The evidence in support of the deterrent effect of the certainty of punishment is far more consistent than that for the severity of punishment. However, the evidence in support of certainty’s effect pertains almost exclusively to apprehension probability. Consequently, the more precise statement is that certainty of apprehension, not the severity of the ensuing legal consequence, is the more ef...

I’ll raise a problem for Retributivism, the view that legal punishment is justified on the basis of desert. I’ll focus primarily on Mitchell Berman’s recent defense of the view. He gives one of the most sophisticated and careful statements of it. And his argument is representative, so the problem I’ll raise for it will apply to other versions of Retributivism. His insights about justification a...

In explaining altruistic cooperation and punishment, the challenging riddle is how transcendental rules can emerge within the empirical world. Recent game-theoretical studies show that pool punishment, in particular second-order punishment, plays a key role in understanding the evolution of cooperation. Second-order pool punishment, however, is tautological in nature: the punishment system itse...

Defendants with impairment in psychological functioning are the locus of considerable discussion, research, and practice debates in forensic mental health (see, e.g., Melton, Petrila, Poythress, & Slobogin, 1997). If the depth of psychological-legal impairment is not substantial, people with mental retardation may be deemed competent to participate in the legal process. However, in June 2002, t...

BACKGROUND Current clinical wisdom is that the vast majority of those who complete suicide suffer from a mental disorder. Uncritical adherence to this belief may limit our understanding and restrict the full range of prevention activities. We aimed to examine the public record for accounts of suicide by men who had been, or were about to be, investigated or apprehended for "sex only" child sex ...

This article addresses child maltreatment law's use of cultural evidence. Such evidence, offered by immigrant and nonmainstream parents accused of child maltreatment, serves to mitigate intervention in families or to minimize punishment for the offense. The article explores how the two areas of law that currently regulate child maltreatment--criminal and child welfare law--approach the use of s...

Like Hollywood cinema, gong’an drama seizes upon the dramatic and narrative potential of legal trials. Yet, while Hollywood trial films turn viewers into jurors, pushing them back and forth between the competing stories that emerge from the adversarial process, gong’an drama eschews any recognition of opposing narratives, instead centering on the punishment of decidedly guilty criminals. The mo...

This article describes (1) the relationship between the demands made by feminist movements of the 1970s in cases of sexual violence and criticism of the criminal justice system by these movements and other groups, including the prisoners’ movement; and (2) the relationship between this debate and the legal process of reforming the definition and punishment of rape. Two periods are analyzed. In ...

financial and economic relationships are undeniable realities and impressive factors in familial relations, and there are reciprocal interactions between these two. the existence of this relationship has caused the familial relations to be realized as effective in the penal destiny of aggressions against properties in the penal jurisprudence and statutes. in islamic jurisprudence, familial immu...