Knowing What We Want: A Decent Society, A Civilized System of Justice & A Condition of Dignity

Human dignity as a value to guide criminal justice reform emerged strikingly in the 2011 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Plata. But with Justice Kennedy retired and courts generally reluctant to go far down the road to practical reforms, its future lies in the political realm shaping policy at the local, state, and national levels. For human dignity to be effective politically and in forming policy, we need a vocabulary robust enough to convey a positive vision for the penal state. In this essay, I discuss three concepts that can provide more precision to the potential abstractness of human dignity, two of which the Supreme Court has regularly used in decisions regarding punishment: the idea of a “decent society,” the idea of a “civilized system of justice,” and the idea of a “condition of dignity.” In brief, without a much broader commitment to restoring a decent society, and to civilizing our justice and security systems, there is little hope that our police stations, courts, jails, and prisons will provide a condition of dignity to those unfortunate enough to end up in them.

The Capabilities Approach and the Concepts of Self-Determination, Legal Competence and Human Dignity in Social Services for Older People

In this chapter, the tension between self-determination and human dignity in the Swedish legal system of social care for older people is analysed with help of the capabilities approach. The core focus of this approach is the individual person’s capability to make decisions. Also important is a supportive societal system that enables the realisation of self-determination, specifically for individuals who are not fully capable of making arrangements for themselves. The capabilities approach emphasises the responsibility of the State and can be used to analyse the impact of legal and political obligations for nation-states, and to balance the increased focus on self-determination and the quest for increased capabilities among older people. In the context of a dismantled welfare state, a one-sided focus on individual autonomy might turn out to be a double-edged sword, leaving the individual with self-determination but no (or insufficient) available care to decide about. In this chapter, the underlying principles of practical decisions are theoretically explored and reflected upon. Of specific relevance is human dignity (in addition to enhancing individual freedom), normativity (a set of fundamental capabilities is identified) and the central role of the nation-state (as the responsible political subject for the achievement of minimum thresholds for all capabilities).

Our Humanity

Neurobiological research highlights the significance of our physical existence as feeling, conscious, and purposeful beings. Antonio Damasio describes the core self as a witness to one’s own purposeful existence—a possible location for the notion of human dignity. In contrast to the notion of the isolated individual, Damasio defines the self as a conductor created by an orchestra. Daniel Siegel sees the self as a composite entity determined by the flow of information and energy among internal and external events and responses. He also points out the significance of Attachment theory is revealing our need, like other primates, of a secure base; grounded in social relationships with others.

Article 19: The Right to Protection from All Forms of Violence

Article 19 defines violence broadly to include all forms of harm, encompassing physical, mental and sexual violence as well as non-intentional forms of harm, such as neglect. As such, Article 19 articulates full respect for the human dignity and physical and personal integrity of children as rights-bearing individuals. This requires a paradigm shift of caregiving and protection away from the perception of children primarily as victims. Article 19 sets out a comprehensive prohibition on all forms of violence towards children and enjoins State Parties to take all form all measures available to enforce this right. This article summarizes the four main attributes of Article 19 as follows: (1) All violence towards children is prohibited, frequency or severity of harm need not be demonstrated and violence is defined broadly to encompass all forms of violence towards children, personal, social and institutional, including physical and emotional harm as well as neglect, maltreatment, sexual abuse, and abandonment; (2) the right protects children from harm from their parents and legal guardians as well as when they are in the care of proxy caregivers, including school officials, hospital staff, daycares, sports programs, as well as custodial settings and alternative care arrangements; (3) States are required to give effect to this right through all appropriate measures: legislative, administrative, social and educational; and finally the call for comprehensive measures to eradicate violence against children is reinforced by the final attribute (4) this attribute insists that the range of interventions required to give effect to Article 19 rights includes measures to ensure effective identification, reporting, investigation, and treatment of all forms of harm to children.

Antyautorytarna edukacja prawnicza

The article is divided into two parts. In the first part, I present the main assumptions of foundationalism and, using selected examples from general reflection on law, reconstruct related strategies of justifying claims. Then, I discuss the anti-foundationalist method of justifying the universalism of human rights. Referring to the arguments of Hannah Arendt and Alessandro Ferrara, I give the example of the Holocaust as the so-called point of no return, whose exemplary validity justifies the idea of human rights without the need to refer to substantive human dignity. In the second part of the article, I use the anti-foundationalist argument to build a conception of anti-authoritarian legal education. The proposed concept of education based on a collaborative, democratic, nonhierarchical, and pluralistic discussion of historical examples should complement traditional legal education.

THE FUNCTIONING OF HUMANITARIAN AID IN THE MALAGASY URBAN ENVIRONMENT TO ENSURE RESILIENCE TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In Madagascar, faced with a galloping poverty rate, diseases, malnutrition, natural disasters, unemployment, illiteracy and illiteracy are hitting the population hard. In this context, social and economic aid aimed at an increasingly vulnerable population group is diversifying considerably. In general, humanitarians come to the aid of the most vulnerable to restore human dignity and alleviate the suffering of families in precarious situations. The question then becomes how will these humanitarian actions work to ensure resilience for socially sustainable development? This study, which aims to analyze the functioning of NGOs in the resolution of post-disaster socio-economic problems, allows us to affirm that taking into account the underlying factors: structural and situational, contributes to the achievement of the expected objectives for the strengthening of their resilience.

THE SUBJECTIVITY OF WORK AND THE NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED WORK

Along with the recognition that human work involves human dignity, the employment relationship of workers should be viewed in terms of the relationship with the state. Indeed, the essence of employment-based work is that the employee’s responsibilities are never entirely precise. Thus, the employee gives up his freedom to another entity. This entity can only be the state, exercising its powers through the workplace.