Criminal Law

Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners: A Legal Analysis I. Introduction The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners—revised in 2015 and now known as the Nelson Mandela Rules—represent the most authoritative United Nations instrument governing the treatment of persons deprived of liberty. While not a treaty, Read more

What Is a Protected Witness? I. Introduction The concept of a protected witness lies at the intersection of criminal justice, human rights, and public security. It emerges from the state’s dual obligation: on one hand, to prosecute serious crimes effectively, and on the other, to ensure that individuals who assist Read more

The Legal Doctrine of Non Concurrence I. Introduction Law, as a rational system of order, constantly encounters situations where multiple rules, principles, or legal claims appear to apply simultaneously. The doctrine of non-concurrence emerges as a response to this challenge. Broadly speaking, it refers to the idea that certain rights, Read more

Retributive Justice: Concept, Foundations, and Critique I. Introduction Justice has been one of the most contested and enduring concerns of philosophy, law, and politics. Among the various models of justice—distributive, procedural, restorative, and retributive—the retributive approach occupies a particularly prominent role in the history of legal and moral thought. Retributive Read more

Homicide Degrees in Criminal Law Homicide is one of the most severe crimes within any legal system, for it involves the unlawful killing of a human being and directly threatens the sanctity of human life. Yet, despite its gravity, the law does not treat all homicides as identical. Instead, legal Read more

Qualifying Circumstances in Criminal Law I. Introduction Criminal law seeks to maintain public order, ensure justice, and deter harmful conduct by assigning sanctions proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Yet, not all crimes of the same legal classification bear the same weight in terms of culpability. A killing committed Read more

Counterfeit Notes as a Legal Problem I. Introduction Counterfeit notes—fraudulent imitations of legal tender—pose a serious legal, economic, and social challenge in modern societies. The issue is as old as money itself, but it has become increasingly sophisticated with the advent of digital printing technologies and globalized criminal networks. The Read more

Money Laundering as a Crime I. Introduction Money laundering has become one of the most pressing challenges of modern financial and criminal law. As globalization has expanded the reach of economic transactions and financial markets, criminals have also gained new opportunities to conceal illicit proceeds and integrate them into the Read more

Three Strikes Laws in the 1990s: Origins, Implementation, and Controversy I. Introduction The “Three Strikes” laws that proliferated across the United States in the 1990s represent one of the most emblematic and controversial elements of the tough-on-crime era. These laws mandated significantly harsher prison sentences—often life imprisonment—for individuals convicted of Read more