JURIST - Paper Chase: Monday, September 19, 2011

[JURIST] Violent crime in the US dropped for the fourth consecutive year, the FBI [official website] announced [press release] on Monday. The estimates are part of the annual figures prepared as part of the Bureau's Crime in the United States (CIUS) [official website] report for 2010 [PDF]. In addition to an overall drop in violent crime, property crimes also decreased for the eighth straight year. Compared to 2009 statistics [JURIST report], violent crimes declined significantly by 6.0 percent, whereas property crimes decreased by 2.7 percent. The findings go against conventional wisdom [AP report] indicating that crime tends to increase when the economy is weak and unemployment is high. Notably, while the overall incidents of violent crime dropped nationwide, major cities in the Northeast experienced double-digit increases [Reuters report] in the number of murders, including Boston, New York and Newark, New Jersey.

The FBI report comes on the heels of the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] report [JURIST report] released last week indicating the national rate of violent crime decreased by 13 percent [press release] during 2010. The FBI data is a compilation of 18,108 city, county, university and college, state, tribal and federal agencies that voluntarily participated in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. In 2006 and 2005 [JURIST reports], the CIUS report showed an increase of 1.3 percent and of 2.3 percent, respectively.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Monday that a 17-year sentence [JURIST report] was not enough for Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive], convicted [JURIST report] on terrorism-related charges. Padilla and co-defendants Adham Hassoun and Kifah Jayyousi had appealed their convictions, and federal prosecutors appealed the sentence given by US district court judge Marcia Cooke. Upholding all three convictions and ordering a new sentencing hearing for Padilla, the court explained:

[T]he district court "commit[ted] a clear error of judgment in considering the proper factors." The district court attached little weight to Padilla's extensive criminal history, gave no weight to his future dangerousness, compared him to criminals who were not similarly situated, and gave unreasonable weight to the conditions of his pre-trial confinement.

Specifically, the court noted Padilla's 17 prior arrests and objected to a reduction of his sentence for the three-and-a-half years he was detained as an "enemy combatant" on a base in South Carolina before charges were brought against him. Dissenting judge Rosemary Barkett opposed overturning the sentence because doing so "simply substitutes this court's sentencing judgment for that of the trial judge." Padilla's attorney has indicated he intends to appeal for a rehearing en banc by the Eleventh Circuit or to the US Supreme Court [official website].

Jose Padilla has been the focus of much litigation since his arrest in 2002 [AP report] on suspicion of conspiracy to detonate a "dirty bomb"—a conventional explosive surrounded by radioactive material. In June, Padilla appealed the dismissal of his lawsuit [JURIST report] against government officials over his detention in a military prison, which he claims was unlawful, and that he was subjected to torture, denied communication with his family or lawyers, denied ability to practice his religion and denied appropriate medical care. In June 2009, a federal judge in San Francisco allowed a lawsuit filed [JURIST reports] by Padilla to move forward against University of California Berkeley law professor John Yoo [academic profile; JURIST news archive], the author of controversial US government memos arguing that detained enemy combatants could be denied Geneva Conventions protections against torture.

[JURIST] Voters in Liechtenstein on Sunday rejected a proposal to legalize abortion [JURIST news archive] in the country after Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein [official profile], the acting Head of State, expressed displeasure with the law [press release, PDF in German] and threatened to veto the proposed change. The referendum, entitled Help Instead of Punishment, would have decriminalized abortion [AP report] in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy or if the child is severely disabled. According to official count, 52.3 percent of voters voted against the referendum, while 47.7 percent voted in favor of the proposed change. Under the current law, women who get an abortion can be sentenced to up to one year in prison, and doctors who perform the procedure can be sentenced to up to three years in prison. Abortions may only be performed in the country to save the life of the mother or if the mother was under age 14 when she became pregnant. A counter proposal is expected to come before the Liechtensten Parliament [official website, in German] soon. Under the counter proposal, abortion would still be a crime, but it would no longer be punished.

Abortion rights has been a contentious issue in the international community with many advocacy groups criticizing countries with restrictive policies regarding the procedure. In August 2010, the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) [advocacy website] criticized [JURIST report] the restrictive abortion laws of the Philippines as a "human rights crisis," resulting in the death of thousands of women annually. In January 2010, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] argued that Ireland's restrictive abortion laws increase health risks to women [JURIST report] and expose them to deliberate misinformation about abortion procedures. Ireland's current legislation prohibits abortion for any reason except when the mother's life is threatened and carries a potential sentence of life imprisonment. In July 2009, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] called on Nicaragua to end its total ban on abortions [JURIST report], calling for the country to eliminate severe criminal punishments for those who seek or perform abortions.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] on Friday sentenced a man for contempt of court [judgment, PDF] for refusing to testify. The man, Shefqet Kabashi, was sentenced to two months in jail [press release] for refusing on two occasions to answer questions during the 2007 trial related to the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Kabashi pleaded guilty in August to charges that he "knowingly and willfully interfered with the Tribunal's administration of justice" by refusing to answer questions as a witness against former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj [BBC profile]. During sentencing, Judge Alphons Orie chided Kabashi for withholding what could have been important testimony, saying "By contumaciously refusing or failing to answer questions as a witness, Mr Kabashi deprived the Haradinaj et al. Trial Chamber of evidence relevant for an effective ascertainment of truth in the adjudication of that case." Both sides have the right to appeal, but it is not immediately clear whether either will do so.

Haradinaj was acquitted [JURIST report] by the ICTY in 2008 of charges murder, rape, torture, abduction, cruel treatment, imprisonment and the forced deportation of civilians allegedly in connection with his position as a senior commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. An appeals court later overturned the acquittal [JURIST report], resulting in a new trial. The re-trial of Haradinaj [JURIST report] began in mid-August. In September, the European Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) [official website] charged 10 former members of the KLA with war crimes [JURIST report] for their actions during the war in Kosovo. Those individuals were previously arrested in March [JURIST report]. EULEX has been investigating war crimes [JURIST report] since December 2008. Kosovo controversially seceded from Serbia [JURIST report] in February 2008.