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Low-level misdemeanor and traffic violations draw tens of millions of people into local courts to pay fines and fees each year, generating billions of dollars in revenue. We examine how standardized legal fines and fees for low-level charges induce disparate treatment and result in disparate impact. Using a mixed-methods approach that incorporates administrative court records as well as interviews with criminal defendants from Texas, we find that although the majority of defendants readily pay for and conclude their case, African American, Latinx, and economically disadvantaged defendants spend disproportionate amounts of money and time resolving theirs. Analysis of criminal case records illustrates the disparate impact of monetary sanctions through the accrual of debt and time spent resolving a charge. Interviews reveal irreconcilable tensions between American ideals of equality in sentencing and the meaning and value of money and time in an increasingly unequal society.

In this article, we explore the experiences of people who carry monetary sanction (or penal) debt across eight U.S. states. Using 519 interviews with people sentenced to fines and fees, we analyze the mental and emotional aspects of their experiences. Situating our analysis within research on the social determinants of health and the stress universe, we suggest that monetary sanctions create an overwhelmingly palpable sense of fear, frustration, anxiety, and despair. We theorize the ways in which monetary sanctions function as both acute and chronic health stressors for people who are unable to pay off their debts, highlight the mechanisms linking penal debt with mental and emotional burdens, and generalize our findings using national data from the U.S. Federal Reserve. We find that the system of monetary sanctions generates a great deal of stress and strain that becomes an internalized punishment affecting many realms of people’s lives.

Criminalization is the primary societal response to intimate partner violence in the US. This reliance on criminal legal system interventions ignores several unintended consequences. One of the serious unintended consequences of criminalization — perhaps the most serious unintended consequence — has been the increased rates of arrest, prosecution, conviction, and incarceration of those whom criminalization was meant to protect: victims of intimate partner violence. Criminalized survivors follow a variety of pathways into the carceral system, which fails to recognize their status as victims of violence and punishes them for failure to conform to victim stereotypes as well as for their acts.

The current study comprises a cross-sectional cohort matched-groups analysis of cases from an ongoing standardized data repository of individuals assessed for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in Canada. The data repository (hereinafter referred to as the ‘database’) includes clinical and diagnostic findings for individuals who present for an FASD assessment to participating diagnostic clinics across Canada. Specifically, this study will examine two broad research questions. First, what differences emerge across different need categories (i.e., neurodevelopmental needs, neurodevelopmental and mental health disorders, physical health problems, adverse experiences) and recommendations among individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE)/FASD with and without criminal legal involvement. Second, are there certain needs that, when combined, can predict membership into one of the two outcome groups (i.e., criminal legal involvement or no criminal legal involvement)?

This thesis examines the history of trans and gender diverse experiences in the Australian criminal legal system throughout the twentieth century and into the present day. By tracing the developments of trans and gender diverse history in relation to the criminal legal system in Australia across this broad period, this thesis explores the policing and regulation of gender in a range of forms and settings. It looks at the policing of gender nonconforming behaviour and presentation such as arrests of ‘masqueraders’ in the early decades of the twentieth century, policing of transgender sex work in Kings Cross and Darlinghurst from the 1970s, parliamentary debates in the 1980s around providing gender affirming care to transgender inmates, and modern trans and gender diverse policing and incarceration issues. Alongside these themes, this thesis traces the shifting discourses since the turn of the twentieth century around gender diversity – from narratives around so-called ‘sexual deviance’ to present-day debates over trans and gender diverse rights and inclusion. Throughout this period, understandings of what gender diversity is and what it means to be transgender have changed dramatically. However, the existence of gender diversity has consistently challenged assumptions and exposed flaws built into the criminal legal system. While these flaws do not only impact trans and gender diverse people, gender diversity provides a critical lens for interrogating many mechanisms of the criminal legal system to understand who they work for, and who they work against. By examining these shifts, this thesis aims to provide an overview of an under-researched aspect of Australian crime history and analyse the ways that the policing of gender is intertwined with the development of Australian trans and gender diverse history and the past and present mechanisms of the criminal legal system.

Individuals with a criminal record experience multiple forms of discrimination. These experiences limit opportunities to improve their quality of life. Prior literature has found that resilience acts as a buffer against the negative effects of discrimination on quality of life. This finding, however, promotes resilience-building interventions rather than addressing the root issue of discrimination. The current study proposes an alternative conceptualization that places discrimination as the moderator between resilience and quality of life; and thus, the target for intervention. Results confirmed a positive association between resilience and quality of life; however, the moderation was not significant. Analyses also found that the sample had an average level of resilience, yet a below average quality of life score compared to healthy populations. The value and implications of both significant and insignificant results are discussed within the framework of structural oppression. Results support the need for larger longitudinal studies and a call-to-action.

Profa. Dra. Camila Caldeira Nunes Dias Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Humanas e Sociais, São Bernardo do Campo, 2020. Perseguindo as Teorias dos Sistemas Sociais, de Niklas Luhmann, e da Racionalidade Penal Moderna, de Álvaro Pires, esta dissertação pretendeu aplicar conceitos teóricos à situação concreta de recepção da prisão domiciliar cautelar a gestantes e mães de crianças até 12 anos pelo sistema jurídico criminal. Partiu-se do pressuposto de que esse sistema se orienta por um sentido que reforça a prisão, a exclusão e o encarceramento, dando forma e norteando suas comunicações e construções internas. Para compreender os comportamentos, interações e movimentos de resistência do sistema jurídico criminal em aplicar a prisão domiciliar cautelar, analisou-se: i) o cenário de encarceramento feminino no país, legislações e debates legislativos que culminaram na atual configuração do instituto da prisão domiciliar cautelar; ii) os trâmites do Habeas Corpus coletivo nº 143.641 julgado pelo Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) e as decisões monocráticas decorrentes; iii) o procedimento adotado pelo Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo (TJSP) para implementar o HC coletivo e efetivar a prisão domiciliar no estado; iv) dados nacionais e do Estado de São Paulo de concessão da prisão domiciliar cautelar e encarceramento feminino; e, v) decisões e argumentos contrários à prisão domiciliar cautelar com base em discricionariedades, julgamentos morais e sociais em casos concretos de mulheres aprisionadas que cumpriam os requisitos. O percurso de pesquisa evidenciou manifestações do sentido encarcerador nos procedimentos administrativos, nas decisões, nos argumentos, nos dados e na atuação do STF. Tais análises se guiaram a partir de documentos públicos como legislações, tramitações de projetos de lei, relatórios e dados produzidos e disponibilizados por órgãos oficiais, informações encaminhadas via e-SIC, decisões judiciais e argumentos jurídicos. Pursuing Niklas Luhmann's Theories of Social Systems and Álvaro Pires's Modern Criminal Rationality, this dissertation intended to apply theoretical concepts to the concrete situation of receiving precautionary house arrest to pregnant women and mothers of children up to 12 years old by the criminal legal system. It started from the assumption that criminal system is guided by a sense that reinforces prison, exclusion and incarceration, shaping and directing its internal communications and constructions. To understand the behaviors, interactions and resistances of the criminal legal system in applying precautionary house arrest, we analyzed: i) the scenario of female incarceration in the country, laws and legislative debates that culminated in the current configuration of the precautionary house arrest institute; ii) the procedures of collective Habeas Corpus nº 143,641 judged by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and the resulting monocratic decisions; iii) the process adopted by the São Paulo Court of Justice (TJSP) to implement the collective HC and enforce house arrest in the state; iv) national and São Paulo State data on the granting of precautionary house arrest and female incarceration; and, v) decisions and arguments against precautionary house arrest based on discretion, moral and social judgments in specific cases of imprisoned women who met the requirements. The research path showed manifestations of incarcerated sense in administrative procedures, in the decisions, in the arguments, in the data and the performance of the STF. Legislation, processing of bills, reports and data produced and made available by official bodies, information sent via e-SIC, judicial decisions and legal arguments as public documents guided the analyzes.

Politik hukum nasional telah menetapkan Indonesia sebagai negara yang berlandaskan hukum ( rechtsstaat ), sebagaimana diatur dalam Pasal 1 ayat (3) UUD 1945. Konsep Negara hukum tersebut mengacu kepada jiwa bangsa ( volkgeist ) yang termuat dalam Pancasila dan Proklamasi Kemerdekaan sebagai sumber dari segala sumber hukum dan penyangga konstitusionalisme. Sistem hukum pidana sebagai bentuk perwujudan politik hukum pidana sudah seharusnya dibentuk dengan penjiwaan UUD 1945 sebagai landasan yuridis. Konsekuensinya, sistem hukum pidana harus dijabarkan secara konkret pada setiap peraturan perundang-undangan. Namun demikian, penjiwaan Pancasila dan Proklamasi Kemerdekaan dalam sistem hukum pidana hingga saat ini belum terwujud dengan baik, misalnya adanya adopsi unsur-unsur asing. Untuk mewujudkan hal tersebut, maka pembentukan politik hukum pidana dan rancangan sistem hukum pidana nasional hendaknya membatasi keberlakuan unsur asing berdasarkan konsep harmonisasi dan sinkronisasi dengan volkgeist Indonesia yang termuat dalam Pancasila dan Proklamasi Kemerdekaan. Kata Kunci : politik hukum pidana, sistem hukum pidana, Pancasila, Proklamasi, jiwa bangsa ( volkgeist). Grand Design of the Legal Policy of Criminal Law and Indonesian Criminal Legal System Based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia Abstract The national legal policy has determined that Indonesia is a state based on Rule of Law, as provided in Article 1 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Indonesian Constitution. The concept of Legal State should also refer to the national spirit (volkgeist), as reflected in Pancasila and the Independence Proclamation as the primary source of Law and pillars of constitutionalism. Criminal law system as an enactment of legal policy of criminal law should be formulated based on the 1945 Indonesian Constitution as its juridical basis. Consequently, the criminal legal system must be translated concretely into any legislation considered part of criminal law. However, the formation of Pancasila and the Independence Proclamation has not been actualized properly, for instance: the adoption of foreign elements. Therefore, the national formation and design of the politics of criminal law and criminal legal system should limit those elements based on the concept of harmonization and synchronization with the volkgeist reflected in Pancasila and the Independence Proclamation. Keywords : political criminal law, criminal legal system, Pancasila, Proclamation, national spirit (volkgeist) DOI: https://doi.org/10.22304/pjih.v1n3.a8

Economic analysis of crime and criminal law addresses the question of individual welfare (utility) maximization through optimal allocation of resources and time in accordance to their relative returns. In this paper I first summarize the theoretical and empirical evidence on the nexus between crime and socio economic indicators. After which I test the hypothesis that people who are vulnerable to fall under the poverty line indulge in criminal activities as a consumption smoothing strategy. I also empirically inspect the role economic growth, unemployment, urbanization and quality of legal system play in inducing property related crimes. India is chosen as the case study because it has to carefully channel its funds and resources towards economic growth, poverty alleviation and crime deterrence concomitantly. The results indicate a positive and statistically significant impact of poverty, inequitable income growth and low quality of the legal system on incidence of total property-related crimes. Moreover, the elasticity figures suggest that poverty has the highest impact on robberies. Most convincing result comes from the figures of elasticity of education with crime where a 10% increase in per capita expenditure on education in India leads to a decline between 9.2-11.2% of overall property crime rates.

La Ley Orgánica 1/2004, de Medidas de Protección Integral contra la Violencia de Género se planteó desde una perspectiva de género con el objetivo de proteger a las mujeres que viven violencia por parte de su pareja heterosexual y garantizar sus derechos. La implementación de esta ley se da en una institución eminentemente patriarcal que presenta resistencias generando así efectos no deseados ni previstos que es necesario investigar. El objetivo del presente artículo es conocer la experiencia subjetiva de las mujeres ante el sistema jurídico-penal y analizar los mecanismos de sujeción del sistema jurídico penal y construcción de subjetividades de las mujeres, para conocer sus efectos y evitar los puntos de desencuentro y los efectos no deseados del abordaje jurídico-penal de la violencia de género. Para llevar a cabo el estudio, se entiende al sistema jurídico penal en relación a la LO 1/2004 como tecnología de poder. Para ello hemos utilizado metodología cualitativa para acercarnos al entorno jurídico-penal, concretamente: 23 sesiones de observación participante, 17 entrevistas en profundidad con profesionales que trabajan con violencia de género; 11 entrevistas en profundidad y una entrevista grupal con mujeres que han pasado por un proceso jurídico-penal por violencia de género. Hemos analizado los datos tomando como ejes de análisis las teorías sobre poder y subjetividad y la perspectiva de género mediante el programa de análisis cualitativo Atlas.ti. Los resultados muestran a la institución jurídico-penal, y la implementación de la LO 1/2004 como productora de subjetividades de las mujeres y sus efectos. The Organic Law 1/2004, of Measures of Integral Protection against Gender Violence arose from a gender perspective in order to protect and guarantee the rights of women who experience violence by their heterosexual partner. The implementation of this law is given in a predominantly patriarchal institution, generating perverse effects for which further research is needed. The aim of this paper is to understand women's experience about the criminal justice system and analyze the subjection mechanisms of the criminal justice system, and how it constructs women's subjectivities, in order to see its effects and avoid the points of disagreement and the unwanted effects. To carry out the study, the criminal justice system in relation to the LO 1/2004 is understood as a technology of power. To do this we used qualitative methodology to approach the criminal legal environment, namely: 23 sessions of participant observation, in-depth interviews with 17 professionals working with domestic violence, 11 in-depth interviews and a group interview with women who have sued their heterosexual partners of gender violence, analyzed data using as analysis axis the theories about power, subjectivity and gender studies with qualitative analysis software Atlas.ti. The results show the criminal legal institution, and the implementation of the LO 1/2004, as a producer of women's subjectivities and their effects.