This study analyzed case and sentencing data from 632 capital cases involving Black and White defendants and victims, processed in North Carolina from May 1990 through December 2002. Logistic regression analysis of all cases and race-specific data allowed assessment of the variable effects of jury acceptance of statutory aggravating and mitigating factors on capital sentencing outcomes (death versus life). The purpose was to evaluate the role race plays in shaping jury use of legally defined factors in capital sentencing. Significant variance in the effect of jury acceptance of aggravators was observed between Black and White defendants. Black defendants pay a higher premium in terms of the risk of a death sentence than do White defendants whose crimes are comparably aggravated. There was no overall disparity in the effect of jury acceptance of mitigatory factors observed, although certain mitigators reduced the risk of a death sentence significantly more for Black or White. Overall, the aggravators had a statistically significantly stronger effect on sentencing outcomes than did the mitigators, regardless of race, and on cases involving Black defendants, regardless of victim race. Racial invariance was not shown.

En tant que concept social, la parenté peut influer sur les dispositions du droit pénal dans la mesure où certains textes pénaux spéciaux, tant français que libyens, la prennent en compte dans de nombreuses infractions, qu’il s’agisse d’atteintes aux biens (vol, par exemple) ou encore d’atteintes aux personnes (infractions sexuelles, parricide, infanticide…). De tels textes protègent parfois l’institution familiale en tant que telle, ce qui est le cas pour l’abandon de famille. Ils se rattachent à l’autorité parentale, la solidarité familiale, l’intimité familiale, l’affection ou encore la dignité… Le Code pénal, à la fois français et libyen, consacre ainsi un chapitre aux infractions d’atteintes à la famille. Cependant, il ne saurait être question de limiter le champ de notre étude aux seules infractions figurant au sein de ce chapitre. Notre étude s’intéressera à toutes les infractions que l’on pourrait qualifier de parentales, de même qu’à toutes les dispositions pénales concernant ces infractions. La parenté se présente à la fois comme un facteur de sévérité accrue et d’indulgence. Elle peut représenter un élément constitutif des infractions purement familiales ou de la responsabilité pénale du fait des enfants. Le Code pénal renforce alors la répression en aggravant la peine en matière d’atteintes à la vie ou à l’intégrité physique et d’agressions sexuelles si l’infraction est commise par une personne proche de la victime. À cet égard, le législateur français, par la loi n° 2006-399 du 4 avril 2006, la loi n° 2010-769 du 9 juillet 2010 et celle n° 2013-711 du 5 août 2013, a renforcé la répression des violences au sein de la famille. Au contraire, le lien de parenté peut représenter un obstacle à la répression, en constituer un fait justificatif, une condition de l’atténuation de la peine ou une entrave à la marche de la justice pénale surtout en matière de récusation de magistrat et de témoignage. / As a social concept, parenthood can influence the provisions of criminal law as some special criminal texts, either French or Libyan, include numerous offences, whether trespass to goods (theft, for instance) or violent crimes ( sexual offences, parricide, infanticide…). Such texts sometimes protect the family institution as such, which is the case for the desertion of the marital home. They are connected with the parental authority, family solidarity, family intimacy, love or even dignity… The criminal codes, both French and Libyan, devote a chapter to the family-related offences. However, the field of our study cannot be limited to the offences mentioned in this chapter only. Our study will deal with all the offences that can be linked to parenthood, as well as all the criminal provisions concerning these offences. Parenthood appears at the same time as a factor of greater severity and indulgence. It can represent a constituent element of the purely family-related offences or of the criminal juvenile liability. The Criminal code then reinforces the repression by increasing the penalty if it concerns lethal assaults or grievous bodily harm and sexual assaults provided the offence is committed by a close relative of the victim. In this respect the French legislator, by the law N2006-399 of April 4th, 2006, the law N 2010-769 of July 9th, 2010 and that N 2013-711of August 5th, 2013, reinforced the repression of family-related violence. On the contrary, the parental link may represent an obstacle to repression, may constitute a justifying element, a mitigating condition of the penalty or an interference with the functioning of criminal justice, especially concerning the challenging of magistrates or of witnesses.

Economic impossibility to perform Change of circumstances in new Czech civil code The topic of this thesis is the institute of economic impossibility to perform, or respectively change of circumstances. This institute of civil law is a part of new Czech civil code. This code shall be in effect on 1st January 2014. Similar institute has not been codified in our legal systém before. The economic impossibility is an institute focused on dynamics of surrounding circumstances of a concluded agreement. It solves exceptional cases in which unexpected events occur that adversely affect the functioning or equitable balance of the agreement. The uncodified nature of the institute does not mean that the cases were not solved before. Actually on contrary. After the 1st and the 2nd World War, especially after the first one, the czechoslovakian courts had to decide many cases related to this matter. In the first chapter of this thesis I have defined economic impossibility and related terms. After that I have shortly presented a history of institute of commercial impossibility and in chapter three I have focused intensively on a doctrine of the Czech first republic (1918 - 1938). In chapter four I have surveyed "old", still effective, civil code in a light of new Supreme court's decision. In chapter five I have summed up...

1. Summary The Influence of a Change of Circumstances on the Existence of an Obligation The purpose of my thesis is to present a brief outline of the problems concerning the impact of the change of circumstances on the existence of an obligation. The leading principle looking into this issue is the rebus sic stantibus principle. This principle can be considered as the opposite of the contemporary major contract rule worshipped by most of the European states and thus legal systems, the pacta sunt servanda principle. This principle, meaning the necessity of putting emphasis on the performance, is at present the fundamental principle of contract law of the Czech republic too. However, day-to-day life creates situations, in which the strict compliance with this principle can be in conradiction with justice and the contractor's expectations of the fairness of the law. The rebus sic stantibus principle is presently applied usually only to rare specific cases, the question, whether it should be allowed to terminate the contract under a essential change of the circumstances to all contracts in general, is an object of long-term discussions among many legal experts and legislators. This thesis is composed of five chapters, each of them dealing with different aspects of the essentialy changed circumstances (also...

<p>The detention of juvenile offenders is not encouraged by both the Constitution and a number of international instruments. This right is entrenched in the South African Constitution (section 28(1)(g) ) which provides that every child has the right not to be detained except as a measure of last resort in which case, in addition to the rights a child enjoys under section s12 and 35, the child may be detained only for the shortest appropriate period of time. This Constitutional provision, in clear terms, views the incarceration of juvenile offenders in a serious light as it provides that the detention of juvenile offenders should be a measure of last resort. One of the important international instruments, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, (Article 37(b) provides that children may be arrested, detained or imprisoned &ldquo / only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible period of time&rdquo / . This thesis examines the impact of the Constitution and some international instruments on the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 105 of 1997 with regard to juvenile offenders. It also sets out the current legal position in South Africa with regard to sentencing of juvenile offenders.</p>

While it is widely known that most women convicted of crime or serving time in prison are mothers, little research has focused specifically on whether and how the daily activity of mothering affects women’s criminal behaviour. On the one hand, criminalized women often report that parenting is important to them. If mothering reduces the opportunities to engage in crime, strengthens informal controls, and increases the costs of crime, it should discourage offending. On the other hand, the challenges of mothering are particularly onerous for women who are economically disadvantaged, marginalized, and socially isolated – that is, the types of women who are most likely to engage in crime. If children create an imperative for resources that women cannot accommodate legally while simultaneously exacerbating psychological and emotional strains, women may turn to criminal behaviour. Using a sample of 259 criminalized women, I explore the mothering-crime relationship by examining whether the daily responsibilities and demands of living with children affect month-to-month changes in women’s involvement in offending. Controlling for criminalized women’s relationships, socio-economic contexts, living arrangements, and leisure pursuits, I provide quantitative evidence about the relationship between mothering and property crime, drug use, drug dealing, and women’s use of violence against their intimate partners. I supplement this analysis with qualitative evidence from in-depth interviews with these women. Results indicate a non-uniform effect of mothering on criminalized women’s offending: living with children discourages women from engaging in property crime and using drugs, makes no difference to whether or not they deal drugs or engage in ‘mutual’ violence with intimate partners, and increases their use of ‘sole’ violence against intimate partners. I discuss why living with children is an important “local life circumstance” shaping variation in criminalized women’s commission of some, but not all, offences, and consider the policy implications of these findings.

Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka pengarnas möjliga negativa påverkan på studenter och hur studenter resonerar om pengarnas värde i vardagen. Empiriskt behandlar uppsatsen varför studenter skulle kunna försöka lura den statliga myndigheten Centrala studiestödsnämnden (CSN) på låne- och studiebidrag. Två fokusgruppsintervjuer har gjorts för att samla in material. Intervjuerna har kodats enligt grounded theory-metoden. Resultaten visar att pengar har en stor inverkan på informanterna – både på ett negativt och positivt sätt. Studenternas beslut ifall de skulle kunna tänka sig att lura CSN beror på ens egna omständigheter och vilka kan påverka deras moraliska principer. / This study aims to investigate the possibility of a negative impact of money on students, and how they reason in relation to the value of money in everyday life. Empirically, the purpose deals with interviews concerning why students might defraud the government authority the Central Study Aid Council (CSN) in loans and grants for their own profit. Two qualitative focusgroup interviews were conducted to collect materials. These have been encoded according to grounded theory method. The results show that money has a huge impact on the informants – both in a negative and positive way. Students' decision to deceive CSN depends on their own circumstances and thereby changed their moral principles.

While it is widely known that most women convicted of crime or serving time in prison are mothers, little research has focused specifically on whether and how the daily activity of mothering affects women’s criminal behaviour. On the one hand, criminalized women often report that parenting is important to them. If mothering reduces the opportunities to engage in crime, strengthens informal controls, and increases the costs of crime, it should discourage offending. On the other hand, the challenges of mothering are particularly onerous for women who are economically disadvantaged, marginalized, and socially isolated – that is, the types of women who are most likely to engage in crime. If children create an imperative for resources that women cannot accommodate legally while simultaneously exacerbating psychological and emotional strains, women may turn to criminal behaviour. Using a sample of 259 criminalized women, I explore the mothering-crime relationship by examining whether the daily responsibilities and demands of living with children affect month-to-month changes in women’s involvement in offending. Controlling for criminalized women’s relationships, socio-economic contexts, living arrangements, and leisure pursuits, I provide quantitative evidence about the relationship between mothering and property crime, drug use, drug dealing, and women’s use of violence against their intimate partners. I supplement this analysis with qualitative evidence from in-depth interviews with these women. Results indicate a non-uniform effect of mothering on criminalized women’s offending: living with children discourages women from engaging in property crime and using drugs, makes no difference to whether or not they deal drugs or engage in ‘mutual’ violence with intimate partners, and increases their use of ‘sole’ violence against intimate partners. I discuss why living with children is an important “local life circumstance” shaping variation in criminalized women’s commission of some, but not all, offences, and consider the policy implications of these findings.

The purpose of this mixed-methods case study research is to discover how, in relation to trade liberalisation in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, intangible assets affect livelihood outcomes of the ethnic majority Kinh and the ethnic minority Khmer people. Methods used include a random survey of 150 ethnic majority (Kinh) rice farmers combined with focus group data from Khmer ethnic minority people. Data shows that lack of access to information about the changing economic circumstances generated by trade reform has caused farmers to take sub-optimal decisions about the diversification of their crops. The economic outcomes on Khmer farmers have also been negatively affected by a lack of information, compounded by rigid gender roles, lack of education, discrimination, language problems and isolation from the majority ethnic group. These factors have contributed considerably to the negative outcomes of liberalisation, including loss of land, and have impeded people's ability to make use of emerging opportunities, including better access to markets and new ways of making a livelihood. This research shows that intangible assets interact with trade liberalisation to exacerbate existing inequalities.

<p>The detention of juvenile offenders is not encouraged by both the Constitution and a number of international instruments. This right is entrenched in the South African Constitution (section 28(1)(g) ) which provides that every child has the right not to be detained except as a measure of last resort in which case, in addition to the rights a child enjoys under section s12 and 35, the child may be detained only for the shortest appropriate period of time. This Constitutional provision, in clear terms, views the incarceration of juvenile offenders in a serious light as it provides that the detention of juvenile offenders should be a measure of last resort. One of the important international instruments, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, (Article 37(b) provides that children may be arrested, detained or imprisoned &ldquo / only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible period of time&rdquo / . This thesis examines the impact of the Constitution and some international instruments on the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 105 of 1997 with regard to juvenile offenders. It also sets out the current legal position in South Africa with regard to sentencing of juvenile offenders.</p>