Psychosocial Profile of Juvenile and Adult Offenders Who Acknowledge Having Committed Child-to-Parent Violence

The main objective of this study was to establish the psychosocial profile of adolescents and adults who have admitted to committing child-to-parent violence (CPV) and were serving a judicial sanction or prison sentence, respectively. Two groups of participants took part in this study. The first group was made up of 89 male youths who were serving judicial sanctions, and the second group was made up of 70 men serving a prison sentence. A cross-sectional retrospective design with concurrent measurements was used in this study. Group differences in the exposure-to-violence variables were conducted. Automatic regression models were used to estimate a self-reported CPV. In relation to the variables of indirect exposure to violence, statistically significant differences between those who admitted having committed CPV and those who did not, irrespective of being adults or adolescents, were found for seeing violence in class and at home but not for seeing violence on the street or on television. Regarding the variables related to experiencing violence, the results showed statistically significant differences in experiencing violence at home but not in class or on the street. The best predictive model of CPV includes some of the dimensions of self-concept, specifically academic and family self-concept, as well as the avoidant and rational problem-solving styles and the negative orientation toward problems. The results have shown the existence of a CPV offender profile that is common to minors and adults.

Narrating Memory: Weighing up the Testimony

Memory is the ability to store, maintain and recall information and experiences. Although predominantly an individual attribute, memory coincides with the life-world, with consciousness and with the ability to define reality – all of which are shared with others. When analysing narratives the sociologist needs to situate individual memory within its broader context. The article follows the argument that individuals acquire their memories within a broader social context. They also recall and localise their memories within a broader social context. This article interprets a remarkable testimony: the story of a former political prisoner who circumcised a large number of young fellow inmates in the notorious prison on Robben Island, South Africa, during the period of Nelson Mandela‟s incarceration. The article relates the narrative in question to the life-world of the narrator and to his experiences whilst serving his 18-year prison sentence. It reflects on the epistemological questions regarding memories. Memory as recollection, as reconstruction of events and information, and as process of re-membering come under the spotlight. Narratives that are often repeated start taking on a life of their own – particularly in the case of trauma memories. When analysing these narratives, the sociologist needs to distinguish between objective markers and subjective interpretation. Memory does not constitute pure recall by the individual. The article illustrates the effect of intersubjective and collective factors on the process of remembering. It calls for a reflexive process to identify, re-interpret and unpack the process of remembering.

Źródła i formy kontaktów z bliskimi mężczyzn odbywających karę pozbawienia wolności

Social support is essential for mental and physical health and plays an important role in reducing the risk of returning to prison. The main sources of prisoners’ social support are relatives with whom they have the right to communicate using a variety of forms. The frequency of contact depends on the type of prison. However, little research examines prisoners’ communication with their relatives. The study was conducted on 478 men between the ages of 16 and 68 (M = 35,2; SD = 9,7), who were serving a prison sentence in one of five penitentiary facilities. The analysis revealed that the majority of incarcerated men had contact with their relatives, usually in a form of phone calls. The majority of them had contact with a mother. The study also demonstrated that the percentage of contacts with relatives decreased with age and time spent in prison.

NSU CASE COVERED UP AND LEGALLY CLOSED: IS IT POSSIBLE TO AVOID SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REPERCUSSIONS?

The neo-Nazi Nationalist Socialist Underground (NSU) terrorist group killed ten people in Germany between 2000-2007. Eight of the victims were members of the Turkish community of more than three million people living in Germany. Beate Zschäpe, Uwe Mundlos, and Uwe Böhnhardt were the nucleus of the National Socialist Underground NSU . Two of them, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt, had killed themselves in the operations. Beate Zschäpe was the only core member of the NSU stayed alive when NSU trial began. Along with Beate Zschäpe, the four suspected accomplices deemed to be in the close periphery of the NSU trio, including Ralf Wohlleben and André Eminger were tried and received varying degrees of imprisonment. Germany’s highest court of appeals, which is Federal Court of Justice, had rejected appeals by Beate Zschäpe and other two convicted accomplices on 19 August 2021. The Federal Court has recently upheld the exceptionally light prison sentence of two and a half years that Andre Eminger received in 2018. Thus, the Munich court's verdict has become fully legally binding through this decision. It is reported that the high court did not find any legal errors or gaps in the arguments of the Munich court for the verdict and rejected appeals. Ten years after the NSU Neo-Nazi terror cell was exposed, with this decision of the German Federal Court of Justice, the NSU case was legally concluded and closed in its entirety. We have already explained in our previous analyses that racism and xenophobia, Islamophobia is on the rise in Germany and that we, as AVİM, consider this fact a worrying development. We should underline that the totality of court decisions regarding the NSU murders reinforced the perception that racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia did not receive the punishment they deserved in Germany and that the true dimensions of the NSU organization wilfully be left unclarified.

Profile of detention institutions for the implementation of measures and custodial sentences

Given that penal punishment is applied for the purpose of restoring social equity, correction and resocialization of the convict, as well as deterrence of further crime, it becomes imperative that penal enforcement measures are tailored according to both the specific features of the punishment and the individual characteristics of the convict. Therefore, the system of prison sentence enforcement faces a complex task because deprivation of liberty, by its nature, imposes a range of restrictions and limitations. In the process of enforcing prison punishments, there is a risk that punishment measures might cause physical damage and even downgrade the dignity of the convicted person. This article aims to analyse the current situation in the prison administration system in areas that regard the implementation of the legal provisions on prisoners’ placement according to types of prisons and regimes. Moreover, the paper identifies gaps in the legal frameworks and formulates proposals for addressing the pinpointed issues. The relevance of this topic lies in the fact that the purpose of punishment can be fulfilled only when the system of prison regimes is applied by taking into consideration the individual psychological and social needs of the persons deprived of liberty.

Correctional “Free Lunch”? Cost Neglect Increases Punishment in Prosecutors

Prosecutors can influence judges’ sentencing decisions by the sentencing recommendations they make—but prosecutors are insulated from the costs of those sentences, which critics have described as a correctional “free lunch.” In a nationally distributed survey experiment, we show that when a sample of (n=178) professional prosecutors were insulated from sentencing cost information, their prison sentence recommendations were nearly one-third lengthier than sentences rendered following exposure to direct cost information. Exposure to a fiscally equivalent benefit of incarceration did not impact sentencing recommendations, as predicted. This pattern suggests that prosecutors implicitly value incorporating sentencing costs but selectively neglect them unless they are made explicit. These findings highlight a likely but previously unrecognized contributor to mass incarceration and identify a potential way to remediate it.

Problems of Legal Regulation of the Implementation of Fixed Assets of Legal Entities, Serving Sentences as an Incentive for Law-abiding Behavior of Those Sentenced to Imprisonment, Respect for Individual Rights

The aim of the work is to study criminal-executive relations in the field of application of the basic means of correction to convicts serving a sentence of imprisonment. The analysis of the legal basis for the implementation of fixed assets for the correction of convicts established by the criminal executive legislation of Russia is carried out. There is a deficiency in the legal regulation of certain remedies, including social impact and educational work with prisoners. This circumstance is a significant obstacle to their implementation in practice, which negatively affects the formation of law-abiding behavior of persons serving a prison sentence, as well as the observance of rights. A number of recommendations are made, aimed at improving the criminal-executive policy in this area, including on the basis of the analysis of the legal support of remedies for convicted countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States convicted under the law

Criminal law politics on regulation of criminal actions in Indonesia

This paper aimed to discuss the legal politics of regulating narcotics and illegal drugs in Indonesia. Using normative legal research methods, this normative legal research focuses on an inventory of positive law, legal principles and doctrines, legal findings in cases in concreto, legal systematics, comparative law, and legal history. The writing of this scientific paper uses primary legal materials and secondary legal materials. Primary legal materials are in the form of laws and regulations related to the issues raised, including Law No. 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics. Secondary legal materials are materials that explain primary legal materials, such as law books. The results of the research are supported by the opinions of legal experts (doctrine), as well as legal journals related to this research, among others, that narcotics legal politics is the main point in forming a legal system in the form of laws and regulations that regulate criminal acts as described above, Articles 111, 112 has a reasonably heavy prison sentence, which is a minimum of 4 years, and a maximum sentence of 20 years, even the death penalty.

Sentencing Drug Offenders Justly While Reducing Mass Incarceration

In my paper, I discuss what I believe is the most effective approach to sentencing drug defendants. I start with the proposition that in many, if not most cases, incarcerating drug offenders does more harm than good. Imprisonment contributes to mass incarceration, does not deter unlawful drug activity and has an adverse racial impact. Thus, if a judge can reasonably avoid imposing a prison sentence, he or she should do so. Fortunately, this is the judge’s duty under the law. 18 U.S.C. §3553(a) requires a judge to impose a sentence that is “sufficient but not greater than necessary…” or, in other words, the least restrictive reasonable sentence. Thus, in every case, the judge must first consider whether a non-incarcerative sentence is sufficient. It often will be. In determining the appropriate sentence, a judge should focus on what the offender did and why and what he or she will likely do in the future and pay less attention to such factors as drug type and drug weight. Sometimes, a mandatory minimum sentence will apply and prevent a judge from imposing a fair sentence, but that is outside the judge’s control. Fortunately, because of Booker and its progeny, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines do not pose a similar problem. The judge, of course, must calculate and consider the applicable guideline but in many cases the guideline will be irrelevant to a just sentence. This is so because the guidelines are excessively oriented toward prison sentences and thus frequently conflict with the sufficient but not greater than necessary command of §3553(a). In my paper, I provide numerous examples of sentences that I have imposed and explanations of those sentences to illustrate this approach.

CRIMINAL LIABILITY RELATED TO THE SYSTEM OF ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE AND CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH SENTENCED PERSON AVOIDS PERFORMING DUTIES ORDERED BY THE COURT

The crucial aim of this article is to indicate grounds of legal liability connected with situations in which person sentenced to penalty, punitive measure or safeguard measure, within the system of electronic surveillance, violates certain duties. Considerations concerning the aforementioned issues are preceded by the analysis on the essence of the electronic surveillance, reasons for its implementation into the applicable legal system and means of its usage related to legal instruments of penal reaction to perpetrator’s behavior. Moreover, author of the article analyses legal character of the prison sentence performed with the usage of electronic surveillance. This constitutes starting point for answering practically important question: whether leaving the place of performing prison sentence within the system of electronic surveillance can be qualified as the offence of self-release, determined in art. 242 § 1 of the Criminal Code. At the end of the article, author presents de lege ferenda postulates concerning normative solution related to the legal ground of qualifying behaviors consisting in avoiding electronic surveillance.