825 research outputs found
The Prosecution of Public Corruption in the United States. Political and Judicial Strategies - and, in the Background, an Expression of the Legality Principle Crisis
No full textThrough the exam of the jurisprudence of the U.S.Supreme Court and of the federal criminal courts, the Author identifies two different trends of the political and judicial strategy in the field of repression of public corruption in the U.S. The first trend (as in McCormick v. U.S. and in McDonnell v. U.S.) aims to avoid criminal liability in campaign cases; the second trend (as in Evans v. U.S., in Skilling v. U.S. and in Ocasio v. U.S.), instead, tends to affirm criminal liability in the other cases. This latter trend seems to the Author uncoherent with the legality principle. A broad interpretation of criminal law federal statutes is affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court and by the federal courts and prosecutors using vague federal statutes different from the bribery statutes: the Mail and Wire Fraud (i.e., the honest services fraud); the Hobbs Act (i.e., the extortion under color of official right) and the general conspiracy statute (§ 371 U.S.C.). The aim of the federal criminal justice is to harshly punish and investigate corruption by affirming the federal jurisdiction. However, the consistency of this aim with the principle of legality and the related guarantees is particularly problematic
La concussione riformata, tra diritto penale e processo. Note a margine di un'importante sentenza delle Sezioni Unite
No full textL'A. svolge riflessioni a margine della sentenza 'Maldera', con la quale le Sezioni Unite della Corte di cassazione si sono pronunciate sulla più rilevante questione interpretativa posta dalla recente riforma dei delitti contro la pubblica amministrazione, attuata con la l. 6 novembre 2012, n. 190: "quale sia la linea di demarcazione tra la fattispecie di concussione (prevista dal novellato art. 317 c.p.) e quella di induzione indebita a dare o promettere utilità (prevista dall'art. 319-quater c.p., di nuova introduzione), soprattutto con riferimento al rapporto tra la condotta di costrizione e quella di induzione e alle connesse problematiche di successione di leggi penali nel tempo". L'A. valuta nel complesso positivamente la sentenza, che facendosi interprete dello spirito della riforma, teso a soddisfare istanze della lotta internazionale alla corruzione, circoscrive fortemente l'ambito di applicazione della concussione e, pertanto, gli spazi di impunità del 'privato' che prometta o effettui la dazione dell'indebito al funzionario pubblico.The Reformed Crime of 'Concussione': between Criminal Law and Procedure. Commentary to an Important Ruling by the Supreme Cassation Court ------- The Author discusses the "Maldera" ruling by the Supreme Cassation Court (Sezioni Unite) whereby the latter ruled on the most relevant interpretative issue raised by the recent reform of crimes against the public administration, which was implemented by Law No. 190 dated November 6, 2012. The issued submitted to the Court was aimed at identifying the boundary between the offence of "concussione" (i.e. a particular type of extortion perpetrated by a public officer, governed by article 317 of the Italian Criminal Code and amended by the aforementioned reform of 2012) and the offence of "induzione indebita a dare o promettere utilità" (i.e., a particular type of corruption whereby a public officer induces a private person to give or promise something, introduced for the first time by the same reform and governed by the new version of article 319 quarter of the Criminal Code), primarily with regard to the distinction between obliging and inducing somebody to do something, as well as the related issue of the chronological succession of criminal provisions over time. The Author shares the Court's view as to the necessity of narrowing the scope of the Italian offence of "concussione", in order to reduce the area of impunity for private persons who give or promise some utility to public officers. Such interpretation, in fact, seems to be in line with the spirit of the 2012 reform, which is in turn aimed at fostering international efforts in the fight against corruption and bribery
La repressione della corruzione negli Stati Uniti : strategie politico-giudiziarie e crisi del principio di legalità
No full textL’articolo prende in esame le attuali strategie politico-giudiziarie di contrasto della corruzione negli Stati Uniti d’America. L’A. individua due fondamentali trend: l’uno orientato ad arretrare il raggio d’azione del diritto penale quando a venire in rilievo è il finanziamento delle campagne elettorali; l’altro, più rigoroso, volto invece a far cadere nella rete del penalmente rilevante, al di fuori dei campaign cases, ogni asservimento del potere pubblico a fini personali, da parte di politici e pubblici funzionari. Quest’ultimo orientamento si rivela particolarmente problematico in rapporto al principio di legalità e alle relative garanzie: le maglie del diritto penale vengono infatti allargate, con l’avallo della Corte Suprema, non già attraverso norme incriminatrici dirette a reprimere la corruzione, bensì facendo leva su norme incriminatrici diverse e imprecise — in tema di frode, estorsione e conspiracy diretta a commettere quei reati. L’obiettivo degli organi della giustizia federale — in un sistema che si rivela nel complesso efficiente nell’azione di contrasto del fenomeno—è di punire severamente la corruzione,facendo prevalere la giurisdizione federale su quella statale. Senonché, come osserva l’A., il fine non giustifica i mezzi, che manifestano una crisi del principio di legalità.Through the exam of the jurisprudence of the U.S.Supreme Court and of the federal criminal courts, the Author identifies two different trends of the political and judicial strategy in the field of repression of public corruption in the U.S. The first trend (as in McCormick v. U.S. and in McDonnell v. U.S.) aims to avoid criminal liability in campaign cases; the second trend (as in Evans v. U.S., in Skilling v. U.S. and in Ocasio v. U.S.), instead, tends to affirm criminal liability in the other cases. This latter trend seems to the Author uncoherent with the legality principle. A broad interpretation of criminal law federal statutes is affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court and by the federal courts and prosecutors using vague federal statutes different from the bribery statutes: the Mail and Wire Fraud (i.e., the honest services fraud); the Hobbs Act (i.e., the extortion under color of official right) and the general conspiracy statute (§ 371 U.S.C.). The aim of the federal criminal justice is to harshly punish and investigate corruption by affirming the federal jurisdiction. However, the consistency of this aim with the principle of legality and the related guarantees is particularly problematic
Il dramma della pena carceraria e il cattivo stato della giustizia penale in un bestseller statunitense : a proposito di B. Stevenson, Just Mercy. A Story of Justice and Redemption, Spiegel & Grau, New York, 2015
No full textIn uno stimolante e avvincente bestseller statunitense - “Just Mercy. A Story of Justice and Redemption” – Bryan Stevenson – civil right lawyer e professor of clinical law alla New York University – racconta la storia della Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), un’organizzazione no-profit da lui fondata circa trent’anni fa in Alabama, nel profondo Sud degli Stati Uniti, e dedicata alla difesa legale e gratuita di poveri, innocenti erroneamente condannati e, in genere, di coloro che, tra ‘gli ultimi’ della società, sono rimasti intrappolati nella rete di un sistema giudiziario iniquo, che vede in loro ‘clienti privilegiati’. La storia della EJI è raccontata, in modo avvincente, attraverso le vicende umane e giudiziarie degli uomini e delle donne difese da Stevenson e dall’organizzazione stessa. La vicenda principale è quella di Walter McMilliam, un afro-americano condannato a morte e rinchiuso per sei anni nel death row per un omicidio che non ha commesso e che gli è stato attribuito pretestuosamente, da autorità che, in cerca di un colpevole, in un contesto sociale segnato dalla discriminazione razziale – lo stesso Alabama nel quale è ambientato “Il buio oltre la siepe”, romanzo americano simbolo della lotta alla discriminazione razziale –, hanno avuto buon gioco a trovarlo in un uomo di colore. Le altre storie attorno alle quali si sviluppa il libro, altrettanto toccanti e inquietanti, riguardano adolescenti trattati come adulti e condannati all’ergastolo senza possibilità di liberazione condizionale, nonché persone affette da disturbi mentali e, nondimeno, rinchiuse in carcere. Chiude il libro una profonda riflessione sullo stato della ‘giustizia’ penale e sulla pietà e il perdono come chiavi per un approccio più umano al problema della pena.The Imprisonment’s Drama and some Outrageous Criminal Justice’s Disfunctions in a U.S. Bestseller. About B. Stevenson, “Just Mercy. A Story of Justice and Redemption”, Spiegel & Grau, New York, 2015.
The Author reviews Bryan Stevenson’s book “Just Mercy. A Story of Justice and Redemption”. In this inspiring bestseller, Stevenson – civil rights lawyer and professor of clinical law at New York University – tells the story of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a nonprofit organization he founded in Alabama almost thirty years ago that is dedicated to defending the poor, the wrongly condemned, and those trapped in the furthest reaches of the U.S. criminal justice system. The story of the EJI is told through the stories of people defended by the organization. The main story is that of Walter McMilliam, an African-American man sentenced to die for a notorious murder he did not commit, in a context of racial discrimination that takes place in the Alabama of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Other stories told in the book concern children sentenced to life imprisonment without parole – in other words, to death in prison – and people incarcerated despite their mental illness. At the conclusion of his book, the Author reflects on the current state of the criminal justice system and on the role of mercy and redemption as powerful tools to reconceptualize a more humane approach to punishment
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Affective coherence: Affect as embodied evidence in attitude, advertising and art
No full textFor the first time, this volume brings together these varied developments under one umbrella and furnishes a comprehensive overview of this intellectual ..
La criminalizzazione della 'clandestinità' fra scelte nazionali e contesto europeo
No full textL'A. prende in esame un fenomeno riscontrabile nel contesto italiano ed europeo: la tendenza a configurare come reato il soggiorno e/o l'ingresso irregolare nello Stato (è così in 28 Stati membri dell'UE). Mentre il legislatore europeo della Direttiva rimpatri (115/2008/UE) - che non ha bisogno di intercettare il consenso elettorale - affida il controllo e la gestione dei flussi migratori al diritto amministrativo, i legislatori nazionali non rinunciano per lo più ad affiancare alla disciplina amministrativa sanzioni penali. Senonchè, come ha certificato la Corte di Giustizia UE negli ultimi anni, lo spazio lasciato dal diritto UE al diritto penale è assai limitato nella materia in esame, e lo rende nella sostanza un'arma spuntata. E' così anche in Italia, dove - proprio per effetto del diritto UE - i reati connessi all'ingresso e al soggiorno irregolare (con la sola eccezione del reato di illecito reingresso) sono oggi puniti con mere pene pecuniarie destinate a restare ineseguite. La criminalizzazione della clandestinità è pertanto inutile: non ha effetto deterrente e, d'altra parte, nemmeno facilita le espulsioni. L'autentica ragion d'essere del diritto penale nella materia in esame risiede allora nel suo carattere simbolico, funzionale a politiche securitarie e a un populismo penale che mira ad acquisire un facile consenso elettorale, calpestando il ruolo di extrema ratio proprio del diritto penale stesso. La recente scelta del legislatore italiano di delegare il Governo a depenalizzare il reato di 'clandestinità' va pertanto salutata con favore.The Author examines a widespread phenomenon in the current Italian and European context, i.e. the trend to punish as a criminal offense the illegal permanence and/or the illegal entry of non-EU nationals in EU Member States (such offenses are currently punished in 28 of them). While the European lawmaker that passed the Return Directive (2008/115/EC) - which does not need to reap consensus for electoral purposes - relies on administrative law in order to control and manage migration flows, national legislators usually complement the relevant administrative provisions with criminal sanctions. Yet, as the EU Court of Justice has stated in recent years, according to EU law the scope of criminal sanctions should be very narrow in the matter under consideration, to the extent that it becomes a blunt weapon. The same applies in Italy, where - as a result of the implementation of the EU law - crimes related to illegal entry and illegal residence (with the exception of the offense of unlawful re-entry) are now punished with mere fines, which are bound to remain unenforced. Therefore, criminalizing illegal immigration is useless as it is no deterrent and does not even facilitate deportations. Hence, the only reason for providing criminal sanctions against illegal immigration is a symbolic one, which is, in turn, functional to security-related policies and "criminal populism", aimed at gaining cheap electoral consensus. This contradicts the role of "last resort" that criminal law is supposed to play. Therefore, the recent decision taken by the Italian Parliament to delegate the task of decriminalizing criminal offences of illegal permanence and entry in Italy to the Government should be greeted with favor
The Natural History of The Silkewormes and their Flies
No full textImages published with permission of The British Library Board (434.f.10), the Huntington Library and Proquest. Further reproduction is prohibited.Images published with permission of The British Library Board (434.f.10), the Huntington Library and Proquest. Further reproduction is prohibited.Images published with permission of The British Library Board (434.f.10), the Huntington Library and Proquest. Further reproduction is prohibited.Images published with permission of The British Library Board (434.f.10), the Huntington Library and Proquest. Further reproduction is prohibited.This study examines the overlap between natural philosophy and humanist imitation in two works by Thomas Moffet: his reference work Insectorum sive Minimorum Animalum Theatrum (written c.1589) and his poem The Silkewormes, and their Flies (1599). Both works draw extensively on contemporary and classical authors in order to create intertextual collages that look backwards towards the natural unity found in the Garden of Eden. This leads me to argue that The Silkewormes’ compositional style shares more in common with Guillaume de Saluste, Sieur Du Bartas's Sepmaine (1578, 1584) than with Virgilian didactic poetry. I consider throughout Elizabethan notions of authority, composition and originality, and conclude that Silkewormes merits critical attention for its skilful synthesis of diverse material in creating a work appropriate for Mary Herbert and her household at Wilton.Arts and Humanities Research Counci
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Premenstrual Syndrome and Misattribution: A Self-Perception, Individual Differences Perspective
No full textSelf-perception theory suggests that premenstrual syndrome (PMS) may arise from the misattribution of hormone-induced bodily changes. If so, individual differences in the role of bodily responses in emotional feelings, measured in a separate expression-manipulation procedure, should be related to susceptibility to PMS. In Study 1, women responsive to cues from their bodies showed significant mood changes, both negative and positive, with their cycle, over a 60 day span; whereas women relatively unresponsive to personal, bodily cues showed no consistent cycle effects. PMS was also predicted by a measure of emotional complexity. In Study 2 women whose moods were based on bodily cues also rated their moods as less positive if they were in their premenstrual week, and women unresponsive to their bodies were unaffected by their cycle. A reminder of their cycle-stage prevented PMS in the body cue group, which is a kind of discounting effect. Women who were unresponsive to their bodies also did not show PMS, and were unaffected by the reminder
The oligomerization domain of p53: Crystal structure of the trigonal form
No full textAbstractThe structure of the oligomerization domain of the p53 tumor suppressor protein was determined in the trigonal crystal form, using a refined NMR structure as a model. A synthetic peptide comprising residues 319–360 of human p53 crystallized in the space group P3121. There is one biologically relevant tetrameric domain in the crystallographic asymmetric unit. The structure was refined jointly with NMR data, only the third such case (the previous examples being IL-1β (Shaanan, B., Gronenborn,, A.M., Cohen, G.H., Gilliland, G.L., Veerapandian, B., Davies, D.R. and Clore, G.M. (1992) Science 257, 961–964 [1]) and BPTI (Schiffer, C., Huber, R., Wuthrich, K. and Van Gunsteren, W.F. (1994) J. Mol. Biol. 241, 588–599 [2])), to 2.5 Å resolution with an R factor of 0.207. The distribution of tumor-derived mutations in the oligomerization region together with structural and biological data suggest a strategy for the design of antitumor therapeutics
Metodologiczne wizje i koncepcje G.L. Seidlera
No full textThe methodological concepts of Grzegorz Leopold Seidler touched upon numerous important issues involved in the cultivation of legal sciences. Formulated on different levels of abstraction, they addressed the most significant issues of the academic discipline of law, as well as other social sciences. In the field of legal sciences, they were mainly connected with the philosophy of law, the theory of law, the history of political and legal doctrines, the history of the State and law, and the constitutional and administrative law. However, His academic research interests also corresponded to the political sciences, and the theory of organisation and management. Frequently, these were the visions and ideas which turned into concepts due to the endeavours by Professor, or subsequently his students. The same was the case with the history of political and legal doctrines, a research discipline that has been cultivated since the nineteenth century. His ideas were, however, rooted in a concrete historical situation. The whole academic research life of G.L. Seidler was characterised, among other things, by the attempt to define the subject and the method of his basic research area and exposition, i.e. the political and legal thought. It needs to be emphasised that he was not only interested in the history of legal thought, but the modern political thought as well. The methodological pursuits and their consequent continuation that were actually present in nearly all of the author’s works, inspire admiration for their pioneering nature as well as the depth of exploration of this research area. The critical appraisal of the methodological proposals by G.L. Seidler covered the definition of the research subject, i.e. the approach and concept of doctrine, the proposal to systematise the periodisation of political thought, and certain conclusions stemming from the applied research method. The importance of these studies may be evaluated on many levels. Among the most major ones seems to be its capability to inspire a discussion among the historians of political and legal thought concerning the author’s theses. Another aspect of the appeal of the methodological ideas is the extent of its acceptance, i.e. whether and to what extend it was accepted by historians of doctrines. The author of the present article puts forward a thesis that in both aspects Grzegorz Leopold Seidler’s thought was academically significant and still is an important source for the methodological reflections by contemporary authors.W artykule nie zamieszczono abstrakt
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