Criminalization Of Offences Research Articles

Criminalization of offences against constitutional human and civil rights and freedoms, taking into account the prevalence of the act

Criminalization of offences against constitutional human and civil rights and freedoms, taking into account the prevalence of the act

On Implementation by Russia of the GRECO Recommendations on Criminalization of Offences

On Implementation by Russia of the GRECO Recommendations on Criminalization of Offences

International Criminalization of Offences Relating to Cultural Property

The article evaluates current conditions of international criminalization of offences relating to cultural property and makes a brief historical review of developing international protection of cultural property and elaborating a corresponding notion. Having analyzed the international instruments, the author concludes that offences relating to cultural property may include deliberate seizure, appropriation, demolition as well as any other forms of destruction or damage to objects and items protected under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict committed during international and non-international armed conflicts. These offences do not include such possible acts toward universal cultural values committed either beyond any armed conflict or without direct connection with it. Taking the examples of destruction of Buddhas of Bamiyan, Nimrud, Palmyra, and mausoleums of Timbuktu, the author states that international criminalization of offences relating to cultural property is insufficient, because it does not encompass such cases when objects or items of cultural value are damaged or destroyed under the control of national administrations or with their knowledge.

Criminalization of Offences against Especially Valuable Wild Animals: Problem of Statistical Accounting and Analysis

Criminalization of Offences against Especially Valuable Wild Animals: Problem of Statistical Accounting and Analysis

Effect on road traffic injuries of criminalizing road traffic offences: a time–series study

To determine the effect of criminalizing some traffic behaviours, after the reform of the Spanish penal code in 2007, on the number of drivers involved in injury collisions and of people injured in traffic collisions in Spain. This study followed an interrupted times-series design in which the number of drivers involved in injury collisions and of people injured in traffic collisions in Spain before and after the criminalization of offences were compared. The data on road traffic injuries in 2000-2009 were obtained from the road traffic collision database of the General Traffic Directorate. The dependent variables were stratified by sex, age, injury severity, type of road user, road type and time of collision. Quasi-Poisson regression models were fitted with adjustments for time trend, seasonality, previous interventions and national fuel consumption. The overall number of male drivers involved in injury collisions dropped (relative risk, RR: 0.93; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.89-0.97) after the reform of the penal code, but among women no change was observed (RR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.95-1.03). In addition, 13 891 men (P < 0.01) were prevented from being injured. Larger reductions were observed among young male drivers and among male motorcycle or moped riders than among the drivers of other vehicles. The findings suggest that criminalizing certain traffic behaviours can improve road safety by reducing both the number of drivers involved in injury collisions and the number of people injured in such collisions.

The Criminalization of Offences against Cultural Heritage in Times of Armed Conflict: The Quest for Consistency

This article undertakes a comparative analysis of the two main international legal instruments providing for offences against cultural property and cultural heritage in times of armed conflict in order to assess existing gaps and lacunas, and to make suggestions on how better to advance the protection of cultural property through international criminal law. The International Criminal Court Statute takes a very retrograde attitude to this kind of crime � which the author calls the civilian-use approach � whereas the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in Times of Armed Conflict seems far more innovative, preferring a cultural-value oriented approach. The author concludes that the latter approach is more appropriate and that, at present, the most effective tool for pursuing war crimes against cultural property is Protocol II to the 1954 Hague Convention. It is thus crucial to promote ratification by a large number of states and to encourage states to adopt implementing legislation that may allow domestic judges to prosecute the most serious crimes against cultural heritage on the basis of jurisdictional criteria provided for in Protocol II to the 1954 Hague Convention.