University of Macau / Faculty of Law

Constitution provides inviolability of human rights and freedoms as fundamental value of modern civilization. Human rights and freedoms, however, should not be treated as absolute or immovable category. What should be realized and always emphasized is that any person has not only rights, but also obligations, which means that interests of individual can be lawfully defended only with due regard to the relevant rights of another person. If someone fails to respect and violates human rights of another person, then he renounces relevant part of his rights. And this may become a legitimate ground for restriction of the rights of offender. This paper doesn’t refer to restriction of human rights as a result of the effective judgment of conviction, but to situations, where the person is in detention, under arrest or his other rights are restricted because of being reasonably suspected of the criminal offence or there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person who committed criminal offence might flee or impede investigation, i.e. refers to measures of compulsion exercised by the State. One of such measures of compulsion are measures of constraint. This is the strictest form of compulsion exercised by the State in respect of individual, on whom punishment has not yet been imposed. This paper doesn’t make any detailed analysis of the grounds for or procedure of infliction thereof, as they are thoroughly and clearly regulated by the law on criminal procedure. This paper seeks... [to full text]

Identification of a person suspected of a heinous crime before being charged risks prejudicing a fair trial. Present laws place this type of publicity outside the reach of sub judice contempt. This thesis argues there should be a change in the law of sub judice contempt making it an offence for the media to publish the fact that a person is under investigation until the person has been charged.

The situation of prisons in Africa has been of concern to practitioners in the criminal justice system, researchers, policy makers, the government and even international organizations. Likewise, is the challenge of not having adequate information about prison system in Africa. In addition, most African countries are signatories to international treaties and convention regarding the treatment of prisoners, to what extent are prisons in Africa complying with the provisions and recommendation of such treaties and conventions. This study was therefore designed to explore the prison system in Africa countries. As part of its objectives the study explored the prison condition in countries in Africa as exemplified by the physical structure of the prison buildings; living conditions with regards to overcrowding, medical care, separation of categories, food, sanitation, beds and beddings, administration and independent monitoring. Furthermore, the treatment and prison conditions of pre- trial detainees were also considered. Similarly, this thesis evaluated the treatment and prison conditions of prisoners with special needs. This category of prisoners include prisoners with mental health care needs, prisoners with disabilities, foreign national prisoners, older prisoners, prisoners on the death row and prisoners living with HIV/AIDS. The conditions and treatment of women prisoners, pregnant women prisoners, and babies living with their mothers in prison were also discussed. The Nelson Mandela Rules, Kampala and Luanda declarations were employed as a bench mark to ascertain whether the treatment and conditions in prisons in Africa meet up to international standards. The study adopted a qualitative approach of inquiry using literature search as mode of inquiry. Data for the study was obtained from books, reports from international organisations such as United Nations, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Penal Reform International, Amnesty International, international conventions and treaties among others, journals (Local, Africa and International), reports from selected countries, government legislations, policies, Acts, previous studies on prison system, web based information and national data. The review of literature with regards to physical structure revealed that most prisons in African countries do not meet international standards pertaining to the issue of physical structure as most prison building are dilapidated and in bad conditions. The study further revealed that the prisons and treatment of prisoners in African prison do not meet international standards. In specific terms, most of the prisons in countries in Africa are overcrowded; most prisons are also characterized by inadequate medical care with lack of facilities, medical personnel and medications. To a large extent most prisons do not meet international standards with reference to separation of categories as most prisons in countries in Africa lock up awaiting trial persons with convicted persons, minor offenders with adult but in most cases women are separated from men. The food situation in most prisons in countries in Africa did not meet international standards in quantity and nutritional value. The finding of the study indicated that the sanitary conditions in most prisons in countries in Africa is in very poor condition which could lead to an outbreak of diseases, this too did not meet international standards. Most prisons in countries in Africa are typified by lack of beds and beddings, prisoners in some prisons sleep on bare floors while some sleep standing while others sleep in shifts. This condition does not meet international standards. With regards to administration it was equally revealed that the record keeping of most prisons in countries in Africa is inadequate, most prisons do not have an ombudsman where prisoners could lodge their complaints while corruption seem to also be rife. This do not meet international standards as well. However, on a good note, most prisons in countries in Africa do permit independent observers such as NGOs, human rights organisations and international organization to have access to the prisons Furthermore, literature search disclosed that the population of awaiting trial person in prisons in Africa is very high when compared to the total prison population and that some countries in Africa are among countries in the world with highest number of pre - trial detainees. The treatment and living conditions of pre - trial detainees in most prisons in African countries do not meet international standards as they are locked in overcrowded cells, often locked up with convicted persons, no legal representation and having to stay longer that the stipulates without being charged to court. The thesis also conducted literature search on prisoners with special needs and the study point out that in each of the categories, prisons in countries in African countries do not meet international standards. For instance, there are no provisions to meet the mental health care needs of prisoners as there are no mental health practitioners, no facilities and no screening is conducted in most prisons. Similarly, there are no facilities to assist prisoners living with physical disabilities as well as older prisoners. The situation with foreign national prisoners are not different as there are no translation of prison materials that could make them adjust well to prison life, in some cases their consular are not contacted that they are in prison. With regards to prisoners on the death row, their conditions did not meet international standards as they are locked up in solitary confinement for most part of the day and their cells are often dirty with inadequate food and medical care. Some of this category of prisoners have been on the death row for as long as twenty years. For prisoners living with HIV/AIDS their treatment and condition does not met international standards as there are not treatment of any kind neither is there any form of screening conducted for inmates. For women prisoners, the treatment and conditions do not meet international standards as most prisons were not designed with women in mind. The living condition is unsanitary, unhygienic exemplified with inadequate toilet and bathroom facilities as well as no supply of peculiar needs of women such as sanitary towels. Review of literature equally indicates that there is no special treatment given to pregnant women prisoners. For children living with their mothers in prison, their treatment does not meet international standards as there is no special provision made for them, they share food with their mothers, some are locked up with their mothers for hours in overcrowded cells. Based on the finding of this study, some recommendations were made. These include the need to conduct more studies on prisons in countries in Africa, the need to consider reviewing the indigenous methods of treatment of offenders before the advent of colonial masters, need for a synergy amongst all practitioners in the criminal justice. Other recommendations are that there should be more advocacy on the prison conditions, need to establish a special trust fund, involve the private sector as well as professional bodies and to professionalize corrections management / Corrections Management / Ph. D. (Criminal Justice System)

Les normes procédurales sont susceptibles d'affecter les stratégies mises en place par les parties à un litige. Nous étudions leur impact sur le volume des contentieux et sur le montant des dépenses engagées par les parties afin de gagner le procès. Ces deux composantes du coût social des litiges sont au coeur des défis que les pays développés doivent relever pour garantir l'effectivité des règles de droit substantiel. Nos travaux portent en particulier sur les règles de preuve, et nous mettons l'accent sur l'opposition entre les règles civilistes et celles de common law.Après avoir défini les contours et les enjeux de notre sujet dans l'introduction générale, nous développons un plan en deux parties. La première partie porte sur le comportement des parties lorsque celles-ci ont la possibilité de parvenir à un accord. Des modèles stratégiques et optimistes sont développés pour appréhender les décisions d'aller en justice et de négocier. La seconde partie est centrée sur le processus de production de preuves qui précède l'audience finale. Nous utilisons des modèles de recherche de rente pour analyser les incitations des parties à engager des dépenses.Les résultats suggèrent que les règles de preuve ont un impact considérable sur le coût social des contentieux. Nous montrons que le volume des litiges en France et aux Etats-Unis peut s'expliquer par les différentes règles de preuve s'appliquant dans ces deux pays. Notre analyse révèle également que les règles de preuves constituent un déterminant majeur du coût privé des litiges et des stratégies de défense des défendeurs. / Procedural rules are likely to affect the strategies of the parties in a dispute. We study their impact on the volume of litigation and on the amount of legal expenses incurred by parties to win the trial. These two components of the social cost of litigation are at the heart of the challenges that must be addressed by developed countries to guarantee the effective enforcement of the substantive law. Our works relate more specifically to rules of proof, and the emphasis is given on the opposition between civilian and common law rules. After defining the scope and the stakes of the thesis in the general introduction, we develop a plan in two parts. Part I studies parties' behavior when they have the possibility to negotiate to avoid a trial. Strategic and divergent expectations models are developed to apprehend parties' decisions to sue and to settle. The second Part is oriented toward the evidence production process preceding the final hearing. We use rent-seeking models to analyze parties' incentives to engage legal expenditures.The results suggest that rules of proof have a substantial effect on the social cost of litigation. We show that the volume of litigation in the US and in France can be explained by the various rules of proof prevailing in these two countries. Moreover, our analysis reveals that the rules of proof constitute a major determinant of the private cost of litigation and of defendant's defense strategies.

Au-delà de l’instabilité qui la caractérise, la mise en état des affaires pénales s’illustre par sa métamorphose. A mesure de la multiplication des modes de traitement de la délinquance et de l’enrichissement des possibilités d’investigation en enquête de police, celle qui ne devait être qu’un préalable à l’ouverture d’une information judiciaire s’impose comme le cadre ordinaire dans un système qui n’avait pas été pensé pour elle. En résultent un recul des droits de la défense et du juge auxquels ni une vision d’ensemble de la procédure, ni les dernières réformes, pour une large partie inspirées des droits européens, n’ont pleinement pallié. Mettre les implications de la montée en puissance de l’enquête de police à l’épreuve des droits européens fait ressortir différents motifs d’inquiétude sur la pleine compatibilité du système actuel avec les standards supranationaux. Ils viennent ainsi au soutien d’aménagements promus tant par la doctrine que par des praticiens pour remédier au déséquilibre constaté. Si la mise en conformité du droit interne doit servir de guide aux ajustements préconisés, ces derniers doivent néanmoins être examinés à la lumière de leur simplications sur le système vu dans son ensemble. Le souci de cohérence encouragerait à promouvoir des solutions plus mesurées, combinant à un renforcement relatif des droits durant l’enquête de police, une articulation des cadres procéduraux d’investigation centrée sur le renforcement du contrôle du juge. La perspective de l’intégration d’un Parquet européen, dont la création a été formellement actée le 12 octobre 2017, et qui se caractérise par sa perméabilité avec les ordres juridiques nationaux, rend ces propositions précaires. Les ajustements que son intégration supposera soulèveront à court ou moyen terme, la question d’une recomposition de la mise en état des affaires pénales, favorable à la restauration de son équilibre et de sa cohérence. / Beyond the inconstancy which defines the pre-trial phase of proceedings, it is characterised by its metamorphosis. Because of the multiplication of ways of dealing with delinquency and the increasing possibilities of police inquiry, the pre-trial phase of proceedings, which should have been just a precondition to the preliminary judicial investigation, turns out to be the common framework, in a system not built for it. It leads to the decline of the rights of defence and of the judge. Neither a global perspective of the procedure nor the last reforms, for the most part inspired by European laws, fully overcame it. Confronting the consequences of police inquiry increasing with European rights, highlights several concerns on the full compatibility of the current system with the supranational standards. They support accommodations, encouraged by the searchers as well as the professionals, to solve observed imbalances. If the compliance of French law must guide the recommended adjustments, they should be reviewed in the light of their impacts on the global system, where inquiry and information still coexist. The will of consistency may encourage to promote more measured solutions, combining a moderate strengthening of the rights during police inquiries to an articulation of the investigation proceedings frameworks, focused on a reinforced control of the judge. The perspective of the integration of an European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which creation was formally acknowledged October 12th 2017, characterised by its openness to other national legal systems, makes these propositions uncertain. At short or medium term, adjustments ensued by its integration will lead to rethink the pre-trial phase of proceedings, to ensure its balance and consistency.

La recevabilité est le cœur de la procédure judiciaire. Elle permet d’étudier la pénalisation de la vie internationale. Elle semble pouvoir rendre compte de la réponse judiciaire à la rancœur internationale au regard des grands faits criminels ; quel qu’en fut le territoire de commission.Cette thèse porte sur la notion de recevabilité devant la Cour pénale internationale. Avec la création de la CPI, la justice pénale internationale prend une dimension nouvelle. La pratique de la Cour est encore récente. L’étude est le prétexte pour examiner le fonctionnement de la Cour pénale internationale. Les Etats ont tenté de limiter la capacité de recevoir de la Cour. Ils l’ont ainsi fondée sur le principe de la complémentarité. Elle supplée l’inaction ou l’action défaillante des Etats, qui ont le devoir de poursuivre les auteurs de crimes internationaux. L’article 17 du Statut de Rome énonce les exceptions permettant de déclarer une affaire recevable devant la CPI. Ainsi, la recevabilité d’une affaire ayant fait l’objet d’une enquête ne sera retenue que s’il est prouvé que les Etats n’ont pas l’intention de mener véritablement à bien les poursuites. Et, que par ailleurs, le seuil de gravité de l’affaire est atteint. Le caractère universel de la compétence de la CPI est battu en brèche par les conditions de recevabilité. On analyse la recevabilité comme une condition de compétence à juste titre, car c’est bien le manquement de l’Etat à assurer l’effectivité des poursuites qui justifie que l’affaire soit déclarée, par la Cour elle-même, recevable. Les conditions requises pour que la Cour puisse agir, force est de constater l’implication du système de recevabilité tant sur l’organisation de la Cour que sur ses rapports avec les Etats. Celles-ci ne sont pas négligeables. De fait, le système de recevabilité est amené à évoluer. Il se caractérise par sa capacité à influencer le droit interne. Ainsi, la décision de recevoir doit amener les Etats à adapter leur droit interne. La viabilité de la Cour, à long terme, dépend du maintien d’une synergie de coopération avec les juridictions nationales, des États parties et d'autres Etats. Le système de recevabilité tend à mettre en évidence des indicateurs émergents dans la pratique de la Cour pénale internationale. C’est notamment le réalignement frappant des rôles des acteurs internationaux et la relation nouvelle qui s’instaure entre les Etats et la Cour. Le système de recevabilité de la Cour tend à éroder le principe de la souveraineté de l'Etat, sans être elle-même balayée par l'opposition catégorique des Etats souverains. / Admissibility is the heart of the judicial process. It studies the criminalization of international life. It seems to account for the judicial response to the international resentment against the great criminal acts, whatever was the territory of commission.This thesis deals with the notion of admissibility before the ICC. With the creation of the ICC, International Criminal Justice is a new dimension. The practice of the Court is still new. The study is an excuse to investigate the operation of the ICC. States have tried to limit the ability to receive from the Court. They did so based on the principle of complementarity. It compensates the action or inaction of failing states, which have a duty to prosecute international crimes. Article 17 RS sets out exceptions to declare a case admissible before the ICC. Thus, the admissibility of a case which is the subject of an investigation will be accepted only, if it is shown that States did not intend genuinely to carry out prosecutions. And that furthermore, the threshold of gravity of a case is reached. The universal nature of the jurisdiction of the ICC is undermined by the conditions of admissibility. Analyzing the admissibility of competence as a condition rightly, for it is the failure of the state to ensure effective prosecution to justify that the case will be declared by the Court itself, admissible. The requirements for the Court to act, it is clear involvement of the system of admissibility as on the organization of the Court that its relationship with the United States. These are not insignificant. In fact, the system will evolve admissibility. It is characterized by its ability to influence the law. Thus, the decision to receive should encourage States to adapt their domestic law. The viability of the Court, in the long run depends on maintaining a synergy of cooperation with national courts of States Parties and other States. The system of admissibility tends to highlight indicators emerging in the practice of the International Criminal Court. This is especially striking realignment of the roles of international actors and the new relationship established between the States and the Court. The system of admissibility of the Court tends to erode the principle of state sovereignty, without itself being swept by the opposition of sovereign states.

L’étude du dossier de la procédure devant la Cour pénale internationale permet de mettre en lumière les subtilités du procès pénal international, traversé par des cultures juridiques et des techniques procédurales différentes, appartenant tantôt à la common law, tantôt à la civil law. Dénominateur commun à tous les systèmes ainsi qu’à toutes les procédures, le dossier est une notion encore méconnue, bien qu’elle soit une notion clé du système établi à Rome. Le dossier protège en effet l’intégrité des procédures et il permettrait d’en assurer l’efficacité, si son rôle était revalorisé, et si l’accès des juges et des parties à son contenu était facilité. Dans cette perspective, la présente étude a pour ambition de proposer une nouvelle clé de lecture du procès pénal international et de révéler tout le potentiel du dossier de la procédure. Plus précisément, cette étude propose de comprendre la procédure, de manière empirique, à travers le prisme du dossier plutôt que de manière théorique, à travers la vision d’un système. Et il en ressort que le dossier mériterait d’être érigé en notion autonome, au soutien de la procédure devant la Cour pénale internationale. / The study of the record of the proceedings before the International criminal court brings to light the subtleties of the international criminal trial, crossed by legal cultures and different procedural techniques, belonging either to common law, or to civil law. Common denominator to all systems and to all proceedings, the record is still an unknown concept despite being a key notion established in Rome. The record protects proceedings’ integrity and could ensure effectiveness if its role was enhanced and if access to its content by judges and parties was facilitated. In this regard, this study intends to offer a new key to understanding the international criminal trial and to reveal the full potential of the record of the proceedings. Specifically, this project proposes to understand proceedings in an empirical approach through the prism of the record than in a theoretical approach, through the vision of a system. It appears that the record should be erected as an autonomous notion, supporting the proceedings before the International criminal court.

The present series of studies examine how jurors and public defenders evaluate different pieces of evidence and integrate them into a coherent conclusion within the context of a criminal case. Previous research has shown that in situations where both sides of the case are compelling, decision-makers nevertheless come to highly confident and polarized decisions, called coherence shifts (Simon, 2004). The present research sought to expand on coherence effects, improve upon the methodology of previous studies, and explore potential moderators of coherence. In Study 1, mock jurors (n = 306) read about a criminal case and evaluated multiple pieces of evidence at various points throughout the case. Results indicated that participants exhibited pronounced coherence shifts (i.e., their evaluations of the various pieces of evidence (a) became more consistent as the case progressed, and (b) were evaluated in line with their initial leanings) using an improved methodology that randomized evidence order and evidence valence. Furthermore, participants’ interim leanings of guilt or innocence biased their subsequent evaluations of ambiguous evidence. The direction and magnitude of participants’ coherence shifts were predicted by their pretrial dispositions towards prosecution and defense. Participants lacked awareness of how their perceptions of the evidence have shifted. Coherence shifts were not, however, moderated by asking mock jurors to justify their decisions, or by asking mock jurors to play devil’s advocate while considering each piece of evidence, underscoring the pervasiveness of this cognitive bias. Study 2 examined whether actual public defenders experience coherence shifts and how those shifts relate to the plea bargaining process; however, no coherence shifts were observed. Study 3 examined whether the timing of the defense’s presentation of their case could reduce coherence effects; results indicated that reading about the defense’s case immediately after the prosecution’s case (c.f. following a delay) marginally (p = .09) reduced coherence effects among jurors who acquitted the defendant, suggesting one potential strategy to mitigate this bias.

Le thème de la protection pénale de l'accusé, connu des pénalistes, mérite aujourd'hui d'être renouvelé sous un angle essentiellement probatoire, au regard de l'évolution actuelle du procès pénal. Situés au confluent de l'innocence et de la culpabilité, les droits et garanties accordés à l'accusé, entendu dans son acception conventionnelle, doivent être analysés en considération des principes fondateurs que sont la présomption d'innocence et les droits de la défense. L'évolution continue de ces deux principes, dans un sens diamétralement opposé, rejaillit inévitablement sur l'intensité et les modalités de la protection dont bénéficie toute personne suspectée ou poursuivie dans le cadre d'une procédure pénale.La présente étude, volontairement limitée à la phase préparatoire du procès pénal, se propose d'appréhender, dans un souci pratique et technique, les différentes évolutions jurisprudentielles et législatives opérées en la matière. Y seront ainsi abordées les principales problématiques actuellement rencontrées en procédure pénale telles que la question du statut juridique du suspect ou encore l'effectivité du principe du contradictoire dans l'avant-procès pénal. S'il peut être tentant, au premier abord, de conclure à un renforcement indiscutable de la protection pénale accordée à l'accusé, il conviendra alors de reconsidérer cette question à l'aune de l'étude des limites procédurales attachées au procès pénal. Loin d'aborder ce thème dans une optique partisane, il sera question de modération dans les propos tenus. En effet, peut-être plus que sur toute autre question de procédure pénale, il est impératif de savoir raison garder. / The theme of the criminal protection of the accused, well-known to criminal specialists, today deserves to be renewed under a probationary essentially angle, in the light of current developments in the criminal trial. Located at the confluence of innocence and guilt, the rights and guarantees granted to the accused understood in its conventional sense, must be analyzed in consideration of the founding principles of presumption of innocence and the rights of the defense. The continuing evolution of these two principles, in a sense diametrically opposite, inevitably reflects the intensity and the terms of the protection afforded any person suspected or prosecuted under criminal proceedings.This study deliberately limited to the pre-trial phase, proposes to understand, in a practical and technical problems, the various case law and legislative developments carried out in the field. Will thus addressed the key issues currently faced in criminal proceedings such as the question of the legal status of the suspect or the effectiveness of the adversarial principle in the preliminary criminal trial. While it may be tempting, at first, to conclude an indisputable strengthening the criminal protection afforded to the accused, then it will be necessary to reconsider this issue in terms of the study of procedural limitations attached to the criminal trial. Far from addressing this issue in a partisan way, it will be about moderation in the remarks. Indeed, perhaps more than any other issue of criminal procedure, it is imperative to keep a sense of proportion.