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Flowers at the altar of profit and power Part 4: the Bhopal 'Settlement'

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Details: Category: Frontpage Articles; Last Updated: Monday, 01 May 2017 08:58; Published: Tuesday, 04 October 2011 14:18; Written by Frank Pearce and Steve Tombs; Hits: 10570

What remains unclarified is the relationship between UCC [Union Carbide], UCE [Union Carbide Eastern] and UCIL [Union Carbide India]. After all, there has been no legal determination of who was responsible for the tragedy of Bhopal. But, even if there had been, it is unlikely - given present laws, legal doctrines and legal practice - that an adequate accounting would be the result. We can, however, address this issue of responsibility sociologically – such an analysis in fact reveals the legal posturings of UCC have plausibility only when read in the context of economic and political power rather than the realities of ownership, control and thus responsibility…

Unterweger: serial killer, writer, chef, and malignant narcissist

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Details: Category: Frontpage Articles; Last Updated: Monday, 01 May 2017 08:58; Published: Monday, 03 October 2011 16:43; Written by Gregg Barak; Hits: 18202

By 40 years of age Jack Unterweger was a man of many talents and skills. He was an actor, an author, a batterer, a burglar, a car thief, a celebrity convict, a children’s storybook teller, a crime scene analyst, a director, a fraudster, a humorist, a journalist, a lawyer, a liar, a ligaturist, a malignant narcissist, a novelist, a pimp, a playwright, a poet, a rehabilitated poster-boy, a reporter, a robber, a screenwriter, a serial sexual killer, a signaturist, a thief, a torturer, and a womanizer. As a way of telling you more about the “real” and “fantasy” life of Jack Unterweger, let me provide a brief overview and theoretical context of the two key criminological-psychological concepts that are relevant to The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer. First, I need to address a subset of serial murder. I am referring to serial murder that is sexual in nature. Second, I need to address a subset of narcissistic personality disorder called malignant narcissism.

Courts, communities and the 'big society'

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Details: Category: Frontpage Articles; Last Updated: Monday, 01 May 2017 08:58; Published: Wednesday, 07 September 2011 12:19; Written by Jane Donoghue; Hits: 10873

Anti-social behaviour is a serious and pernicious social problem in a significant number of areas and communities across Britain; its effects must not be understated or minimised. Consequently, efforts to enhance levels of engagement between affected communities and the courts should be welcomed. However, strategies to improve liaison between the judiciary and communities are certainly not unproblematic for a variety of reasons which I will discuss below. Drawing upon my own recent research (Donoghue 2010; also 2008 and 2007), I will identify the challenges and opportunities ahead for improved engagement between magistrates’ courts and our communities.

Murder in Notting Hill

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Details: Category: Frontpage Articles; Last Updated: Monday, 01 May 2017 08:56; Published: Tuesday, 23 August 2011 14:47; Written by Mark Olden; Hits: 9272

Packs of violent teenagers marauded through the capital’s streets, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake and provoking apocalyptic headlines about the nation’s moral decline.......In August 1958 – when some of the worst rioting on British streets in the last century erupted in Notting Hill over racial tensions – the bête noirs were Teddy Boys: young hoodlums with quiffs, drainpipe trousers, long coats, skinny ties and pointy shoes. In August 2011 the bête noirs are hoodies with baggy jeans hanging at half-mast down their backsides, and their faces covered by bandanas.

In my four-year investigation into the unsolved murder of Antiguan carpenter Kelso Cochrane, which occurred in the aftermath of the Notting Hill riots, I found present-day echoes everywhere. The country was being led by an Old Etonian. Fears of knife crime were rampant. Immigration was among the burning issues of the day. What’s more, like the more recent deaths of Stephen Lawrence, Jean Charles de Menezes and even Mark Duggan, the murder of Kelso Cochrane was loaded with political significance.

Observaciones de la Comisión Asesora para el Diseño de la Política Criminal del Estado Colombiano: a la Iniciativa Sobre la Imposición de Cadena Perpetua a Ciertos Delitos Realizados contra Menores

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Details: Category: Frontpage Articles; Last Updated: Monday, 01 May 2017 08:56; Published: Sunday, 31 July 2011 20:43; Written by La Comisión Asesora en el diseño de la Política Criminal en Colombia; Hits: 7581

[The Advisory Commission on Crime Policy was created by the Colombian Minister of Internal Affairs in 2011 to develop and establish principles that will inform the criminal justice system. This report concerns offences against children and the imposition of life sentences. The Commission is made up of a group of experts in different fields who share a critical understanding of criminal law and the criminal justice system. The Commission will deliver its final report in August. In a second stage the Commission will analyze the crime situation and the criminal justice system, and will suggest concrete reforms.]

I. INTRODUCCIÓN

La COMISIÓN ASESORA¹ comparte la preocupación de muchas personas sobre la gravedad de la violencia, tanto física como síquica y sexual, que hoy padecen muchos menores edad en el país. Así mismo, se muestra preocupada porque, al decir de muchos analistas, funcionarios y representantes de las fuerzas políticas, la gran mayoría de esos crímenes en contra de ellos quedan en la impunidad. Por ello, considera importante la promoción de iniciativas encaminadas a amparar mejor los derechos de los menores frente a esos graves atentados punibles y a combatir de forma eficaz la impunidad —cuando la hubiere— en estos casos.

Sin embargo, la COMISIÓN ASESORA estima que la iniciativa discutida en el Senado de la República (Proyecto de Ley 206 de 2010) para someter a referendo la procedencia o no de la cadena perpetua, en tratándose de ciertos delitos contra menores (como homicidio, secuestro o violación), no avanza en la mejor dirección y se torna en altamente inconveniente, amén de inconstitucional.