Words matter: 'enduring intolerable suffering' and the provider-side peril of Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada.

Enduring intolerable suffering, an essential eligibility criterion in Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in Canada and elsewhere, is a contradiction in terms, in that suffering must be tolerable to be endured. Cases of people who were approved for MAiD but who elected to die naturally, thus tolerating their suffering, bear out the unreliability of this central safeguard. The clinical assessment of intolerable suffering may be strengthened by adopting a definition of intolerable suffering centred on clinically evidenced physical and psychological decompensation. This argument also raises important questions about the risks of MAiD clinicians subjectively defining, approving and providing MAiD in ways that deviate from accepted legal and clinical concepts and ethics. Examples show some prolific clinicians describe MAiD in terminology that differs from such norms, as a personal mission, as personally pleasurable, and as a rights-based service. These alternative views are explored for their risks in assessing and providing MAiD for intolerable suffering. This further demonstrates the need for conceptual clarity in legislation, improved vetting and monitoring of clinicians, and a different assessment process to protect patients and clinicians.

Hidden figures: how legal experts influence the design of international institutions.

Whose preferences influence the design of international institutions? Scholarship on the legalization of international politics and creation of international legal institutions largely adopts a state-centric perspective. Existing accounts, however, fail to recognize how states often delegate authority over institutional design tasks to independent legal experts whose preferences may diverge from those of states. We develop a principal-agent (PA) framework for theorizing relations between states (collective principals) and legal actors (agents) in the design process, and for explaining how legal actors influence the design of international institutions. The legal dimensions of the PA relationship increase the likelihood of preference divergence between the collective principal and the agent, but also create conditions that enable the agent to opportunistically advance its own design preferences. We argue that the more information on states' preferences the agent has, the more effectively it can exploit its legal expertise to strategically select and justify design choices that maximize its own preferences and the likelihood of states' acceptance. Our analysis of two cases of delegated institutional design concerning international criminal law at the United Nations and the African Union supports our theoretical expectations. Extensive archival and interview data elucidate how agents' variable information on states' preferences affects their ability to effectively advance their design preferences. Our theory reveals how independent legal experts with delegated authority over design tasks influence institutional design processes and outcomes, which has practical and normative implications for the legalization of international politics.

Abortion restrictions: the case for conscientious non-compliance on the part of providers.

This paper offers a qualified defence of physician non-compliance with antiabortion legislation in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The paper examines two ethically troubling trends of post-Dobbs legislation: narrow and vague maternal health exemption clauses and mandatory reporting of miscarriages in jurisdictions where patients may criminal prosecution for medically induced abortions. It then examines and defends a professional obligation on the part of physicians to comply with the law. This obligation, however, is defeasible. The paper then argues that physicians' obligations to comply with the law is defeated when the law is illegitimate and following the law would constitute bad medical practice. Finally, it argues that the ethically troubling trends in post-Dobbs antiabortion legislation may meet these criteria.

Jobs and Punishment: Public Opinion on Leniency for White-Collar Crime.

Governments routinely offer deals to companies accused of white-collar crimes, allowing them to escape criminal charges in exchange for fines or penalties. This lets prosecutors avoid costly litigation and protects companies' right to bid on lucrative public contracts, which can reduce the likelihood of bankruptcies or layoffs. Striking deals with white-collar criminals can be risky for governments because it could affect the perceived legitimacy of the legal system. This article explores the conditions under which the general public supports leniency agreements. Building on theoretical intuitions from the literature, we identify three characteristics that could affect mass attitudes: home bias, economic incentives, and retribution. We conduct a survey experiment in the United States and find moderate support for leniency agreements. Whether the crime occurs on US soil or abroad does not affect public opinion, and the number of jobs that would be jeopardized by criminal prosecution only has a small effect. Instead, survey respondents become much more supportive of a deal when it includes criminal charges for the corporate managers who were personally involved in the alleged wrongdoing. In the court of public opinion, punishing a handful of individuals appears to matter more than saving thousands of jobs.

Early phase psychosis and criminal conviction in United States adults.

AIM: Individuals experiencing early phase psychosis (EPP) are at increased risk for legal involvement. In prior studies, between 14% and 75% of individuals with EPP reported a history of criminal offending behaviour, criminal charges, or criminal convictions. To better understand the frequency of criminal conviction in a specialty treatment clinic serving EPP clients, the research team supplemented self-reported data from the clinic intake with information from publicly available databases. METHODS: In this sample of 309 adults, approximately one quarter of patients (n = 76) self-reported a history of arrest, incarceration, probation, or parole within 6 months of enrolment in a treatment clinic. The research team expanded upon this and collected data from a public database of court proceedings in Indiana for all clinic participants before and after enrolment. RESULTS: Thirty-nine percent (n = 122) had three or more traffic tickets or a conviction for an ordinance violation, misdemeanour, or felony in the state of Indiana as an adult. This is over two times the national average. Drug and alcohol related convictions were the most common single conviction type, and 29% (n = 89) of subjects experienced at least one incarceration. CONCLUSIONS: These data highlight the need for specialty clinics to partner with professionals with expertise in the prevention and management of criminal behaviour. Future studies should examine risk factors for individuals experiencing EPP and criminal conviction.

Evidence-based sentencing and scientific evidence.

Evidence-based sentencing (EBS) is a new name for an aspiration that has deep roots in criminal law: to apply the sentence most appropriate to each offender's risk of reoffending, in order to reduce that risk as far as possible. This modern version of the traditional sentencing goals of rehabilitation and incapacitation fits into the broader approach of so-called "evidence-based public policy." It takes the view that the best existing evidence for reducing reoffending are modern structured risk assessment tools and claims to be able to achieve several goals at once: reducing reoffending, maintaining high levels of public safety, making more efficient use of public resources, and moving criminal policy away from ideological battles by basing it on the objective knowledge provided by the best available scientific evidence. However, despite the success of this approach in recent years, it is not clear to what extent it succeeds in correctly assessing the risk of individual offenders, nor whether it achieves its intended effect of reducing recidivism. This paper aims to critically examine these two issues: the quality of the scientific evidence on which EBS is based, and the available data on the extent to which it achieves (or does not achieve) its intended goals.

The concept of reasons for eliminating corporate crime in criminal law in Indonesia.

Following Indonesian criminal law, courts may not find defendants or offenders guilty for various grounds known as illegal abolition reasons. There are two justifications and grounds for forgiveness for abolishing crimes under the Indonesian Criminal Code. The justification for abolishing this punishment is solely applicable to human legal subjects. Contrarily, despite being acknowledged as criminal law subjects, legal entities, in this case companies, have not been subject to severe regulation. This study attempts to gain a general understanding of and examine the causes of corporate criminal offenses under Indonesian criminal law. A statutory approach and a conceptual approach are used in the research method, which is normative juridical. These approaches are then examined utilizing secondary data and qualitative data analysis techniques. The study's findings demonstrate that the justifications can cover corporate law topics for criminal write-offs. Due to the legal ramifications of classifying companies as criminal law subjects, the justifications for criminal write-offs also apply mutatis mutandis to concerns involving people. The reasons for outlawing the crime in Article 50 of the Draft Criminal Code have been considered. Still, related to the reasons for pardoning as outlined in the article, they do not correspond to the features of corporations. In this study, the authors develop the idea of justifications that adhere to the theory and characteristics of corporations, such as the corporation does not receive profits, acts committed by agents outside of the authority granted by the corporation, and the corporation has complied with its obligations to prevent corporate crime from occurring.

Virtual emotions and Criminal Law.

This article examines the role that Criminal Law should play in regulating the non-therapeutic use of immersive Virtual Reality (VR), specifically its massive use by consumers. The starting point has been to consider VR as an intermediate risk scenario, for the purposes of Criminal Law, between the criminality entirely generated in the physical world and that developed in the 2D digital environments [cybercrimes and criminality linked to social networks and persuasive Artificial Intelligence (AI)]. Firstly, specialize literature has been analyzed to establish the nature of virtual reality. From a technical standpoint, virtual reality is a neurotechnology infused with high-risk artificial intelligence; an inseparable synthesis of non-invasive neurotechnology and a set of AI systems, considered high-risk for the fundamental rights of citizens. From the perspective of its functioning, VR is a "transformative" neurotechnology capable of altering what people perceive as reality. This is possible, because its realism lies in the emotional immersion of the user in the virtual experience, similarly to how our brain functions. Therefore, the key idea in the immersive functioning of virtual reality is its capacity to evoke and modify human emotions, which results its greater harmful potential compared to the 2D environment. From there, three central and specific areas of (legally unaddressed) risk arise: (1) the special comprehensive nature of the data collected and stored during its use; (2) its ability to mentally reproduce the "physical" experience of the avatar in the user; and (3) its significant capacity to manipulate individuals. Secondly, the paper examines both the reported cases and the foreseeable criminality in virtual worlds or "proto-metaverse," focusing on the three risk areas, and exemplifying them with attacks on mental privacy, sexual freedom, and consumer manipulation. Finally, it is proposed that Criminal Law should also intervene (as soon as possible) to define the "red lines" of massive virtual reality use by citizens. With a democratic and human-centered approach, a basic legal framework is outlined for the criminalization of specific harms and risks associated with virtual reality, adapting the existing legal framework as necessary.

An empirical study of the use of neuroscience in sentencing in New South Wales, Australia.

While neuroscience has been used in Australian courts for the past 40 years, no systematic empirical study has been conducted into how neuroscientific evidence is used in courts. This study provides a systematic review on how neuroscientific evidence is considered in sentencing decisions of New South Wales criminal courts. A comprehensive and systematic search was conducted on three databases. From this search, 331 relevant sentencing decisions before 2016 that discussed neuroscientific evidence were examined. The findings of this study suggest that neuroscientific evidence appeared to contribute to sentencing decisions in less than half of the cases examined; and in the majority of these, it supported a more lenient sentence.

Identifying deficits in Ukrainian law: Forensic psychiatry misuse in proceedings of administrative offenses.

Ukraine is actively denouncing and abandoning its Soviet legacy, with the legal process of decommunization being at the forefront of this process.1 However, despite Ukraine's ongoing judiciary reformation process amplified by the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, Ukraine's legal system still contains inherited Soviet legal deficiencies that allow for human rights violations. Some of the most glaring deficiencies relate to the rules and regulations for assigning and conducting forensic psychiatric examinations in cases of administrative offenses. With an aim to aid Ukraine in eliminating present legal deficiencies that allow for violations of human rights, here we discuss current definitions, rules, and regulations concerning appointment and execution of forensic psychiatric examinations in cases of administrative law violations. We place particular emphasis in our discussion on the European Court for Human Rights case "Zaichenko v Ukraine, No 2", and the reform bill that followed this case. This case is an 'in vivo' illustration of how Ukraine's legal deficiencies have created grounds for the violation of individual human rights. Our assessment of the current rules and regulations for assigning and conducting forensic psychiatric examinations in proceedings of administrative offenses reveals that the legal deficiencies persist. The proposed reform bill is thus a highly warranted initiative, which however has several issues in its formulations and fails to address a few of the worst existing deficiencies. Ukraine's legislators must do further work to put through reforms that will safeguard individuals from unjustified forensic psychiatric examinations.

Neurotechnology to reduce recidivism: Ethical and legal challenges.

Crime comes with enormous costs, not only financial but also in terms of loss of mental and physical health and, in some cases, even loss of life. Recidivism is responsible for a considerable percentage of the crimes, and therefore, society deems reducing recidivism a priority. To reduce recidivism, several types of interventions can be used, such as education and employment-focused rehabilitation programs which are intended to improve psychological and social factors. Another way to prevent reoffending is to influence the offender's brain functions. For example, medication can be offered to treat delusions or to diminish sexual drive. In the near future, innovative neurotechnologies are expected to improve prediction and prevention of reoffending. Potential positive effects of such neurotechniques include a safer society and earlier release of prisoners who are no longer "at high risk" to relapse into criminal behavior. Meanwhile, employing these neurotechniques in the criminal justice system raises fundamental concerns, for example, about autonomy, privacy and mental integrity. This chapter aims to identify some of the ethical and legal challenges of using neurotechnologies to reduce recidivism.

Introduction: On brain and crime.

Crime is a complex phenomenon involving many factors, among which are situational and societal factors. What counts as a crime may also vary across space and time. Often, it is the interplay of several factors that may lead to criminal behavior. Scientifically, brain function is important to consider, first of all because the brain is central to behavior as such, including criminal behavior. Second, because there is increasing evidence for the relevance of specific brain dysfunctions in some criminal behavior, particularly developmental findings related to nonadaptive behavior. Many of our behavioral tendencies are rooted in our childhood (experiences), and this, it appears, is also, at least to some extent, true for nonadaptive behavior. This chapter considers several overarching issues regarding the relationship between-and the science of-brain and crime, some from a conceptual, some from a legal, and others from a developmental perspective.

Video-Based AAL and Intimate Pictures - Criminal Liability in European, Irish, and Polish Law.

Active and Assisted Living (AAL) technologies offer solutions for addressing healthcare challenges associated with ageing societies and a shortage of care personnel. At the same time, these technologies raise significant privacy issues, which may constitute a barrier to the sustainable adoption and acceptance of AAL. In particular, concerns arise from the presence of cameras in intimate situations, including nudity, and the potential production and dissemination of intimate pictures, which constitutes a risk for AAL users. The paper compares the regimes of criminal liability for making and disseminating intimate pictures under EU, Irish, and Polish law. The study aims to help AAL users understand their legal protection, and give providers and developers more insight into their legal responsibilities. The paper first presents different understandings of an intimate picture in each jurisdiction, followed by a discussion of what the crime entails and who may be liable for it. The conclusion includes a checklist of rules concerning criminal liability, which may be useful for AAL users and providers, and conclusions de lege ferenda.

Trastornos de la comunicación en el sistema penitenciario: una revisión sistemática / Communication disorders in the correctional system: a systematic review

Objetivos: La buena comunicación es fundamental para la resolución de los conflictos sociales, especialmente en una comunidad cerrada, como es el caso de las cárceles. Cuando la comunicación se interrumpe a causa de situaciones como pérdidas de audición o dificultades de coordinación, de voz, de lenguaje, de fluidez o la alteración de alguno de los diversos sistemas biológicos, la causa puede ser los denominados trastornos de la comunicación humana. Esta revisión tuvo como objetivo identificar los trastornos de comunicación más comunes entre personas privadas de libertad. Material y método: Revisión sistemática a través de bases de datos de aquellos estudios que analizan reclusos con trastornos de la comunicación en los últimos 38 años. Después de leer sus títulos y resúmenes y aplicar los criterios de elegibilidad, 25 artículos fueron seleccionados e incluidos en la revisión final. Resultados: Se evaluó una muestra de 2.188 individuos. Dos estudios se realizaron solo con poblaciones femeninas, mientras que 12 usaron muestras masculinas, y 11 artículos tuvieron una población mixta. Todos los estudios incluidos evaluaron los trastornos del lenguaje y la comunicación en general, siendo más frecuente las dificultades con el lenguaje. No hay estudios en inglés que evalúen los trastornos del lenguaje y la comunicación en personas encarceladas de países africanos, latinoamericanos o asiáticos. Discusión: Las personas privadas de libertad presentan una alta frecuencia de trastornos del lenguaje y la comunicación, por lo que terminan siendo más vulnerables dentro del sistema penitenciario. Los logopedas son miembros importantes del personal judicial, y mejoran la salud, el bienestar y la participación de las personas en contacto o en riesgo de contacto con el sistema judicial a través de la prevención, la detección temprana, la evaluación y el tratamiento de los trastornos de la comunicación. (AU)

Objectives: Good communication is essential for resolving social conflicts, especially in closed communities such as prisons. When communication is interrupted by factors such as hearing loss or difficulties in coordination, voice, language, fluency, or disruption of any of the biological systems required to communicate, Human Communication Disorders can appear. This review aimed to identify the most prevalent communication disorders amongst prison inmates. Material and method: Systematic review through databases of studies that analyze individual inmates with communication disorders over the last 38 years. After reading the titles and abstracts and applying the eligibility criteria, 25 articles were selected and included in the final review. Results: A sample of 2,188 individuals was evaluated, two studies were conducted with a female population only, while twelve studied exclusively males, and 11 articles had a mixed population. All the studies included evaluated language and communication disorders in general, with language impairment being more prevalent There are no English language studies evaluating language and communication disorders in incarcerated individuals from African countries, Latin America or Asia. Discussion: Inmates have a high prevalence of language and communication disorders, and thus end up being more vulnerable within the prison system. Speech therapists are important members of the legal workforce and improve the health, well-being and participation of people in contact with or at risk of contact with the judicial system through the prevention, early detection, assessment and treatment of communication disorders. (AU)

Workplace Violence Against Nurses in Canada: A Legal Analysis.

Workplace violence against nurses is a significant global occupational health problem, with incidents of violence increasing in frequency since the COVID-19 pandemic began. In this article, we provide a review of recent legislative amendments meant to bolster workplace safety in health care in Canada, analyze legal cases where nurses were the victims of violence, and discuss what these legal reforms and decisions reveal about how nurses' work is treated within the Canadian legal system. Under criminal law, the limited number of cases we could find with oral or written sentencing decisions show that, historically, the fact a victim was a nurse was not always considered an aggravating factor on sentencing. Recent legislative amendments make this a specified aggravating factor and it is important to track the impact of these amendments when judges exercise their discretion in sentencing. Under employment law, it appears that, despite the government's efforts to increase the deterrence factor under legislation with significantly increased fines for employers who fail to protect their employees from injury, courts remain reluctant to impose such sanctions. In these cases, it is also important to track the impact of harsher penalties. We conclude that combating the widespread normalization of workplace violence in health care, and specifically against nurses, is acutely needed to help ensure that these ongoing legal reforms aimed at improving the safety of health workers are effective.

Mechanical Choices: A Compatibilist Libertarian Response.

Michael S. Moore defends the ideas of free will and responsibility, especially in relation to criminal law, against several challenges from neuroscience. I agree with Moore that morality and the law presuppose a commonsense understanding of humans as rational agents, who make choices and act for reasons, and that to defend moral and legal responsibility, we must show that this commonsense understanding remains viable. Unlike Moore, however, I do not think that classical compatibilism, which is based on a conditional understanding of the ability to do otherwise, provides a sufficiently robust account of free will, even when it is amended as Moore suggests. I argue that free will and responsibility can be defended more robustly by observing that, at the level of agency, there can be alternative possibilities and mental causation in a stronger sense than recognized by classical compatibilism, even if physical determinism is true. Moore's arguments could thus be strengthened by embracing this compatibilist libertarian position. At the same time, I note that, although the idea of responsibility is robustly defensible, there are independent reasons for rejecting a retributivist approach to punishment.

Gestación por sustitución ¿y Derecho penal? / [Surrogacy and criminal law?]

La gestación por sustitución es una vía para poder tener descendencia que, en nuestro país no es aceptada y ello nos ha llevado a un alto turismo reproductivo cuyas consecuencias derivan en una inseguridad jurídica inaceptable en un Estado Social y Democrático como el nuestro; inseguridad que alcanza incluso al ordenamiento penal. Por ello, se hace necesario una aproximación a este fenómeno, sus consecuencias y posibles soluciones. (AU)

Surrogacy is a way to have offspring that is not accepted in our country and this has led to a high level of reproductive tourism whose consequences lead to unacceptable legal uncertainty in a Social and Democratic State like ours; insecurity that even reaches the penal system. Therefore, an approach to this phenomenon, its consequences and possible solutions is necessary. (AU)

Prosecutors, Judges, and the Punishment of Mental Illness.

People with mental illnesses are markedly overrepresented in U.S. jails and prisons. Although a variety of factors account for this overrepresentation, punitive actions by prosecutors and judges in response to behaviors caused by mental illness play an important role. A recent Maryland case illustrates how such actions can occur, with excessive charges filed against a woman whose behavior was clearly related to a mental health crisis and the imposition of a disproportionate sentence. Educating prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges about the nature and consequences of mental illnesses is an essential step toward mitigating the punitive approach of the current U.S. criminal legal system.

The United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, neuroscience, and criminal legal capacity.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires states parties to 'recognize that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life.' This mandate has sparked debate about the interpretation of legal capacity, including within the criminal context as applied to the retrogressively named 'insanity defense.' Yet, under-examined are two questions: First, what defenses should defendants with psychosocial disabilities be able to invoke during criminal prosecutions? Second, what kind of evidence is consistent with, on the one hand, determining a defendant's decision-making capacity to establish culpability and, on the other hand, the right to equal recognition before the law? Developments in neuroscience offer a unique prism to grapple with these issues. We argue that neuroscientific evidence of impaired decision-making, insofar as it presents valid and interpretable diagnostic information, can be a useful tool for influencing judicial decision-making and outcomes in criminal court. In doing so, we oppose the argument espoused by significant members of the global disability rights community that bioscientific evidence of psychosocial disability should be inadmissible to negate criminal responsibility. Such a position risks more defendants being punished harshly, sentenced to death, and placed in solitary confinement.