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Laws, Volume 8, Issue 2 (June 2019) – 6 articles

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18 pages, 272 KiB  
Article
Cultural Expertise in Italian Criminal Justice: From Criminal Anthropology to Anthropological Expert Witnessing
by Anna Ziliotto
Laws 2019, 8(2), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws8020013 - 19 Jun 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4097
Abstract
This article traces the rise and fall of psychiatric evaluation in criminal trials from the School of Criminal Anthropology of the late nineteenth century to the current Italian justice system. Influenced by positivism and by specific theories on human evolution, Cesare Lombroso considered [...] Read more.
This article traces the rise and fall of psychiatric evaluation in criminal trials from the School of Criminal Anthropology of the late nineteenth century to the current Italian justice system. Influenced by positivism and by specific theories on human evolution, Cesare Lombroso considered criminal action as the result of organic causes excluding any kind of legal autonomy and responsibility of the accused. The Positive School of Penal Law he founded with Enrico Ferri and Raffaele Garofalo profoundly inspired the Rocco Code, on which the current Italian Penal Code is still based, albeit with revisions and repeals. Drafted in 1930 during the fascist government (1922–1943), the latter has also suffered from racial ideology. In order to assess potential mental illnesses that would exclude the responsibility of the accused, to determine their level of dangerousness and to establish the corresponding security measures introduced by the Rocco Code, Italian criminal justice consolidated the link between penal law and psychiatric instruments. Such faith in psychiatric evaluation, however, has been particularly questioned by the increasing frequency of judicial processes involving members of different cultural communities in Italy since the 1970s. Thus, the predominantly pathological aspects evaluated by forensic psychiatrists have often proved to be conceptually and methodologically inadequate to take fully into account the differences between cultures, as well as the different social and cultural conditions affecting the defendant’s behaviour. This paper argues that cultural anthropology is particularly suited as an instrument capable of disclosing the cultural implications of the legal process and encourages the use of cultural expertise as an important tool for the inclusiveness and understanding of diversity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Expertise: An Emergent Concept and Evolving Practices)
22 pages, 360 KiB  
Article
The Cactus and the Anthropologist: The Evolution of Cultural Expertise on the Entheogenic Use of Peyote in the United States
by Aurelien Bouayad
Laws 2019, 8(2), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws8020012 - 17 Jun 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 7587
Abstract
This paper explores the complex evolution of the role anthropologists have played as cultural experts in the regulation of the entheogenic use of the peyote cactus throughout the 20th century. As experts of the “peyote cult”, anthropologists provided testimonies and cultural expertise in [...] Read more.
This paper explores the complex evolution of the role anthropologists have played as cultural experts in the regulation of the entheogenic use of the peyote cactus throughout the 20th century. As experts of the “peyote cult”, anthropologists provided testimonies and cultural expertise in the regulatory debates in American legislative and judiciary arenas in order to counterbalance the demonization and prohibition of the medicinal and sacramental use of peyote by Native Americans through state and federal legislations. In the meantime, anthropologists have encouraged Peyotists to form a pan-tribal religious institution as a way to secure legal protection of their practice; in 1918, the Native American Church (NAC) was incorporated in Oklahoma, with its articles explicitly referring to the sacramental use of peyote. Operating as cultural experts, anthropologists have therefore assisted jurists in their understanding of the cultural and religious significance of peyote, and have at the same time counseled Native Americans in their interaction with the legal system and in the formatting of their claims in appropriate legal terms. This complex legal controversy therefore provides ample material for a general exploration of the use, evolution, and impact of cultural expertise in the American legal system, and of the various forms this expertise can take, thereby contributing to the contemporary efforts at surveying and theorizing cultural expertise. Through an historical and descriptive approach, the analysis notably demonstrates that the role of anthropologists as cultural experts has been marked by a practical and substantive evolution throughout the 20th century, and should therefore not be restrictively understood in relation to expert witnessing before courts. Rather, this paper underlines the transformative and multifaceted nature of cultural expertise, and highlights the problematic duality of the position that the two “generations” of anthropologists involved in this controversy have experienced, navigating between a supposedly impartial position as experts, and an arguably biased engagement as advocates for Native American religious rights. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Expertise: An Emergent Concept and Evolving Practices)
15 pages, 274 KiB  
Article
Shifting the Balance of Power: The Strategic Use of the CRPD by Disabled People’s Organizations in Securing ‘a Seat at the Table’
by Laufey Löve, Rannveig Traustadóttir and James Rice
Laws 2019, 8(2), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws8020011 - 14 May 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5153
Abstract
The article highlights how the strategic use of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) in Iceland has produced a shift in the balance of power with regard to how, and by whom, disability legislation [...] Read more.
The article highlights how the strategic use of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) in Iceland has produced a shift in the balance of power with regard to how, and by whom, disability legislation and policy in Iceland is developed. The article draws on a study examining the last stages of a consultative process between representatives of DPOs and policymakers in Iceland leading up to the adoption, in May of 2018, of core disability legislation, Laws pertaining to services for disabled people with long-term support needs (No. 38/2018). It examines the process from the perspective of representatives of DPOs through in-depth interviews and document analysis. This article draws on critical theory and the human rights approach in its analysis, with a particular emphasis on the roadmap to the coproduction of policy provided by the CRPD and the UN CRPD Committee through the issuance of guidance to States Parties to the Convention. It draws attention to the DPOs’ ongoing refocusing of their strategies, and their emphasis on harnessing the rights contained in the CRPD to gain recognition of their right to participation in the coproduction of policy and in changing process norms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Collection Disability Human Rights Law)
22 pages, 291 KiB  
Article
State-Owned Entities as Key Actors in the Promotion and Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Examples of Good Practices
by Mihaela-Maria Barnes
Laws 2019, 8(2), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws8020010 - 09 Apr 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5352
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that a wide range of entities associated with the State and which engage in business or investment activities on behalf of the State have an important role to play in the promotion and implementation of [...] Read more.
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that a wide range of entities associated with the State and which engage in business or investment activities on behalf of the State have an important role to play in the promotion and implementation of the sustainable development goals found in the 2030 Agenda. The contribution starts with a background to the 2030 Agenda, followed by an introduction to the features of State-owned entities. Since the 2030 Agenda requires the ‘mobilization of all available resources’ to achieve its implementation, it is argued that entities that are owned by States could have a significant role to play in this context. Examples of good practices from a number of jurisdictions show how the development and implementation of domestic measures that cover State-owned entities have the potential to contribute to the promotion and implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Business, Human Rights and Sustainable Development)
75 pages, 937 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Quebec’s Project Delivery Methods: Relational Contract Law and Differences in Contractual Language
by Gabriel Jobidon, Pierre Lemieux and Robert Beauregard
Laws 2019, 8(2), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws8020009 - 03 Apr 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 6256
Abstract
The province of Quebec, Canada, seeks to implement relational alternate project delivery methods to achieve sustainability and energy efficiency in public construction. However, the relational differences between the formal written parts of different delivery methods have yet to be analyzed and understood, as [...] Read more.
The province of Quebec, Canada, seeks to implement relational alternate project delivery methods to achieve sustainability and energy efficiency in public construction. However, the relational differences between the formal written parts of different delivery methods have yet to be analyzed and understood, as is the case with the relational aspects of contracts and the achievement of sustainable and energy-efficient infrastructure. Using a hermeneutic interpretation of Macneil’s relational contract norms and grounded theory, 26 contracts involving Quebec’s largest public client of vertical infrastructure and representing three different types of project delivery methods (design–bid–build (DBB), design–Build (DB), and construction manager–general contractor/integrated project delivery (CMGC/IPD)) were analyzed using NVivo. It was found that CMGC/IPD is the most relational project delivery method available to Quebec’s public clients, namely because of the public client’s active involvement in the realization process, the increasing complexity of roles, the multitude of common management structures, and the internalization of sustainability measures and conflict resolution. Furthermore, Quebec’s CMGC/IPD was found to be an IPD-ish delivery method, lacking the early involvement of the construction manager and the risk/reward sharing mechanisms necessary to achieve pure IPD status. The findings and theoretical considerations discussed here will help policymakers, contract drafters, and public clients interested in implementing relational contracting practices in public construction projects. Full article
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19 pages, 257 KiB  
Article
Supporting Choice and Control—An Analysis of the Approach Taken to Legal Capacity in Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme
by Emily Cukalevski
Laws 2019, 8(2), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws8020008 - 27 Mar 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 8966
Abstract
In mid-2013, the Australian federal government introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), a ground-breaking reform of disability support services, encapsulated by the mantra of increasing “choice and control”. The scheme provides eligible persons with disabilities a legislated entitlement to supports they may [...] Read more.
In mid-2013, the Australian federal government introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), a ground-breaking reform of disability support services, encapsulated by the mantra of increasing “choice and control”. The scheme provides eligible persons with disabilities a legislated entitlement to supports they may require to increase their independence and social and economic participation. The NDIS has been hailed as a major step forward in Australia’s efforts to realize the human rights of persons with disabilities, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). A core aspect of the CRPD is guaranteeing persons with disabilities their civil and political right to equality before the law, including their right to enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others, as provided by Article 12 of the CRPD. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the concept of choice and control has been operationalized within the NDIS and to critically analyze the extent to which it accords with the requirements of Article 12. It will be argued that even though the NDIS expressly seeks to implement the CRPD as one of its key objectives, it ultimately falls short in fully embracing the obligations of Article 12 and the notions of autonomy and personhood underlying it. Full article
(This article belongs to the Collection Disability Human Rights Law)
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