Holding the Supervisor to Account: The European Parliament and the European Central Bank in Banking Supervision. Bertelsmann Stiftung Policy Paper 19 November 2018

In the aftermath of the euro crisis, the European Central Bank (ECB) took over responsibilities for banking supervision in the euro area in the framework of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). This expansion of the original ECB mandate in monetary policy was coupled with the establishment of additional accountability mechanisms to balance the newly acquired competences. In terms of political accountability, the relationship with the European Parliament (EP) was placed front and centre — with regular interactions between the two institutions since late 2013. This paper analyses the accountability interactions between the EP’s Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee and ECB Banking Supervision in the first 4.5 years of the functioning of the SSM. In particular, it aims to: 1) situate the relationship between the ECB and the EP in the broader context of political accountability in banking supervision; 2) provide an overview of the frequency and patterns of interactions between the two institutions, describing types of questions asked and answers provided; and 3) identify strengths and weaknesses in the process, with a forward-looking focus on prospects for improvement

Interpretation, translation and intercultural communication in refugee status determination procedures in the UK and France

This article explores the interplay between language and intercultural communication within refugee status determination procedures in the UK and France, using material taken from ethnographic research that involved a combination of participant observation, semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis in both countries over a two-year period (2007–2009). It is concerned, in particular, to examine the role played by interpreters in facilitating intercultural communication between asylum applicants and the different administrative and legal actors responsible for assessing or defending their claims. The first section provides an overview of refugee status determination procedures in the UK and France, introducing the main administrative and legal contexts of the asylum process within which interpreters operate in the two countries. The second section compares the organisation of interpreting services, codes of conduct for interpreters and institutional expectations about the nature of interpreters’ activity on the part of the relevant UK and French authorities. The third section then explores some of the practical dilemmas for interpreters and barriers to communication that exist in refugee status determination procedures in the two countries. The article concludes by emphasising the complex and active nature of the interpreter's role in UK and French refugee status determination procedures

Quoting from the case file: how intertextual practices shape discourse at various stages in the legal trajectory

Criminal trial hearings are communicative events that are densely intertextually structured. In the course of a trial hearing, written documents such as police records of statements made by suspects, witnesses and experts are extensively referred to, quoted, paraphrased, summarized and recontextualized. In fact, such drawing upon the (written documents in) the case file is inevitable, as demonstrating (or invalidating) the defendant’s criminal liability crucially depends on the transformation of discourses produced at previous stages of the trial into lawful evidence. Detailed analyses of the various discursive processes through which intertextual links with the case file are established are thus essential for understanding exactly how trial participants negotiate versions of events with specific legal implications. In this special issue we bring together a collection of papers that deal with such intertextual practices in different legal settings

Oral Argument in the Time of COVID: The Chief Justice Plays Calvinball

In this Article, we empirically assess the Supreme Court’s experiment in hearing telephonic oral arguments. We compare the telephonic hearings to those heard in person by the current Court and examine whether the Justices followed norms of fairness and equality. We show that the telephonic forum changed the dynamics of oral argument in a way that gave the Chief Justice new power, and that Chief Justice Roberts, knowingly or unknowingly, used that new power to benefit his ideological allies. We also show that the Chief interrupted the female Justices disproportionately more than the male Justices and gave the male Justices more substantive opportunities to have their questions answered. This analysis transcends the significance of individual cases. The fact that the Court experimented with telephonic oral argument, the way it did so, and how the practice could be improved are all issues of profound national importance. The new format had the potential to influence the outcome of cases that have broad national significance, to shift norms of equality and transparency in the Court, and more generally to affect judicial legitimacy. If the Court favors certain parties or certain ideological camps by its choice of forum in a time of crisis, then that will undermine not only the Court’s legitimacy but also raise doubts as to whether any of our national institutions have the capacity to adapt to crises

Introduction (Watching Jim Crow: The Struggles Over Mississippi Television, 1955-1969.)

The broadcast complex that houses WLBT-TV remains today where it has always been, a few blocks outside the modest cluster of skyscrapers that defines downtown Jackson, Mississippi. Built in the 1950s a short distance from prominent businesses and seats of government, the center\u27s managers have long enjoyed proximity to political and economic power. But as the years have passed, station planners have faced the problem of updating the center\u27s aging physical plant and technologies. The architectural results are an eclectic mix- a layering of the new upon the old- as a consequence of repeated remodeling projects. While the station\u27s original brick facade remains at the public entrance, behind it the furnishings have been dramatically changed to reflect contemporary needs and concerns. Familiar spaces remain but have been transformed: the cramped dressing rooms and viewing areas built to keep Negro performers apart from white audiences have been radically redesigned for contemporary uses. Traces of a past station remain, reconfigured for the present

Introduction

International audienc

'Language has a heart': linguistic markers of evaluation in selected TRC testimonies

This paper explores how two testifiers at the Human Rights Violation hearings of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996 used selected markers of evaluation (shifts in tense, the inclusion of direct speech and code-switching) to express evaluative meanings and position themselves, the police and their audiences in relation to their narratives. Both testifiers are mothers of young activists who were pursued, detained and tortured by police in the 1980s. The paper argues that it is through the subtle though significant linguistic choices the women make that their perspective is construed and their 'narrative truth' realized

What’s Wrong With Victims’ Rights in Juvenile Court?: Retributive v. Rehabilitative Systems of Justice

While scholars have written extensively about the victims’ rights movement in capital and criminal cases, there has been very little discussion about the intersection of victims’ rights and the juvenile justice system. Statutes that allow victims to attend juvenile hearings and present oral and written impact statements have shifted the juvenile court’s priorities and altered the way judges think about young offenders. While judges were once primarily concerned with the best interests of the delinquent child, victims’ rights legislation now requires juvenile courts to balance the rehabilitative needs of the child with other competing interests such as accountability to the victim and restoration of communities impacted by crime. In this article, I contend that victim impact statements move the juvenile court too far away from its original mission and ignore the child’s often diminished culpability in delinquent behavior. I also argue that victim impact statements delivered in the highly charged environment of the courtroom are unlikely to achieve the satisfaction and catharsis victims seek after crime. To better serve the needs of the victim and the offender, I propose that victim impact statements be excluded from the juvenile disposition hearing and incorporated into the child’s long-term treatment plan. Interactive victim awareness programs, such as victim-offender mediation and victim impact panels that take place after disposition, allow victims to express pain and fear to the offender, foster greater empathy and remorse from the child, and encourage forgiveness and reconciliation by the victim. Delaying victim impact statements until after the child’s disposition also preserves the child’s due process rights at sentencing and allows the court to focus on the child’s need for rehabilitation