An exploration of ECtHR jurisprudence governing the administration of release processes for life and long-term sentence prisoners: Perspectives from the United Kingdom

The purpose of the research themes examined in this article is to contribute to the ongoing debate pertaining to substantive criminal laws and procedures governing sentence reviews of prolonged detention for life and long-term sentence prisoners in accordance with Article 5(4) ECHR. The incompatibility of whole life irreducible sentences with Article 3 ECHR is examined through the lens of the ECtHR judgment in Vinter, Moore and Bamber v United Kingdom. The analyses of ECtHR jurisprudence is heavily skewed towards the administration of indeterminate life, and by analogy long-term determinate sentences, in the United Kingdom which is an outlier jurisdiction in a European context given that, in conjunction with Turkey, it accounts for the majority of persons serving life sentences. The article focuses on pertinent ECHR provisions and associated ECtHR jurisprudence, with perspectives from the United Kingdom on their implementation as a case study. While key themes are disinterred from the ECtHR’s jurisprudence that will presumably inform sentence review procedures in European states, a broader analysis of release systems operative in a European context is beyond the scope of the article.

Later Rather Than Sooner: Time and Its Effects on the Karadžić and Mladić Trials

Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić, the war-time Bosnian Serb leaders, were first indicted by the UN Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 1995. The two hid for many years, with their trials starting only in 2009 and 2012, respectively, after they were apprehended in headline-generating operations. Their continued evasion of trial was constantly critiqued. After all, thousands were killed, tortured, detained, raped, expelled, and robbed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and these two men were widely seen as responsible. Pleas were made by survivors and frustration expressed on behalf of the victims, as many said, ‘justice delayed is justice denied’. However, as this article shows, the many years the two high-ranking individuals spent hiding were well-used to collect evidence which led to their convictions and life sentences. Contrary to conventional wisdom, delay can actually be beneficial in prosecuting leaders for atrocity crimes.

DAMPAK PSIKOLOGIS NARAPIDANA SEUMUR HIDUP DALAM PERUBAHAN PIDANANYA MENJADI PIDANA PERCOBAAN 20 TAHUN

A prisoner is someone whose rights and freedoms must be revoked because he has committed a crime. The loss of freedom of freedom, and the things that must be faced in the face of the environment and the new, and having to part with loved ones, as well as relatives, which negatively affects actions. This study aims to determine the psychological development with a life sentence against a criminal change into a 20-year probationary sentence. This writing uses a normative approach using library techniques. Many with life sentences experienced despair and lost hope, the change of sentence to 20 years probation was a second chance that was coveted by the people. In serving the sentence, there are three important parts that have a large enough influence on the condition of a psychologist, namely environmental conditions in prisons, characteristics between individuals and social support.

Another Turkish military coup cannot be ruled out

Significance They had lost an appeal against life sentences handed down in 2018, but suspended on appeal, for ousting Turkey’s first Islamist-led government. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then a member of the now-defunct Welfare Party, has made curbing the military a top mission of his 20 years in power. Impacts By imprisoning ageing former generals, Erdogan may hope to appease his Islamist base, particularly those victimised in 1997. The president and his party may also hope to reverse the slide in the polls ahead of elections planned for 2023 -- perhaps for a snap vote. Erdogan may respond to calls to pardon the jailed former generals, having put out feelers to the military since 2015.

Using Data to Achieve Justice Reform

Americans have grown uneasy with our ranking as the world’s leader in incarceration, which has made way for thoughtful discussion and debate around how to reform our sentencing and corrections systems. To adequately measure progress toward ending mass imprisonment, federal and state prison data must become more readily available and transparent. The Sentencing Project embarked on the work of documenting the number of people serving life sentences after observing a large gap in adequate information or concern about expansion of long prison sentences. We now know that long-term imprisonment is a driver of mass incarceration and that one in seven prisoners is serving life. Though all states can provide aggregate figures on populations of prisoners upon request, this information is insufficient to fully understand the life-sentenced population, including shifting dynamics within the population. Going forward, simple access to de-identified administrative prison records can serve as a bridge between policy reform ideas and their implementation.

Enigma of the Dark: Reflections while Researching Journalism and the Claremont Serial Killings

After almost 25 years of mass media coverage on the Claremont Serial Killings, Perth audiences were informed in December 2020 that Bradley Robert Edwards would serve two life sentences for murdering two of the young women. This article draws on interviews with journalists to discuss media practices in the case that shocked Perth while shaping audience understandings of women as victims. The article describes how the term ‘serial killer’ came into use to bolster the importance of Western Australian news; how the status and resources of victim’s family influenced media coverage and, consequently, the police investigation; and, how the position of a journalist as an unbiased observer became untenable in the case.

Life Sentences and Perpetual Confinement

The past 40 years have been a time of great change in life sentencing, during which the use of life sentences has dramatically grown and the quality of life sentences has markedly hardened. The rise of life without parole in the United States is a particularly recognizable development, but life sentencing has increased worldwide, and the use of other forms of punishment that hold people in prison until death has also intensified. This article focuses on these transformations by examining several important areas in which thinking and scholarship on life sentencing have been altered and spurred by recent developments. The review concludes by pointing to gaps in the field of research and highlighting issues on which social scientific research on life sentencing has more to contribute going forward.

Mental Health Experiences Among Inmates Serving Life Sentences in Ghana Prisons

In Ghana, a convicted person is not entitled to parole. The only hope for their return into the community is either completing the sentence or government amnesty. However, recidivists on life sentences are completely denied the chance of returning into the community. This coupled with the demand of adjusting to the country’s prison conditions affects the mental well-being of life-sentenced inmates. This study explored the mental health experiences of life-sentenced inmates. An interpretive phenomenological approach guided the analysis of qualitative data collected from 21 life-sentenced inmates who were serving terms in three selected prisons. We employed the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition ( DSM-5) and International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision ( ICD-11) mental disorder symptomologies to situate the participants’ narration of their experiences. The participants reported feeling sad, hopelessness, and having sleepless days and nights due to thinking about their perceived spoiled plight. They also experienced stress and were fearful of uncertainties due to perceived prison officer apathy and harsh prison conditions. Additionally, the participants resorted to drug use as a means to cope with their mental health experiences. The participants’ descriptions of their experiences were consistent with some symptomologies of mental disorders as provided in the DSM-5 and ICD-11 and call for the creation of mental health treatment services in the country’s prisons to improve the mental health of inmates.