INPROL facilitates the sharing of information and knowledge among the rule of law community. This page provides members with news on latest developments in the rule of law field, innovative projects and new publications.
Penal Reform International's Chief Executive, Alison Hannah, reports from a meeting in Thailand on the implementation of the Bangkok Rules in East Asia and the Pacific, where participants heard about a range of promising rehabilitative initiatives, as well as exchanging information and views on the many similar challenges women in conflict with the law face across the region. Read more:
The Intercross IHL Challenges Series is an ongoing blog discussion. Based on International Law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts, a report presented by the ICRC at the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Intercross aims to generate a discussion on four key areas of international humanitarian law: typology of conflicts, IHL and terrorism, new technologies of warfare and multinational operations. Discussion of the first two areas is already under way, with the third and fourth topics forthcoming. Each topic begins by introducing the theme with an excerpt from the report and an interview with an ICRC legal expert. ICRC then posts contributions by non-ICRC experts from the US and abroad who will either critique the ICRC position, build on it or take the discussion in new directions. Each debate is summarized in a post by a member of the ICRC Washington legal team.
Group identity in the form of family, ethnicity, or gender is a powerful predictor of social preferences, as shown by theory and empirical work. In particular, people generally favor in-group over out-group members. Such favoritism can have positive or negative repercussions. On the one hand, it can lead to inefficient transactions and lost opportunities. On the other hand, group identity may also entail trust, reciprocity, and efficiency due to shared norms and understandings. In recent research with Patrick Behr and Andreas Madestam, we gauge these opposing hypotheses, examining one important form of group identity, gender, and the consequences of own-gender preferences for outcomes in the credit market. We use microcredit transactions as they are an ideal ground to test these different hypotheses, relying heavily on transaction between loan officers and borrowers. Thorsten Beck writes on the World Bank Blog Sex and Credit: Is There a Gender Bias in Lending?. Read more:
Earlier this month Rodrigo Uprimny wrote on the Open Society Foundations blog, Voices, about how the penalties for drug offenses are more severe than for murder and rape. A new study of criminal legislation explores this phenomenon in seven Latin American countries (Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, and Argentina). The report reveals that the average maximum sentence for a drug offense rose from 34 years in prison in 1950 to 141 years today and in three of the seven countries surveyed, drug trafficking was subject to longer maximum and minimum penalties than murder. Read more:
Penal Reform Internaitonal (PRI) recently published a new briefing paper, "The unintended negative consequences of the 'war on drugs': mass criminalisation and punitive sentencing policies." The paper explains how the criminalisation of drug users, excessive levels of imprisonment, and punitive sentencing practices, including mandatory sentencing, the death penaltyand enforced ‘drug detention centres’, are some of the unintended negative consequences of the 50 year ‘war on drugs’, a policy with direct impact on the vulnerable, poor and socially excluded groups, including ethnic minorities and women. It discusses these consequences in detail and sets out what parliamentarians can do about it. A copy of the publication may be found in the INPROL E-Library.
The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) is currently promoting the anti-corruption seminar "The Best of: Robert Klitgaard," which will take place from 10 to 11 July at IACA's facility in Laxenburg, Austria. This seminar, which features one of the world's leading experts on corruption, is designed for anti-corruption experts, business and government executives, leaders of civil society organizations, journalists and academics who are interested in design, management, and sustainability of anti-corruption efforts.Registration is open. For more detailed information, please visit www.iaca.int<../../../>.
From 16- 18 March 2013 PRI, in partnership with HAQ Centre for Child Rights, the National Law University-Delhi, UNICEF India, Save the Children-India, Cordaid, UK Department for Development and Child Fund- India, hosted an International Colloquium on Juvenile Justice in Delhi. The purpose of the colloquium was to reflect upon the variety of problems different countries face in implementing international standards relating to juvenile justice and how they can best respond to them within their national context. The conference provided a forum to compare legislation, policies and best practice. Participants shared innovative ideas of successful and promising projects in building systems of juvenile justice based on international standards and a common understanding of children’s rights and needs. The conference was designed to bring greater visibility to the important issue of juvenile justice among policymakers and professionals in India, in the region and beyond.
IBJ promotes bridges to justice. But who is justice for? And what does justice mean? Is it for the victim, to see a guilty person punished? Is justice for the accused, to ensure his legal rights are respected? Is justice for society, to prevent the impacts of a crime, or the allegation of one, from destroying people’s lives? Ask ten people the meaning of “justice” and you’ll likely get ten different responses. Ask a defense lawyer in China, and the response will really make you think.
In Mexico since 2006, tens of thousands have been killed, and many more disappeared, as a war between narcotics gangs and government security forces has engulfed civilians, though few perpetrators have been brought to justice. In Equatorial Guinea, a country with per capita GDP greater than Italy or South Korea, 60 percent of the population survives on less than $1 a day, as oil revenues are siphoned off by widespread corruption. Throughout Central and Eastern Europe, in defiance of repeated court judgments, Roma children are condemned to second-class education because of the color of their skin. A common problem underlies each of these tragedies: the failure of the rule of law. Read James Goldston’s Voices post, “Why Development Needs the Rule of Law.”