Solitary confinement and institutional harm

In a given year, one in five people incarcerated in the U.S. prisons is locked in solitary confinement. We study solitary confinement along three dimensions of penal harm: (1) material deprivation, (2) social isolation, and (3) psychological distress. Data from a longitudinal survey of incarcerated men who are interviewed at baseline in solitary confinement are used to contrast the most extreme form of penal custody with general prison conditions observed at a follow-up interview. Solitary confinement is associated with extreme material deprivation and social isolation that accompanies psychological distress. Distress is greatest for those with histories of mental illness. Inactivity and feelings of dehumanization revealed in qualitative interviews help explain the distress of extreme isolation, lending empirical support to legal arguments that solitary confinement threatens human dignity.

Inappropriate spending of budgetary funds as a criminal form of behavior and dysfunction of the modern economy

The article is devoted to the study of a very complex economic and legal phenomenon —inappropriate spending of budget funds. The article presents economic and legal arguments substantiating the need to counteract this kind of delinquent-criminal behavior as a dysfunction of the modern economy. The substantiation of the social and legal conditionality of the criminalization of misuse of budget funds is proposed. A high level of blanketness of the disposition of Article 2851 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The most controversial examples of misappropriation of budgetary funds are demonstrated, within the framework of which the most frequent problems of qualification of this kind of socially dangerous behavior arise.

Legal philosophy and the study of legal reasoning

In this paper, I argue that legal philosophers ought to focus more on problems of legal reasoning. This is a field with many philosophically interesting questions to consider, but also, a field in which legal philosophers can contribute the most to the study and the practice of law. Neither legal practitioners nor legal scholars reason with the same care and precision as philosophers do. Against this background, I suggest that the following three types of questions regarding legal reasoning are especially worthy of serious consideration. The first is that of the relevance of the theory of reasons holism to legal reasoning. The second is the question of how to analyze (first-order) legal statements in a way that does not undermine the rationality of legal reasoning. And the third is the question of whether legal arguments are to be understood as deductive arguments, inductive arguments, or both, and if so how.

The legitimacy of Tsarist authority over the peoples of Siberia in the late 16th to early 18th centuries

The article studies the methods that substantiated the legitimacy of the power of the Russian monarch over the vast territories of Siberia. The context of this study is the Russian political culture of the late 16th to early 18th centuries. Based on information from chronicles as well as diplomatic and administrative documents, the authors identify and systematize the main political, ideological, and legal arguments that were most often used by the Russian government to justify the Tsars rule over Siberia. The arguments can be divided into two groups according to the target audience: the first group was intended for conversation with the heads of foreign countries, the second one addressed the Siberian peoples and also the Russian people broadly. In foreign policy, the representatives of the Moscow Tsar emphasized the antiquity and the strength of the bond between these territories and the Russian state. The diplomats tended to exaggerate the scale of the Russian military, socio-economic, political, and cultural (religious) development of the new territories. At the same time, they were silent about the resistance of the local population to the tsarist servicemen. At home the authorities applied other legal arguments to bolster their legitimacy. In interaction with indigenous populations, the Russian governors and service people usually forced the communities (in the form of an ultimatum) to accept the claim that the Tsar owned the Siberian lands as a fiefdom. With this the socio-political status of the Siberian peoples radically changed: they became subjects to the Russian Tsar, as kholops or yasak-payers. The Russian combatants and colonists, in direct contact with the indigenous population, informed the Siberian peoples about recent government directives and fully identified with the official claim to authority. In the eyes of the Russian population, an additional element was the religious and political idea that the Tsar had been chosen by God, from which followed the duty to expand the Russian Orthodox tsardom.

Compensazione del danno (timoria) e giustizia come reciprocità nella demostenica Contro Midia, sul pugno

This article offers an analysis of the legal arguments that Demosthenes uses in his speech Against Meidias, concerning the punch to prove that Meidias, who had struck Demosthenes as he exercised his public functions as a choregos, is guilty of hybris, and that he (Demosthenes) deserves adequate (i.e. public) reparation for the outrage suffered. Demosthenes claims his right to a punishment (timoria) capable of repairing the collective, more than individual, damage. This claim appears to allow him, on the one hand, to legitimise, with effective legal argumentation, all the choices made in the aftermath of the episode of the punch, and on the other, to give a strong legal basis for requesting the death penalty for Meidias. The paragraphs 2-3 of the article deal with the choices Demosthenes made after the episode of the punch. Here I intend to show that Demosthenes is able to demonstrate to the judges the relevance of the procedural choices and to qualify them as ‘choices’ precisely because they were motivated and considered at length. In the following paragraphs of the article I discuss the legal argumentation that Demosthenes uses with regard to the ‘measure’ of the penalty required (the death penalty). The aim is to understand what roles the principle according to which Meidias’s hybristic conduct must be assessed from an overall view and the principle of justice as reciprocity play in this argument. The latter must take into account the merit of the epieikes Demosthenes as compared to the hybristes Meidias.

Case Sensitive: Lawyers and the Formation of Legal Arguments in Tanzania

This article uses evidence from Tanzanian lawyers and legal experts to advance a novel lawyer-centered explanation for Tanzania’s low levels of rights litigation. Like in many countries, Tanzanian citizens who pursue litigation depend on the presence, ideas, and guidance of lawyers. To understand patterns of litigation in Tanzania, therefore, we need to understand how lawyers make choices about their cases. Such knowledge is crucial to understanding litigation in Tanzania and in many other countries where lawyers bear similar responsibility in determining patterns of litigation. Here, I argue that three factors—legal education, laws and institutions, and judicial receptivity—dissuade lawyers from making rights-based arguments in cases where they might be appropriate. Lawyers’ avoidance of rights-based arguments in turn leads to low levels of rights litigation in Tanzania.

Battered Woman Syndrome: Prospect of Situating It Within Criminal Law in India

In patriarchal cultures, like the one prevalent in India, rigid, polarised and hierarchical gender roles work to establish a strong normative relationship between gender and the treatment of offenders committing violent crimes such as homicide. While most of the common law countries have already undergone a social change towards making their criminal laws more gender-sensitive by accommodating the experiences of battered women, the situation in India is quite different. Indian courts have recognised Battered Woman Syndrome very recently in only three cases, much differently than courts in other jurisdictions. While in other countries, Battered Woman Syndrome has been adduced by the advocates of battered women to support defence pleas, Indian Courts have resorted to it only to explain the effects of a battering relationship. The fact that Battered Woman Syndrome has only been recognised in such a small number of cases and the lack of scholarship in this particular area clearly resonates the resistance of the Indian criminal law towards women’s accounts of their experiences. Drawing on the example of the three cases, the author makes an attempt to put forth feminist legal arguments and offer a fresh perspective on the possibility of using Battered Woman Syndrome as a defence to address the concerns of battered women who end the cycle of violence by ending the lives of the abuser in a “kill or be killed” situation. Since Battered Woman Syndrome as a subject has been extensively researched in other common law countries, the present study limits itself to the Indian jurisdiction only. This paper also challenges the effectiveness of the existing defences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 in accommodating the cases of battered women, and highlights the need for the introduction of a new justificatory defence as a plausible solution.

Pengaturan Pengelolaan Dan Pengawasan Keuangan Negara Terhadap Badan Usaha Milik Negara (BUMN)

Badan Usaha Milik Negara atau BUMN merupakan salah satu badan usaha berbentuk perusahaan yang dimiliki oleh negara yang seluruh atau sebagian besar modalnya dimiliki oleh negara melalui penyertaan secara langsung yang berasal dari kekayaan negara yang dipisahkan. Problematika yaitu adanya konflik hukum atau disharmonisasi antar peraturan perundang-undangan terkait pola pengawasan pada BUMN tersebut, utamanya pada pengelolaan keuangan. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah normatif, penelitian ini dilakukan dengan tujuan untuk memberikan argumentasi hukum. Adapun pendekatan penelitian yang digunakan adalah pendekatan perundang-undangan (Statute Approach) dan Pendekatan Kasus (Case Approach). Penelitian ini menghasilkan Pertama, berdasarkan konflik hukum yang ada sangat penting untuk membuat aturan terkait penyertaan modal negara yang sudah dilaksanakan terhadap BUMN. Kedua, ketidakpastian hukum karena perbedaan istilah BUMN antara Undang-Undang Keuangan Negara dengan Undang-Undang BUMN perlu ditegaskan kembali terkait BUMN sebenarnya berstatus negeri atau swasta.Kata kunci: Pengelolaan Keuangan Negara, Pengawasan BUMN ABSTRACTState Owned Enterprises or BUMN are business entities in the form of companies owned by the state whose entire or most of the capital is owned by the state through direct investment originating from separated state assets. The problem is that there is a legal conflict or disharmony between laws and regulations related to the supervision pattern in the BUMN, especially in financial management. The research method used is normative, this research was conducted with the aim of providing legal arguments. The research approach used is the statutory approach and the case approach. This research results first, based on the existing legal conflicts, it is very important to make rules related to the participation of state capital that have been implemented for SOEs. Second, legal uncertainty due to the difference in the term BUMN between the State Finance Law and the BUMN Law needs to be reaffirmed regarding BUMN actually having a public or private status.Keywords: State Financial Management, BUMN Suprvision

Neonatal Circumcision: Public Health Necessity or Ethical Dilemma? – Systematic Review

Male circumcision (MC) is common in many countries. Despite clear health benefits, ethical arguments have been invoked opposing MC, especially when performed neonatally (NMC). NMC is when most MCs are performed in developed countries. Here we provide the first PRISMA-compliant systematic review of the disparate evidence of ethical and legal arguments concerning NMC and MC of older boys. Searches were performed of PubMed, Embase and Scopus for publications relevant to ethical and legal aspects of MC in developed Anglophone and European countries. This led to retrieval of 48 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. A further 18 articles and 16 Internet publications were identified from searches of bibliographies of articles retrieved. Two more were supplied by a legal academic colleague. In total 84 publications were reviewed. The literature revealed arguments by some that parent-approved MC of a nonconsenting child is unethical. But parental consent also applies to vaccination and all other medical therapies in children. Strong data support a conclusion that: (1) NMC is low risk, (2) NMC provides immediate and lifetime medical and health benefits, and (3) NMC has no adverse effect on sexual function and pleasure. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child articulates the right to health and focuses on the best interests of the child as its guiding principle. Discouraging or denying MC to neonates is arguably unethical, given the overwhelming health benefits. Legal scholars regard case-law as supporting the legality of NMC. Ethical and legal arguments support the rights of males of all ages to lifetime protection against infection and diseases caused by lack of MC. Arguments opposing NMC generally involve distortion of the medical evidence, poorly designed studies and opinions. Opposition to NMC goes against the principles of evidence-based medicine used in reviews conducted to develop pediatric policies in support of optimum public health, sexual health, mental health, and human rights.

Perlindungan Hukum Bagi Pemilik Kartu Elektronik dalam Transaksi E-Commerceputu

Electronic contracts are one of the new forms of contracts that get special protection in Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions. In general, electronic contracts are very different from ordinary (conventional) forms of contract, therefore it will be very difficult to directly apply the conditions for the occurrence of conventional contracts to this electronic contract (online contract). The purposes of this study are to reveal the validity of electronic contracts in credit card agreements and legal protection for credit card owners in e-commerce transactions. This research was conducted using normative legal research by applying a statutory approach. The technique of collecting legal materials is carried out by taking inventory of laws and regulations and recording techniques. This study uses primary and secondary legal materials which are then processed using deductive logic with analysis of legal interpretation and legal arguments presented descriptively. The results of the study reveal that in Law Number 8 of 1999 there are regulations that protect the parties who carry out E-Commerce transactions. Electronic contracts are basically the same as written contacts and have legal force and legal consequences as long as they meet statutory requirements. The legal protection provided by Article 26 of Law Number 8 of 1999 provides protection for consumers by requiring business actors who trade services to fulfill the agreed or/or agreed guarantees and/or guarantees.