JURIST Special Guest Columnist Lt. Col. Chris Jenks (USA), Chief of the International Law Branch of the Office of the Judge Advocate General, says that the discussion on child soldiers in general and Omar Khadr in particular should be broadened to move past misperceptions of the applicable law and norms concerning detention and prosecution of [...]

The Nebraska Legislature voted 40-9 Monday to approve a bill requiring a heightened level of informed consent and physician assessment of women seeking abortions . The bill would require health care professionals to determine if the woman seeking the abortion had been pressured into the procedure and would also require them to assess the woman [...]

Piotr Maciej Kaczyński : "On the tragic morning of the Black Saturday, 10 April 2010, the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński travelling with his wife Maria and 94 other persons were killed in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia. They were going to Katyń, a place where 70 years earlier the Soviet secret police NKVD [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday ruled that federal prisoners are not entitled to a base level of compensation for work performed while incarcerated. Serra v. Lappin grew out of a challenge brought by attorney J. Tony Serra, who was imprisoned for failure to pay federal taxes. Serra and two [...]

Thailand's Election Commission on Monday called for the dissolution of the ruling party for failing to report donations and alleged misuse of those donations. The Commission's decision comes amid some of the deadliest political clashes Thailand has experienced in nearly two decades, as Thai protesters, or red shirts , call for new elections and the [...]

The Vatican on Monday released Church procedures for handling alleged cases of sexual abuse by priests, instructing, "Civil law concerning reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities should always be followed." The "Guide to Understanding Basic CDF Procedures concerning Sexual Abuse Allegations" summarizes the procedures governing investigations by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the [...]

Seven Icelandic government officials acted with gross negligence in their management of the country's financial system prior to a 2008 bank collapse, according to a report released Monday by a parliamentary panel. The Special Investigation Committee (SIC), convened in 2008 by the Icelandic Parliament to investigate the collapse of the country's three largest banks, determined [...]

US President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) withdrew her candidacy on Friday. Dawn Johnsen , nominated as the OLC's Assistant Attorney General in January 2009, has faced over a year of objection from Republicans for her criticisms of the interrogation methods approved by the OLC during the [...]

A Moscow City Court judge known for presiding over cases involving neo-Nazi groups was killed Monday morning while leaving his apartment. The murder of Judge Eduard Chuvashov is suspected to be a contract killing in light of the death threats he faced after presiding over the trials of members of neo-Nazi gangs . Last week, [...]

US Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) on Sunday said that Senate approval of the so-called New START treaty will not happen this year. Speaking on a morning talk show, Alexander stated , "there's not a chance the treaty will be approved this year. It took a year and a half to approve the START I treaty." [...]