‘Transforming rehabilitation’ for women? A view from the courts

Coming into force next year, the Coalition government’s Transforming Rehabilitation agenda will (amongst other things) extend supervision to offenders released from short-term sentences and open up probation services to new private providers. As seventy per cent of women sentenced to custody receive sentences of less than twelve months (Seal and Phoenix 2013: 168; see also Cabinet Office 2009; Gelsthorpe and Sharpe 2009), four out of every five of short sentences for women are passed by magistrates (Hedderman 2012: 5). Why women offenders are more likely than men to receive immediate custody from magistrates stimulates widespread debate in both academia and practice (see for example Corston 2007; Hedderman 2012; Hunter and Radcliffe 2013; Howard League 2013a). There is also increasing concern that the introduction of a “criminal justice market” (Gelsthorpe and Hedderman 2012: 375) will bring more risks than benefits to existing provision (ibid; see also Prison Reform Trust 2013; Women in Prison 2013; Howard League 2013b). As part of this on-going conversation, it is important to seek the viewpoints of those who are best placed to answer. In this extremely timely and policy-relevant issue of the British Journal of Community Justice, it is crucial, therefore, to have a view from the courts

The development of responsibility in product designers

Investigations of ethics in product design have been limited. This paper offers an insight into designer's perceptions of responsibilities over three levels of expertise; first year design students, graduating design students, and design practitioners. The paper presents the use of some novel methods including triad and card sorting to uncover perceptions of designers responsibilities. The findings give rise to categories of development including knowledge development, ethical development, and role context development. The result is a descriptive model of the development of responsibility in product designers

Graduating product designers and their attitudes to design responsibility: A survey

The notion of responsibility in designing is one that is becoming increasingly important, underlying significant areas of design activity. The research reported in this paper presents the results of a questionnaire study of 50 graduating product designers from 11 UK Universities. We find that students are focussed on environmental issues, have a very clear idea about where their responsibilities end for the products they design, but who display significant differences between the ideas about responsibility they espouse and their practice

Numerical Schubert calculus

We develop numerical homotopy algorithms for solving systems of polynomial equations arising from the classical Schubert calculus. These homotopies are optimal in that generically no paths diverge. For problems defined by hypersurface Schubert conditions we give two algorithms based on extrinsic deformations of the Grassmannian: one is derived from a Gr\"obner basis for the Pl\"ucker ideal of the Grassmannian and the other from a SAGBI basis for its projective coordinate ring. The more general case of special Schubert conditions is solved by delicate intrinsic deformations, called Pieri homotopies, which first arose in the study of enumerative geometry over the real numbers. Computational results are presented and applications to control theory are discussed.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX 2e with 2 figures, used epsf.st

Pre-trial ‘Protective Measures for the Purpose of Forfeiture’ at the International Criminal Court: Safeguarding and balancing competing rights and interests

The International Criminal Court is empowered by its constituent instrument to request its states parties to identify, trace, freeze, and seize assets ‘after a warrant of arrest or a summons has been issued … having due regard to the strength of the evidence and the rights of the parties concerned’. This article critically examines the approach adopted by the Court to requesting such protective measures at the pre-trial phase, reflecting on how the rights and interests of the primary stakeholders implicated by this process: (i) accused persons, (ii) the Prosecutor, (iii) victims, and (iv) bona fide third parties, are safeguarded and balanced

Victims’ Justice? Reparations and Asset Forfeiture at the Extraordinary African Chambers

This article critically analyses the reparations and asset forfeiture framework at the Extraordinary African Chambers and its application in the case against Hissène Habré. It identifies obstacles to implementing the reparations awarded and calls for states and international organizations to support their realization for the sake of Habré’s victims, without whose efforts the tribunal might not exist. It argues that international(ized) criminal tribunals should more readily utilize fines and forfeiture as penalties to alleviate the pressure on trust funds to implement reparations awards, particularly in cases where convicted persons possess substantial assets. Lastly, in light of the requirement that assets susceptible to forfeiture orders be derived directly or indirectly from the crime(s) of which a person is found guilty, the article questions the failure of the prosecutor to charge Habré with the war crime of pillage, despite its availability in the tribunal's statute and the finding that the suffering of many of Habré’s victims entitled to individual compensation resulted from pillage

Twenty Years of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Appraising the State of National Implementing Legislation in Asia

The International Criminal Court relies on its State Parties to incorporate, or implement, its constituent instrument, the Rome Statute, into their domestic legal systems to enable its effective functioning. First, State Parties are obliged to give effect to their explicit obligation to cooperate with the Court under the Rome Statute. Second, although not required to do so, to avoid their national legal systems being found by the Court to be unable to investigate and/or prosecute the crimes under its jurisdiction in accordance with the principle of complementarity, they should also implement the definition and prohibition of these offences in their national legal frameworks. This article appraises the status of the domestic implementation of the Rome Statute, both crimes and cooperation, in Asia. The article concludes that few Asian State Parties to the Rome Statute have incorporated the treaty’s provisions into their domestic laws in a holistic manner, with the absence of cooperation legislation, enabling State Parties to assist the Court, particularly striking

Tom Birkett: Person to Person interview

UCC lecturer Tom Birkett will spend the summer sailing on a reconstructed Viking ship, here he explains why

'Runes' in The Encyclopedia of British Medieval Literature

Runes, in The Encyclopedia of British Medieval Literature (1000 word entry