Critically consider all arguments concerning spousal compellability and conclude whether or not it is justifiable.

In 1940, Wigmore described the rule that spouses should not be compellable as: �the merest anachronism, in legal theory, and an indefensible obstruction to truth, in practice.� 1 Whereas Lord Wilberforce stated: �to allow her to give evidence would give rise to discord and perjury and would be, to ordinary people, repugnant.�2 These are two very differing opinions, highlighting the fact that spousal compellability is a highly debatable area of law. Under section 80 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 19843 (PACE), spouses are non-compellable unless the offence is one which is specified.4 This spousal privilege has sparked intense criticism and renders the justification questionable. Utilising academic opinion, case authority and relevant sources, I will critically consider all arguments concerning spousal compellability and conclude whether or not I think it is justifiable. Hoskyn v Metropolitan Police Commissioner5was the first significant step towards the PACE. This case concerned a marriage two days before the trial date, the defendant was convicted and he appealed on the grounds that his wife should not have been a compellable witness. The House of Lords ruled that when her husband is charged with violence against her, she is competent but not compellable. There were dissenting judges and vast criticism because of this decision and this

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Annotated Bibliography - Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States

Becca Robinson 6 March, 2012 EN 102 Professor Miller Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States Campbell, Michael C. "Criminal Disenfranchisement Reform in California." Punishment & Society 9.2 (2007): 177-199. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. The United States denies voting rights to ex-convicts, parolees, probationers and prisoners on a scale incomparable among democratic nations. State laws concerning voting eligibility differ from no disenfranchisement in some states, to permanent disenfranchisement in others. Little historical research exists explaining how and why certain states have retained disenfranchisement while others have revised these laws. This article discusses California as a seemingly excellent example of reform in order to improve current explanations of disenfranchisement. Through widespread research and a content analysis of a key media source, this article explains how and why California changed its disenfranchisement laws in 1974. The results suggest that repeal of disenfranchisement may be related to the actions and framing strategies of reformers and the presence of advocacy organization. The article discusses which states currently practice felon disenfranchisement making it a great reference when needing examples and statistics on the topic. (145) Dinan, John. "The Adoption of Criminal Disenfranchisement Provisions in the

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The Effects of Crime

The Effects of Crime Sociology of Criminology SOC047 0/03/2005 Abstract "A hate crime, or also known as a bias crime, is a criminal or violent offense committed against a person, property, or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin" (Siegel, 2006). The effects of hate crime within a society could lead to fear, insecurity, and low self esteem in individual members of it. The impact effects these crimes portray on minorities are felt immediately, and a prime example of it is gay bashing. We cannot talk about how much hate crime really exists in the United States or what to do about it until we are clear about what a hate crime is. This viewpoint shows us that the concept of hate crime is loaded with ambiguity because of the difficulty of determining what is caused by prejudice; which prejudices qualify for inclusion under the hate crime umbrella; which crimes, when attributable to prejudice, become hate crimes; and how strong the causal link must be between the perpetrator's prejudice and criminal conduct. "Hate" crime is not really about hate, but about bias or prejudice. We all have prejudices for and against individuals, groups, foods, countries, weather and so forth. Sometimes these prejudices are rooted in experience, sometimes in fantasy,

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act and omission in criminal law

Principles of Criminal Law SLW9502 Written Coursework Assignment Topic 3 Discuss the rationale(s) for differentiating between act and omission in criminal law, with reference to the situations in which a person can be criminally liable for an omission under Hong Kong law. I declare that the assignment here submitted is original except for source material explicitly acknowledged. I also acknowledge that I am aware of University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and of the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations, as contained in the website http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/. ___________________________ __________________________ Signature Date ___________________________ __________________________ Name Student ID ___________________________ __________________________ Course code Course title Name: KWOK CHING HEI Student ID: 07055060 Class Teacher: Eva Pils No. of Pages: 14 (incl. this page) Introduction To establish a criminal liability, the expression "actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea" is important, which means that "an act alone is not criminal, unless the mind also be guilty". Therefore, this arises two elements of criminal offences, namely actus reus and mens rea. Actus reus comprises all the "external elements" of a criminal offence, including the

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Criminal Law Omissions. In the English legal system there is generally no liability for an omission to act, the English legal system does not have a good Samaritan rule neither is there no duty of easy rescue.

In the English legal system there is generally no liability for an omission to act, the English legal system does not have a 'good Samaritan rule' neither is there 'no duty of easy rescue'. Fitzjames Stephen gave a classical example of 'A seeing B drowning and is able to save him by holding out his hand. A abstains from doing so in order that B may be drowned, A will have committed no offence.'1 This example clearly shows that there is no positive duty for B to act, even though B holding his hand out may have saved A's life. This is a controversial issue as the law allows one to watch a person drown without them being prosecuted for any offence. However in some European countries this is different such as in France and Germany where there is a duty of easy rescue and failure to do so will amount to a criminal offence2. As I have earlier said generally there is no liability for failing to act, however there are six exceptions and if a person fails to act then they will be committing a criminal law offence, there is a vast amount of case law in this field which will be used to illustrate the exceptions to an omission. The first exception I will discuss is a special relationship, this is where the law will require an individual to act where there is a special relationship, it is generally recognised the more closer the relationship the more likely the law will impose a duty.

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Recklessness. This essay will deal with how the complicated subject of recklessness has developed throughout the past century. It will consider how and why recklessness was first used, and will then go on to discuss how it went through different eras of s

"The Cunningham, subjective approach to recklessness ... was the accepted definition until a controversial, and, it is now accepted, erroneous turn by the House of Lords in the 1980s ... [T]he House of Lords has recently restored orthodoxy by affirming that the definition of recklessness is as stated in Cunningham ... ." (Ormerod, D Smith and Hogan's Criminal Law, 2005, p104) Explain and evaluate developments in the concept of recklessness in English criminal law in the light of this statement. This essay will deal with how the complicated subject of recklessness has developed throughout the past century. It will consider how and why recklessness was first used, and will then go on to discuss how it went through different eras of subjective and objective recklessness, and will then conclude with the current law, and some of the difficulties that it still faces. The term reckless was first created to deal with the term malicious. One of the first cases to use the term reckless was R v Pembliton,1 in which the defendant was charged with unlawfully and maliciously committing damage to personal property. On appeal, the defendant's conviction was quashed, with Lord Coleridge finding that if the jury had come to a conclusion that the defendant was reckless of the consequences of his actions then they could have found the defendant guilty. As a result the court in Pembliton

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Can the claims of justice be subsumed under the utility principle?

Utility and Justice Can the claims of justice be subsumed under the utility principle? The definition of "Justice" as a philosophical concept has long been disputed. It has been viewed in one sense, as being "identical with the ethics of whom should receive benefits and burdens, good or bad things of many sorts, given that others might receive these things" (Honderich 1995). On the other hand, Conventionalists assert that "justice" can be understood as what is due to each person given by the laws, customs and shared understandings of the community of which the person is a member (Brian & Matravers). The slight differentiations between the many efforts to the provision of a suitable definition led Mill to attempt to reconcile a broad sense of what "justice" is perceived to represent, with the theory of utilitarianism. Mill argues that the utility principle can be used to explain the idea and the sentiment of justice. However, after close reflection on Mill's ideas it appears that "justice" cannot be so easily subsumed under it. The utility principle is commonly understood as being a standard that judges the moral rightness or wrongness of actions on the basis of their outcome using the maxim, "the greatest happiness for the greatest number", or the one as Mill stated, "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to promote the

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The Cyclist by Louis MacNiece

Commentary: The poem, "The Cyclist", by Louis MacNiece is a set about an insightful analogy on life. The poem is full of vivid imagery and beauty that conjures up delightful memories, and an overriding feeling of freedom. Through the poem MacNiece reminds us that we must truly treasure the brief but special moments of our childhood and life. MacNiece, through the poem, expresses "life" as a single sentence. His analogy is that life is a sentence, "the main sentence" represents our mechanical everyday 'work' life but between "the main sentence", between the "horizon's brackets" there lies our free time and leisure. However these brackets are only "five minutes" of our life, these moments are scarce, just as this boy's summer will pass so quickly by. So, from this we feel that the poet is telling us, life is short, grasp the sweet golden moments while you can, live in the "brackets". The image of "the unpassing horse" further supports his message of savouring life. This image is used all throughout the poem as a comparison of being frozen in time, frozen in the "brackets" and 'working' life. The description "Blazoned in chalk" suggest that the poet is talking about a large existing carving in Sussex, South England on the chalk downs. Perhaps a memory of his childhood summer vacations. The run on lines in the poem create a lazy mood to the poem. We feel the smooth languidness

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VOLUTARY MANSLAUGHTER - PROVOCATION

VOLUTARY MANSLAUGHTER - PROVOCATION Voluntary manslaughter occurs when the defendant claims various special defences against the charge of murder. If a person intends to kill and does so, they may claim the less serious charge of voluntary manslaughter if the jury agrees that certain defences are appropriate. The killings in this category would normally be classified as murder if it were not for the defence of: * Provocation * Diminished responsibility * Suicide pact PROVOCATION Provocation is a defence against murder which, if successful, will reduce the charge to manslaughter. Devlin gave the classic common law definition of provocation in 1949 in the case of Duffy. R v Duffy (1949) " A sudden and temporary loss of self control, rendering the accused so subject to passion as to make him or her for the moment not the master of his mind" Devlin gave the classic common law definition of provocation in 1949 in the case of Duffy. The defence of provocation is detailed in section 3 of the Homicide Act 1957 and consists of two elements. A. Did the defendant loose self control? (Subjective question) B. Would a reasonable man have lost their self control? (Objective question) (A.)SUBJECTIVE QUESTION (Did the defendant loose self control?) R v Dryden (1995) A

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General characteristic of prepositionsWe use prepositions every day in both written and spoken language and we don't think about it much

GENERAL CHARACTERISTIC OF PREPOSITIONS We use prepositions every day in both written and spoken language and we don´t think about it much. Prepositions are a neccessary part of our everyday communication. But what is a preposition? The word preposition means the word before. On the most general level preposition is an uninflected word class, a function or grammatical word. In grammar, a preposition is a type of adposition, a grammatical article that establishes a relationship and connecting between an object (usually a noun phrase) and some other part of the sentence, often expressing a location in place or time. In common speech, the object of a preposition may be implied. For instance, "Get in the car" may be shortened to "Get in." One school of thought believes that it is acceptable to treat prepositions as adjectives, nouns, or adverbs, in which case, the "in" in "Get in" acts as an adverb. Even if the object can be implied the preposition does never work as a clause constituent on its own. Only the prepositioonal phrases make sense. In itself, a preposition is rather meanless and hard to define in mere words. It´s easier to use our hands to show that something is situated in relationship to something else then to describe it by words. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES As mentioned above, prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures

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