Cette thèse tire son originalité du fait qu’elle se situe à la croisée des chemins entre droit et sciences sociales. En mettant en œuvre une sociologie juridique de notre système accusatoire au Canada, nous cherchons à comprendre les manières par lesquelles se construit une vérité judiciaire dans les procès criminels. Dans le cadre d’une perspective ethnométhodologique, cette thèse a pour finalité de cerner les méthodes pratiques employées par les acteurs judiciaires dans leur quotidien afin de produire une vérité judiciaire en tant que fait social objectif. Nous nous sommes ainsi penchés sur l’ensemble des pratiques et des raisonnements qui s’inscrivent dans un contexte d’action où chaque acteur judiciaire est propulsé à rendre compte de sa version de la « vérité », et par voie de conséquence, chercher l’adhésion du juge. Les cas examinés concernent des voies de fait jugés au Québec. Dans un premier temps, cette thèse montre qu’une vérité judiciaire résulte d’un processus de construction, dans lequel la poursuite catégorise des faits en « crime » et l’image d’un individu en « criminel », pour établir la culpabilité de l’accusé hors de tout doute raisonnable. Dans un deuxième temps, une vérité judiciaire est le résultat d’un processus de déconstruction où la défense remet en question ces catégorisations par l’examen de la vraisemblance des faits et de la crédibilité d’un témoin. Dans un troisième temps, la vérité judiciaire est le résultat d’un processus de reconstruction où la défense présente une version alternative aux catégorisations initiales de la poursuite. Alors que le premier processus s’acharne sur l’activité pratique de la poursuite, les deux derniers nous ont permis de comprendre comment le jeu du doute s’opère dans l’activité pratique de la défense. Dans un dernier temps, la thèse montre qu’une vérité judiciaire est déterminée par le juge, ce dernier étant porté à se positionner sur des versions contradictoires par l’examen de la rigueur, de la consistance, de la vraisemblance et de la crédibilité des témoignages.

La présente thèse étudie le développement du système carcéral moderne aux États-Unis en général et dans l’État du Wisconsin en particulier. Alors que, traditionnellement, l’administration pénitentiaire du Wisconsin n’a que rarement éveillé l’intérêt de la communauté scientifique nous démontrerons le rôle fondamental joué par l’État durant les années 1980 et 1990, celles du tout-carcéral. Pendant des années, le Wisconsin respecta son image de laboratoire de la démocratie acquise sous l’ère Roosevelt. Cependant, pour des raisons principalement politiques, des mesures de plus en plus punitives furent votées à partir du milieu des années 1970 qui eurent pour effet de voir émerger de nouvelles politiques pénales. L’approche resocialisante, connue sous le nom de Wisconsin Approach, allait laisser la place à une politique répressive dont une des représentations demeure les transferts de prisonniers vers d’autres États. Le Department of Corrections connut pendant des années un des taux d’incarcération les plus élevés du pays et fut à l’avant-garde, dès les années 1970, des philosophies conservatrices en matière de politique judiciaire. Cette étude se concentre sur l’évolution du DOC à cette période afin d’en évaluer les conséquences sur les institutions et de voir comment ces changements ont pu affecter le concept de démocratie qui se trouve au cœur du commonwealth, fondement philosophique de l’État du Wisconsin. Grâce à l’étude de documents officiels, d’articles de presse et de lettres de détenus que l’auteur a réunies pendant plusieurs années, une image de la pénitentiaire actuelle, jusque-là ignorée, sera ainsi présentée. Cette recherche se propose ainsi d’analyser les différents programmes et les politiques mises en œuvre par l’administration pénitentiaire, et que le DOC défend avec fierté. / This work examines the development of the modern prison in the United States focusing on the state of Wisconsin because of certain unique specificities. While the Wisconsin Department of Corrections has traditionally attracted little interest but we will present some evidence that its case is indeed significant in the context of the prison boom of the 1980s and 1990s. Politically, for many years, the state had been known as the «laboratory» for democracy. However, mostly because of political reasons mostly, increasingly severe measures were ratified in the mid seventies which overturned previous correctional policies and gave a new direction to penal philosophies in the state. The Wisconsin Approach to corrections would gradually disappear and the state became one of the first to implement out-of-state incarceration. The Department of Corrections (DOC) experienced one of the highest national rates of incarceration for many years, being, in the field of criminal policies, at the forefront of the conservative revolution starting in the 1970s. We will analyze the development of the DOC and see how this trend has affected the institutions and the concept of democracy at the heart of the commonwealth in Wisconsin. This work relies on official documents and on the letters of prisoners the author has received for many years, revealing a firsthand account of the reality of prisons today in Wisconsin. Thanks to these narratives, this study will attempt to evaluate the varied programs, policies and missions that the Wisconsin DOC is still proud to defend today.

The conflict perspective of criminology and societal reaction to crime suggests that the administration of criminal justice is determined and controlled by those segments of society which are relatively powerful. Based on this perspective, it is reasonable to expect that relatively powerful groups or categories will be far less subject to severe criminal sanctions than will those who are relatively powerless. This proposition may be tested at points in the criminal justice system where decisions are made relative to the application of criminal sanction. The findings are that the relationship between race of offender and sentence length considered both with and without selected control variables is a uniformly weak relationship. In certain categories of control variables the relationship between race of offender and sentence length does strengthen slightly, but in no case are the relationships sufficiently strong to be significant at the .05 level. Partial correlation coefficients show the relationship between race of offender and sentence length to be little affected by the control variables. Therefore, the relationship between race of offender and sentence length is in all cases considered, and by every form of analysis, quite weak. Proportional reduction in error in virtually every case considered in this study is less than 1 percent.

This research seeks to demonstrate the need for alternative forms of sentencing in the Uganda criminal justice system with a specific focus on the use of community service. Approaching community service as a child protection strategy in sentencing parent offenders would be a positive step in addressing issues of child neglect and attendant problems. The study seeks to: (1) Analyse the impact of parental incarceration on children (2) Make a specific inquiry into the use of community service orders as an alternative to imprisonment in Uganda (3) Illustrate that approaching community service as a child protection strategy in sentencing parent offenders would be a positive step in addressing issues of child neglect and attendant problems (4) Make recommendations for a new course of action that will highlight and be aimed at preventing the abuse of children / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr Atangcho Nji Akonumbo, Université Catholique D’Afrique Centrale Yaoundé Cameroun / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Since the 1970s there has been a rising trend in South Africa for legal professionals to use the services of psychologists in legal proceedings. Psychologists have therefore increasingly started to appear as expert witnesses in court cases. Despite this, the field of forensic psychology in South Africa has yet to be defined and delineated. Currently there are no set guidelines or regulations regarding who is qualified to do forensic work, and no standards against which this work can be measured. Psychology in the courtroom has begun to receive a notorious reputation as a result of this. The Professional Board for Psychology (PBP) of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) is investigating the creation of a new category of registration, that of Forensic Psychologist, partly in an effort to manage and address this problem. However, to date little, if any, research has been conducted on the scope of the work presented to the courts by psychologists appearing as expert witnesses. This research aimed to address this gap by analysing a sample of forensic psychological reports. The following aspects were investigated: <ul><li>Who (category or registration, length of registration, etc.) is doing sentencing reports;</li> <li>How (interviews, collateral information, psychometric tests, etc.) these reports are compiled; and</li> <li>Whether these reports measure up to professional expectations as well as adhere to the guidelines of the HPCSA.</li></ul> It is clear from the results of this research that some of the psychologists doing forensic assessments and writing reports do so in an idiosyncratic way. Besides the fact that no uniformity exists, forensic work is sometimes done by psychologists who are not qualified to do so in terms of their registration category and thus their scope of practice. The reports analysed did not always measure up to guidelines or professional standards from abroad (in lieu of local standards or guidelines for reports) and/or transgressions were made in terms of HPCSA policies and guidelines. This situation is understandable in the light of two shortfalls in this field, namely training and regulation. The following recommendations can be made on the basis of this study: <ul><li>That psychologists who are adequately trained and have the proven experience in forensic work, be accredited by the PBP;</li> <li>That guidelines and standards for forensic work be drawn up by the PBP; in addition, that more complete ethical guidelines than those contained in chapter 7 of the PBP’s Rules of Conduct Pertaining Specifically to Psychology also be drawn up;</li> <li>That adequate training at MA level in basic forensic issues be made compulsory, with the option of advanced training for those wishing to specialise in the field; and</li> <li>That lawyers be trained in basic concepts of psychology so as to allow for better selection of an appropriate psychologist to assist them and also to assure effective cross-examination regarding psychological issues in court.</li></ul> If these recommendations were implemented, they could aid in regulating the field, thus producing forensic work of a consistently high quality. This will hopefully help to narrow the gap between the expected and actual interaction between law and psychology. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Psychology / unrestricted

La sanction des infractions délictuelles constitue le nœud gordien d’une politique pénale contemporaine largement désapprouvée. Privilégiée, la peine privative de liberté manifeste de multiples défaillances portant atteinte à sa crédibilité. Les peines d’emprisonnement inférieures ou égales à cinq ans exécutées principalement en maison d’arrêt sont les plus problématiques car nombreuses. Elles sont le plus souvent inadaptées à la délinquance contemporaine. Si des alternatives, déjà anciennes et d’autres plus récentes, existent, elles ne sont que peu prononcées alors même que leur utilité sociale en matière de réinsertion et de lutte contre la récidive ne paraît plus à prouver. La punition hors les murs de l’infraction délictuelle est une thématique politique et législative récurrente. Cependant, elle ne parvient pas à s’ancrer véritablement dans le paysage judiciaire français ; son enracinement étant notamment freiné par le défaut d’adhésion des magistrats en partie conditionné par des mécanismes procéduraux pourvoyeurs de peine privative de liberté. L’heure du changement de paradigme a pourtant sonné dès lors que la peine d’emprisonnement ne permet pas d’agir sur les causes de l’acte infractionnel et du passage à l’acte. Il est également temps de soulager une situation carcérale exsangue ne permettant plus à l’Administration pénitentiaire d’assurer convenablement ses missions de garde et de réinsertion. Albert Camus écrivait qu’une société se juge à l’état de ses prisons, la société française ne peut persister à épandre une telle incarnation de sa politique pénale. Aussi, au travers de mécanismes procéduraux perfectionnés, de l’influence d’exemples positifs du droit comparé, grâce au faire-valoir des ressources intrinsèques des services pénitentiaires d’insertion et de probation, à la rédaction nouvelle d’articles fondamentaux du Code pénal et au déploiement de moyens adéquats, la punition hors les murs des délits passibles de cinq ans d’emprisonnement devient accessible et tangible. / The penalty of the criminal breaches constitutes the Gordian knot of a widely disapproved contemporary penal policy. Privileged, the custodial sentence shows multiple failures striking a blow at its credibility. The lower prison sentences or five-year-old equals executed mainly in detention center are the most problematic because numerous. They are badly adapted for the contemporary crime. If alternatives, already older and others more recent, exist, they are only little pronounced even though their social utility regarding rehabilitation and regarding fight against the repeat offense does not any more appear to prove. The punishment outside the walls of the criminal breach is a recurring political and legislative theme. Nevertheless, it does not succeed in anchoring really in the French judicial landscape; its implanting being slowed down in particular by the defect of membership of the magistrates partially conditioned by procedural mechanisms suppliers of custodial sentence. The hour of the change of paradigm nevertheless rang since the prison sentence does not allow to act on the causes of the unlawful act and the acting out. It’s also necessary time to relieve a pale prison situation not allowing anymore the Prison Service to assure suitably its missions of guard and rehabilitation. Albert Camus wrote that a society judges itself in the state of its prisons, the French society cannot persist in spreading such an embodiment of its penal policy. So, through sophisticated procedural mechanisms, the influence of positive examples of the comparative law, thanks to the use of the intrinsic resources of the prison departments of insertion and probation, to the new writing of fundamental articles of the Penal code and to the deployment of adequate means, the punishment outside the walls of the offences punished for five years of detention becomes accessible and tangible.

Plus de 80 000 libérations des prisons de France ont été enregistrées chaque année au cours de la dernière décennie. La question du devenir pénal des sortants de prison s’impose dans une réflexion générale sur la récidive et la réinsertion sociale. Un échantillon de la population carcérale a été constituée à partir d’un terrain professionnel afin d’étudier les parcours et les profils sociaux des sortants. Cette recherche, dans une approche quantitative et qualitative, tente de dégager les déterminants sociaux les plus prédictifs de l’évolution du parcours post-carcéral.L’analyse des effets des fins de peines aménagées, et plus généralement les parcours de vie, permet d’isoler un certain nombre de facteurs qui marquent, en tendance, la poursuite d’un parcours pénal. La nature et la qualité du lien social qui caractérise l’individu avant l’incarcération, déterminent la poursuite d’un parcours pénal ou son interruption. Se trouve également réaffirmée la plus forte répression de l’illégalisme populaire (vol, violence, infraction au code de la route), délinquance touchée le plus largement par la récidive, et caractéristique des couches sociales les plus pauvres. / More than 80 000 inmates have been released from French prisons in the last ten years. Questions about these releasees had to be studied from the point of view of recidivism and social reintegration. A sample of the French inmate population has been built, from a professional field, to study the social profiles and courses of the released inmates. This study tries, by quantitative and qualitative approach, to find the most predictive social determinants of the individual post-custodial journey.Analysing the results of sentence adjustments, and more generally life courses, made it possible to isolate a number of factors that can predict the pursuit (or not) of a criminal route.The nature and the quality of the integration into the social fabric before custody, defines the continuation or interruption of a criminal life.The strongest repression of the most common offences (theft, violence, reckless driving) is also confirmed by the study as well as the fact that the segment of the population most affected by repeat offenses are the poorest classes.

Unconditional imprisonment Abstract This diploma thesis deals with the legal institute of unconditional imprisonment. This type of punishment will always be a current issue due to its specific position, because it is, within criminal law, the only primary type of criminal sanction for violation of legally protected interests and, at the same time, it can be imposed for any criminal offense. The addressees of the law also perceive it as the harshest punishment that can be imposed on perpetrators of crimes. The legal regulation of this institute is very detailed but also somewhat fragmented, so the goal of this thesis is to provide a complex and comprehensive picture of this institute, with many partial parts presented by statistical data to better demonstrate the issue. The first chapter of the diploma thesis is devoted to the theoretical concept and definition of unconditional imprisonment, which includes its historical development on the territory of this country and also presents alternatives to unconditional imprisonment, as well as conditional imprisonment. The next part of the thesis focuses on the sentencing to unconditional imprisonment, which can be divided into two parts, the theoretical part includes the principles of sentencing, mitigating and aggravating circumstances and sentencing of specific...

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between female and male prison inmates using the Survey of Inmates of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 1997. Variables examined included current offense, criminal history, drug use history, victimization history, program participation in the institution, disciplinary infractions in the institution, family history, and interaction with family while in prison. Results indicate that male inmates have worse criminal histories and longer sentences than female inmates. Female inmates have more extensive drug use histories, greater victimization histories, more program participation in the institution, and more criminality in their families of origin than do males. Moreover, males had more numerous disciplinary infractions in the institution and more serious infractions. Females had greater interaction with family while in prison than did males. Implications for future research and correctional practice are discussed.

This research study analyzes whether or not there is any relationship between sentencing and conviction and certain defendant characteristics in the US legal system. In the midst of a time where the nation is strongly divided politically, the topic is often the center of research projects and discussions in academic journals. Specifically, this research explores the 3 characteristics- race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Within this article, multiple case studies from other journals are cited in which research and experiments have suggested that these factors do have influence on both whether or not a defendant gets convicted or for how long the defendant is sentenced. With these cases in mind, we try to test the theory for ourselves in a survey experiment amongst college students. The survey tests cases with instances of academic dishonesty in university with the defendant characteristics being manipulated for race, gender, and socioeconomic status. However, the results were inconclusive of any sort of link between those characteristics and the "sentencing" in the study.