We estimate the causal effects of judges' exposure to communal violence during early childhood on pretrial detention rates by exploiting novel administrative data on judgments and detailed resumes of judicial officers born during 1955-1991. Our baseline result is that judges exposed to communal viol...
Judicial officers do not consistently include victim impact reports (VIRS) because of internal and external factors experienced in securing such victim impact reports. This results in the inconsistent inclusion of VIRS during the criminal justice process, which in turn hinders the promotion of victi...
The article examines the implications of the judgment of the Constitutional Court in Helen Suzman Foundation v Judicial Service Commission 2018 (7) BCLR 763 (CC) 8 on the functioning of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). The judgment has brought to the fore a new lease of life relating to the JS...
The Transvaal High Court was established in 1877. This was during the British annexation of the Transvaal (or Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek), which ended in 1881 with the signing of the Pretoria and (and later) London Conventions. The first judge of this court, John Gilbert Kotzé, reported some of the...
The techniques used in DNA profiling are well established and scientifically validated. The scientific validity of DNA evidence can, however, be so persuasive that such evidence risks being reduced to proof of guilt or innocence. Thus, the incorrect use of DNA evidence could lead to a miscarriage of...
The question this contribution sets out to address is whether or not law can be regarded as a science. This notion is readily accepted by many, yet it is submitted that a proper theoretical justification for such an assumption is usually missing. The traditional primary sources of law, South African...
The present study focuses on judicial officers coming from Constantinople to Thessalonike in the 11th century. The judge of the theme of Thessalonike was in charge of trying cases in the region. From the second fifth of the 11th century, however, his jurisdiction was extended to the greater financia...
The author offers a comprehensive overview of the judicial system as it operated in Safavid Iran. The first part discusses the long-standing tradition of direct appeal to the shah and how it evolved in the Safavid period. This is followed by an examination of the role and function of the divanbegi a...
This study was undertaken to address Iowa's inability to classify juveniles at risk of recidivism uniformly across the state by creating and testing a proposed risk assessment instrument. It was anticipated that the risk assessment instrument would be useful in not only providing the juvenile court...