In recent years a number of studies have observed empirical associations between the occurrence of key life events such as marriage, employment, and military service, and desistance from crime. The relationships between these life-course transitions and changes in criminal behaviour have been cited as evidence in support of social control and social learning theories of delinquency and in contradiction to alternative theoretical perspectives that downplay the significance of life events in the development of criminal behaviour over the lifespan. In this paper we develop and test an alternative explanation for the apparent impact of marriage on criminal and delinquent behaviour. We argue that transitions such as marriage might also promote desistance, in part, by enabling offenders to develop and exercise increased self-control. We then test this hypothesis using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and explore the implications of our findings for the study of desistance and for self-control theory.
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Research Methods for Criminal Justice and CriminologyThis volume explores research methods for criminal justice and criminology. Topics covered include: crime, criminal justice and scientific inquiry; theory and criminal justice research; causation and validity; and general issues in research design.
The article considers whether the obligations of states, which have been referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) by the United Nations Security Council, are the same as the cooperation obligations of states parties to the ICC Statute. It is argued that despite the lack of clarity in the resolutions referring the situation in Darfur and in Libya to the ICC, the better view is that the obligation imposed on Sudan and Libya to ‘cooperate fully’ with the ICC should be regarded as an obligation to cooperate in accordance with the provisions of the ICC Statute. This means that those states are entitled to benefit from those limited provisions of the ICC Statute that permit a refusal to cooperate with the Court or permit the state to postpone the execution of a request by the Court for assistance. The article also considers the interaction between the obligations of states to cooperate with the ICC and domestic proceedings against those sought for ICC prosecution. It considers the extent to which the obligation of cooperation may be suspended by an admissibility challenge and addresses whether the permission to suspend the obligation of cooperation may extend to a suspension of the obligation to surrender an accused person to the ICC.
The situation in Libya marks the first precedent in which the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) intervention was coupled with the invocation of responsibility to protect (R2P). The referral was initially heralded as a victory for international justice. But it put the ICC in a delicate position. The ICC’s response shows that United Nations Security Council referrals remain a species of their own in the practice of the ICC, with their own specific pitfalls and problems. Following the arrest of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, the situation in Libya has turned into a test case for the management of the notion of ‘shared responsibility’, set out by the R2P doctrine and the principle of complementarity under the ICC Statute. It highlights unresolved legal and policy dilemmas relating to: first, the interpretation of complementarity by different organs of the Court; secondly, the reach of the same conduct test; thirdly, the relationship between complementarity and cooperation (for example, sequencing of proceedings under Articles 89(4) and 94 of the ICC Statute); and fourthly, the relevance of due process and sentencing considerations under the admissibility regime.
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Research Methods for Criminal Justice and CriminologyThis volume explores research methods for criminal justice and criminology. Topics covered include: crime, criminal justice and scientific inquiry; theory and criminal justice research; causation and validity; and general issues in research design.
A growing number of international criminal justice institutions, most notably the International Criminal Court, have been equipped with a regime of victim redress. In the coming years, alongside international legal regimes based on principles of state responsibility, international criminal law may perhaps provide a significant legal framework through which the harm suffered by victims of atrocities can be redressed. However, incorporating a regime for dealing with questions of victim redress within the framework of an international criminal justice institution is not, it is argued, an obvious extension of ‘international criminal justice’, the traditional focus of which has been the prosecution and punishment of individuals and not addressing the consequences of their conduct. Instead, the consequences of conflict have traditionally been dealt with at the interstate level through lump sum settlements, claims processes such as the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission or, on occasion, under the auspices of international human rights mechanisms, all based on principles of state rather than individual responsibility. But does the creation of a regime of victim redress in the context of international criminal law have a contribution to make to the administration of criminal justice at the international level? With this question in mind, the article critically examines whether and how the incorporation of a regime of victim redress within the framework of an international criminal justice institution may be justified in principled terms.
The express inclusion of various crimes of gender-based and sexual violence in the Rome Statute is closely connected with the increased international attention given to these crimes in recent years, most particularly in the form of prosecutions by the ad hoc tribunals. However, while these first prosecutions were celebrated as revolutionary, a conflict has emerged between the consent-based and the broader coercive circumstance approaches to rape. Not only do the International Criminal Court (ICC) instruments as they stand do little to clarify the issue but, bearing in mind the operation of Article 21, there are likely to be various competing pressures on the ICC in defining and prosecuting rape. This article argues that the ICC can address this challenge by providing a clear statement in its first judgments on point that the central principle underlying the definition of rape under international law is the protection of sexual autonomy.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is due to finish its work in 2014, and hence this is an important time to reflect on its legacy. This article is concerned with the Tribunal’s micro legacy and its impact on the ground. While existing research on impact has tended to overwhelmingly centre on Bosnia–Herzegovina (BiH), this article shifts the focus to Croatia and looks specifically at whether and to what extent the ICTY has aided reconciliation between Serbs and Croats in the town of Vukovar. Based on fieldwork in Vukovar, the research uses three key measurement criteria to assess the Tribunal’s impact on reconciliation — perceptions of the ICTY, acknowledgement of its judgments and the nature of inter-ethnic relations on the ground. Defining reconciliation as the repair and restoration of relationships and the re-building of trust, it argues that the ICTY has not contributed to reconciliation in Vukovar. Yet since the reasons for this are case study- and institution-specific, this research does not permit the conclusion that criminal trials can never aid reconciliation. What it highlights, however, is that retributive justice should not be over-relied upon to aid reconciliation.
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Research Methods for Criminal Justice and CriminologyThis volume explores research methods for criminal justice and criminology. Topics covered include: crime, criminal justice and scientific inquiry; theory and criminal justice research; causation and validity; and general issues in research design.
There exists no international bar that regulates the practice of forensic advocacy before international courts and tribunals. This lack of common ethical standards for representatives before international courts and tribunals has become increasingly topical. Initiatives by such professional organizations as the International Law Association and the International Bar Association to identify universal ethical principles suggest that there is a body of opinion amongst practitioners that common ethical standards are necessary. Despite the wealth of literature on the Nuremberg trial, the historical record has never been studied from the specific standpoint of the professional ethics of counsel. This article examines the historical record of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) to draw historical lessons. In doing so, a fascinating and, in some respects, astonishing narrative is revealed of the actions of certain individuals and the lax standard of professionalism set by the IMT. The lessons from the Nuremberg experience are an invaluable cautionary tale in the capacity of counsel to endanger or safeguard the integrity of judicial proceedings and, consequently, their overall legitimacy. As the proto-international bar gradually organizes itself into a profession and as professional ethics for prosecutors becomes increasingly contentious before the International Criminal Court, a closer examination of the Nuremberg legacy provides compelling material for the need for common and robust ethical standards for counsel practicing before international courts and tribunals.
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Research Methods for Criminal Justice and CriminologyThis volume explores research methods for criminal justice and criminology. Topics covered include: crime, criminal justice and scientific inquiry; theory and criminal justice research; causation and validity; and general issues in research design.
Crime, Gender, and Sexuality in Criminal Prosecutions: (Criminal Justice History)
Policing Protest: The Control of Mass Demonstrations in Western Democracies (Social Movements, Protest and Contention)The first international examination of how police respond to political protests. This collection analyzes a wide array of policing styles. Focusing on... Read More >
Traitors Beware: A History Of Robert Depugh's MinutemenThe Minutemen, under Robert DePugh's leadership, existed for a relatively short period of years during the 1960s. They were a viciously anti-Communist... Read More >
