Gravity of the crime and early release: A comparative study of early release practices in international tribunals

The gravity of the crime committed has been considered ‘a factor of fundamental importance’ when deciding the early release of a person convicted by the ad hoc tribunals. Hence, most of the decisions rendered by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, for Rwanda and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals include this factor and determine whether it weighs in favour of or against early release. Conversely, when deciding the reduction of the sentence in the case of Thomas Lubanga, the International Criminal Court Panel stated in 2015 that ‘unlike at other international criminal tribunals, the gravity of the crime committed is not a factor that in itself weighs for or against reduction of sentence’. In fact, none of the decisions delivered by the International Criminal Court to date mention gravity. This drastic change reflects the differences in the corresponding statutes and rules of procedure and evidence and ultimately seeks to avoid a double count since the gravity of the crime committed is arguably the most important factor in the determination of the sentence. This divergence is examined in greater detail in this article, drawing on comparative, empirical research to establish the role played by gravity in early release decisions. Ultimately, it is argued that although the explanatory power generally attributed to gravity is often overrated, it is essential to a thorough early release assessment, whether included as a prerequisite per se or indirectly integrated into a wider prognosis of the risk of recidivism.This research was conducted as part of a research project on ‘Gravity and aggravating circumstances in the penal system’, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Union (PID2022-136847NB-I00)

Pardon and judicial individualization. Judicial pardon request as an escape mechanism in cases of conflict between law and equity

El artículo 4.3 del Código Penal habilita a los jueces para solicitar el indulto “cuando la pena sea notablemente excesiva, atendidos el mal causado por la infracción y las circunstancias personales del reo”. Es decir, el ordenamiento da a los jueces una válvula de escape en aquellos casos donde perciben un conflicto entre legalidad y equidad. En este trabajo se examinan 305 sentencias en las que el órgano sentenciador propone el indulto por entender que concurren este tipo de razones. El análisis de aspectos como los delitos y las penas sobre los que recae la propuesta y los motivos esgrimidos para fundamentarla permite concluir que estas peticiones no sólo ponen de manifiesto la desproporción de la pena en sentido estricto, sino también otras razones que, en última instancia, apuntan a la heterogeneidad de funciones que se atribuyen al indulto a instancia judicial.Article 4.3 of the Criminal Code enables judges to request a pardon “when the penalty is remarkably exceeding, given the harm caused by the crime and the criminal’s personal circumstances”. This means that the laws grant the judges an escape mechanism to resort to in the cases where they perceive a conflict between legality and fairness. In this paper, 305 judgements where a pardon is requested by the tribunal are examined, in the understanding that such reasons apply. The analysis of matters such as the crimes and penalties for which the pardon is requested or the motives put forward to substantiate it shows that pardon requests are not only based on the disproportion of the penalty stricto sensu, but also other reasons that ultimately point at the heterogeneous functions attributed to the pardon

Obstáculos a los intentos de paliar la impunidad de los delitos cometidos durante la guerra civil y el franquismo en España

In recent years some measures have been adopted in order to try to alleviate the impunity of crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War and Francoism (in particular, the so-called "Historical Memory Act" of 2007). Nonetheless, in the field of criminal law, the only existing resolution was the amnesty law of 1977, which left, among others, more than 100,000 cases of forced disappearances without punishment. In recent years, there have been various attempts to initiate criminal proceedings in relation to some of them. This work exposes the numerous obstacles that these attempts have faced, addressing issues such as the controversial recourse to the category of crimes against humanity in the legal qualification of the facts, the issue of statute of limitation or the extension of the amnesty, as much in the cases of enforced disappearances as in those of the so-called "stolen babies".Sebbene negli ultimi anni siano state adottate alcune misure per cercare di alleviare l'impunità dei crimini commessi durante la Guerra Civile Spagnola e il Franchismo (in particolare, la cosiddetta "Legge di Memoria Storica" del 2007), resta il fatto che, in ambito penalistico, l’unico provvedimento esistente è l'amnistia del 1977, che ha lasciato impuniti, tra gli altri, più di 100.000 casi di sparizioni forzate. Negli ultimi anni ci sono stati diversi tentativi di avviare procedimenti penali in relazione ad esse. In questo lavoro si espongono i numerosi ostacoli che questi tentativi hanno affrontato, mettendo alla luce questioni come il ricorso controverso ai crimini contro l'umanità in sede di qualificazione dei fatti, la prescrizione dei crimini o l'estensione della clemenza, sia nei casi di sparizioni forzate sia in quelli dei cosiddetti "bambini rubati".Aunque en los últimos años se han adoptado algunas medidas para tratar de paliar la impunidad de los delitos cometidos durante la guerra civil y el franquismo en España (en particular, la conocida como "Ley de Memoria Histórica” de 2007), lo cierto es que, en el ámbito penal, la única resolución existente fue la Amnistía de 1977 que dejó, entre otros, más de 100.000 casos de desapariciones forzadas impunes. Con todo, en los últimos años, se han sucedido diferentes intentos de iniciar procedimientos penales contra algunos de los delitos cometidos. En este trabajo se exponen los numerosos obstáculos a los que estos intentos se han enfrentado, abordando cuestiones como el controvertido recurso a los crímenes de lesa humanidad como contexto de la calificación de los hechos, la prescripción de los delitos o la extensión del indulto, tanto en los casos de desapariciones forzadas como en los de los denominados “bebés robados”

El principio ne bis in idem como límite al Derecho administrativo sancionador: análisis comparado de las Sentencias constitucionales 177/1999 y 2/2003

En un panorama legal en el que es frecuente la regulación de conductas muy similares como infracción administrativa e ilícito penal, resulta especialmente importante la correcta configuración de aquellos mecanismos que permitan hacer efectivo el derecho de todo ciudadano a no ser sancionado dos veces por los mismos hechos (el llamado principio ne bis in idem, sin dejar de lado el necesario respeto de la primacia de la jurisdicción penal sobre la administrativa. En este contexto, las Sentencias 177/1999 y 2/2003 del Tribunal Constitucional ofrecen dos alternativas de actuación ante situaciones de hecho análogas. El análisis de estas sentencias, así como de la reacción doctrinal que han suscitado, equivale, por tanto, a plantear cómo debe resolverse el conflicto suscitado entre la regla de prevalencia y el principio ne bis in idem, en casos donde media sanción administrativa pero existen indicios de delito o, incluso, se ha dado trámite al procedimiento ante las autoridades penales. En el fondo, esta problemática viene a evidenciar toda una serie de deficiencias en la coordinación de la esferas administrativa y penal del ordenamiento especialmente frecuente en materia medioambiental o de seguridad del tráfico

Delincuencia juvenil, moralidad y exclusión social: resultados preliminares del ISRD-3 en Oporto

En las últimas décadas el fenómeno de la delincuencia juvenil ha sido un tema de gran interés en la literatura criminológica. En este sentido se han desarrollado instrumentos propios para medir las “cifras negras” de delincuencia juvenil, además del comportamiento antisocial. El proyecto colaborativo International Self- Reported Delinquency surgió en la década de los 90 con el propósito de dar respuesta a esta necesidad, a través de un instrumento de auto-relato implementando en contexto escolar, además de posibilitar el estudio de diferentes teorías criminológicas explicativas, permitiendo comparaciones trasnacionales. Uno de las teorías introducidas en ésta última versión es la teoría de la acción situacional (Winström, 2006), según la cual todas las acciones son el resultado de una persona en contacto con el medio ambiente específico y los actos de violencia son comportamientos guiados por valores morales. Tomando en consideración esta teoría, es esperable que las reglas morales interfieran más sobre la delincuencia y comportamiento violento en jóvenes provenientes de ambientes marginales. Partiendo de esta hipótesis de estudio, serán presentados, los resultados preliminares del estudio ISRD-3 llevado a cabo en la ciudad de Oporto entre los meses de Octubre de 2015 y Mayo de 2016. A través de un análisis estadístico de los datos, se mostrará la influencia de la transmisión de valores morales y el autocontrol, en dos contextos diferentes; comparando los datos de jóvenes provenientes de centros educativos TEIP, o centros considerados de “intervención especial”, con el resto de jóvenes encuestados. Las conclusiones de estudio pueden servir para gestionar los riesgos de forma correcta y mejorar el impacto de las políticas de prevención en el campo de la educación.CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho (FCT R&D unit 317), PortugalNational Funds through the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) and co-financed by European Regional Development Funds (FEDER) through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI) with the reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007562info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

After-school time use of urban adolescents: Effects on achievement, problem behaviors, and happiness

Published online: 20 Jul 2020Leisure is a context for both risk and protection of adolescent wellbeing. Using a person-centered analysis, the present study examined the links between after-school time use and the adjustment of an urban sample of 7th–12th graders (n¼3,808), who self-reported on their leisure activities, school achievement, problem behaviors, and happiness. Results indicated that time use patterns were distributed in five clusters: Creative/Social, Productive/Home, High-Social/Sports, Uninvolved/Sports, and Uninvolved/Home. These patterns of time use varied by age, gender and SES, and were linked with adolescent outcomes in a way that adolescents involved with multiple constructive activities presented better adjustment compared with their either uninvolved or socially oriented counterparts. Specific groups of adolescents were at higher risk for problem behaviors linked to after-school time use. These findings have relevant implications for evidence-based interventions and policies aiming at promoting adolescent well-being and targeting at-risk populations of youth.This work was supported by the Research Center in Political Science [UID/CPO/00758/2013], University of Minho, supported by the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds, and by the Research Center on Child Studies [UIDB/00317/2020], University of Minho, through national funds through the FCT, and co-financed by the European Regional Development Funds (FEDER) and the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI), reference [POCI-01- 0145-FEDER-007562]

Visible Light Communication System Using an Organic Bulk Heterojunction Photodetector

A visible light communication (VLC) system using an organic bulk heterojunction photodetector (OPD) is presented. The system has been successfully proven indoors with an audio signal. The emitter consists of three commercial high-power white LEDs connected in parallel. The receiver is based on an organic photodetector having as active layer a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). The OPD is opto-electrically characterized, showing a responsivity of 0.18 A/W and a modulation response of 790 kHz at -6 V.This work has been supported by Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid under project S2009/ESP-1781.Publicad

Digoxin is a potent inhibitor of Bunyamwera virus infection in cell culture

Drug repurposing is a valuable source of new antivirals because many compounds used to treat a variety of pathologies can also inhibit viral infections. In this work, we have tested the antiviral capacity of four repurposed drugs to treat Bunyamwera virus (BUNV) infection in cell cultures. BUNV is the prototype of the Bunyavirales order, a large group of RNA viruses that includes important pathogens for humans, animals and plants. Mock- and BUNV-infected Vero and HEK293T cells were treated with non-toxic concentrations of digoxin, cyclosporin A, sunitinib and chloroquine. The four drugs inhibited BUNV infection with varying potency in Vero cells, and all except sunitinib also in HEK293T cells, with digoxin rendering the lowest half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50). Since digoxin rendered the best results, we selected this drug for a more detailed study. Digoxin is an inhibitor of the Na+/K+ ATPase, a plasma membrane enzyme responsible for the energy-dependent exchange of cytoplasmic Na+ for extracellular K+ in mammalian cells and involved in many signaling pathways. Digoxin was shown to act at an early time point after viral entry reducing the expression of the viral proteins Gc and N. Effects on the cell cycle caused by BUNV and digoxin were also analyzed. In Vero cells, digoxin favored the transition from G1 phase of the cell cycle to S phase, an effect that might contribute to the anti-BUNV effect of digoxin in this cell type. Transmission electron microscopy showed that digoxin impedes the assembly of the characteristic spherules that harbor the BUNV replication complexes and the morphogenesis of new viral particles. Both BUNV and digoxin induce similar changes in the morphology of mitochondria that become more electron-dense and have swollen cristae. The alterations of this essential organelle might be one of the factors responsible for digoxin-induced inhibition of viral infection. Digoxin did not inhibit BUNV infection in BHK-21 cells that have a digoxin-resistant Na+/K+ ATPase which suggests that the effects of the blockade of this enzyme is a key factor of the antiviral activity of digoxin in BUNV-infected Vero cells