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In the 1970s, Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues found that neighborhood policing works better than metropolitan policing. Though Ostrom articulated design principles for self-governance, the early studies of neighborhood policing did not. In this paper, we articulate the design principles for self-governing policing, which we term Ostrom-Compliant Policing. We then apply this framework to an understudied case: policing on American Indian reservations. Policing in Indian country generally falls into one of three categories – federal policing (by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Federal Bureau of Investigation), state policing (by municipal and state police departments), and tribal policing (by tribal police departments) – that vary in the degree of centralization. Our main contribution is to show that tribal policing as it is practiced in the United States, which claims to be self-governing, is not Ostrom-Compliant. Thus, our approach offers insight into why high crime remains an ongoing challenge in much of Indian country even when tribes have primary control over policing outcomes. This does not mean centralization is better, or that self-governance of policing does not work. Rather, our research suggests that a greater tribal autonomy over-policing and meta-political changes to federal rules governing criminal jurisdictions is necessary to implement Ostromian policing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to universal jurisdiction, active nationality jurisdiction remains one of the least understood and written about forms of extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction. This article seeks to offer a normative account of the exercise of criminal jurisdiction by states over their nationals for crimes committed abroad such as sexual offences against minors, bribery of foreign public officials, or medical "circumvention" tourism. It highlights all of the reasons that militate against such assertions of jurisdiction as a matter of policy and law. It goes on to argue that the assertion of criminal jurisdiction over nationals for crimes committed abroad must be understood beyond its permissibility under international law as a modality that manifests the interests of the state of nationality, the territorial (host) state on occasion, the relevant individuals, and, increasingly, the international community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports the judgments delivered by the International Court of Justice (Court or ICJ) in 2015 including "Prosecutor v. Bemba." Topics discussed include International criminal law, Rome Statute, command responsibility, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the Roman laws related to rape, pillage, and evidence.

The article discusses the concept of criminal law in common law jurisdiction and distinction. The term mala prohibita/ mala in se distinction between actions that are wrong because prohibition and actions that are wrong in themselves regardless with its criminal and legal status is explained. The author also suggest the importance for distinguished between wrongs legitimate societies must criminalize and those they may but need not criminalize

The article explores the factors for classification and distinction of malum prohibitum in criminal law. It mentions that mala prohibita criminal laws refers to the characteristics of diverse theories of criminalization and punishment which provides pose unique justificatory challenges. It also cites the aspects of negative retributivism in achieving criminal punishment.

In this article, I test predominant normative approaches to CAH against the notion’s deployment in law. Embarking on this cross-disciplinary project is needed because those the predominant literature fail to address (or were just articulated before) the waves of cases brought before international criminal courts throughout the last decade. I start by examining how international criminal courts have specified the core elements of the definition and then assess if and how the predominant philosophical literature can account for it. I then argue that this legal-empirical inquiry leads to both refining the structure and revisiting the relevant jurisdiction of CAH.As far as structure is concerned, I distinguish a third but neglected element in the structure of CAH, which I identify as the preparatory conditions of the crimes (the ‘PCs’). In relying on Joseph Raz’ concept of authority, I argue that reconstructing the PCs help to specify what it is about states that those crimes deeply pervert. While the PCs strikingly mirror the systematic and pre-emptive role of the state, those patterns are established to massively persecute, terrorize and finally odiously attack. As far as jurisdiction is concerned, I infer that the agent of CAH and the state in which those crimes occur become ‘answerable’ to the normative community of responsible states (following Anthony Duff’s accountability model). By establishing international trials, this normative community does justice not only to the victims by proving the crimes but also to the perpetrators by treating them as responsible members. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The East India Company troops fighting the Burmese aggression on the frontier of Bengal in Eastern India “freed” upper and lower Assam territories in 1825. David Scott of the Bengal Service was appointed to oversee the establishment of civil and revenue administration in these frontier territories. He established a hierarchical multiple structure of “native courts”—called panchayats—as the chief medium of civil and criminal justice. This was ostensibly continuing a traditional Assamese form of dispute resolution—the mel; however, the British criminal jury as well as the expert assessor model animated the system. After his death in 1831, the system was brought in line with the rest of the Bengal administration based on the British court system. His experiment, paralleled in many other newly conquered and ceded districts from the Madras territories to Central India, suggests the use of this mode in post-conquest situations by British administrators in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, to paraphrase Scheper-Hughes, we explore the contested legalities and illegalities of medical tourism. Increasingly, individuals are travelling outside of their home jurisdiction to access health services. This may be for a range of reasons: for speed, for cheapness or in some cases to bypass criminal restrictions at state level. This paper explores those who fall into the latter category and who travel to avoid statutory or regulatory prohibitions in relation to certain clinical procedures in England and Wales. In this paper, we consider the appropriate legal response to illicit transplant tourism. We examine the legitimacy of using extra-territorial jurisdiction to enforce the ban on the commercial trade in organs found in the Human Tissue Act 2004. We suggest that this, along with the recent Draft Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs, provide an effective response to the transnational crime of illicit organ tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information is presented on the United Nations (UN) International Law Commissions sixty-fith meeting in Geneva, Switzerland from May 6, 2013 through June 7, 2013 and from July 8, 2013 through August 9, 2013. The meeting's focus on the legal immunity ratione personae from foreign criminal jurisdiction of government officials under international law in international and national courts.

The article discusses the 64th session of the International Law Commission which was held in Geneva, Switzerland on May 7, 2012 through June 1, 2012, as well as from July 2, 2012 through August 3, 2012 and dealt with topics including the expulsion of aliens, transboundary aquifers, and the responsibilities of international organizations. Other topics include the immunity of state officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction, extradition obligations, and a most-favored nation clause.

The article explores various issues in the international law of piracy, like geographic location, scope of punishable actions and duties of states, and related international criminal law instruments as they impact the counterpiracy effort off the Somalia Coast. It examines the part played by international institutions, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), in the effort to suppress piracy. It concludes with a discussion of the role of national legislation in suppressing piracy.

Genocide is a crime with a double mental element, i.e. a general intent as to the underlying acts, and an ulterior intent with regard to the ultimate aim of the destruction of the group. The prevailing view in the case-law interprets the respective 'intent to destroy' requirement as a special or specific intent (dolus specialis) stressing its volitional or purpose-based tendency. While this view has been followed for a long time in legal doctrine without further ado, it has recently been challenged by knowledge- and structure-based approaches, which have not received sufficient attention. A historical, literal, systematic and teleological interpretation of the 'intent to destroy' requirement, taking into account the particular structure of the genocide offence and the meaning of 'intent' in comparative law, reveals that the traditional view can no longer be maintained. It should be replaced by a combined structure- and knowledge-based approach that distinguishes according to the status and role of the (low-, mid- and top-level) perpetrators. Thus, the purpose-based intent should be upheld only with regard to the top- and mid-level perpetrators, whereas for the lowlevel perpetrators knowledge of the genocidal context should suffice. Lastly, this new approach requires a fresh look at the 'intent to destroy' requirement in cases of participation in genocide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that U.S. President George W. Bush had approved the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007. The act expands the scope of the U.S. criminal jurisdiction on cases of genocide from the acts penalized under the Genocide Convention. The former law only applies to the crimes committed within the U.S. or the alleged offender is a citizen of the U.S. The amendments on the law had resulted to the three new provisions that will punish genocide including crimes committed by stateless person who resides in the U.S. and an offender who was arrested in the U.S. although the crime was committed outside the U.S.

Questions concerning how Rawls's theory of justice accords with international criminal justice are largely ignored in favour of extensive debates on questions of distributive justice and how they relate to his theory and its international application. This lack of attention to international criminal law is significant since Rawls claims that his theory of justice is developed to correspond with recent dramatic shifts in international law. This paper argues that it is impossible for Rawls's account, state-centric as it is, to accord with advancements in international law that have increasingly asserted recognition of individuals in the global context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contradicts the argument by Daryl Mundis, a trial attorney in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), that certain aspects of the ICTY completion strategy may conflict with principles of due process and the prosecutorial independence of the ICTY prosecutor. Description of the completion strategy; Selection of indictees; Forums that could receive cases.

Describes the development of the completion strategies with emphasis on the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) experience. Effects on the operation of the International Tribunals; Prosecutorial independence in the selection of indictees; Rights of the accused; Problems that may arise; Roadblocks that may hinder the successful implementation of these policies.

This article considers the types of immunity available to state officials and their applicability in national and international prosecutions for international crimes. The author analyzes the tensions between the provisions of the ICC Statute dealing with immunity and argues that while the immunities of officials of nonparties remain unaffected by the Statute, ICC parties have accepted obligations going beyond customary law in relation to their own officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the United States reaction to Belgium's passing of the "Law relative to the repression of serious violations of the International Conventions of Geneva of August 12, 1949 and of the Protocols I and II of June 8, 1977," which allowed an individual to file a criminal complaint in a Belgian court against any person for international crimes in violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Renaming of the law to "Law relative to serious violations of international humanitarian law"; Amendment of the law to cover genocide and crimes against humanity.

Argues that international criminal law assigns individual responsibility to those who deliberately or recklessly create, prolong, or inflict faminogenic conditions. Case studies showing how famines often arise out of gross human rights violations; Degrees of famine crimes corresponding to mental states of knowledge and recklessness; Proposal for formal codification of these crimes.

Editorial. Discusses the role of domestic courts in cases involving international criminal law. Prosecution of former heads of states; Jurisdiction of the future international criminal court; Role in the suppression of international crimes.

Focuses on the decision of the French Conseil contitutionnel concerning the ratification of the international criminal court statute through amendment of the French Constitution. Reasons for the need to revise the Constitution; Compatibility and conformity of the statute provisions with the Constitution; Excerpts from the statute; Comments on the Conseils' decision.

Focuses on the emergence and status of the mental incapacity defense in international criminal law. Definition of mental incapacity; Implications of the defense for administration of justice and rights of the accused; Query regarding the role of court-appointed experts during international prosecution; Consequences of a successful defense.

Presents the case Prosecutor versus Delalic decided by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia as against four Bosnian accused of the Celebici prison camp guilty for various acts of torture and ill-treatment. Principle of command responsibility against camp commander Zejnil Delalic; Offenses under international humanitarian law; Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions; Violations of the laws of war.

Editorial. Comments on the history and substantial developments in international criminal law. Establishment of the international criminal court; Adjudication of international human rights law; Establishment of International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) for Rwanda and ICT for the former Yugoslavia; Genocide issue; Positions of the most interested states.

Describes the law and economics (LE) approach to international legal issues of criminal responsibility for human rights atrocities committed during internal conflict. Applications of LE methodologies; Distinction between human rights abuses committed in internal and international armed conflict; Allocation of jurisdiction between domestic and international courts.

Reports on the International Law Commission's (ILC) establishment of a working group which laid down the basic parameters for a Draft Statute on the idea of an international criminal court. Modifications and refinements to the general approach adopted in 1992; Background of the 1994 Draft Statute.

This article describes two books on criminal sentencing. The book "Visions of Social Control: Crime, Punishment and Classification," by Stanley Cohen discusses ideas regarding social control, the practices that these ideas inspire, and their consequences. The book "Reform and Punishment: Essays on Criminal Sentencing," edited by Michael Tonry and Franklin E. Zimring reviews sources of the movement toward determinate sentencing. Cohen examines the recent movement toward integrative social control destructuring, decarceration, deinstitutionalization, and deprofessionalization, as well as the stories that sustained the movement, the practitioners who told the stories, the patterns of punishment that resulted. According to Cohen, there have been two master shifts in social control systems in the West. The book edited by Tonry and Zimring, is a detailed examination of issues surrounding criminal sentencing. Because of the radical reforms proposed and implemented during the past decade, there is an urgent need for such a systematic look at the system of sentencing.

This article describes two books on sentencing of criminals. The book "The Psychology of Judicial Sentencing," by Catherine Fitzmaurice and Ken Pease applies certain psychological theories and research to the problems of criminal justice. Although, authors focus on judges in Great Britain, who possess more sentencing discretion than their American counterparts, many of their comments are widely applicable on both sides of the Atlantic. The authors spend a good deal of time discussing psychological experiments, some of which are clearly relevant to the problems of sentencing. The book "Past or Future Crimes: Deservedness and Dangerousness in the Sentencing of Criminals," by Andrew von Hirsch traces the debates between the competing schools of thought to help explain their current divisions. Von Hirsch views the new concept of categorical incapacitation with some degree of approval. Cohen has suggested that by targeting certain categories of crime for more harsh sentences, people may be able to reduce the incidence of that crime.

The complexity and linguistic construction of jury Instructions can Inhibit jurors' ability to comprehend and apply the law. Study 1 analyzes questions asked by actual deliberating jurors in order to identity sources of juror misunderstanding in criminal pattern jury instructions. Instructions concerning "reasonable doubt," criminal "intent," the use of evidence concerning prior convictions, and the general duties of jurors, are selected for further investigation. Study 2 uses videotaped trail materials to pinpoint linguistic problems that confuse jurors and interfere with their abilities to accurately comprehend and apply the selected pattern jury instructions. Available knowledge concerning psycholinguistics is then applied to rewrite the troublesome instructions; in addition, legal expertise is consulted to help assure that the rewritten instructions are legally valid. Study 3 demonstrates that the rewritten instructions improve jurors' understanding relative to Pattern or No instructions. Overall, the research indicates the availability to the criminal justice system of improved methods for instructing jurors accurately and effectively in the law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the implications of the killing of seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad by the security guards employed by the U.S. security firm Blackwater Worldwide. Both Iraqi officials and U.S. administration concluded that the Baghdad killings was unprovoked and unjustified. Due to this, U.S. House of representatives voted to approve extension of U.S. criminal jurisdiction to private security guards who commit serious offenses. As of 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors are examining possible criminal prosecutions under existing law for the Baghdad killings and other acts of violence involving private security contractors. Moreover, the U.S. ambassador and the general commanding U.S. forces in Iraq concluded an agreement that clarifies rules of engagement.

This article describes the book "Judging the Jury," by Valerie P. Hans and Neil Vidmar. The goal of authors was to comprehensively analyze the research evidence on whether jurors are competent to understand the issues in fact and law, whether prejudice plays an important role in deliberations, and whether jurors observe or ignore the instructions they receive from the bench. Findings about the impact of recent changes in size of juries and requirements about unanimous verdicts are also reported. The authors recognized that there were likely to be many audiences interested in their work: the general public, members of the bench and bar, and social scientists who have been studying the jury and contributing to a rich and varied research literature on simulated and real juries. The authors point out that although juries decide less than 10 percent of all criminal cases, they often involve difficult, important, arid politically sensitive issues. But it is the civil jury whose survival is in jeopardy. It is also the civil jury; especially as it functions in complex, long, drawn-out trials such as occur in antitrust cases; on which little is known. The criminal jury, in the authors' judgment, is not an endangered institution.

Focuses on the extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction of Florida over nonresidents. Provisions of the special maritime criminal-jurisdiction statute of the criminal law of the state; Context of the case filed against Matthew Stepansky for alleged burglary and attempted sexual battery of a minor; Concerns over the constitutionality of the statute.