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In the article, on the basis of the analysis of theoretical approaches concerning the content of the concept "person of the offender", the author's variant is formulated and the criminological characteristic of the system-forming features that make up his content is made, and his theoretical and practical significance is proved.
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MAIN CONCLUSIONS: ››› Of all the EU member states, Bulgaria is the country whose citizens are the least satisfied with the performance of the main government institutions. ››› Trust in the main institutions concerned with criminal justice in Bulgaria – the police and courts, is low and has remained practically unchanged over the last decade. At the end of 2010, a positive evaluation of police performance was given by less than half of the country’s adult population and barely one in five gave a favorable opinion of the courts. ››› The low public trust in the courts and police can also be accounted for by the high level of corruption in these institutions. ››› The low trust in the courts and police is conducive to public attitudes of insecurity. Society begins to perceive crime as an inherent part of reality rather than a problem that can actually be addressed. ››› A state’s penal policy can only produce results if sufficient attention is paid to trust, legitimacy, and security. It is therefore recommended to adopt a system of indicators for the assessment of public trust in criminal justice in Bulgaria. ››› These indicators are an instrument for improved formulation of the problems faced by criminal justice institutions and for more effective monitoring of changes in public attitudes. This would make it possible to focus the attention on strategic issues and long-term policies in the area of security and justice not only on the national, but also on the European level. In order to ensure comparability of the impact assessment of various implemented policies, it is recommended to adopt uniform indicators for measuring trust in criminal justice in the European Union and the member states, which should take place within the timeframe of the Stockholm Programme (2010-2014).
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KEY POINTS The Italian approach to countering organized crime encompasses a number of complementing measures, which are tailored to the specific threats posed by the mafia. ››› Specialised legislation for facilitating and accelerating of pre-trial and judicial proceedings against mafia leaders and members ››› Harsher penalties and special penitentiary regimes against high level members of organised crime groups, which pose a serious threat to society. ››› Preventive confiscation allowing for expropriating mafia assets in favour of the society and the state. ››› Holistic antimafia policies have been pursued in the infiltrated by the organised crime municipalities and provinces. These policies include dissolving of the mafia controlled local authorities and implementing programs for improving security and economic development in Southern Italy.
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KEY POINTS ››› In January 2012, a proposal to amend the Duty Free Trade Act was submitted to the Parliament by an independent MP (Emil Vasilev, formerly of the marginal opposition party Order, Law and Justice). The sole purpose of the proposed amendment is to allow for the reopening of the duty‐free trade outlets at Bulgaria’s land borders with non‐EU countries in the exact same format with the exact same operators as at the time of their closure three years ago; ››› The proposal is a major threat to border security, tax revenues and might undermine the stability of the state budget; ››› The reopening of the duty‐free shops would reverse the progress made in the fight against corruption, organized crime and excise goods smuggling and threatens to re‐kindle political corruption and clientelism.
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KEY POINTS ››› The management and disposal of confiscated assets are important aspects of the overall process of confiscation, but they still remain marginal to the public debate in Bulgaria. ››› The existing legal and procedural gaps impede the effective management of confiscated property, frequently causing its plundering or demolishing. ››› The sale of confiscated real estate is further complicated by problems with mortgages and executive charges, incomplete property documentation, reputation of the former owner, and unfavourable market conditions. ››› The Bulgarian legislation concerning the allocation of proceeds from the sale of confiscated property is not in compliance with the relevant ratified UN conventions, which recommend using these revenues for compensation of the victims of crime. ››› The legal possibilities provided by Bulgarian law for re‐use of confiscated property for socially beneficial purposes are seldom applied and are not sufficiently publicised among the potential beneficiaries. ››› Among the important legislative gaps is the lack of a specific procedure for the transfer of confiscated real estate. The introduction of such an instrument could facilitate the utilization of these assets for the public benefit.
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KEY POINTS ››› Crime rates increased in 2012 compared to 2011 - 15.4 per cent of the population compared to 10.3 per cent, respectively, were victims of crime. The number of victims and the overall number of crimes increased both. ››› Growth of unregistered crimes: for a third consecutive year the share of victims who do not report crimes to the police increased. ››› Growth in thefts: despite the continuing decline in serious crimes such as murder and vehicle theft, there is an increase in crimes against property of the citizens. ››› Victims of crime in South Central and South Eastern regions of the country are least likely to report crimes to the police. These areas are also characterized by high levels of crime victimisation.
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Penitentiary science as a study of prison sentence and its effectiveness is a relatively new science in the Czech conditions. Its beginning has been observed in the 20th century. It uses the findings in psychology, sociology, law, criminology and other sciences. It is a part of a broader science – penology, which is the study of imposing and serving all sentences, including prison sentence and alternative pun-ishment, as well as their effectiveness. Given these facts, the paper is the author’s effort to introduce penology and penitentiary science in the Czech Republic and the attempt to regain mutual contacts.
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The article examines the question of whether the development of probation measures is related to the decrease in the number of prisoners or, in other words, whether probation measures are used as an alternative to imprisonment. The probation measures in international and national policy documents, in the statements of politicians and in research publications are associated with a reduction in the number of prisoners. However, the analysis of the European countries punishment trends has raised doubts whether the goal of reducing the number of prisoners by applying probation measures is actually achievable. The article reveals the tendency that in European countries with widespread application of probation measures, there is also widespread use of imprisonment, and vice versa, in countries where the level of imprisonment is low, there are also few people under the probation supervision. The analysis showed that some similar trends in the application of probation measures are characteristic of states with common historical, geopolitical, social and cultural contexts. The article assumes that the main factor determining both the extent of imprisonment and the application of probation measures is the penological social culture and tradition or, in other words, the „punitive climate“ prevailing in the society.
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The question of the correlation between Islam, political Islam and liberal democracy has so far been the most exposed topic in exploring the democratic capacity of political Islam and Islamic societies in general. What is particularly intriguing about the relationship between political Islam and liberal democracy is the fact of its westernized triviality that has received a pejorative tone in Islamic political circles. Simplified, the triviality of liberal democracy for the Islamic political campus implies imposing a model of democracy that cannot be fully compatible with the original Muslim notion of society and government. Hence, the following paper analyzes exactly the relations of political Islam to specific inherent categories of liberal democracy such as the rule of law, representative government, the separation of powers and secularism as diferenta specifica of liberal western democratic discourse. Through the methods of induction and deduction, the author will illustrate how appropriate tangent or divergence is illustrated and how this is reflected in the general ideological positioning of political Islam towards liberal democracy in Muslim countries through an axiological and praxeological perspective.
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Trafficking in human beings is a serious crime and abuse of an individual’s fundamental rights and dignity. It involves the exploitation of vulnerable persons who are traded by criminals as commodities for the sole purpose of economic gain. Usually characterised as transnational, this crime affects victims regardless of their gender and age and, due to its nature, is often hard to discover and investigate. The crime of trafficking in human beings shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or removal of organs.Human trafficking always targets vulnerable individuals. Such vulnerability might be of any kind, whether physical, psychological, emotional, family-related, social or economic. In short, the exploitation can be any state of hardship in which a human being is impelled to accept being exploited.Exploitative situations are hard to discover due to their clandestine nature and because of the difficulty of recognising the abuse, although a victim of trafficking might be aware of being involved in an exploitative situation.In the article, the author presents the prevalence of modern trafficking in human beings, its forms and ways in Lithuania as well as in the world. In addition, the author evaluates the efforts of law enforcement authorities to combat this negative social phenomenon and protect victims of this criminal offense.The author gives more attention to analysis of Lithuanian case law related to trafficking in human beings. It should be noted that the Supreme Court of Lithuania has already formed the standards of Article 147 of Criminal Code dealing with trafficking in human beings and consolidates them in judicial precedents.
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While West Germany’s judicial dealings with Nazi crimes have been amply researched, their Eastern counterpart is less well known. Initially, the similarities are striking: both the Western zones and the Soviet zone had to reconstruct their legal system. Re-erection of bombed district courts as well as denazification of legal personnel dominated the first post-war years. Legal regulations were similar, too, to an extent: both West and East German jurists used the German penal code and - with the exception of the American zone - Control Council Law No. 10 (crimes against humanity). Furthermore, in East Germany Control Council Directive No. 38 (denazification) was employed as a penal law, too which meant that many defendants were sentenced for membership in Nazi organizations. However, although the Nazi crimes to be adjudicated were necessarily similar in both Germanies, the emphasis on certain crimes was very different: denunciations, crimes against political opponents and foreign workers and Nazi party membership were most prominent in numbers in East Germany. In the West, Nazi crimes against Jews played a bigger role in post-war justice.
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Digital currencies are a worldwide phenomenon gaining an increasing interest among investors, economists and legal scholars. They are used mainly as a new mean of exchange and as a new way of investing funds, since the rapid changes in their value allow to gain extraordinary profits. Up to this point the legal status of digital currencies has not been clearly established under neither Polish nor EU public law, although some of the existing regulations may be indirectly applied to them. Under current regulations digital currencies cannot be treated as a legal mean of payment, as an electronic money nor a financial instrument. Creation of a complex regulation regarding digital currencies and granting administrative authorities supervisory powers over their trade seems to be necessary. Because of the evolution of financial markets, classifying digital currencies as financial instruments is a possible way of regulating their trade.
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The article aims to answer the question whether there are preconditions to expand the scope of state social insurance regarding working prisoners. Currently working prison inmates can¬not enjoy full protection of state social insurance system. Prisoners are covered only partially because they are entitled just to social insurance against labour accidents and occupational diseases. In addition, they can self-insure themselves. Second part of the article deals with the concept of state social insurance, covers main features and types of social insurance as well as different approaches to this concept. Third part is devoted to the peculiarities of legal regulation of prisoner’s work. Key questions in this part are conceptual differences and similarities between prison work and “normal” work. Consequently, analysis of legal regulation of prison labour relations is provided. In the fourth part of the article legal framework of state social insurance related to working prison inmates is being analysed. Lithuanian legal regulation in this sphere is compared to the regulation of some foreign countries, mostly to Germany. Main conclusion of this part is that existing legal framework creates big obstacles to prisoners and former prisoners obtain the rights to different social guaranties. Although there is a legal opportunity to self-insure, it should be noted that this possibility is used by inmates very rarely if used at all. Fifth part deals with presupposed contradiction between existing legal regulation and basic human rights. It is concluded with a statement that it can be possibly discriminatory whereas lack of essential social guaranties in this case cannot be justified by the purpose of punishment and/or necessity. Moreover, it can be considered that such regulation is disproportional. Final part of the article analyses the question about the possibilities to increase the scope of social protection of prisoners by strengthening compulsory state insurance for inmates. Nevertheless, several different factors including financial potential of the state should be taken into account. Therefore, it is recommended to change existing social insurance system gradually at first targeting the most problematic types of social insurance, for example, insurance against unemployment.
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Review of: DIRK VAN ZYL SMIT · CATHERINE APPLETON, LIFE IMPRISONMENT A Global Human Rights Analysis Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts London England, 2019, 447 str.
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The content of the article is an attempt to determine the course and consequences of terrorist attacks that took place in 2010 in Sweden and 2011 in Norway. A Comparative Study includes responses of societies and political elites of both countries.
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This article analyzes the use of illegitimate tools to achieve legitimate goals in the international criminal law. It especially deals with the case of Eichmann, a former high official of the Third Reich who lived in disguise for 10 years in Argentina until he was captured and kidnapped by the Israeli secret service, and brought to trial in Jerusalem where he was punished by death penalty. The article argues that using an illegal tool such as kidnapping could contribute to achieving a legitimate and just goal such as putting to trial a war criminal, however, this kind of action should be avoided in order to give way to an efficient mutual cooperation between states in combating international crimes based on instruments of law.
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lectronic monitoring is primarily isolation, while the illusory nature of it should be treated only as an ineffective plea, because resulting from superficial assessments. However, the verification of this thesis must be preceded by the study of law, doctrinal guidelines for its application and the judiciary itself. The institution of electronically monitored house arrest, which is a kind of spontaneous sanction, as well as a form of control of the convict, was created as a sort of boon for certain categories of offenders for whom the term of imprisonment could be regarded as an overly severe. Electronic monitoring is undoubtedly a novelty and it is governed by a separate, limited-time law. It constitutes part of a broad perspective Polish political crime thought, which should be positively reviewed due to the presence of more and more important element of humanity.
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Publication looks over the situation of drug users in two European countries – Norway, known for its social and welfare-oriented state, and Bulgaria, which since the beginning of the transition from totalitarism to democracy lacks sustainable policies on prisons and drugs. The aim of this work is to comparatively present the penal policy towards drug users and the measures taken for convicted people addicted to narcotic substances, to identify those features which can be transferable and can assist Bulgarian authorities to improve the situation of drug users in and outside the prison. Finally, this research will try to propose concrete measures to be taken both within the penitentiary system and as crime prevention efforts among drug users.
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Small island state in the Mediterranean is an example of highly developed environment which has succeeded in maintaining a low crime rate -the lowest in the European Union. In this paper an effort is made to explain the state of crime in Malta, which is achieved with simultaneously mild penal policy of the courts and one of the lowest rate of sentenced persons in Europe. What is more interesting, it is a country with a very permissive attitude in approving the asylum to illegal immigrants. The most important reason of this condition is the solidarity of members in the community which acts as a strong preventive factor.
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After World War II the communists, who took power in Poland, did not abolish the old penal code from 1932. However, the new acts on penal law were passed and they were undermining the old system and in fact creating the new one. This situation was criticized by new authorities and in 1950 works on new penal code were inaugurated. It was expected that new code will be ready in one year. However, the reality was completely different and the penal code of so called People’s Poland came into force not earlier than in 1970. The works on new penal code have been going on for a very long time. The Ministry of Justice prepared first draft in 1956. It was published and consulted among specialists. The penal lawyers criticized the draft strongly and it was rejected. The rejection was connected with the new era in communist Poland after Stalin’s death.
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