Accused Persons Research Articles

Concept of Video Conferencing in ADR: An Overview -- Access to Justice

Disputes are becoming increasingly international, complex, and glowingly include multiparty proceedings and mass claims, while cost constraints remain stringent and demands for speedy resolution increase. It is indeed commonplace nowadays to complain about the excessive duration and costs of the administration of justice. In the international arena, the large majority of complex disputes, many of which include state parties, are settled by way of arbitration. One method of remedying the excessive duration and costs of arbitration is to resort to information technology (IT) tools to accelerate and facilitate the arbitration. IT tools have indeed the potential to reduce costs and time radically, and thereby maintain a necessary level of access to justice. Videoconferencing is emerging as a preferred method for deposing remote witnesses for many reasons. It’s becoming more affordable all the time. A video conference is not a video recording of a deposition. Instead, it is a live video interaction between parties located at remote sites. No preserved record is made except by special request. By conducting video conferencing depositions or strategy meetings, attorneys and their clients save travel and lodging expenses without sacrificing the important dynamic of face-to-face interaction. The UK Access to Justice Act 1999, allows video conferencing to be used for civil hearings, e.g. case management conferences, ancillary relief hearings, overseas or remote witnesses or in any civil cases in which the court directs the use of video and the parties involved consent to its use. Video conferencing is a convenient, secure and less expensive option, for recording evidence of the witnesses who are not local residents or who are afraid of giving evidence in open court, particularly in trial of gangsters and hardened criminals, besides savings of time and expenses of traveling. Recently, Code of Criminal Procedure has been amended in some States to allow use of video conferencing for the purpose of giving remand of accused persons thereby eliminating need for their physical presence before the Magistrate. Indian Courts are yet waiting for effective implications of video conferencing for access to justice.

Problem of the expansion of judicial control at the pre-trial stage of criminal proceedings

Abstract: In the article analyzed possibility of expansion of judicial control within the framework of criminal trial. Proceeding possibility of introduction of new position is examined within the framework of the court. Keywords: judicial control, expansion of judicial control, criminal trial, department judicial, pre-trial production, judicial reform, functions of justice, legality, court, criminal procedure, inquisitional judge, law and order, criminal case, justice, Law, office of public prosecutor, Supreme court, plenary powers of court, Constitution, rights and freedoms, complaint, reform, state, investigation, investigation, crime, citizen, investigator, organs of inquest. At its substantive purpose judiciary is a specific form of state activities in their respective spheres of society. The need of the state in the judiciary is defined as the necessity to re-solve recurrent disputes and the necessity to protect the con-stitutional order, rights and freedoms, the legitimate interests of man and of civil society.The Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a key priority determines the rights, freedom and legitimate interests of man and citizen, thus perpetuating the importance of judicial protection, one of the mechanisms which is judicial control.As a general rule the essence of judicial control is to ver-ify compliance with the objectives of monitoring results: the courts verify that the activities of state bodies and their of-ficials and the laws of their tasks; record deviations from the goals and ways to achieve them; take measures to prevent and bring to responsibility the guilty persons.Judicial control is primarily aimed at improving the ef-ficiency of criminal investigations, as well as raising the level of citizens’ rights protection in criminal procedures, which provide optimal conditions for the investigator to perform the main functions, consisting in the prevention and investigation of crimes.It is believed that the expansion of judicial control at the pre-trial stage of the criminal process in the proposed form would serve a greater enforcement of constitutional rights guar -anteed by the investigating authorities, which generally serve to strengthen the rule of law in the Republic of Kazakhstan [1].The current Criminally-Remedial Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan in art. 139 CPC RK has determined that a preven-tive measure is elected to prevent the possibility to the accused person to escape from the inquiry, preliminary investigation or trial, to prevent the objective investigation and trial pro-ceedings, to continue to engage in criminal activities and, to ensure its execution after sentencing. The list of mentioned circumstances in the theory either called “misconduct” or pur -pose, which is achieved by the institute of preventive measures.In accordance with Art. 140 CPC RK, the Preventive mea -sures are the following: recognizance not to leave and proper conduct; personal surety; placing a serviceman under the supervision of the commander of a military unit; the return of the minor under the supervision; pledge; house arrest; deten-tion [2]. Before turning to the issue of arrest sanctioning, it is necessary to find out what the arrest is a preventive measure.Detention is the strictest kind of procedural measures of restraint. Preventive measures are a form of coercive measures that apply to a person involved in the commission of a crime, in order to ensure his presence in the criminal process. Preven-tive measure is to limit the personal freedom of the accused approved by the prosecutor or the court decision by placing it in the pre-trial detention in the course of criminal proceedings Detention as a preventive measure — it is not a criminal of-fense the accused (alleged criminal). In this case it does not have punitive value and it has only preventive tone, it applies not to the guilty but to the accused (in exceptional cases — to the alleged). Detention creates optimal conditions for the participation of the accused in criminal proceedings, to sup-press his opposing to the normal course of an investigation or proceedings before a court, in order to prevent the defendant attempts to hide from the inquiry, investigation, trial, to prevent the establishment of truth on criminal case, re-engage in crimi -nal activity, as well as to ensure the execution of the sentence.The principal direction of the current criminal procedural legislation is to further the implementation of the criminal jus -tice system of additional procedural means and mechanisms to ensure the rights, freedom and interests of the individual. A number of theorists and practitioners believe that one of these mechanisms could serve as a further extension of judi-cial control over the pre-trial activity. However, the expansion

THE DISPARITIES IN SECTION 3, HEARSAY-ADMISSIBILITY RULES AND THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS THE CONSENT CLAUSE IN SECTION 3(1)(A) HAS ON THE ACCUSED WHOSE REPRESENTATIVES AGREE TO THE ADMISSION OF HEARSAY EVIDENCE TO PROVE A CASE AGAINST THEIR CLIENTS

In order to safeguard invaluable evidence from being eroded and contrary to the outcry against this move (the admissibility of hearsay evidence has for ever attracted controversy and endless appeals by the aggrieved convicts), our law of evidence anticipated the need for the admission of hearsay evidence which was previously inadmissible in terms of our common law. To do this, the Law of Evidence Amendment Act (45 of 1988) became operative. Thus the intention of the legislation is that this Act operates to solve possible prejudices in relation to the loss of hearsay evidence which would otherwise be inadmissible. It is apparent from case law dealing with the admissibility of hearsay evidence that the interpretation of this Act in the context of the Constitutional right to fair trial divulges yet another purpose namely, to protect the accused from uncalled-for prejudices through the use of hearsay evidence in the conduct of criminal trials.The application of this law was subjected to its compatibility with the provisions of any other law applicable in South Africa. Although it was in the best intention of the legislature that this Act operated to solve possible prejudices in regard to the loss of hearsay evidence which would be otherwise admissible, its implementation has posed more problems than a solution. Mostly with respect to the recent practice in criminal courts, where hearsay evidence in the form of statements by witnesses, even though available, witnesses were not summoned to court to testify, accused persons are exposed to excessive prejudice. Coupled with this scenario is the situation where parties consent to hearsay evidence.In terms of section 3, hearsay evidence is admissible under three conditions: first, through consent of parties to the lawsuit; secondly, where the witness on whose credibility the truth and the extent of reliability of the evidence depend would come before court and undergo the court’s scrutiny and thirdly, where the court has established that the interest of justice demands the admissibility of hearsay evidence. The application of these provisions is not cumulative, implying that each of them is independently applied. This results in the possibility of uneven processes by courts in testing the admissibility of hearsay evidence. In some cases the exception to the hearsay requirement attracts judicial scrutiny of such evidence for any potential prejudice, while in some cases it would not be the duty of the court to intervene regarding any harm hearsay evidence poses.This article will examine the weaknesses that these disparities pose in finding justice through the use of hearsay evidence in terms of section 3 of Act 45 of 1988. I shall endeavour to show that in criminal cases, consent to hearsay evidence provided in section 3(1)(a) is even more detrimental to the administration of justice. This I shall endeavour to do through discussing the application of section 3(1)(b) to expose statutory protections in this section which are not present when section 3(1)(a) is used. Further, I shall explain how possible prejudice against accused persons is safeguarded by the provisions in section 3(1)(c) which safeguards are not applicable on the admissibility of hearsay evidence in terms of section 3(1)(a). It will be apparent in my analysis that seeking justice through the invocation of hearsay evidence is not such a perfect exercise even if section 3(1)(c) is invoked.

ESTABLISHMENT AND ACTIVITIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: CHALLENGE FOR XXI CENTURY

Without any doubts, we have to recognize that the establishment of International Criminal Court (ICC) is positive step in international humanitarian and criminal law, in order to call to account persons, who has committed the most serious war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. The authority of the ICC internationally reduces the fact that United States of America and Russian Federation have not become member states of the ICC. The brief analysis of the court practice of the ICC proves that ICC acts according to the rule of law, taking into account its independent status. In order to improve legal proceedings of the ICC, we have to find innovative mechanisms in cooperation with bodies and institutions of the United Nations Organization, to push the Member states of the United Nations Organization to actively cooperate with ICC; for example – to execute orders of the arrest of the accused persons. The special treatment must be in cases, when Heads of the State has been accused.

Returning to Presumptions and the Erosion of Fundamental Rights

This article considers the amendments to the Bail Act 2013 (NSW) which alter the way bail decisions are made. The Bail Amendment Bill 2014 (NSW) was passed on 17 September 2014 and the Bail Amendment Act 2014 (NSW) was assented to on 25 September 2014. This article argues that these amendments represent the perpetuation of punitive bail policy which, among other things, effectively reintroduces a scheme of presumptions against bail. It is further argued that the government's reaction to a minority of public opinion coupled with the erosion of the presumption of innocence and the general right to be at liberty, demonstrates the recurrence of similar factors which led to significant and multiple amendments to the Bail Act 1978 (NSW). The article begins by outlining the amendments to the Bail Act 1978 which expanded the list of offences for which there was a presumption against bail and the circumstances in which these amendments were made. The enactment of the Bail Act 2013 (NSW) is then considered with a focus on how the provisions of this Act simplified the law and restored fundamental principles in bail decisions. This is followed by a discussion of the factors which led to the current reforms and detailed consideration of how the amending Act reintroduces a scheme of presumptions against bail and undermines the rights of an accused person.

Objectives of International Criminal Law and Jurisdiction of ICC

Although roots of criminal prosecutions are traced back in the 17 th and 18 th century but newly emerged discipline of international law namely international criminal law gained its scope after adoption Rome Statute. However, statute has not yet been universally accepted and various discrepancies have been raised by various states regarding the Jurisdiction and applicable procedure of International Criminal Court (ICC). Prior to the establishment of ICC, initially various international tribunals were established for the prosecutions of perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression, particularly after World War II. However, the prosecutions were subjected to serious criticism not only by the states representing the accused persons rather by the prosecuting states as well, on the grounds that all the prosecutions were partial in nature and even the same crimes were committed by the prosecution states but not a single individual was subjected to prosecutions from within the prosecuting states. Thereafter, instances have been reported of individual prosecutions till two decades back when again certain individuals including the heads of states were prosecuted for their alleged crimes, including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. All these events and previous prosecutions resulted in establishment of ICC, but the statute has not yet been ratified by most of the states on a number of reasons and the most relevant of them is the jurisdiction of the court. Although, all the concepts and types of jurisdiction are not controversial but most of the concerns have been shown regarding the universal jurisdiction of ICC, and all the related concepts which provide the action of a state outside the jurisdiction of a states.

Note: Burdens of Proof, Presumptions and Standards of Proof in Criminal Cases

In jurisdictions that subscribe to adversarial mode of litigation, burdens and standards of proof have significant roles in the adjudication and determination of criminal cases. The operation of the principle of presumption of innocence in such jurisdictions determines issues of who bears what burden and the extent thereof. The Ethiopian criminal procedure system predominantly exhibits adversarial features, and there is the need for the comprehension and enforcement of the respective burdens and standards of proof borne by litigants. The constraints in clarity are more pronounced in those criminal law provisions that embrace some form of presumptions such as provisions on corruption offences. This note highlights how issues of burden and standard of proof are allocated as between prosecuting authorities and accused persons. Apart from explaining the nexus between the principle of presumption of innocence,burdens of proof and standards of proof, it indicates the implications of theoperation of the principle of presumption of innocence upon the allocation of evidential and persuasive burdens of proof as between the state and theaccused. It further outlines the effects of the various forms of presumptions upon the different kinds of burdens of proof.Key words: Burden of proof, standard of proof, easing of burden of proof, criminal cases, presumption of innocence

Detection of Semen Stains in Rape Cases by a Very High Powered UV-VIS Light Source, Facilitated Conviction of Accused Person

Detection of semen in forensic cases mostly sexual assault or abuse is critical for evidence collection. A portable forensic light source, which emits wavelength from 430 nm to 700 nm (UV to VIS) and filters were used. The very high intensity light source detected semen in darkness and daylight using wavelength between 415 nm to 490 nm. ABO blood grouping method is an oldest method used in forensic biology for grouping purpose. But now a days, DNA fingerprinting is an advanced technique used to solve crimes like gang rape. Even though in this case, simplest and oldest ABO blood grouping method helped to solve gang rape case. In present case, victim was 5 years old girl who was raped by a person. Screening the semen stains using portable forensic light source and primary testing of semen stains from different places on victim’s undergarments was done. ABO blood grouping of each selected semen stains were done by absorption-elution method. Those selected stains showed blood group which matched with the accused person’s blood group. Thus the accused person was convicted in this heinous crime.

Пенитенциарный стресс и особенности его проявления у осужденных, подозреваемых, обвиняемых

The paper is devoted to penal stress and its manifestations at the convicts, suspects and accused persons. This topic has been poorly studied. It is necessary to identify the groups of people especially most in need of prevention and correction of stress state and to define the target effects. The paper presents a theoretical analysis of the concepts of biological and psychological stress. Our theoretical work is mainly devoted to phenomenon of penal stress and factors affecting its formation. We suggested the definition of penal stress concept on the basis of the analyzed literature. The sample included 69 male persons (31 from predetention center, 38 from penal colony), aged 19 to 47 years old. Experimental psychological method of research was mainly used. In the practical part of the paper presents data on the prevalence of the penal stress in predetention centers and penal colonies. In addition, we have studied the relationship of penal stress with punishment stage, the crime characteristics of subjects, individual psychological characteristics, current state. The study allows us to reveal the groups of people in need of the prevention and correction of the penal stress state. We identified some target corrective action also.

Colliding Effects of Freedom of Access to Information and Personal Data Protection

Abstract: Significant efforts were taken in BiH in the adoption of legislation guarantying the rule of law and human rights. In the framework of this activity the Law on Freedom of Access to Information and the Law on Personal Data Protection were adopted. Unfortunately, practice in some cases shows present of conflict in implementation of those two laws. The most recent example is the case in which the Personal Data Protection Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted the administrative proceedings against the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for handling of personal data of accused and convicted persons at their official web-sites. As a result of these proceedings, The Personal Data Protection Agency adopted a decision warning the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court of BiH to refrain from such illegal complainant’s data handling and asking them to block personal data of all the persons comprised in the indictments and court decisions posted on its official web-site. This paper analyzes the consequences of the action of the Agency for Protection of Personal Data from perspective of international human rights standards and international jurisprudence and its impact on the justice, rule of law and human rights in the judicial sector.

Pojęcie i cechy charakterystyczne odpowiedzialności dyscyplinarnej w prawie polskim

However for last 40 years disciplinary liability was generally out of scope of doctrine, recently it is noted constant increase of interest of that part of law. There are many reasons for that, including involving new professional groups and respective strictness and inconsistence of disciplinary provisions. The latter is aggravated by heterogenicity in various corporations and governing by substatutory regulations. Unfortunatelly, an unification of criminal law, being applied mutatis mutandi, is only partial remedy. In that elaboration author analyzed regulations between various corporations to extract basic and common rules and to denominate differences. The complexity augments fact that not only acts have binding effect, but also delegated regulations. That creates sophisticated network of law and professional knowledge, with additional problem of overlapping lex generalis and lex specialis in uncommon proportion. Above mentioned differences concern not only substantive law but also, if not even wider, procedural one. Interestingly, what author depicts, there is even not identical wording used in description of analogical names or definitions. Disciplinary liability, as cumulative to the criminal one, tends to protecting rights of accused person, as generally rule ne bis in idem is not in force. It concerns basic rights, like dignity and equality under the law. It is necessary strict cooperation and open discussion between professionals and legislator, as proper disciplinary liability rules need both protect society and allow to realize freely duties of practitioners.

Physical Evidence of Erectile Dysfunction - a Retrospective Analysis

Potency is a force, a virtual act, and has to be differentiated and distinguished from privation and simple possibility and on the other, from even the worst imperfect act. The word potency test has been engraved in the medico-legal scenario so deeply that after every arrest for sexual crimes, the police presents the accused person before the Forensic expert so sincerely and promptly even before submitting him before the Hon. Court with a requisition for “Potency test”. The physical examination of external genitalia which excludes anatomical abnormality or pathological diseases should be labeled and requested as to look for “physical evidence of erectile dysfunction” rather than the conventional “potency test”. The fact that the desire to have an erection is subjective, circumstantial and conditional makes the term “Potency test” more inappropriate.

Section 24 of the Criminal Code and its Effect on Criminal Liability in Nigeria

Section 24 of the Criminal Code and its Effect on Criminal Liability in Nigeria Ikenga K E Oraegbunam, Julian N K Chukwukelu Abstract Great debates have ensued in many a jurisdiction as to what level of mental state an accused person must possess for him/her to be held criminally responsible for his/her act or omission. Is culpability a function of purpose, knowledge, recklessness or negligence? Or would one ever be considered strictly liable for an act or omission dehorsany of these mental states? This issue, no doubt, boarders on the relevance of the English common law doctrine of mensrea. However, in Nigeria, section 24 together with section 25 seems to cover the field of the mensrea requirement and a lot more. Yet, it is discovered that lack of comprehensive study and understanding of the Criminal Code provision had led to much judicial misapplication. Often in relevant cases, the purport of the sections is jettisoned and a voyage taken to mensrea in utter defiance to the rule which states that once local enactments are in situ, resort can no longer be made to foreign laws. This anomaly has led to many per incuriam decisions in Nigeria. This paper seeks to do an exegesis of the provision of section 24 of the Code with a view to unearthing its implications for criminal liability. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jlcj.v3n1a10

The Legal Overview on Falsification, Fraud and Forgery

Abstract Falsification of documents, forgery, and fraud are categorized as white colour crime offences. To establish successful prosecution and civil claim, the prosecutor and claimant must prove the intention and conduct of the accused person and the presumption of intention that fall under respective statutory provision. However, the applicability of evidential standards are different particularly in civil action even though this conduct is an offence under Penal Code. This paper examines the elements, contradictions and proposes a reform to standardizing the evidential aspect in criminal and civil claim based on reported case law.

Victimology of alleged rape cases: A three year institution based cross sectional study

Aim of study: The demographics and characteristics of sexual assaultare changing. Hence, the aim of the study is to: a. To describe victim, assault characteristics for women alleging rapeaccording to the type of penal sections egistered by the police. b. To record the time between the last sexual assault and the examination, and to find out the reasons of delayed reporting of rape cases. c. To provide descriptive data on the medico-legal findings. d. And, to do a comparative review of the existing literatures. Material and method: This study is based on 244 numbers of examined rape victims reported to the Department of Forensic Medicine& Toxicology during the period from January 2010 up to December 2013. Victims were referred from investigating police authorities for evidentiary examination. Study included all cases registered under Section 376 Indian penal code (punishment for rape) by the police, with or without sections of other offences e.g. gang rape, rape followed by murder, abduction and rape, sexual intercourse made deceivingly or by an impostor; and rest all types of medico-legal cases were excluded. The prospective data regarding victim’s socio-demographic variables, detailed history of the alleged act, her relationship with the alleged accused person, date, time, place of occurrence of the crime,frequency of occurrence, reasons for delayed reporting, information regarding bathing, changing of clothing after the act, and use of any barrier methods by assailantswere collected fromthe rape victims, accompying family attendents, from the police, physical examination findings, laboratory investigation findings, and from any other available documents. Results: Most commonly alleged charge was ‘abduction and rape’ (46%), and least reported ones were gang rape, rape

When Property is the Criminal: Confiscating Proceeds of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Malaysia

Abstract Since the creation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) in 2001, which is now known as the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 200l (the 2001 Act), money laundering and terrorism financing have been criminalized. Other legal measures to disrupt the flows and incidence of such crimes were also introduced involving freezing, seizure and confiscation or forfeiture of the proceeds of such crimes by the authorities. Prior to the 2001 Act, confiscation cases were almost exclusively centred on drug trafficking cases under the Dangerous Drug legislation. The 2001 Act entailed two current types of confiscation of criminal property, namely, the criminal confiscation that is based upon the prosecution of the accused person and the civil confiscation when there is no such prosecution. This paper seeks to examine these confiscation systems in Malaysia to understand their origin, nature and the extent to which such confiscation systems could be governed at the international and local levels. Of significance, is the legal implications of the non-conviction based confiscation that indicates that such confiscation law represents one of the most serious encroachments on private property rights. It is worse when the rule of such confiscation is making the property and not the property owner, guilty until proven innocent.

The Right to Access to a Lawyer at Police Stations: Making the European Union Directive Work in Practice

Recent EU Directives provide for a range of procedural protections for suspects and accused persons, going beyond the more broadly articulated standards set out in the European Convention of Human Rights. These reforms are to be welcomed, but their implementation poses a range of challenges for Member States. Drawing on recent empirical research, this article focuses on one measure, the right to legal assistance during police custody. It discusses the range of complex and often inter-related factors that operate to help or to hinder the process of ensuring that the right is ‘practical and effective’ and not merely ‘theoretical and illusory’. Member States do not share a common procedural tradition and alongside ensuring sufficient financial and human resources, effective implementation will require shifts in the legal and occupational cultures of police, prosecutors and the criminal bar.

The Culture of Inquisition in Medieval England. Edited by Mary C. Flannery and Katie L. Walter. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2013. viii + 194 pp.

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)The Culture of Inquisition in Medieval England . Edited by Mary C. Flannery and Katie L. Walter . Cambridge : D.S. Brewer , 2013. viii + 194 pp.Book Reviews and NotesAside from the crusades, there may be no phenomenon more associated with medieval religion and more disdained by modern opinion than the inquisition. Now nearly synonymous with interrogation, the mere term evokes institutional repression and persecution of scientists, free thinkers, and heretics, of anyone, in other words, who dares question church or state doctrine. Yet, as the editors and contributors to this collection make clear, the practice of inquisitio emerged from and developed within a complex set of ecclesiastical and juridical contexts in the years following the Fourth Lateran Council. And, attending to these larger cultural contexts complicates many of our long-held assumptions about inquisition. Rather than being solely a strict system ferreting out heresy and prosecuting dissenters, this book shows that inquisition was often a flexible set of practices that emphasized correction, advocated discernment, and even created new spaces theological inquiry, self-expression, and literary invention. Like confession (its more private sibling), medieval inquisition was a dialogic mode that was generative as well as restrictive, enabling opportunities personal and social identity formation. Focusing on the cultural effects of inquisitional processes in England, this collection offers an important and novel set of studies of the public and private significance of inquisition, confession, and the dynamics of religious dissent in England from the late Middle Ages through the early years of the English reformations.The book is falls into two parts. Its first three chapters examine the legal and ecclesiastic contexts in which the practice of inquisition takes shape in medieval England, with the remaining chapters building on this background to explore the ways in which Middle English literature engages, reflects upon, and appropriates inquisitional practices and modes. Henry Ansgar Kelly's impressive opening essay surveys the juridical and historical terrain of inquisition in medieval England, considering its rise in the ecclesiastical courts, its association with the prosecution of heretics, and its emphasis on prior public knowledge (publica fama ) of the accused person's crime. Edwin Craun's chapter, on the other hand, explores the practice of disclosing another's private sin to the authorities, showing that medieval pastoral writers and canonists such denunciation was an alternate way of beginning the process of inquisition, and one that aimed to move the accused to penance. The next chapter, Ian Forrest's essay on lollardy, inquisition, and English provincial constitutions, finds a revival of provincial canon law in the wake of heresy in England. Ultimately, as Forrest shows, for English churchmen, inquisition was an intellectually creative activity and an activity inseparable from their broader pastoral and judicial operations (59).As the remaining essays in this collection make clear, this creative potential extended far beyond legal culture. After establishing the historical and juridical contexts of and issues surrounding inquisition in England, the volume turns toward the literary engagements with it. …

Vulnerability Assessment of Participants in Lithuanian Criminal Proceedings in the Context of EU Regulations

ABSTRACT Despite the applicable general principles and essential standards provided for in the law, the right of vulnerable persons (i.e. children under 18 years of age and vulnerable adults, for example, adults with mental disabilities) to a fair hearing at different stages of criminal proceedings in the EU is not yet ensured to the full extent. Based on both EU and Lithuanian legal regulation, this article will review only the principal provisions concerning the allocation of victims, suspects, and accused persons to the category of “vulnerable persons”. Due to the scope of the article, the vulnerability identification procedure falls outside this research. EU and national legislation suggest that early identification of vulnerability allows for the provision of specific protection measures during criminal proceedings. Analysis of EU and Lithuanian normative acts suggests that minor victims are a priori considered vulnerable and specific protection measures must apply in their case. Meanwhile, the vulnerability of adult victims and their specific protection needs are not assessed at any stage of the proceedings in Lithuania, although the Code of Criminal Procedure provides for certain specific protection measures for victims who, due to a public hearing or questioning, may be subject to “psychological trauma or other serious consequences”. Given future EU requirements concerning suspected or accused children and current recommendations concerning the consideration of suspected or accused adults as vulnerable participants of the proceedings, Lithuanian legal regulations in this area must be improved.

Book Review: Law and Ethics for Today’s Journalist: A Concise Guide, by Joe Mathewson Journalism Ethics, Arguments and Cases for the Twenty-First Century, by Roger Patching and Martin Hirst

Joe Mathewson and Ethics for Today's Journalist: A Concise Guide. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2014. 222 pp. Roger Patching and Martin Hirst Journalism Ethics, Arguments and Cases for the Twenty-First Century. London, UK: Routledge, 2014. 300 pp.In our digital and social world, legal and ethical issues emerge in an instant, and the author of and Ethics for Today 's Journalist: A Concise Guide finds that training aspiring reporters requires integration. Law and ethics intertwine in journalism; as such, they should be taught and discussed together (p. xi). Mathewson, a former Supreme Court correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, teaches law and ethics at Northwestern University.Mathewson's book includes thirteen chapters on the courts and legal system; ethics, root and branch; prior restraint; libel; invasion of privacy; less common invasion of privacy torts; fair trial versus free press; anonymous sources and the journalist's privi- lege; copyright; access to government documents and meetings; broadcast regulation; Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission; and the ethical journalist.Much of the book's content is appropriate for a traditional communication law course for journalism majors. It begins with a readable introduction on the sources of law and judicial structure. Rather than burying ethics late in the book, chapter 2 opens with the Jayson Blair story. Mathewson offers an important warning: Sadly, in recent years, other fabricators and plagiarists, most of them experienced journalists, have been fired or suspended at other major news organizations (p. 14).The book then offers a step back into classical ethics, such as virtue, love, rights, duty, and utility. While a review of professional conduct codes also is useful, a strength of this chapter is its focus on two key concerns:* Concealment and Confidentiality (p. 22)* Conflict of Interest (p. 23)Each chapter concludes with a thoughtful set of discussion questions and references for additional reading.As the book shifts back into law, however, there is not enough integration of ethics concepts. the prior restraint chapter, for example, the reader gets only a short con- clusion: In sum, you may publish, but publish responsibly, or else it may be subject to serious penalties, as we shall see in the chapters to come (p. 37).The libel chapter, however, successfully integrates law and ethics under a subhead- ing Wall Street Journal in Error (p. 48). Mathewson lists six critical mistakes (pp. 49-50). And the Libel section offers important advice:At the very least, operators of blogs and websites must be aware that publishing defamatory remarks or photos submitted by anonymous users could give rise to this sort of discovery demand and perhaps even to personal liability as a publisher. The same caution applies to Internet violations of personal privacy; of an accused person's right to a fair trial; of copyright protection or articles, photos or other created works, and to everything else that your or others may post on your own or someone else's site. …