The Death Row Phenomenon: A Prohibition Against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Several debates on the legitimacy, constitutionality, and acceptability of the death penalty have arisen throughout the years. The death row phenomenon refers to the psychological effects on prisoners of being on death row for a prolonged period while awaiting an imminent execution under harsh conditions of confinement. Having been declared a violation of a customary norm of international law by several international tribunals and national courts, this Article explores the possibility of the death row phenomenon, as a legal concept, becoming widely accepted and ultimately preventing the execution of another category of offenders. The existence of a lack of judicial consensus arising from different standards set by these courts in the determination of what constitutes delay could be an obstacle to this development. This Article suggests that if pursued diligently, the death row phenomenon could become universally accepted as an unacceptable practice and a standard could be set under international law which would become binding upon national courts

California’s Civil Grand Juries and Prison Conditions 2007-17

In this paper we evaluate the potential for California’s so-called civil grand juries to detect substandard prison conditions and maltreatment of inmates and make recommendations for improvement. We describe relevant reports by grand juries between 2007-17 and evaluate the effectiveness of these in improving conditions in a representative sample of counties. We conclude that the civil grand jury is a potentially effective tool for oversight but its effectiveness is hampered by competing duties, variable investigative methodologies, and lack of clear objectives for performance of their statutory duties

Combating Modern Slavery: An Examination of Legal Frameworks and Enforcement Mechanisms on Non-State Actors.

It is of particular concern that despite slavery being abolished in international law with a clear international legal framework existing (ILO Conventions, Slavery Convention, Supplementary Convention and Palermo Protocols) which criminalises slave labour and human trafficking and imposes duties on state actors, these practices are condoned by both state and non-state actors. The world of sports for instance, is a lucrative industry generating a significant level of income, which sometimes exceeds states’ GDP. The FIFA world cup is the biggest sporting event that oversees countries bidding to host. The benefits to a host country include tourism, creation of jobs, accommodation and transport infrastructure. Qatar will be hosting the next world cup in 2022 and have come under intense scrutiny and criticism for abusive labour practices. Recording 185 Nepalese deaths in Qatar in 2013 while building world cup infrastructure, an estimation of the death of 4000 migrant workers before the launch of the word cup. FIFA’s mission to build a better future for all through football has been questioned while Qatar officials echoed the outrage stirred by media reports expressing shock at the deplorable conditions migrant workers have been subjected to. In collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Qatar has agreed to oversee reform with enforcement mechanisms in place to ensure maximum protection for over 2 million migrant workers, with the ultimate aim of scrapping this exploitative system of sponsored labour. Although Qatar has duties under international law and has to report to the United Nations and the ILO, the question is whether oversight can be exercised over international sports organisations where main actors/stakeholders such as FIFA are captured under this framework. FIFA was prompted to take action on particular issues and to take an active stance against certain abusive labour practices, which prevail in Qatar. This paper is contributing to the ever-increasing debate that in a globalised society, we need to move away from the state-centred focus of international law and move towards creating legal frameworks that capture non-state actors, creating binding obligations on them. This paper provides an insight into practices condoned by states, which create avenues for the perpetration of this transnational crime. With a growing discourse on the emergence of modern slavery and human trafficking on the political and legislative agenda, and with human trafficking estimated to generate billions in illicit proceeds, this discussion re-ignites the debate that activities of state and non-state actors need to fall within the sphere of international law in combatting modern slavery and human trafficking

Psychological Injury, Cyber Crime and Data Breach Damages

Data breaches concerning individuals and organisations are increasingly common despite the growing emphasis on GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and organisational security measures. Despite best intentions and quality control of data, sensitive data can have a variety of negative consequences. When a data breach occurs in an organisation, whether public or private, one compromising episode can adversely affect the best of reputations. Such damage to reputation and brand value as a result of a cyber security breach is an increasingly common occurrence. The digital world of immediate accessibility can result in a company’s identity being adversely affected throughout its customer base, and result in a significant loss of customer trust, whether the ‘customer’ be an individual or another corporate entity. The resulting shut down in operations in order to rectify the data breach very easily results in significant loss of revenue. In the UK, between 40-45% of all businesses identified at least one cyber breach in the past 12 months – it is clearly a priority for companies to learn how to keep data secure or face the consequences, one of which could be litigation

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder - Contemporary Analysis of Medico Legal Evidential Issues

In DSM-5, one of the two main classification schemes of mental disorders (APA, 2013), the diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has undergone multiple, albeit minor, changes. It now comprises four, not three, symptom clusters with the addition of persistent negative beliefs and distorted negative beliefs about oneself, plus a dissociative specifier (de-personalisation and derealization). Overall prevalence of this diagnosis is unlikely to change, but the greater heterogeneity of individuals being diagnosed with PTSD is probable (Zoellner et al, 2013). This paper summarises and discusses the many important medico-legal issues surrounding the PTSD disorder and its diagnosis and implications for both experts and lawyers. Experts, psychological and psychiatric, working in civil forensic context provide opinion on the presence or absence of psychological injury on the basis of diagnosis, causation and prognosis. The DSM diagnostic criteria for PTSD have been revised repeatedly since the mid-nineteenth century (Thomas, 2013) with PTSD being referred to as “Psychiatry’s problem child” (Gaughwin, 2008). Difficulties have included: ambiguity about traumatic nature of the event; absence of symptom development after traumatic nature of event; confounding prior history of traumatic events, and the coherence of traumatic experiences and their disruptive nature. The application of the concept PTSD has been further complicated by apparent overlap with other conditions in which a wide array of cognitive, behavioural and emotional symptoms are also present; such as Borderline Personality Disorder. The concept of Complex-PTSD appeared in the clinical literature in the early 1990’s (Herman, 1992) and it helpfully made the link between multiple traumatic experiences in childhood and subsequent clinical presenta-tions in adulthood. Importantly, the array of cognitive, behavioural and emotional symptoms often associated with Borderline Personality Disorder and Psychosis, can then, in some cases, be seen as a way of coping with, and as a reaction to, repeated and cumulative traumatic experiences in childhood. Medico-legal implications of these changes and the overall diagnosis itself include the following key areas: Traumatic Stressor definition, differential diagnosis and comorbidity, causation, reliability and validity concerns, the use of legal tests and overall evidential robustness. As with previous versions of DSM, the new DSM-5 has been criticized for both reliability and validity problems, and PTSD is no exception. For trauma survivors, clinical diagnosticians need to carefully assess pre-trauma functioning and consider that another diagnosis besides PTSD may be equally or even better warranted and have more accurate prognostic opinions