Search results for category: CourtsTerri Hooper, Columbia Municipal Court’s deputy director, said Monday the Bell family wasn’t notified of Leagones’ bail hearing because state law doesn’t require it for an accessory charge. “There were no victims,” she said.
"The trials provide an opening for the process of restorative justice," Schwerner's widow told lawmakers. "They are important to the families who were so cruelly hurt by the crimes, but equally important for our nation."
A people's court that sentenced François- Xavier Byuma, a Rwandan human rights activist, to 19 years in prison on genocide-related charges violated both Rwandan law and the fundamental principle that defendants must be given a fair trial before an impartial tribunal, Human Rights Watch said today.
The crimes of which the Pitcairn men were accused had happened 20 years previously. No one would be protected by locking them away. Victims had left the island or become adults. Nor could the island manage without its men. Their strength was needed to work the longboats and keep the place running. And everyone on Pitcairn was, or was related to, either a defendant or a victim. The trials and worldwide publicity created a climate of suspicion and paranoia, and divided families.
The hazing incident involving teenagers at Fairhaven High School has finally reached a resolution. Two of the major offenders pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of hazing and a reduced charge of felony assault and battery in Falmouth District Court. According to the report in The Standard-Times on May 18, Matt Marujo, the subject of the assault, said that he was relieved that there was closure "but disappointed that it had to come in a courtroom."
In Uganda, the ICC is now directly confronting a question many believed was inevitable: will it continue prosecuting serious crimes if it becomes an obstacle to peace? Having issued indictments against the LRA commanders in October 2005, the court still has none of them in custody. Although he initially referred the LRA cases to the ICC, Uganda’s President Museveni then proposed amnesties for the commanders instead, to encourage the LRA to talk peace. The ICC warrants can’t simply be withdrawn, however, and options are now being explored for a compromise whereby the Ugandan courts rather than the ICC would take up the baton and proceed with what may be watered-down charges.
This is Layton's Youth Court. Dozens of high school and junior high students from schools all across the city form the tribunal that determines the fate of low-level youth offenders. More than 40 such programs exist in Utah and 1,100 nationwide. Layton's Youth Court is entering its 10th year.
Both Bryant and Nicholson have raised the possibility that elements of the new system might spread to other jurisdictions, such as civil law. The changes do come at a time when the law is opening up to new possibilities in other ways, with the establishment of Koori courts and programs in restorative justice.
"Personally, I hate sending juveniles into the penal colonies (detention facilities) or prison." said Judge Marina Kiruhina, the only judge in Crimea who refers cases involving young offenders to the mediation group established by the Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCGG). MCC supports the work of UCGG. President of UCCG, Roman Koval, said judges are not required to refer cases to mediation programs but the judicial system allows judges to refer cases to court-connected conflict resolution programs.
Some who oppose the ICC and the concept of retributive justice say [that] the Acholi ceremony of “mato oput” would be a more appropriate way of dealing with returning LRA fighters. During the ceremony, those who’ve committed crimes are welcomed back into their communities, in an age-old purification and reconciliation ritual.
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