International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory (IJCST - York University)
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Crime Against Women in India: A Statistical Review
Get PDFIn Indian society, woman occupies a vital position and venerable place. The Vedas glorified women as the mother, the creator, one who gives life and worshipped her as a ‘Devi’ or Goddess. But their glorification was rather mythical for at the same time, in India women found herself totally suppressed and subjugated in a patriarchal society. Indian women through the countries remained subjugated and oppressed because society believed in clinging on to orthodox beliefs for the brunt of violence—domestic as well as public, Physical, emotional and mental
Japanese Sentencing Practices: Creating an Opportunity for “Formal” Paternalism
Get PDFIn Japan, that has a western-style legal system, public sentencing guidelines do not exist. Officials enjoy great discretionary authority, and the system seems geared towards highly individualized sentencing. In the research on this topic, the way officials use their discretionary powers to give offenders an apparently individualized, rehabilitation-oriented treatment has received great attention. Research also shows, however, that cases are disposed of in relatively predictable ways. Nevertheless, the standards and policies apparently structuring sentencing decisions remain undisclosed, and, though known to some extent in practice, “unofficial”. Based on an analysis of Japanese case-files, legal judgments, commentaries and statistics, this article argues that the Japanese state, by committing to proportional sentencing in practice, yet keeping sentencing standards and policies “unofficial”, allows itself to use the legal system in an instrumental and paternalistic fashion (as opposed to dealing with individual offenders in a paternalistic way, by deciding what is best for them). By realizing and rewarding offenders’ formal, though not necessarily “substantive” compliance, state authority and morality, as well as a hierarchical state-citizen relationship can be publicly reaffirmed
Universalism from Below: Muslims and Democracy in Context
Get PDFThis paper examines the complex relations between the global concepts of modernity and democracy, and the local perception of culture and religion in the context of the Muslim world. The paper attempts to answer the following questions: Is the Muslim tradition/culture “exceptionally” immune to the process of democratization? If not, what does it mean to be a modern progressive Muslim today? Is the Western version of modernity a universal concept, or should Muslims seek a particular path to modernity? To what extent a Muslim democracy is a universal concept and to what degree is a particular model? The paper suggests that neither a hegemonic universalism nor an essentialist particularism can explain the complex relations between Islam and modernity. “Universalism from below” can better lead Muslims to democracy, given its equal distance from an Islamist cultural essentialism and a holistic hegemonic universalism. The paper applies the concept of “universalism from below” to the public role of religion in the Muslim world. The findings suggest that neither political/state-sponsored Islam represented by culturalists nor private/isolated Islam advocated by monist-universalists contribute to democratization in the Muslim World. The paper examines the extent to which an alternative concept of public civil Islam would contribute to resolve the tension between the universal and particular paradigms in the Muslim world
Lawyers of Colour and Racialized Immigrants with Foreign Legal Degrees: An Examination of the Institutionalized Processes of Social Nullification
Get PDFThis analysis will deconstruct the legal profession as a cultural force that justifies the discounting of credentials and accreditation blockage imposed on lawyers of colour as a market contingency, rather than a political action. Through this deconstruction, the study will demonstrate how the practice of Law in Canada valorizes diversity at the same time that it actively suppresses it, by providing racialized lawyers equal access to the profession but not access as equals. The key public policy hypothesis of this work is that in a globalized society that strives to be as inclusive as possible, it is vital that a profession like the Law begin to make sense of its own diversity challenge beyond its narrow status as a labour market issue
Paradox and Origin: On the Structure of Legal Communication
Get PDFThis paper seeks to analyze the nature of legal communication. It does so by examining the nature of paradox and its centrality to legal discourse. Is the paradox something that legal theory must escape? In this paper, we will argue that paradox is a central and defining feature of legal conceptuality; it simply pushes the boundaries of traditional rationality and makes a deeper a more probing analysis possible. Contemporary legal theory, from Legal Realism to Critical Legal Studies, is slowly coming to recognize the importance of this notion. This paper seeks to trace the route of legal paradox, as a figure of text and experience, through the writings of key figures such as Vico, Derrida, and Luhmann. By doing so, it will be shown how paradox forms a lynchpin for all legal communication and structures what we understand as law both in theory and practice
Rethinking Structure and Agency in Democratization: Iranian Lessons
Get PDFThis paper examines the complex and dialectal interactions between structural and agential factors and how they help or hinder democratization in contemporary Iran. The paper provides an operational definition of structure and agency by subdividing each into three levels of analysis. The structural factors are measured by the nature of the Iranian state (political level), Iran’s uneven development (socio-economic level), and the global structure of power (international level). The agential factors, both in the reform and the counter reform movement, are examined in terms of the leadership capability (individual level), the organizational arrangements (institutional level), and the intellectual discourse (cultural ideological level). The findings suggest that Iran’s future prospects for democratization equally depend on the structural “causes” and the sociopolitical “causers”. Iran’s process of democratization is surrounded by a number of international and domestic obstacles. Theses include Washington’s policy of regime change and the global war on terror, Iran’s oil-centered rentier state, and the lack of strong leadership, well-organized institutions, and an inclusive and engaging political discourse on the part of the reformists
Crisis and Social Order in the Post 9/11 Era: Sovereignty, Rule of Law and the Case of Maher Arar
Get PDFCanada’s political and juridical spheres have transformed post 9/11. Borrowing from the analytic framework of Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben and Jacques Derrida, I will examine these transformations philosophically and sociologically. One of the aims of this essay is to dispel liberal views that maintain that emergency rule is aberrational; on the contrary, I argue that emergency rule is part of the ‘normal juridical order’. Another aim of this essay is to analyze how a perceived crisis shapes the modus operandi of the state and law. The third aim of this essay is to show how state power works under emergency rule. In terms of the former and latter, I will focus on the power the state has to produce ‘bare life’ and rogue states. Finally, this essay will examine the case of Mr. Maher Arar to illustrate the intellectual and material significance of these transformations in Canada
Whither the Crime in Financial Crises? The Thailand Crisis and the NASDAQ Market Collapse Compared
Get PDFThe dominant view of what caused the crises in Thailand and elsewhere holds that local corruption in the form of “crony capitalism” is among the prime culprits. This paper seeks to redirect focus away from the alleged crime of commission as a primary cause of recent crises toward the crime of omission in not interrogating more fully both the instability of finance capitalism and the resulting distributional consequences of that instability. A comparison with the recent American experience suggests crises are an enduring feature of capitalism and not the product of “corrupt” Southeast Asian business practices. This comparison suggests as well that redistribution of income over the course of such episodes may very well be quite regressive. Together this perspective suggests that when western interest groups, exercising their influence through the international financial community, advocate for what is in essence a redirection of entitlements, questions of conflict of interest—arguably lying at the heart of the problem with cronyism—must be redirected as well
Goffman Revisited: Action and Character in the Era of Legalized Gambling
Get PDFThe expansion of legalized gambling opportunities in North America and elsewhere has proceeded rapidly since the early 1990s, and the current ubiquity of gambling has renewed interest in the sociological and cultural analysis of the activity. Erving Goffman’s concepts of “action “ and “character,” discussed in Where the Action Is, and other aspects of his oeuvre, provide resources for interrogating the present legalized gambling environment and the micro-social aspects of gambling activities and identities. The latter are addressed through Goffman’s contribution to the sociological understanding of processes of normalization and the social classification of selves. His analyses of stigma, moral career, labeling processes, and the institutional shaping of selves (e.g., Asylums (1961)) are drawn upon as resources for understanding gambling identities and stigmas as sociological-dramaturgical phenomena. Goffman’s work is related to the changing institutional basis of gambling activities, and to broader social organizational changes that have been accounted for through the concepts of consumption and risk
Foreign Trained Doctors in Canada: Cultural Contingency and Cultural Democracy in the Medical Profession
Get PDFIn recent years, the media have highlighted the baffling exclusion of internationally trained physicians in the face of Canada’s chronic doctor shortage and exasperating “patient wait times” crisis. Despite the logical role foreign physician could play in resource planning in this country, they still face numerous challenges and institutional barriers in attempting to enter the supply of practicing physicians. This article examines the relationship between culture and power as a critical foundation for understanding the credentials devaluation of foreign-trained doctors, and as a fundamental step toward the advance of inclusive public policy. It argues that the medical profession is culturally regulated to the disadvantage of foreign-born and foreign-trained and predominantly non-European and non-White immigrant practitioners. This paper concludes that the current professional and academic discourse on foreign medical doctors is limited by the lack of an adequate contextual framework, and offers a perspective on a balanced and inclusive approach to social policy