Law, Cultural Diversity, and Criminal Defense PDF Download

Author: Craig L. Carr
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429015593
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
American legal scholars have debated for some time the need for a cultural defense in criminal proceedings where minority cultural information seems perti nent to a finding of criminal responsibility in situations where a minority cultural defendant has violated a valid criminal statute. This work presents a systematic analysis of this issue. Drawing from sociological, anthropological, and philosophical materials, as well as traditional legal discussions, the authors develop a scheme that indicates when cultural factors can be used as the basis for such a defense and when they are irrelevant to a finding of criminal responsibility. The argument moves from general concerns of social justice that apply under conditions of social and cultural pluralism to practical policy recommendations for the operation of American criminal justice. It thus connects more theoretical materials with the practical concerns of jurisprudence. The justification for legal recognition of a cultural defense in American criminal law is anchored firmly in American constitutional law.

Author: Will Kymlicka
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191664308
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The idea of a cultural defense in criminal law is often ridiculed as "multiculturalism run amok ". To allow someone charged with a crime to say "this is my culture " as an excuse for their action seems to open the door to cultural relativism, to jeopardize the protection of fundamental rights, and to undermine norms of individual responsibility. Many scholars, however, insist that cultural evidence is appropriate, indeed essential, for the fair operation of the criminal law. The criminal law is society's most powerful tool for regulating behaviour, and just for that reason we apply strong safeguards to ensure that criminal sanctions are applied in a fair way. When it comes to individuals, we want our rules for judging responsibility and punishment to track the actual blameworthiness of the specific individual being prosecuted for a specific action in the past. Cultural evidence may help improve our judgements of individual blameworthiness and desert; indeed, cultural evidence might even be necessary if the practice of punishing individuals is to be legitimate and equitable. According to its proponents, the use of cultural evidence when judging individual blameworthiness is a natural extension of the logic of existing criminal law doctrines regarding defences, and of the logic of current philosophical theories of responsibility and agency. This volume brings together scholars of both criminal law and philosophy to rigorously assess these ideas. Each of the chapters addresses a different dimension of the issue, from a range of perspectives, with varying degrees of sympathy or scepticism regarding cultural defences. The result is an important and original contribution to the literature. It explores why cultural diversity raises distinctive challenges in the criminal law context, not found in other domains of the multiculturalism debate, while also exploring how this particular context raises fundamental issues of agency and responsibility that are at the heart of broader debates in legal, social and political philosophy.

Author: Linda Friedman Ramirez
Publisher: Juris Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 1578232716
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 1156

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Book Description
The one essential treatise for representing immigrant and diverse clients, up to date with Padilla v Kentucky, with jurisprudence and practice tips relevant to all stages of representation, from interviewing clients to handling post conviction and relief. This treatise will be of interest to public defender offices as well as private practitioners.Keeping pace with the rapidly changing face of America, Cultural Issues in Criminal Defense -3rd edition is the complete reference guide to one of the most challenging and topical subjects in contemporary criminal law. Cultural Issues in Criminal Defense is an indispensable book for the criminal defense lawyer representing people from other cultures, nationalities or ethnic backgrounds. Lawyers defending these individuals face a host of characteristic concerns that include cultural barriers to communication, the need for qualified interpreters, unique Fourth and Fifth Amendment issues, cultural defenses, issues involving Native Americans, the immigration consequences of a conviction, and distinctive sentencing issues. Packed with practice tips and helpful precedent cases, Cultural Issues in Criminal Defense is the only book on the market that walks the practitioner through these issues in a clear, comprehensive and systematic way. Extensively updated and expanded for its third edition, the guide now includes chapters on stimulating new subjects such as consular assistance issues, gathering evidence abroad, language proficiency concerns and international prisoner transfers.

Author: Jorge L. Barón
Publisher: Juris Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 1578234409
Category : Alien criminals
Languages : en
Pages : 587

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Book Description
Cultural Issues in Criminal Defense discusses approaches to defending cultural issues. The cultural issues are not limited to differences between people of different countries, however. Cultural issues can arise within a country and amongst its people, within a means of collecting and investigating information, and within the way the society perceives the information. All of these factors affect how criminal defense practitioners prepare their cases - from consulting with their clients, to reviewing the investigation by law enforcement, anticipating what information may need to be suppressed, minimized, or emphasized, selecting the jury, attempting to manage how the media reports the information, the direct and cross-examination of witnesses, admission of evidence, and potentially appeal and post-conviction. Special features of this new edition include chapters on: --“Interviewing Immigrant Clients and Special Immigrant Relief for Crime Victims” --“Immigration Consequences of Criminal Convictions” --“Digital Defense: Meeting the Challenges that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Poses” --“A General Discussion of Some Cultural Issues from State of Florida v George Zimmerman.” This book is a helpful tool for any practitioner whether they have a criminal defendant in a case abroad, a case involving an immigrant defendant in the U.S., or a criminal case within the U.S. with a unique cultural issue.

Author: Lawrence Rosen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131529897X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Legal systems do not operate in isolation but in complex cultural contexts. This original and thought-provoking volume considers how cultural assumptions are built into American legal decision-making, drawing on a series of case studies to demonstrate the range of ways courts express their understanding of human nature, social relationships, and the sense of orderliness that cultural schemes purport to offer. Unpacking issues such as native heritage, male circumcision, and natural law, Rosen provides fresh insight into socio-legal studies, drawing on his extensive experience as both an anthropologist and a law professional to provide a unique perspective on the important issue of law and cultural practice. The Judgement of Culture will make informative reading for students and scholars of anthropology, law, and related subjects across the social sciences.

Author: Marie-Claire Foblets
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1847314813
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
As individuals travel across borders, societies have become more and more pluralistic. The result of increased migration is the interaction among cultural communities and inevitably clashes between state law and customary law. These cultural conflicts have given rise to a new multicultural jurisprudence. In this volume scholars grapple with the immense challenges judges are currently experiencing everywhere. To what extent can and should courts accommodate litigants' requests by taking their cultural backgrounds into account? This collection brings together powerful examples of the cultural defense in many countries in Western Europe, North America, and elsewhere. It shows the ubiquity of this defense, contrary to the mistaken impression that it has been invoked principally in the United States. This book makes the case for undertaking studies of the use of the cultural defense in jurisdictions all over the world where this has not been previously documented. Many of the chapters concentrate on criminal cases including homicide in the context of honour crimes, provocation based on 'loss of face' or witchcraft killings. Some deal with other areas of law such as asylum jurisprudence, family law and housing policy. They show in concrete cases how cultural claims have arisen and how legal systems wrestle with these arguments. It is clear that judges have had considerable difficulty handling many of the cultural claims. The authors demonstrate persuasively the need to reconsider the proper use of cultural evidence in legal proceedings. Those interested in the ways in which expertise influences the disposition of cases will find this book compelling.

Author: Thomas W. Church
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Actions and defenses
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Author: Will Kymlicka
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199676593
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
What place, if any, ought cultural considerations have when we blame and punish in the criminal law? Bringing together political and legal theorists, this text offers original and diverse discussions that go to the heart of both legal and political debates about multiculturalism, human agency, and responsibility --

Author: Joseph Avery
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793601046
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice system is much debated and discussed, but until now, no single volume has covered the full expanse of the issue. In Bias in the Law, sixteen outstanding experts address the impact of racial bias in the full roster of criminal justice actors. They examine the role of legislators crafting criminal justice legislation, community enforcers, and police, as well as prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, judges, and jurors. Understanding when and why bias arises, as well as how it impacts defendants requires a clear understanding how each of these actors operate. Contributions touch on other crucial topics—racialized drug stigma, legal technology, and interventions—that are vital for understanding how the United States has reached this moment of stark racial disparity in incarceration. The result is an important entry into understanding the pervasiveness of racial bias, how such bias impacts legal outcomes, and why such impact matters. This is an issue that is as relevant today as it was fifty—or even one hundred fifty—years ago, and collection editors Joseph Avery and Joel Cooper provide a glimpse at how to proceed.

Author: Noelle Higgins
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351718037
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
Cultural defences, i.e. claims that certain aspects of a defendant’s cultural background should be taken into consideration by courts when adjudicating on their guilt or innocence, have been raised before domestic courts in a variety of jurisdictions. This has been a very sensitive and controversial issue. However, the issue of cultural defences at international tribunals is one that has not yet been fully explored. The main objective of this book is to analyse if the International Criminal Court can, and should, accommodate cultural defences as answers to legal charges, or if the Court should accommodate cultural considerations in other ways.