Forensic neuropsychology: Role and significance in judicial system

Forensic neuropsychology derived from clinical neuropsychology. This area not only relies on neuropsychological approach and practice and principals of brain structure and functions, but also on the contribution of diagnostic methods of brain visualization (neuroimaging). In the last decade, large number of books that deal with this topic has been published, mostly by American authors, just as a Journal of Forensic Neuropsychology dedicated to this field has started issuing. There are more and more demands in the world from judges and lawyers that neuropsychologists should provide services of quantifying and evaluating the severeness of cognitive deficits of respondents. In most cases, it is being asked of neuropsychologist to provide expertise based on clinical observation and results of neuropsychological examinations about the connection of individual cognitive functioning and behavior and special brain localization, as well as to provide the evaluation of the level of cognitive impairments. Unfortunately, official educational and training program in this field doesn't exist in Serbia, so a specific licence is not required. Also, there is a lack of professional organization that would gather forensic neuropsychologists. Practitioners that firstly obtained the status of graduated psychologists and then were educated in the field of clinical neuropsychology are the ones who deal with this area. In our country the role of forensic neuropsychologist is still not recognised enough, just as the possible significance these experts might have in judicial processes isn't. Topics that are being most focused on in the scope of forensic neuropsychology are ethical questions, the evaluation of validity of symptoms with special emphasis on evaluating effort that is being put on examination and the precense of potential malingering, There are significant differences between clinical and forensic neuropsychology. Clinical neuropsychology determines the presence of impairment in cognitive functioning, while the main goal of forensic neuropsychology is to provide answers to the legal questions. That key difference between goals leads to different presumptions, roles, alliances and methods. The results of clinical and forensic examinations are demanded and used by different scientists. Clincal evaluation is mostly demanded by experts who deal with treating and rehabilitating people with neuropsychological impairments or brain injuries, while forensic evaluation is being demanded and used by legal institutions. Efficient use of neuropsychological principles as an answer on forensic questions requires clinical skills, critical thinking and close connection to the scientific principles. With double focus on clinical psychology and neurology, neuropsychologists can contribute to the legal system not only by their understanding of neuroanathomy and neuropathology, but also with their capability to objectively document how neuropathological conditions affect thinking, memory and decision making process, which is, by far, the most important.

Green criminology - revisiting: Reflections, connections, horizons

This paper traces aspects of the development of a 'green' criminology. It starts with personal reflections and then describes the emergence of explicit statements of a green criminological perspective. Initially these statements were independently voiced in different parts of the world but they reflected shared concerns. These works have found unification as a 'green', 'eco-global' or 'conservation' criminology. The paper reviews the classifications available when talking about not only legally - defined crimes but also legally perpetrated harms, as well as typologies of such harms and crimes. It then looks at the integration of 'green' and 'traditional' criminological thinking before briefly exploring four dimensions of concern for today and the future.

Public prosecutor's decision not to conduct criminal prosecution and to abandon criminal prosecution: Introduction of the ruling of abandoning criminal prosecution

In preliminary proceedings, for which for the purposes of this paper we mean part of the procedure in which authority conducting proceedings is public prosecutor, prosecutor's offices in Serbia have been making decisions for ten years that according to the CPC they can not make. First, decisions of dismissal of criminal complaint are made when the prosecutor, after undertaking criminal prosecution in preliminary proceedings for criminal offences for which a fine or a term of imprisonment of up to eight years shall be prescribed as the principal penalty, determines that there is not a sufficient degree of probability that the defendant committed the crime. Second mistake is the decision of dismissal of criminal complaint in a situation when the criminal proceedings began by the issuance of a ruling ordering detention before submitting a motion to indict in summary proceedings. The third mistake is issuing an order discontinuing the investigation after the conclusion of the investigation. In the first and third case, a decision to abandon criminal prosecution should be made and in the second case, the public prosecutor should submit a statement of abandoning criminal prosecution to the judge for the preliminary proceedings after which that judge will issue a ruling discontinuing criminal proceedings.

Principle of legality and crime against humanity proceedings in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The paper deals with the principle of legality from the perspective of crime against humanity proceedings in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). During the armed conflict in BiH many war crimes were committed, among all others, a lot of crimes against humanity. In the time when the crimes were committed, a crime against humanity was not prescribed by the in effect criminal code. Despite that fact, criminal courts in BiH convicted numerous offenders for crimes against humanity on the basis of its prescription in international law. That led the author to the question: what was the path of crime against humanity proceedings in BiH? In the first part of the paper, the author gives an overview on the matter of jurisdiction for crime against humanity in BiH and position of principle of legality in the BiH legal system. That part also contains the insight into the main characteristics of the principle of legality's understanding in different legal traditions, but also the insight into this principle understanding in the international (criminal) law. In the second part, the author analyses Court of BiH's judgments in order to find out what was the source of law used by this court for its crime against humanity convictions. Thereafter, the author analyses Constitutional Court of BiH's decisions related to the alleged breach of BH Constitution and ECHR in relation to the principle of legality regarding crime against humanity proceedings. At the end, the paper gives the overview of ECtHR case law related to the crime against humanity proceedings in BiH - Šimšić v. BiH and Maktouf and Damjanović v. BiH cases. In the last part, the author, taking into consideration understanding the principle of legality in BiH legal tradition, presents the main conceptual problems that were raised from the crime against humanity proceedings in BiH.

Violation of labour rights and social security rights: The problems in practice and the need for revision

The aim of the paper is to determine the main characteristics of the crime in question. It was pointed out that this is a criminal norm that provides protection to labor relations in a general way, i.e. workers' rights. Therefore, there are numerous ambiguities in judicial practice, mostly concerning the legal qualification of the violation of labor regulations and issues of proper application of the ne bis in idem principle. The paper specifically points to de lege ferenda legal solutions that would aim to more clearly determine the scope of labor rights that are protected by the relevant criminal norm.

The presumption of innocence in EU law: One step forward, two steps backwards

The topic of the paper is the presumption of innocence in EU law and the case law of the Court of Justice EU. The paper begins by outlining legal regulation of the presumption of innocence in the Charter of fundamental rights of the EU and the Directive on certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings. The second part of the paper analyzes the case law of the Court of Justice EU in the application of the Directive with special reference to the presumption of innocence standards of the European Court of Human Rights. The paper points out the minimalistic orientation of the CJEU regarding the presumption of innocence, which in some elements lowers the standards of protection offered by ECtHR. Low standards threaten to produce a domino effect on the criminal courts in EU member states, which could create a risk to the presumption of innocence as a guarantee of the legitimacy of criminal proceedings.

Criminal offense "violation of a grave" in the judicial practice of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina

The subject of this paper is the analysis of court proceedings conducted in connection with the criminal offense of violation of a grave (Article 354 CC) which were held before the courts on the territory of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The analysis covers all finalized court cases of the aforementioned courts for the period from 01.01.2010. (i.e. from the introduction of the current organization of courts in the Republic of Serbia) to 01.07.2018. The research is primarily focused on the statistical presentation and analysis of data obtained from court decisions (which the author independently obtained from courts in original, raw form), as well as the identification of relevant criminal (material and procedural) and criminological characteristics. On the basis of the totality of the results, different regularities were noticed, with regard to the spatial and temporal distribution of the court proceedings, the types of court decisions, the type and amount of criminal sanctions imposed, as well as with regard to the characteristics of the perpetrators of the criminal offense in question. As a unifying conclusion, it can be stated that the crime of violation of a grave is relatively less represented in the practice of courts in the territory of AP Vojvodina, and that its spatial and temporal distribution is uneven (due to the absence of more specific regularities considering criminal expression). The penal policy regarding the crime in question can be characterized as in principle harmonized with the one at the level of the entire state regarding the same criminal offense. On the other hand, it is noticeable that the mentioned penal policy is somewhat stricter in relation to the general penal policy of the courts in the Republic of Serbia. However, this factual situation is potentially somewhat relativized by the specific features of the analyzed court proceedings (above all, the high percentage of recidivism and the frequent presence of other aggravating circumstances), as well as by the fact that all prison sentences were imposed only in the lower third of the envisaged range of the sentence (from one month to one year, although this criminal offense is punishable by up to three years in prison). Regarding the characteristics of the prosecuted perpetrators, it is noticeable that the convicts for the crime of violation of a grave were mainly nationals, and dominated by: adults over juvenile offenders; male over female; general recidivists over special recidivists; persons without education, with primary and secondary education over (non-existent) highly educated offenders; unemployed persons and persons without permanent employment over permanent employees. Considering possible strategies for prevention, it was concluded that important criminogenic factors are the low level of education of most perpetrators and their unfavorable socio-economic status, which gives grounds for assuming that timely educational work and providing conditions for improving their material opportunities could achieve significant results in the domain of both general and special prevention, especially in relation to the identified most risky categories of potential perpetrators (recidivists, illiterate persons, persons without primary education and persons in a state of severe social vulnerability).

The right to a reasoned order on determination of special evidentiary actions and (critical) review of the practice of the European court of human rights

Increasingly dangerous, and internationally distributed, (organized) crime has caused the need for states to find adequate means to put an end to all this. Of course, today, as many years before, we can hear that criminals are "one step ahead of the state." That, when we look at the situation around us, is unfortunately not far from the truth. However, faced with this problem, states at the normative level, in order to anticipate criminal behavior, as well as, if the crime has already been committed, to reliably identify the perpetrators, stipulate (besides general evidentiary actions) special evidentiary actions/techniques in national legislation. That is quite legitimate. However, when the state prescribes certain rules, or conditions under which certain (evidentiary) actions must be taken, then it is more than unusual that state does not respect what it has prescribed. In the following lines, we were dealing with special evidentiary actions, predominantly the general characteristics of the same and in connection with them the practice of the ECtHR. All this with the aim of trying to present (from our point of view) a plausible practice, with the hope that we will break with the previous one, which in our opinion is not good.

The influence of criminal career on the manner of perpetrating street robbery

Street development is a form of development and content of all elements of a significant criminal offense and was committed against one or more persons, who walked, known or unknown to the executor, performed in public places that should become proposed, parks, public garages, entrances and stairs in residential buildings, etc.). They belong to the more frequent types of robbery, characterized by less sophistication in execution and direct confrontation that determines the quantity of fear suffered, the scope and intensity of the studied consequences. The aim of the research was to examine the influence of the previous experience of the perpetrators of the robbery on the way of choosing the victim, the place of victimization and the presence of other persons who would be in the immediate or close environment of the street robbery victim. The sample consisted of 42 respondents who committed street robbery out of 120 examined perpetrators of the crime of robbery and serious cases of robbery and robbery, who were serving a prison sentence in the penitentiary in Sremska Mitrovica. Data were collected through an anonymous survey. The results show that there will be differences in the approach to victim first choice, place of execution, internal and external presence of others, between executor who have already and those who have no previous experience in development research. The executors of robbery who have already committed this act are not more inclined to type a potential victim, but they would rather decide to immediately commit a street robbery by encountering a victim with whom the "prey" is visually noticeable. When choosing the place where the crime was committed, they are more inclined to emphasize the possibility of safe removal, but they are more inclined to say that when they commit the crime at night, it will still be in a place that is not lit. Experience predisposes them to pay less attention to the external presence of other persons, while perpetrators who commit robbery for the first time give priority to victimization when the victim is alone. Proper understanding of these indicators can contribute to the qualitative improvement of the analysis, which will facilitate our identification of key starting points in the selection of the best solutions for effective intervention, in order to reduce street robberies.

Police in the Hungarian criminal proceedings

The police play a key role in the Hungarian criminal justice system. In addition to the legality supervision and effective professional management of the prosecution, the police have performed investigative tasks, which has procedural autonomy in initiating differentiated procedural methods in the reconnaissance and examination phase. The investigation consists of reconnaissance and investigation. In contrast, in the examination phase, they work under the direction of the prosecution. In addition to the general police, there are special police bodies in the country that do not have investigative powers but can take part in the preparatory process at the initial stage of the investigation, in particular by collecting data to establish the suspicion of a crime. Such bodies are the National Defense Service for Internal Corruption and Terrorism and the Counter-Terrorism Center. In our article, we provide an overview of the role of the police in a state organization. In accordance with that, we analyze the police's law enforcement role, outline the investigative activities of the Hungarian police and their tasks in criminal proceedings.