Social Trust in Criminal Justice: A Metric

What is the metric by which to measure a well-functioning criminal justice system? If a modern state is going to measure performance by counting something—and a modern state will always count something—what, in the criminal justice context, should it count? Remarkably, there is at present no widely accepted metric of success or failure in criminal justice. Those there are—like arrest rates, conviction rates, and crime rates—are deeply flawed. And the search for a better metric is complicated by the cacophony of different goals that theorists, policymakers, and the public bring to the criminal justice system, including crime control, racial justice, retributive justice, and social solidarity. This Article proposes a metric based on the concept of social trust. The measure of a well- or poorly functioning criminal system is its marginal effects on (1) the level of trust a polity’s members have toward the institutions, officials, laws, and actions that comprise the criminal justice system; (2) the level of trust a polity’s members have, in virtue of the criminal system’s operations, toward government generally (beyond the criminal justice system); and (3) the level of trust a polity’s members have toward one another following incidents of crime and responses to crime. Social trust, we argue, both speaks to an issue at the philosophical core of crime and punishment and serves as a locus of agreement among the many goals people bring to the criminal justice system. The concept can thus be a site of overlapping consensus, performing the vital function of enabling liberal societies to make policy despite disagreement about first principles

Constructive Plea Bargaining: Towards Judicial Conflict Resolution

Published in cooperation with the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolutio

The Distant Ships of Liberty: Why Criminology Needs to Take Seriously International Human Rights Laws that Apply to Persons with Disabilities

Persons institutionalized in forensic psychiatric facilities have been hidden from the public view for decades – physically, socially, and legally. The forensic population also faces multiple forms of discrimination, both for their criminal history and mental illness. This reality must be radically reconsidered in light of the ratification of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the first legally binding instrument devoted to the comprehensive protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. There has been, however, virtually no attention paid by criminologists to the potential impact of this Convention on forensic populations. In this paper, we will highlight some of the key issues that must be examined in this context, and examine the issues in question through the lens of therapeutic jurisprudence. We will focus, in part, on the lack of attorneys and advocates who represent this population, the lack of attention paid to this issue by the “psychiatric survivor” movement, and the special problems faced by forensic patients who are intellectually disabled. Additionally, we will explore social attitudes towards forensic patients, the reasons why this population is often left behind as new paradigms in mental health and human rights continue to emerge, and why is it essential that criminologists begin to take this issue seriously

Pelindungan Hukum terhadap Korban Revenge Porn sebagai Bentuk Kekerasan Berbasis Gender Online Ditinjau dari Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2022 tentang Tindak Pidana Kekerasan Seksual

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an increase in cases of Online Gender-Based Violence (KBGO), especially cases of Revenge Porn. The passing of the Sexual Assault Act seems to be a breath of fresh air in the prevention, handling, and recovery of victims of sexual violence. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study to examine the potential effectiveness of the Sexual Assault Act in handling and preventing KBGO in Indonesia. This journal article uses a normative juridical approach with descriptive-analytical specifications. The results of the study indicate that the Sexual Assault Act provides a positive signal for the prevention and handling of cases of sexual violence in Indonesia. However, the government needs to form implementing regulations so that these regulations can be implemented properly by law enforcers.Selama masa pandemi Covid-19 terjadi peningkatan kasus Kekerasan Berbasis Gender Online (KBGO), khususnya Revenge Porn. Disahkannya UU TPKS seolah menjadi angin segar dalam pencegahan, penanganan, serta pemulihan korban kekerasan seksual. Sehingga perlu dilakukan penelitian terkait potensi efektivitas dari UU TPKS dalam penanganan dan pencegahan KBGO di Indonesia. Paper ini menggunakan pendekatan yuridis normatif dengan spesifikasi bersifat deskriptif-analitis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan UU TPKS memberikan sinyal positif bagi pencegahan dan penanganan kasus kekerasan seksual di Indonesia. Namun, pemerintah perlu membentuk peraturan pelaksana agar regulasi ini dapat diimplementasikan dengan baik oleh aparat penegak hukum

Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Foundations, Expansion, and Assessment

Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Foundations, Expansion, and Assessment Founded in 1987 by law professors David Wexler and the late Bruce Winick, therapeutic jurisprudence (“TJ”) is a multidisciplinary school of legal theory and practice that examines the therapeutic and anti-therapeutic properties of law, policy, and legal institutions. In legal events and transactions, TJ inherently favors outcomes that advance human dignity and psychological well-being. Starting with original groundings in mental health and mental disability law, criminal law, and problem-solving courts, and with a geographic focus on the United States, TJ now embraces many aspects of law and policy and presents a strong international orientation. This Article provides a meta-level examination of the field, including its origins, core doctrinal and theoretical foundations, critical reviews, expansion into many areas of law, procedure, and legal institutions, and connections with other modalities of legal theory and practice. Furthermore, it assesses TJ’s standing and considers opportunities and challenges for the field’s expansion and growth. The intended purpose of this Article is two-fold: first, to spur discussions within the TJ community about the past, present, and future of the field and, second, to provide a substantive, yet accessible introduction to TJ for those who wish to learn more about it

Bad Role Models? American Influence on Israeli Criminal Justice Policy

In this Article I rely on the public policy concept of policy transfer to examine the impact of U.S. legislation, litigation, and politics on the Israeli criminal justice landscape. The Article identifies four eras: 1. The Great Light from the West - the ascent of U.S. criminal justice as British influence fades; 2. The Decade of Rights - a misperception of America as a paragon of criminal justice rights and protections that results in influences on Israeli jurisprudence; 3. The Law-and-Order Enchantment Period - a time at which Israeli scholars and policymakers import punitive trends from the U.S., particularly in the area of innovation in policing and victims’ rights; and 4. The Era of Contention - a time at which Israeli scholars and policymakers bring with them critical perspectives on the U.S. and Israeli policy begins to question, and deviate from, its American counterpart. I conclude that changing patterns of elite networking can explain why Israel, initially in thrall to what it perceived as a paragon of civil rights, eventually parted ways with the U.S. as a source of influence: the emergence of a class of academics, public defenders, and policymakers educated in the U.S. and conversant in American criminological literature critical of the punitive turn and mass incarceration brought about informed critiques of the American model and led to a sobering up of the Israeli policymaking world. The Article proceeds to explain the relationship between the two countries through the framework of American Political Development. Following Malcolm Feeley\u27s analysis, the Article finds that both countries – self-defining as developed – actually exhibit features of developing countries in the context of criminal justice: high levels of interpersonal violence and intolerance, a constant problem of police overreach, a legacy of racism and exclusion, high availability of weapons, and political corruption. This might explain Israel\u27s fascination with American criminal justice not as an inspiration, but as cultural recognition of the similarities between the countries

Aristotle and Animal Law: The Case for Habeas Corpus for Animals

This article is divided into three substantive sections. Section I delineates Aristotle’s theory of the soul as laid out in De Anima. Section II defines habeas corpus as a legal concept and demonstrates under what circumstances it should be granted. Section III applies Aristotle’s theory of the soul as a structure whereby animals could be granted habeas corpus rights.<br/