? Examining the role of Muslim associations in the Swedish policy process

Ethnicities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 146879682093228
Author(s):  
Markus Holdo
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Participatory Approach ◽  
Policy Area ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Special Responsibilities

Policies on preventing radicalization and recruitment to violent Islamist organizations have been widely criticized for reinforcing negative stereotypes of Muslims as a group. Sweden has stood out by international comparison by announcing an approach built on inclusion and participation, especially with regard to Muslim civil society. But what does it mean to make a policy process inclusive and participatory? How can values of inclusion and participation be combined with efficient implementation and realization of policy goals, especially in a policy area where discourse and practice have tended to reinforce patterns of exclusion and discrimination? This article develops a framework that puts the roles of participants at the center: what expectations, boundaries and capacities come with an invitation to participate? Based on interviews with actors involved in the Swedish policy process, including Muslim civil society leaders, the study suggests that participation, in this case, meant primarily being present, thereby confirming commitment and stakeholder status and contributing legitimacy, and providing instrumental knowledge and communication networks. While Muslim representatives were often not expected to be more involved, some indicated that they themselves hesitated to go beyond these roles for several reasons. They expressed a concern that merely having opinions or critique could be interpreted as ‘radical’ and as not accepting the idea that Muslims as a group should have special responsibilities for preventing radicalism. One way of overcoming such obstacles is through subtle, indirect exercises of influence that allow policy-makers and administrators to anticipate the concerns and interests of affected groups without requiring their direct participation.

An exposé of the realpolitik of trade negotiations: implications for population nutrition

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (16) ◽  
pp. 3083-3091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Friel ◽  
Phillip Baker ◽  
Anne-Marie Thow ◽  
Deborah Gleeson ◽  
Belinda Townsend ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Negotiations ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Key Informant ◽  
Political Dimensions

AbstractObjective:To explore the formal and informal ways in which different actors involved in shaping trade agreements pursue their interests and understand the interactions with nutrition, in order to improve coherence between trade and nutrition policy goals.Design:The paper draws on empirical evidence from Australian key informant interviews that explore the underlying political dimensions of trade agreements that act as barriers or facilitators to getting nutrition objectives on trade agendas.Setting:Countries experiencing greater availability and access to diets full of energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods through increased imports, greater foreign direct investment and increasing constraints on national health policy space as a result of trade agreements.Participants:Interviews took place with Australian government officials, industry, public-interest non-government organizations and academics.Results:The analysis reveals the formal and informal mechanisms and structures that different policy actors use both inside and outside trade negotiations to pursue their interests. The analysis also identifies the discourses used by the different actors, as they attempt to influence trade agreements in ways that support or undermine nutrition-related goals.Conclusions:Moving forward requires policy makers, researchers and health advocates to use various strategies including: reframing the role of trade agreements to include health outcomes; reforming the process to allow greater access and voice to health arguments and stakeholders; establishing cross-government partners through accountable committees; and building circles of consensus and coalitions of sympathetic public-interest actors.

Justice of the Peace

2008 ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
John Roy Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Grand Jury ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Capital Cases ◽  
Civil Cases ◽  
Justice Of The Peace

This chapter describes John Roy Lynch's experiences as a justice of the peace. A justice of the peace at that time had original jurisdiction in all civil cases where the amount in controversy did not exceed three hundred dollars. In criminal cases he had jurisdiction concurrent with the county court in all cases below the grade of felony, and in felonious and capital cases he could sit as a committing magistrate, examine the witnesses, and decide whether or not the testimony was sufficient to bind the accused over to the next grand jury, with or without bail, to fix the amount and accept or reject such bondsmen as might be offered. While his decision was not final and therefore not a bar to further action by a higher court, it had, nevertheless, an important bearing upon any subsequent action that might be taken. To have a young and inexperienced colored man placed in charge of such an important office was looked upon by many, even of his warmest personal friends, with serious misgivings. But after several months had passed these misgivings had entirely disappeared.

Court

2021 ◽  
pp. 83-90
Author(s):  
Anna Smajdor ◽  
Jonathan Herring ◽  
Robert Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Expert Witnesses ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Civil Proceedings ◽  
Civil Cases

This chapter explains the procedure followed in criminal cases and civil cases. It explores the role of the Crown Prosecution Service in criminal prosecutions. It also considers the important role that expert witnesses can play in civil proceedings and what the expectations are of those who put themselves forward for that role.

Russia

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Ward ◽  
Dmitri Bartenev
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Court ◽  
District Courts ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Justice Of The Peace ◽  
Commercial Courts

Russia is a civil law country. It is a federation of constituent entities (‘entities’). Laws affecting adults are made mainly at the federal level. Entities have very limited powers in this regard, such as defining the structure of public agencies responsible for implementing federal standards. The judicial system comprises courts of general jurisdiction (which hear both civil and criminal cases), commercial courts, the federal constitutional court, and (in some entities) regional constitutional courts. Courts of first instance are justice of the peace, district, and regional courts. The highest court with general jurisdiction is the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. District courts hear most adult protection cases, for which there are no special tribunals.

The Role of Statistical Evidence in Civil Cases

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph L. Gastwirth
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Relative Risk ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
Statistical Evidence ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Legal Process ◽  
Legal Cases ◽  
Civil Cases

Civil cases outnumber criminal cases in federal courts, and statistical evidence has become more important in a wide variety of them. In contrast to science, which is concerned with general phenomena, legal cases concern one plaintiff or a class of plaintiffs and replication of the events that led to the case is not possible. This review describes the legal process, the way statistics are used in several types of cases, and the criteria courts use in evaluating the reliability of statistical testimony. Several examples of courts’ misinterpreting statistical analyses are presented. Commonly occurring issues in the statistical analysis of stratified data, the use of regression analysis, and the use of epidemiologic estimates of relative risk are described. Hopefully, this review will encourage statisticians to engage with the legal system and develop better ways of communicating the results of studies so they receive the evidentiary weight they deserve.

scholarly journals The Trial Judge: Pilot, Participant, or Umpire?

1969 ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh W. Silverman, Q.C.
Keyword(s):  
Case Law ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Trial Judge ◽  
Open Court ◽  
Civil Cases ◽  
The One ◽  
And Function ◽  
Role And Function

The recent decision in Phillips v. Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. et al.t has reopened question which some might have considered to be somewhat settled: the role and function of the trial judge. Professor Silverman has taken the Phillips decision as cue for making comprehensive analysis of the English and Cana dian case law concerning the trial judge's function, in civil as well as criminal cases. Such issues as the rule requiring the presentation of evidence in open court, the limitations on the trial judge's right to call witnesses, his interference in the examination of witnesses and his intervention in the trial as whole are examined. Professor Silverman notes that although there may be dicta in some criminal and civil cases which apply to both, the better approach for the trial judge is to restrict himself "as much as possible" to the principles set out in cases of the same nature (criminal or civil) as the one before him. However, the author does lay down several general propositions delineating the boundaries of the trial and the role of the trial judge, which are applicable to both criminal and civil cases. Professor Silverman concludes, that although a trial judge may be pilot he "is certainly more than an umpire, watching the sporting-theory of litigation in action; and he is less than participant in that he should not enter into the fray of combat nor take on the mantle of counsel".

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document