Digital Commons Network^™

Old Wine In A New Bottle? – An Empirical Evaluation Of The Judicial Reforms In China In The 2010s, Peter C.H. Chan

UC Law SF International Law Review

This article provides an empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of the judicial reform measures implemented in China in the 2010s. Among other objectives, the reforms aimed to strengthen the independence of judges, the financial autonomy of courts and the professionalism of adjudicators. Critics have questioned the success of the reforms, citing continued government intervention with adjudication and unchanged structural problems with courts. To date, there has been limited empirical literature focusing specifically on the judicial reform measures in the 2010s in China. This article provides a glimpse into what really was happening on the ground since the reforms through the …

Injustice Anywhere: A Comparative Law Analysis Of Saudi Arabia’S Criminal Justice System, Cooper C. Millhouse

UC Law SF International Law Review

A narrow understanding of other nations’ judicial systems begets unsupported assumptions about the way a justice system should operate. While many western commenters have publicized the failures of Middle Eastern societies to protect individual rights, much of the existing literature fails to analyze the legal structures which perpetuate injustice and the motivations that keep the institutions in place. This article illuminates the goals Saudi Arabia’s justice system, inspects how those goals parallel the goals of other common law and civil law systems, and evaluates whether Saudi Arabia’s system is able to effectively accomplish its aims.

This article argues that Saudi …

Corruption And Merit In The African Higher Education System: Legal, Policy And Sociological Reflections, Cristiano D'Orsi

UC Law SF International Law Review

This article analyses, under legal, political, and sociological aspects, the plight of corruption in Higher Education in Africa. On one side, the fight against corruption on the continent seems to use a growing number of legal instruments, at all levels (international, regional, sub-regional and domestic) on the other hand, however, it clashes against rooted traditions and a common mentality that often seem to justify acts of corruption in African academia. Through my work, I shed light on this, at least apparent, dichotomy and to make a synthesis of the various positions that can be found in Africa regarding this sensitive …

Eu-China Fta: Enhanced Enforcement And Umbrella Coverage Of Anticorruption, Ron Brown

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Negotiating The Implementation Of Children’S Right To Life With Bashar Al-Assad Regime: International Law And The Syrian Humanitarian Crisis, Yuri Mantilla

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Law And The Struggle Against Government Impunity In Africa, John Mukum Mbaku

UC Law SF International Law Review

In recent years, impunity has become pervasive throughout most African countries. In some African countries, impunity is due to the inability of national governments to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to account for their crimes. In others, impunity arises from the unwillingness of government to utilize the existing legal system to bring criminals, whether they are state- or non-state actors, to justice. Effectively combatting impunity in Africa must begin with the reconstruction of African States to provide democratic institutions, which are capable of adequately constraining the government and preventing civil servants and political elites from acting with impunity; and …

The Origin And Role Of The Penitentiary In Brazil, Scandanavia, And The United States, Nitin Sapra

UC Law SF International Law Review

Modern penitentiaries offer valuable insight on the core of society’s sensibilities, perceptions, and values. They shed light on the relation between the State and the citizenry, particularly the lower classes. Beyond its explicit reformative goals to the criminal justice system, the penitentiary functions to affect social policy through norms of decency and respect for human rights. From the unique architectural choices to the minute logistical details, a government makes choices that intimately speak on how it views its most vulnerable groups of individuals. The origins of the penitentiary offer insight into the circumstances that interweave to organize the social fabric …

Miscarriages Of Justice In Chinese Capital Cases, Moulin Xiong, Michelle Miao

UC Law SF International Law Review

In recent years, the media exposure and judicial exoneration of wrongfully convicted defendants in a number of high-profile capital cases in China have attracted the attention of reformers, the general public, and policy makers—both domestic and international. Yet, until now, there has been merely a thin body of empirical literature on this salient research topic. This lack of academic attention is due to the political sensitivity of the topic and the lack of publicly-accessible data. This paper is aimed at filling this critical gap in the literature. Based on in-depth analysis of 122 deathsentenced innocents, of which 109 have been …

Background Checks And Employment Discrimination: Distant Parallels Between U.S. And Eu Privacy Regimes, Eugene Frid

UC Law SF International Law Review

In 2012, Halstead Management Company offered Kevin A. Jones a job as a doorman in New York City. After the company requested a criminal background check on Mr. Jones, his offer was rescinded. Although Mr. Jones had no criminal record, Sterling Infosystems, the large company tasked with doing the background check, mixed up his information with the information of Kevin M. Jones, a different man with at least three criminal convictions.

Why Reforms Alone Are Insufficient To Strengthen The Judiciary: A Case Study Of Guatemala's Judicial Selection Processes, Mirte Postema

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Victims, Violence, And Voice: Transitional Justice, Oral History, And Dealing With The Past, Anna Bryson

UC Law SF International Law Review

Transitional justice is concerned with the legal and social processes established to deal with the legacy of violence in post-authoritarian and post-conflict contexts. The interview-in different guises, contexts and settings-is at the heart of most transitional justice processes. Prosecutorial mechanisms, truth recovery commissions, assessments for reparations, applications for amnestyall of these and more are fueled by the art of one human being interviewing another and then presenting or "re-presenting" the material recorded, to make it "fit" with the broader transitional goals of a particular institution. Most transitional justice institutions are, in the final analysis, "creatures of law." They are typically …

Cultural Factors And Ethical Integrity, Jessica Vapnek

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Ethical Integrity: Challenges And Solutions, Morris A. Ratner

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Building Judicial Integrity In China, Hualing Fu

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Glass Ceiling For Female Professionals, Executives, And Managerial Employees In Japan: 30th Anniversary Of The Eeao And Prime Minister Abe's "Womenomics", Setsuo Miyazawa

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trafficking In Information: Evaluating The Efficacy Of The California Transparency In Supply Chains Act Of 2010, Alexandra Prokopets

UC Law SF International Law Review

The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 (CTSCA) took effect in January 2012. It was designed in an effort to eradicate forced labor and human trafficking in business supply chains, which the legislature recognized as violations of state, federal, and international law. The CTSCA does not forbid the sale of goods produced through trafficked labor. Instead, the CTSCA asks companies to disclose their labor practices to consumers in order to allow buyers to differentiate companies based on their efforts to supply products free from slavery and trafficking, which will in turn inform consumers' purchasing decisions and drive companies …

Historical Genealogy Of Japan's Judicial Reform: Its Achievements And Challenges, Shunsuke Marushima

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Redemption Deferred: Military Commissions In The War On Terror And The Charge Of Providing Material Support For Terrorism, Dana M. Hollywood

UC Law SF International Law Review

On June 24, 2011, the Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR) released its decision in the case of U.S. v. Hamdan, holding that material support for terrorism (MST) constitutes a law of war violation. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted certiorari and heard oral arguments in the case on May 3, 2012. The court released its decision on October 16, 2012, as this article was going to the publisher. This article argues that the charge of MST is not a violation of the law of war, and that is the conclusion ultimately reached by the D.C. Circuit. …

Circumstances That Would Prejudice Impartiality: The Meaning Of Fairness In Japanese Jurisprudence, Mark A. Levin

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Step In The Right Direction For Japan's Judicial Reform: Impact Of The Justice System Reform Council Recommendations On Criminal Justice And Citizen Participation In Criminal, Civil, And Administrative Litigation, Hiroshi Fukurai

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Japanese Legal Reform In Institutional, Ideological, And Comparative Perspective, Frank K. Upham

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of The Human Provincial Administrative Procedure Provisions, Peter Witherington

UC Law SF International Law Review

In April, 2008, Zhou Qiang, then the governor of Hunan Province (and current president of China's Supreme People's Court), presided over the adoption of the Hunan Provincial Administrative Procedure Provisions ("Provisions"). At its passage, this regulation represented the first comprehensive code of administrative procedure to be adopted in the People's Republic of China. This Note contends that Provisions represent a departure for administrative procedure in China, and should be viewed as a positive, if preliminary, step towards comprehensive rule of law.

Beginning with a brief overview of modern Chinese administrative law and its theoretical underpinnings, this Note presents the argument …

Successes, Failures, And Remaining Issues Of The Justice System Reform In Japan: An Introduction To The Symposium Issue, Setsuo Miyazawa

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Immigration, Crime, And Public Perception: Victimization Legislation In The United States And Canada - Can The U Visa Serve As A Model?, Bettina Rodriguez Schlegel

UC Law SF International Law Review

This Note compares the forces behind the creation and the implementation of crime victim visa legislation in the United States and Canada. Both are recognized globally as important immigrant-receiving nations with long histories of reliance on immigrant populations for economic growth and expansion. Both states have crafted immigration policies in line with their economic needs and societal perceptions of immigrants in relation to the dominant culture mores. This Note analyzes the two nation's historical trends in relation to immigration as a stepping stone towards understanding the current realities of immigrant life in North America and delves in to the impacts …

Prosecuting Heads Of State: Evolving Questions Of Venue - Where, How, And Why?, Masaya Uchino

UC Law SF International Law Review

This note surveys the different venues in which heads of state can be prosecuted. Heads of states have been tried in domestic courts, international criminal tribunals, and special "hybrid" courts. Each of these venues has a distinct set of procedures that provides different boundaries and rules for prosecutors and courts that are charging or trying a case. This note highlights how these differences can significantly impact the outcome of prosecutors' attempts to hold a head of state accountable for his crimes. To illustrate this, this note examines three very different examples of head of state prosecutions: Alberto Fujimori in Peru, …

Masculinity, Health, And Human Rights: A Sociocultural Framework, Shari L. Dworkin

UC Law SF International Law Review

This paper draws upon a sociocultural framework from masculinity studies and applies it to the case of men's health with the goal of providing the legal field with critical considerations that might shape a stronger future research agenda in the area of masculinity, rights, and health.

It is well recognized that gender inequality affects women, and that men enjoy numerous cultural and institutional privileges that negatively shape women's health outcome. These commonly understood drivers of women's poor health have led to crucial and much needed linkages between women's rights and health. However, men do not exclusively enjoy cultural and institutional …

Approaching Visible Justice: Procedural Safeguards For Mental Examinations In China's Capital Cases, Zhiyuan Guo

UC Law SF International Law Review

In 2008, the Yang Jia cop-killing case became both a national sensation and received worldwide attention. The ensuing vehement debate over Yang Jia's mental fitness and the legitimacy of mental examinations in the case served as the inspiration for this Article. Part I examines procedural flaws in the handling of Yang Jia's case, particularly problems with the mental examinations. Part II addresses the background issue: What led to the tragic disposition of Yang Jia's case? By providing a general overview of the existing legal provisions relating to mental examinations in criminal cases in China, the author concludes that it is …

The Law At War: Counterinsurgency Operations And The Use Of Indigenous Legal Institutions, Richard Morgan

UC Law SF International Law Review

Success in counterinsurgency campaigns requires the U.S. military to train, equip, and ultimately turn over responsibility for public safety to indigenous legal institutions. Doing so presents many challenges, as pragmatic concerns for operational security and use of intelligence as legal evidence must be reconciled with cultural differences and the weakness of indigenous legal institutions. This article argues, however, that such participation may be required under international law. Further, participation may help to legitimize counterinsurgency goals in the eyes of the local populace, and bring additional resources to military efforts. In order to realize such benefits, this article argues that military …

Addressing Judicial Activism In The Indian Supreme Court: Towards An Evolved Debate, Madhav Khosla

UC Law SF International Law Review

The Indian Supreme Court has invited a great deal of interest for its alleged activism and the role that it has begun to play in Indian governance. Recent years have been witness to substantial debate on the Court's functioning, with scholars positing views and raising concerns with considerable passion. This paper analyzes the judicial activism discourse in the Indian Supreme Court by focusing on the contributions of Professor Upendra Baxi. It argues that, despite the attention the Court has received on the question of judicial activism, the debate in this area has, for the most part, failed to engage with …

Law Across Borders: What Can The United States Learn From Japan, Eric A. Feldman

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.