Confessional Statements Research Articles

”It Looks Like a Spell…”: Acceptance of Crime Commission as Power Strategy in Confessional Statements in Police–Suspect Interactions in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria

ABSTRACT Studies on police-suspect interactions (PSIs) have largely foregrounded the institutional power exhibited by investigating police officers (IPOs) in the interactions, with most studies constructing suspects as powerless. This study, through a critical engagement of five purposively sampled cases (including rape, incest, attempted murder and being in possession of contraband) from the over 50 interactions and cases observed at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Oyo State, Nigeria, reveals suspects orient towards aspects of shared socio-cultural norms among the Yoruba, in attempts to manipulate IPOs. In particular suspects allude to certain aspects of the Yoruba socio-cultural life and belief system, largely connected to the people’s socio-cultural understanding around peer and alcohol influence, spell casting, working one’s way to greatness and admit your ‘fault’ to shorten your punishment in order to overwhelm the socio-cognitive reasoning of IPOs.

An Appraisal of the Admissibility of Confessional Statement in a Trial Court in Nigeria

Confessional statements are important ingredience in criminal justice in Nigeria. A confession is an acknowledgment made by a person charged with a crime at any moment, admitting or implying that he committed that crime. Confessions are covered by sections 27 to 32 of the Evidence Act 1990 in Nigeria as well as section 28 to 31 of the Evidence Act of 2011. The specific goals are a critically examination of the circumstances under which confessional statements are admissible, to determine the effect of retracted confessional statements in criminal trials in Nigeria, as well as the circumstances under which confessional statements may be vitiated and to apply the findings in decided cases. To attain these goals, normative or doctrinal research is considered appreciate. This study found that where an inducement, threat, or promise was issued, any subsequent confessional statement obtained would be inadmissible. This study also reveal that a confession does not become inadmissible simply because the accused denies having made it; rather, the court must satisfy itself that the accused made the statement of his own free will and choice and without duress.

Contextualization Informed by Scripture and Baptist Tradition

Attempting to understand important concepts: local church, pastor, and baptism, based solely on first-person observation leads to misunderstanding. Our identity and practice as Baptists flow from the Bible, confessional statements, and historical Baptist theology. This article highlights the need for local church contextualization that intentionally includes this source material to aid understanding among visitors and members alike.

The Population of Darovoe Based on Revision Tales of the 1830s — 1850s

Interaction with the serfs of the Darovoe estate, which belonged to the parents of F. M. Dostoevsky in the first half of the 19th century, made a strong impression on the future writer. Some peasants were close to the Dostoevsky family, they were mentioned in family correspondence and even became prototypes of the characters in the works of the writer and his older brother Mikhail. Dostoevsky met again with his childhood acquaintances from the village during his last visit to Darovoe in the summer of 1877. Until now, the only sources that gives an idea of the inhabitants of Darovoe were church records: metric books and confessional statements. In 1939, V. S. Nechaeva published the “List of peasants of the village of Darovoe and the village of Cheremoshnya according to the 1835 church bulletin.” Another source for studying the demography of Darovoe and Cheremoshnya is the revision tales. In this article are analyzed the data of the 8th — 10th revisions on Darovoe for the first time, the transcript of the 8th revision published in the appendix to it. These documents made it possible to trace the changes in the composition of the inhabitants of Darovoe from 1834 to 1858 and became an addition to the church bulletin of 1835. Three audits took place during this period, revealing the practical absence of changes in the composition of the inhabitants of Darovoe: there were 11 peasant families (the exception was in 1850, when there were ten families). Such isolation of the Darovoe community contributed to the preservation of local traditions and customs, which F. M. Dostoevsky could observe while living in Darovoe. Many descendants of the Dostoevsky peasants still live in Darovoe today, and the genealogy of the peasants of the village of Darovoe can be traced up to our days.

NIGERIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’S ABUSE OF CONFESSIONAL STATEMENTS: A CALL FOR JUDICIAL POLICY REFORM

The prosecution’s responsibility to prove the guilt of an accused person in Nigeria has, over the years, been watered down by the practice of the police extracting confessional statements from accused persons by extrajudicial means. The courts which are supposed to be the last hope of the common citizen or justice appear to be in synergy with the police in its interpretation and application of relevant provisions of statutes geared towards admissibility of coerced confessional statements. This article is a strident call for a reform of the judicial policy with regards to the admissibility of confessional statements in a manner which would clearly discourage the police from abusing the fundamental rights of accused persons in their bid to score a conviction on a coerced confessional statement. The paper adopted the doctrinal methodology by examining confessional statements in Nigeria through the Evidence Act 2011, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, and relevant Judicial interpretation. Relevant legal articles and news reports online which deal with confessional statements in Nigeria and detail abuses of fundamental rights of accused persons were referenced to show documented and prevalent police abuses and violation of citizens’ rights. It concludes with recommendations.

Analysis and Identification of Suspected Substance in the Trial of Drug Offences in Nigeria: A Review of Oyem v FRN

Purpose: The purpose of the review was to show that the affirmation of the appellant’s conviction in the case of Oyem v FRN by the Nigerian apex court was erroneous. To achieve the purpose, it is expedient to unravel the various errors committed by the apex court as a result of its failure to adhere to the law and to observe the peculiarities in the procedure for the trial of drug offences.
 Methodology: This work adopts the doctrinal method of research which involves the use of primary and secondary sources of law. The primary sources used in this work were legislation (Acts of the National Assembly), Case laws and Decrees while the secondary sources were books and article. The review of Oyem’s case in substance reveals that the apex court affirmed the conviction of the appellant on the assumption that, (1) the result of the preliminary (color) test conducted by the exhibit keeper at the NDLEA Command, using UN Narcotic Identification Testing Kit was the legal proof of the suspected substance as Indian hemp, instead of a chemist’s report on the mandatory confirmatory laboratory test by an analyst and, (2) the appellant’s confessional statement and guilty plea served as alternative proof that the suspected substance was Indian hemp even when the trial court did not carry out the test of veracity on the confessional statement.
 Findings: The two (2) assumptions by the apex court are the main findings in this work. Furthermore, even when the appellant was charged, tried and convicted for an offence constituted by expert evidence, no expert gave evidence at the trial, at least not on record. This work is of the view that extra-judicial confession made prior to analysis of a suspected substance cannot serve as proof of the nature of the substance, that is, Indian hemp. Moreover, the Nigerian Evidence Law having provided for the method for the analysis and identification of suspected substance in the trial of drug offences no other method can be used under the law.

‘The very heart of the Gospel’: penal substitution in British Pentecostalism

ABSTRACT Increasingly, questions have been raised as to whether penal substitution is a properly Pentecostal account of the atonement, with suggestions that it is either incompatible with Pentecostal theological commitments or that it is an imported evangelical doctrine which is alien to a Pentecostal identity and thus could be jettisoned without detriment. However, many Pentecostal denominations around the world are committed to penal substitutionary models of the atonement in their confessional statements, preaching, hymnody, and prayers. This article takes up the discussion from a British Pentecostal perspective, examining the place of penal substitutionary accounts of the atonement and the centrality of the cross in the earliest days of the Pentecostal revival in the UK and the early years of the Apostolic Church and the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance, two of the UK's oldest Pentecostal denominations. This will demonstrate that penal substitution is foundational to the British Pentecostal understanding of the atonement.

An investigative study on the confessional statement and its impact on criminal trial in Pakistan

The role of confession by the accused person has an important place in the judicial structure of Pakistan. The courts evaluate the admissibility of the confessional statement and apply their judicial mind with free consent. The legal framework of Pakistan including QSO 1984, and Cr. P. C 1898 provides basic law and procedure to record a confession in the criminal justice system. However, the accused is not being dealt with fairly while recording confessions at the pre-trial and trial stage. Usually, police use undue influence to record a confessional statement. The procedures adopted for the recording of confession during the pendency of the trial. The current study has evaluated the values and norms of recording confessional statements. This research paper adopted the doctrinal research methodology to achieve the objectives. In addition, it also argues for the acceptability of the confession of co-accused in the criminal justice system. Moreover, this research evaluates the validity of a confessional statement in the justice process in Pakistan. Lastly, this research discusses the executable references regarding the recording of confession at all stages and its value in the eyes of law to uphold justice and avoid the unjust.

Discourse Tactic(s) in Police-Suspect Interactions in Ibadan, Nigeria

Existing studies on police interrogation have revealed that investigating police officers (IPOs) often resort to the use of physical force in extracting confessional statements from suspects. However, we maintain that IPOs do not usually subject suspects to torture in a bid to obtain a confession. We therefore examine how IPOs use tactics to achieve confessions in police-suspect interactions (PSIs). Data comprise nine interactions between IPOs and suspects tape-recorded at the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Ìyágankú, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Drawing on Bateson’s framing theory, the study reveals that participants in PSIs resort to accentuation of crime, blaming of a third party, minimisation of crime, deployment of objections, use of alternative questions, avoidance of questions, oblique references, deliberate false statements, and resistance to achieve their respective goals. The study demonstrates that PSIs in Nigeria do not always involve the use of physical force by IPOs.

Legal Framework of Confessional Statements Under Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015

Legal Framework of Confessional Statements Under Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015

Concealment in Police-Suspect Interaction in Ibadan, Nigeria


 Police-suspect interaction, henceforth, PSI, is an integral aspect of forensic discourse. Existing scholarly works have engaged PSI from the linguistic and non-linguistic viewpoints. However, studies have been silent on the role of concealment in extracting confessional statements from suspects. It is against this backdrop that this study examines the discursive roles of concealment in PSI with a view to describing concealment strategies and their implications in police interrogation. The study is anchored on Dell Hymes’ ethnography of communication (EOC), considering its unequivocal engagement with contextual linguistic resources in representing participants’ goals in discourse. Interrogation sessions on conspiracy, felony, stealing, affray, and illegal possession of arms were tape-recorded at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, Oyo State. The study adopts the non-participant observation technique, unstructured and structured interviews. A discursive engagement of Dell Hymes’ EOC in investigating concealment in PSI Ibadan, reveals that IPOs and suspects adopt veiling, jargonisation, lexical replacement, hedging and deflection as concealment strategies. While suspects resort to concealment to seek exclusion, ignorance, withdrawal and anonymity, IPOs’ concealment strategies were orchestrated to seek suspects’ co-operation, allay suspects’ fears, boost suspects’ confidence, achieve confession with minimal input and protect suspects’ rights during interrogation sessions. Further studies on PSI could engage a comparative analysis of the use of concealment in PSI and civil cases.
 Key words: Forensic discourse, confessional statement, concealment, police-suspect interaction, Ibadan

Translation as Conversion: Richard Wilhelm’s Bekehrung and the Bekehrter

Translation as Conversion: Richard Wilhelm’s <i>Bekehrung</i> and the <i>Bekehrter</i>

Baptists, Scripture, and the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

The approach taken in this paper is based on two key considerations: (1) the emphasis that the Baptist theological tradition places on the role played by Scripture and its interpretation in the formulation, judgment, and renewal of our confessional statements; and (2) the testimony of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification ( JDDJ) that the common understanding it articulates is grounded in a “common way of listening to the word of God in Scripture” ( JDDJ §8) and was derived, at least in part, by “appropriating insights of recent biblical studies” ( JDDJ §13). Its primary content is a brief summary of relevant discussions on justification and related themes in recent New Testament scholarship, some reflections on those discussions, and some suggestions for how those understandings might inform a collective Baptist response to the Joint Declaration. It concludes that the JDDJ should be taken by Baptists as a sign of hope and an encouragement to further conversation, including a distinctively Baptist explication of the common understanding stated in JDDJ §§15–17.

What has the beast’s mark to do with the COVID-19 vaccination, and what is the role of the church and answering to the Christians?

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) escalated into a real pandemic within 3.5 months and had caused 183 000 deaths in 2020. The complexities of COVID-19 since the end of 2019 and throughout 2020 left a mouth full and the second wave has not least to be said. The purpose of this article is to challenge the response of the church in a time when her voice is mostly needed. During the lockdown Level 5, churches were amongst the many trends that had to close their doors to the believers and the community. This was a great shock because churches throughout history have been known as safe havens and anchorages. Churches helped with answers to unanswered questions, and in some instances, confessional statements and creeds were born. In the case of COVID-19, a lot of conspiracy theories went viral about COVID-19 and the vaccines that were still in their research stage. Lots of speculations rose as to the cause of this pandemic. The implementation of 5G was viewed as the cause of the coronavirus at the beginning of 2020, and much had to be done to correct this fallacy. Another controversial fallacy was the link of the vaccination with the beast’s mark, as was recently also insinuated in Chief Justice’s prayer. Questions have already been asked, what is the voice of the church in this regard? Congregation deals with this in different ways. Hence the relevance to the question, how timely can exegesis be to contemporary ecclesiology? What would be relevant hermeneutics that could assist in embodying faith in a corona-defined world?Contribution: This article strives to develop an interpretation of 666 that could be relevant to the questions asked and suggest a way forward in embodying faith in a corona-defined world and beyond.

THE PROBLEM OF INFORMATION VALUE OF CONFESSIONAL STATEMENTS IN HISTORICAL LITERATURE

The article considers the achievements of modern Russian historiography in the field of compiling documents for demographic census registration by the parish Orthodox clergy in the synodic period of the Russian Orthodox Church. Among the problems that have been the most reflected, especially in the regional historiography of recent decades are the external features of confessional statements, changes in their forms during the XVIII–XIX centuries, the estates groups and strata represented in them, changes in the composition of parish families over several years, the gender and age composition of parishioners, migration processes within a one particular locality. The greatest value undoubtedly is the statistical data on the performance of Christian sacraments of confession and communion by parishioners. The works of researchers who analyze and use ecclesiastical signed documents, note a huge information potential of this type of historical sources. Ecclesiastical signed documents reveal not only the peculiarities in the social structure of an individual parish, diocese or eparchy as a whole. They are a fairly reliable indicator of the population’s introduction to the Orthodox faith and rites, especially beginning from the early XIX century, when the possibilities of data falsification by the parish clergy were minimized. This type of mass sources, such as signed documents, makes it possible to consider the history of everyday life, household and housing conditions, the distance of the village to the temple. The revealed shortcomings in ecclesiastical signed documents include the following: fixing the population only present in the parish, giving amorphous reasons for non-fulfillment of the sacraments such as «failure», «negligence», inaccurate determination of parishioners’ age in remote parish villages, real attitude of believers to the church and dogmas.

Principles of Relevancy of Confessional Statement under the Indian Law of Evidence

Voluntary Confession plays an important part to prove the commission of an offence. Confession is a psychological state of mind. A person goes through a range of emotional state while making a confession. Confessional statements are not stated very categorically the way the prosecution wants them to. For that, the courts adopt various methodology to understand the true spirit of a statement of the accused and reads them as a whole. Through various judicial precedents, the true way to understand and interpret a confessional statement has been settled by the judiciary. The paper analyses three leading case laws the position of law on the interpretation of the confessional statement.

Procedures for Admitting Confessional Statements under the Evidence Act, 2011, Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws of Various States: Inconsistent or Complimentary?

Confessional statements are very vital in Nigeria’s administration of criminal justice as many convictions are based on confessional statements. The major laws regulating the admissibility of confessional statements in Nigeria are Evidence Act 2011, Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and Administration of Criminal Justice Laws of various States. The provisions of these laws seem to be inconsistent and create confusion on the admissibility of confessional statements. This paper defines and examines confessional statements under the Evidence Act 2011, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws of Various States. The paper examines various court decisions on the “conflicts” between the Evidence Act 2011, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws. The paper finds that the Evidence Act solely determines the admissibility of confessional statements while the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws in conjunction with other evidence determines the weight to be attached to a confessional statement. The paper concludes that the Evidence Act and Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015/ the Administration of Criminal Justice Law are therefore complementary rather than inconsistent.

Baptist Contributions to Theological Reflection on the Holy Spirit: A Representative Survey: Part I

ABSTRACT Baptists in the English-speaking world have made important contributions to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. There is no single Baptist position on the Holy Spirit; rather a variety of doctrinal approaches. This is illustrated in pastoral treatises, confessional statements, and academic writing. Baptists have reflected a strong Reformed dependence, while also moving in creative directions. In the early years, stress was upon the person and work of the Spirit, following orthodox parameters. During the eighteenth century, new doctrinal emphases in John Gill and Andrew Fuller are seen, and the nineteenth century gave opportunity to a variety of Baptist thinkers including Jacob Knapp, John L. Dagg, James P. Boyce, A. J. Gordon, William Newton Clarke and Walter Rauschenbusch. Rounding out the voices is H. Wheeler Robinson who blended a number of new ideas in a major work on the Spirit.

FORENSIC LINGUISTICS AS A CATALYST FOR CRIME DETECTION AMONG NIGERIAN YOUTHS: A STUDY OF SELECTED POLICE INVESTIGATIONS AND COURT PROCEEDINGS

The rate of criminal activities among the youths is increasing everyday especially through thebirth of new linguistic knowledge in human endeavours. These crimes are facilitated by communication, particularly, linguistic communication. The aim of this study is to ascertain the role of forensic linguistics in the detection of crimes among the youths. The study adopts descriptive/discursive design while the corpus consists of a transmitted video clip of suspects confessional statements and three contemporary criminal cases investigated and published in online newspapers. The crime cases being studied include prevalent criminal cases among the young people such as cultism, kidnapping, robbery, rape, murder and fraud related issues. The analysis focuses on the lexical, syntactic and semantic features. The findings of this study show similar pronunciation, voice identification, accents of the accused persons, theiruse of personal pronouns/possessive determiner, suspicious/repeated lexicon, active sentences and thematic roles as significant forensic features. It concludes that forensic linguistics can be used as a resource to assist the law enforcement agents and the judges of high courts in investigations and interpretations of crime-related expressions. Thus, it is recommended that forensic linguistic approach should be featured in seminars, workshops, and articles on crime related issues, especially the ones that involve the youths.

Recovering the Reformation’s Ecumenical Vision of Redemption as Deification and Beatific Vision

Abstract The beatific vision is widely perceived as a Roman Catholic doctrine. Many continue to view deification as a distinctively Eastern Orthodox doctrine incompatible with the Western theological tradition, especially its Protestant expressions. This essay will demonstrate that several Reformers of the first and second generation promoted a vision of redemption that culminates with deification and beatific vision. They affirmed these concepts without apology in confessional statements, dogmatic works, biblical commentaries, and polemical treatises. Attention will focus on figures in the Reformed tradition though one could produce similar surveys for the Lutheran and Anglican branches of the Reformation as well. John Calvin will receive extended treatment because some scholars dispute whether he affirmed deification. This essay presents important evidence thus far overlooked which should settle the question.