scholarly journals The contribution of prosecutors to the failure of damage claims of victims in war crimes trials at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr.Sc. Goran Šimić ◽  
MA. Ena Kazić
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
Procedure Code ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
Damage Claims

According to definition and laws, the role of the prosecutor is to represent public goods. In the cases of war crimes, that public good is not exhausted with criminal prosecution of the perpetrators of the criminal offences, but it also covers reparation of the damage to the victims. This is not part of the judiciary praxis of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although there is a clear obligation to collect evidence that would support damage claims of the victims as prescribed in the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CPCBH), in reality prosecutors fail to fulfill this obligation. In few cases, settled before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the court had awarded compensation to the victims of war crimes, merits for that are to be given to the victims who have, on their own initiative and with their own limited resources, hired attorneys and other experts who acted as prosecutors. To prevent this from happening in the future, having in mind hundreds of potential pending cases (with thousands of victims) waiting for trial, this practice needs to be changed. In that way, although mostly only declaratory in nature in criminal codes and during war crimes trials, more “realistic” and “humane” justice could be achieved for those directly affected by these crimes.

scholarly journals Heterogeneous groups cooperate in public good problems despite normative disagreements about individual contribution levels

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasper Otten ◽  
Vincent Buskens ◽  
Wojtek Przepiorka ◽  
Naomi Ellemers
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Individual Contribution ◽  
Public Goods Game ◽  
Homogeneous Groups ◽  
The Public ◽  
Heterogeneous Groups ◽  
Good Provision ◽  
Good Individual

Abstract Norms can promote human cooperation to provide public goods. Yet, the potential of norms to promote cooperation may be limited to homogeneous groups in which all members benefit equally from the public good. Individual heterogeneity in the benefits of public good provision is commonly conjectured to bring about normative disagreements that harm cooperation. However, the role of these normative disagreements remains unclear because they are rarely directly measured or manipulated. In a laboratory experiment, we first measure participants’ views on the appropriate way to contribute to a public good with heterogeneous returns. We then use this information to sort people into groups that either agree or disagree on these views, thereby manipulating group-level disagreement on normative views. Participants subsequently make several incentivized contribution decisions in a public goods game with peer punishment. We find that although there are considerable disagreements about individual contribution levels in heterogeneous groups, these disagreements do not impede cooperation. While cooperation is maintained because low contributors are punished, participants do not use punishment to impose their normative views on others. The contribution levels at which groups cooperate strongly relate to the average normative views of these groups.

The Role of Evidence in War Crimes Trials: the Common Law and the Yugoslav Tribunal

1999 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 307-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Bryan ◽  
Peter Rowe
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Attorney General ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
Time Part ◽  
Second World

With the passing into law of the War Crimes Act of 1991, the United Kingdom joined common law states such as Canada and Australia in conferring upon its domestic courts jurisdiction to try individuals suspected of having committed war crimes in Europe during the Second World War. Under the 1991 Act, proceedings for murder, manslaughter or culpable homicide may be brought, with the consent of the Attorney-General, against any person who, on 8 March 1990 or later, became a British citizen or resident in the United Kingdom, providing that the offence charged is alleged to have been committed between 1 September 1939 and 4 June 1945 in a place which was, at the material time, part of Germany or under German occupation. The Act further provides that the offence charged must have constituted a violation of the laws and customs of war under international law at the time it was committed. In addition, the Act stipulates that the nationality of the alleged offender at the time the alleged offence was committed is immaterial.

scholarly journals The Role of the Prosecutor in the Prevention and Elimination of Investigative Errors: Russian and German Experience

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holm Putzke ◽  
Aleksey Tarbagaev ◽  
Аleksandr Nazarov ◽  
Ludmila Maiorova
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Court ◽  
Criminal Prosecution ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Criminal Process ◽  
Police Investigation ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Procedure Code ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Court Proceedings

The paper is devoted to the prevention, identification and correction of mistakes during the preliminary criminal investigation because establishing the offence and all the circumstances that constitute evidence forms the basis for a just verdict, helps prevent crimes against justice and reach other goals of punishment. The authors present the conceptual and normative background for the model of permanent prosecutors supervision as the dominant control and supervision activity in the pre-trial criminal proceedings that allows to effectively implement the strategies of criminal prosecution and protection of human rights. This model establishes the authority of the prosecutor for the procedural management of the criminal prosecution in the criminal process as a significant supervision authority. The tasks of identifying, correcting and preventing (not making) mistakes in pre-trial investigations are equally urgent in Russia and in Germany. Although the Criminal Procedure Code of Germany gives the prosecutors office the leading role in the investigation, in practice the investigation is more often carried out by the police while the role of the prosecutor is reduced to summarizing the results of the police investigation and making the final decisions. At the same time, the prosecutors office has considerable powers of discretion regarding the initiation or non-initiation of criminal prosecution, the prosecutor uses his/her own discretion to determine the procedure and method of investigation. It is important to examine some aspects of the prosecutors role in German criminal court proceedings within the framework of correcting investigation mistakes in Russian criminal process. The model of prosecutors supervision presented in the paper does not preclude the legislative provisions for the transfer of some authority of the court to the prosecutor at the pre-trial stages of the criminal process. This model of prosecutors supervision allows timely and effective identification, correction and prevention of investigation mistakes at the pre-trial stages of criminal court proceedings.

scholarly journals Classroom Games: Voluntary Provision of a Public Good

1997 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles A Holt ◽  
Susan K Laury
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Fund Raising ◽  
Public Goods Game ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
The Public ◽  
Voluntary Provision ◽  
Good Problem

This paper describes a simple public goods game, implemented with playing cards in a classroom setup. Students choose whether to contribute to the provision of a public good in a situation where it is privately optimal not to contribute, but socially optimal to contribute fully. This exercise motivates discussion of altruism, strategies for private fund-raising, and the role of government in resolving the public good problem.

‘Experts in truth?’: the politics of retribution in Italy and the role of historians

Modern Italy ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Pezzino
Keyword(s):  
War Crimes ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
The Past ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Expert Consultant ◽  
The One ◽  
Judicial Procedure

There have been many reflections on the relations between the judge and the historian which have concentrated on the differences between these two figures: but what happens in cases where an historian collaborates openly with a judge as an expert consultant? What happens when an investigative office, or a court, asks an historian to reconstruct an event which is subject to a judicial procedure, or when he or she has to pronounce the ‘last word’ on an event or a document? Or, in another possible scenario, what happens when a community asks an historian to pronounce on what happened in the past, in order to ascertain which, between two contesting memories of the representation of an event, is the one which corresponds to what ‘really happened’? In these cases historians are sought out to establish the truth–their professional skills as ‘truth experts’ are called upon. And there is an extraordinary faith that the truth will be discovered. The author reflects on these issues, using as a starting point his own personal experiences as a consultant in some recent Italian war-crimes trials.

scholarly journals The role of spatial policy tools protecting the space as a public good

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (146) ◽  
pp. 265-274
Author(s):  
Paweł MICKIEWICZ ◽  
◽  
Maciej J. NOWAK ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Management System ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Spatial Management ◽  
Spatial Policy

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to indicate functions that spatial policy tools at local level 10 should fulfill while protecting the space understood as a public good. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is of a review nature, but it refers to results of conducted research, included in the context of public goods. Findings: The area of communes covered by local plans is varied and very often depends on random circumstances from the perspective of the main spatial policy framework. The above illustrates diverse conditions, in which spatial conflicts may occur. Factors that should theoretically play an ordering role actually bring much more chaos. Therefore, the behavior of communal authorities in the implementation of spatial policy is contained in the sphere of impacts difficult to clearly predict, about which E. Ostrom mentioned. Social implications: In the context of current problems occurring in the spatial management system, it is worth developing the approach to space as a public good. This will help to adapt the approaches and characteristics of public goods to the current conditions of spatial management system and optimal role of spatial policy tools. Originality/value: This paper defines the roles of spatial policy tools protecting the space understood as a public good. Space protection in this approach must be implemented through specific spatial policy tools. The paper verifies the real scope of such protection. An attempt was made to translate approaches and dilemmas regarding public goods into conditions related to the spatial management system.

Thrust and Parry: Radovan Karadžić and the Translators and Interpreters at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

1969 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Elias-Bursać
Keyword(s):  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
Republika Srpska ◽  
The Relationship

Every word of testimony in the war-crimes trials held at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was transcribed and recorded, translated and interpreted into other languages. The translators and interpreters enjoyed an unusual degree of visibility in this setting. Their choices of terminology, phrasing, tenor, are discussed, even hotly disputed at every session of these long trials, and the language staff are called upon to defend their choices in official memoranda. Radovan Karadžić, former president of the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, chose to conduct his own defense after he was arrested and accused of war crimes. He was well-enough versed in English that he could follow the interpreting closely as it came from the booth. His disputes with the language professionals were frequent and barbed. The relationship between the interpreter and Karadžić then became one much like fencing—thrust and parry.

Defending the Khmer Rouge

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupert Skilbeck
Keyword(s):  
Khmer Rouge ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
The Novel ◽  
War Crimes Trials

AbstractThe author outlines the lengthy negotiation process to create the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and the continued negotiations over the Internal Rules of the ECCC. The novel aspects of the procedure at the court are examined, looking at the investigation, the role of the civil party and the need for secrecy. There follows a survey of the ways in which defence lawyers have been supported in war crimes trials since Nuremberg, highlighting some of the recurring problems that have arisen and the system that is being used in Cambodia. Finally, the allegations against the five suspects before the ECCC are outlined and the legal issues that are likely to arise at the Court.

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