Judicial Inspection Research Articles

TaSbeeb: A judicial decision support system based on deep learning framework

Since the early 1980s, the legal domain has shown a growing interest in Artificial Intelligence approaches to tackle the increasing number of cases worldwide. TaSbeeb is a deep learning (DL)-based judicial decision support system (JDSS) designed for legal professionals in Saudi courts by retrieving judicial reasoning, Qur’anic verses, and hadiths from a knowledge base. The proposed system consists of three phases: annotation, classification, and information retrieval. To annotate judicial text, we developed Ann-Judicial, a semi-automatic method. To handle the imbalanced corpus for classification, we devised homogeneous and heterogeneous stacking DL models. For information retrieval, we proposed Jud_RoBERTa, a judicial language model. TaSbeeb achieved high accuracy and F-scores in both the classification and information retrieval blocks, showing good accuracy despite complexities in the judicial field and interference between cases. Specifically, the classification phase achieved an accuracy and F-score of 95.8%, while the information retrieval phase achieved an accuracy of 79.8% and F-score of 79.3%. The proposed JDSS has potential for extension to other courts and can be used in judicial inspection. TaSbeeb represents a significant stride towards a more efficient and accurate judicial decision-making process in the Arabic legal system, which has been hindered by a lack of research on Arabic JDSS.

INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT TO INVIOLABILITY HOUSING: COMPARATIVE LEGAL STUDY

The international community has expressed its efforts in the field of protecting human rights and various freedoms through international conventions and regional and Arab pacts. Countries have made great efforts to develop the justice system over the past decades. International and local efforts in the Gulf countries in general and in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in particular focus on providing a legal and just environment that works to guarantee the rights of every person in general. Everyone is equal before the law. The regulatory and technical authorities in both countries, through Visions 2030, have worked to raise the level of coordination and cooperation between the criminal justice and security sectors in legal, organizational, executive, and judicial terms; to develop the judicial sector in both countries and the security sector in particular; and to prepare and train their men to preserve human rights during the exercise of their work. They wrote this protection into the texts of their rules and laws, which made it easier for them to work faster and cut down on the time it took to find out the truth about the crime they were looking into. They also made sure that people's physical and moral freedoms were protected during housing inspections. An inspection is one of the most important and most dangerous criminal procedures that security men can carry out, and its content is a violation of human rights. It is also one of the most important and urgent investigation procedures, whether it is on the person of the accused, or in his residence, with the aim of revealing the truth of the crime that actually occurred and is not probable, and the search and careful investigation of its evidence that may prove or may deny the conviction of the person of the accused or the accused who have been ordered to search, or those previously ordered to arrest them. The problem of the study here is the question of the adequacy of international and regional legal texts with regard to judicial inspection, which is capable of protecting the human right to preserve the sanctity of his home or not. As a result, the study intends to examine international and regional legal texts in both the Saudi system and UAE law, as well as discuss their statutory authority in protecting the human right to the sanctity of their private lives during home inspections. The study revealed the inadequacy of international and regional texts in protecting human rights to the sanctity of their private lives. It appears to be law enforcement officials carrying out the procedure in the manner in which they adhere to the sanctity of the home, and the Saudi system corrects the evidence for it despite the invalidity of the procedure. Because of this, it is important to change some texts to protect the right to the sanctity of the home.

Poate oare fi proiectat un model universal al organului de inspecție judiciară?

The purpose of the paper is to estimate the possibility to design a faultless model of judicial inspection body, which would contribute equally to guarantee judicial independence and judicial responsibility, as a mechanism of exercising good judicial self- governance. To achieve the purpose the organization and the functioning of the entity with specific attributions of judicial inspection have been examined and the international standards in this field have been interpreted. As a conclusion, we found that it is impossible to design a universal model of judicial inspection. This fact, however, does not exclude the possibility of institutionalization of a judicial inspection that is appropriate for a certain judicial system, for a certain legal system, with constant concern for the reformation of such an entity, in the general context of consolidating Justice.

Strategies for detecting and identifying biological signals amidst the variation commonly found in RNA sequencing data

BackgroundRNA sequencing analysis focus on the detection of differential gene expression changes that meet a two-fold minimum change between groups. The variability present in RNA sequencing data may obscure the detection of valuable information when specific genes within certain samples display large expression variability. This paper develops methods that apply variance and dispersion estimates to intra-group data to identify genes with expression values that diverge from the group envelope. STRING database analysis of the identified genes characterize gene affiliations involved in physiological regulatory networks that contribute to biological variability. Individuals with divergent gene groupings within network pathways can thereby be identified and judiciously evaluated prior to standard differential analysis.ResultsA three-step process is presented for evaluating biological variability within a group in RNA sequencing data in which gene counts were: (1) scaled to minimize heteroscedasticity; (2) rank-ordered to detect potentially divergent “trendlines” for every gene in the data set; and (3) tested with the STRING database to identify statistically significant pathway associations among the genes displaying marked trendline variability and dispersion. This approach was used to identify the “trendline” profile of every gene in three test data sets. Control data from an in-house data set and two archived samples revealed that 65–70% of the sequenced genes displayed trendlines with minimal variation and dispersion across the sample group after rank-ordering the samples; this is referred to as a linear trendline. Smaller subsets of genes within the three data sets displayed markedly skewed trendlines, wide dispersion and variability. STRING database analysis of these genes identified interferon-mediated response networks in 11–20% of the individuals sampled at the time of blood collection. For example, in the three control data sets, 14 to 26 genes in the defense response to virus pathway were identified in 7 individuals at false discovery rates ≤1.92 E-15.ConclusionsThis analysis provides a rationale for identifying and characterizing notable gene expression variability within a study group. The identification of highly variable genes and their network associations within specific individuals empowers more judicious inspection of the sample group prior to differential gene expression analysis.

A forensic analysis on 53 cases of complex suicides and one complicated assessed at the Bureau of Legal Medicine of Milan (Italy)

Complex suicides are highly uncommon suicides in which multiple detrimental methods are used simultaneously or in chronological succession. We retrospectively analyzed through our database the 25512 autopsy reports registered at the Bureau of Legal Medicine of Milan in the last 27 years from 1993 until 2019, where 4498 suicides were documented. We assessed 53 cases of complex suicides and only one case of complicated suicide: for all of them we analyzed both data collected during the on-site investigation and the autopsy. In our case series, we identified a total number of 113 methods chosen and variably combined by the victims, which were classified into 17 categories. On the whole the most frequent association of suicide methods resulted in the combination of the plastic bag suffocation with inert gas inhalation (13 out of 53 complex suicides; 24.5%). We also analyzed our cases of simple suicides (1993–2019), to compare them with the complex suicides. In this study, we present a complete analysis regarding our cases of complex suicides, discussing the challenges and the interpretative issues which a forensic pathologist might deal with. A thorough on-site judicial inspection and a careful autopsy examination are crucial in such cases. Moreover, the clinical history of the victims and laboratory findings are supplemental elements to be necessarily considered to establish the actual manner of death and avoid any misinterpretations.

Common and much less common scenarios in which botany is crucial for forensic pathologist and anthropologists: a series of eight case studies

It is commonly accepted that crime scene recovery and recording are key moments of any judicial inspection in which investigators must decide on the correct strategies to put into place. Complex outdoor scenarios, presenting partially or entirely skeletonised remains, can benefit more than others by the intervention of environmental specialists (forensic anthropologists, archaeologists, entomologists and botanists). These experts are capable of singling out, correctly recording and recovering environmental evidence that can lead to a more comprehensive reconstruction of a given criminal episode. If human remains are discovered in an outdoor scenario, the on-site presence of a botanist will guarantee a correct approach to the identification, recording and recovery of any botanical evidence. If an on-site botanist is not available, the operators must be capable of both the botanical evaluation of a scene and the implementation of correct botanical sampling protocols.The following collection of unusual case histories that aim at underlining the efficacy of forensic botany will examine the determination of post mortem or the post depositional interval, evidence for a victim’s post mortem transfer, evidence for the identification of a primary crime scene and evidence for the identification of a victim’s dismemberment site. In another two cases, one, we will illustrate the important role that forensic botany played in the discrimination between botanical material used to voluntarily conceal a victim and vegetation that had grown naturally above a disposal site, whereas the other will highlight the protocols implemented for the identification of a murder weapon.

Constraints on mapping the Lounesto\u2019s classes

The so-called Lounesto’s classification engenders six distinct classes of spinors, divided into two sectors: one composed by regular spinors (single-helicity spinors) and the other composed by singular spinors (comprising dual-helicity spinors). In the present essay we develop a mechanism to fully define the right class within the Lounesto’s classification a spinor belongs to, without necessity to evaluate the 16 bilinear forms. The analysis lies in the following criteria: a judicious inspection of the phases factor present in both spinor’s components. Thus, the machinery developed here works for both regular and singular spinors. Taking advantage of the present algorithm, we analyse, under certain conditions, the possibility to transmute between the six classes.

Violent behaviors and Klinefelter syndrome: Two forensic cases from the past to the future

Klinefelter Syndrome (KS) (XXY) is the most common sex-chromosome aberration among men. The cognitive phenotype includes language learning problems, mental retardation, and psychiatric disorders. Patients can show criminal personality and psychosocial problems. The most common offences reported are sexual abuse, arson, burglary, homicide, drug-related crimes. KS very often goes under-diagnosed. The aim of our study is to verify the hypothesis of correlation between chromosomal abnormalities and criminal behaviors through the analysis of a forensic case of uxoricide/suicide. We report the case of an old man, found dead in his cottage with a gun in the right hand. Judicial inspection demonstrated suicidal single gunshot injuries. Data analysis highlighted a personal story of uxoricide. Autopsy investigation showed the typical KS phenotype. The post-mortem clinical diagnosis was confirmed through the genetic analysis of the karyotype. The retrospective analysis of literature with this case showed a possible correlation between KS and psychiatric traits, with criminal personality and sexual disorders.

The research stage of the judicial inspection in criminal proceedings

The research stage of the judicial inspection in criminal proceedings

Acusaciones contra jueces legos ante jueces de Letras: uso social del avance de la justicia letrada. Zona centro-sur de Chile, 1824-1875

El articulo dialoga con la literatura que ha examinado a los denominados “jueces legos”, como sosten de las practicas judiciales e integrantes de las sociedades a las que pertenecian los litigantes. Es una discusion centrada en el periodo previo a la expansion de la justicia letrada que se instalo en los distintos paises de Latinoamerica desde la segunda mitad del siglo XIX. La investigacion problematiza los usos sociales de la emergente justicia letrada, que emprendieron actores sociales para judicializar conflictos mantenidos con jueces legos de su territorio. A la vez, se interesa en las reacciones de los jueces de Letras frente a estas practicas y estrategias. El escrutinio se concentra en la zona centro-sur de Chile durante el periodo de configuracion de un aparato de justicia republicana, caracterizado por la atribucion progresiva de facultades fiscalizadoras a los jueces de Letras sobre los jueces legos. Se analiza un cuerpo documental de 47 expedientes judiciales por acusaciones criminales de distintos sectores sociales, contra subdelegados e inspectores de su residencia, ante jueces de Letras de la zona. Los conflictos y los usos sociales se estudian desde un enfoque culturalista, recurriendo a la nocion de “culturas juridico-judiciales” para comprender los valores, discursos y el saber-hacer en instancia judicial. Los resultados se presentan mediante un estudio de casos, a traves de los que se evidenciaron las lecturas que ensayaron los actores sociales, respecto al proceso de fiscalizacion judicial. Desde esa evaluacion, los litigantes trasladaron sus querellas contra subdelegados e inspectores, hacia los juzgados de Letras que iban instalandose en este espacio. Ademas, estos magistrados manifestaron una validacion de estos movimientos, aceptando las acusaciones y solicitudes procesales de los litigantes. Palabras claves: jueces legos, historia de la Justicia, Chile, siglo XIX.

A Case of suicide by a Large Number of sharp Force Injuries

A 36-year-old psychotic man was found dead in a field that was not far from the location where he used to live. An external examination showed more than 100 sharp force wounds that were localized at the lumbosacral region, gluteal regions, and the lower limbs, but not on the face, neck, chest, and abdomen. Data from judicial inspection and autopsy findings suggested suicidal death due to hemorrhagic shock by superficial venous vessel lesions.

A pszichiátriai betegek gyógykezelése elrendelésének és bírósági felülvizsgálatának elméleti és gyakorlati kérdései

We can see that the practice of the judicial inspection is not always in accordance with the legislation.
 The decisions made during the judicial inspection should be written down and delivered as soon as possible. The patient, the head of the institute and the designated medical doctor must be heard smoothly in all cases. All these questions form essential elements of the legal institution of judicial inspection, and, unfortunately, they are still waiting for legal clarification.

Sonography of placental abnormalities: a pictorial review.

Often overlooked during routine ultrasound evaluation of a normal pregnancy, the placenta forms the biologic interface between the mother and fetus and is critical to fetal growth and development. Malformations in development, positioning, and vascularity can have profound implications for both maternal and fetal well-being. As such, a judicious inspection of the placenta is warranted as an integral part of every screening or emergent prenatal ultrasound. Herein, we present a pictorial review of a variety of placental pathologic conditions including abnormalities in positioning, adherence, vascularity, and hemorrhage as well as potential peri-placental masses and gestational trophoblastic disease, all of which are readily encountered in a busy emergency radiology practice.

L’évolution du contrôle des recommandations de bonnes pratiques

By a decision of the 23rd of December 2014, the administrative judge (Conseil d’État) quashed the good practice guideline “Autism and other pervasive developmental disorders”, jointly developed by the National Authority for Health (HAS) and the National Agency of medical and social institution's Evaluation and Quality (ANESM). That invalidation, based on procedural grounds, is part of a broader trend of the last decade marked by the improvement of judicial inspection of good practice guidelines. As well as providing some new details, this decision gives an opportunity to examine this evolution, which affects both the opening of the appeal against the recommendations, and the scope of review by the administrative judge.

Judicial Interpretation of the Tax Law Provisions and Protection of the Subjective Rights of Taxpayers – In the Light of Art. 153 of the Act on Proceedings Before Administrative Courts in Poland

Abstract This article refers to the issues associated with the crucial significance of the interpretation of tax law provisions made by administrative courts in the course of the judicial inspection of tax decisions, within the context of protecting the subjective rights of taxpayers. The analysis in that regard has been prepared based on the provisions of art. 153 of the Act of 25 July 2002 on Proceedings before Administrative Courts, which expresses the important rule of binding the court and the administrative authority, whose act was the subject of an appeal, with a legal assessment and instructions regarding the further proceedings described in the decision of the administrative court. As a result of this rule, a decision of an administrative court exerts the results exceeding the scope of judicial administrative proceedings, while its effect also covers the future tax proceedings. If the legal assessment made by the court refers to the regulations that affect the subjective rights of a taxpayer, it means that the administrative court imposes the effects of “its” interpretation of those provisions on a tax authority. In turn, the tax authority is obliged to respect those rights in accordance with the opinions of the court, which usually affects the final resolution of a tax case. It should be borne in mind that a taxpayer, by submitting an appeal against a tax decision to an administrative court, demands not only an inspection of the acts of tax administration, but also - which should be emphasized - demands the execution of its rights, including its subjective rights. Therefore, we should not forget the crucial role of the administrative courts in the protection of the substantive rights of taxpayers. The instrument that allows the administrative courts to guard the subjective rights of taxpayers, consists in the procedural regulations included in the provisions on proceedings before administrative courts, and in particular art. 153 of the Act on Proceedings before Administrative Courts in Poland.

Expropriation, Eviction, and the Dignity of the Common Law

This is the text of a public talk delivered on 18 July 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The talk included discussions of two recent decisions from South Africa’s top courts, considered in relation to the South African legal community’s response to the Constitution’s directions for submission of South Africa’s body of pre-transition common law to judicial inspection in appropriate cases, in order to check whether common-law norms are line (and to bring them into line where they are not) with the “spirit, purport and objects” of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Such an on-going, case-based judicial audit of the common law under the gaze of the Bill of Rights would be one way (in cases where all the parties are private) of giving “horizontal effect” to the Bill of Rights.