La tesis de la investigadora, defendida en 2017 en la Universidad de Deusto y dirigida por los profesores Felipe Gómez Isa y Carlos Martín Beristain, analiza el que califica de “conflicto olvidado” del Sahara Occidental desde la perspectiva de los derechos humanos abordando, en particular, el delito de desaparición forzada. Para ello, la autora, que formó parte del equipo de trabajo de la investigación que desembocó en “El Oasis de la Memoria”, analiza en detalle 95 casos de desaparición forzada, 86 de ellos recogidos en dicha publicación y los nueve restantes, en “Meheris: la esperanza posible”. La investigadora indica que es necesaria “una voluntad política real por transformar la realidad y romper con el pasado de violaciones de derechos humanos” y denuncia que “no se haya respetado el derecho de las víctimas a la verdad”. Los resultados del trabajo, según apunta López, se espera que sirvan para que las personas afectadas puedan defender sus derechos ante las instancias internacionales y la Audiencia Nacional española.

A collection of essays dedicated to the memory of Prof. Frederic McClintock.

The EU now possesses a clear legal basis for taking action on criminal law matters and steering the policy and practice of Member States in relation to crime and criminal law. However, for what is now an important area of law, there remains a striking absence or uncertainty regarding its theoretical basis, its legitimacy and its conceptual vocabulary. This book offers a review of the significance of EU criminal law and crime policy as a rapidly emerging phenomenon in European law and governance. Bringing together an international set of contributors, the book questions the nature, role and objectives of such 'criminal law', its relationship with other areas of EU policy and law, and the established rules of criminal law and criminal justice at the Member State level. Taking up such subjects as the application of criminal law across national boundaries and in the broader European context, effective enforcement, and the working out of a new European policy, the book helps to structure an increasingly significant subject in law which is still finding its direction. The book will be of great use and interest to researchers and students of EU law, criminal justice, and criminology.

This book seeks to explore the potential and actual value of parliamentary debates as a source of legislative justification. Drawing on a sample of recent Spanish legislation, the papers collected here analyse (critically) the rationale of several laws or legislative measures as it can be reconstructed from the respective parliamentary discussions. All issues covered have given rise to intense political, legal and social controversy: they range from the combat against gender violence, the legal status of bullfighting, the protection of crime victims and the so-called ‘push-backs’ at the border, to the regulation of euthanasia, the minimum living income, underage girls’ access to abortion, and joint child custody. The volume is organised into two main parts. The first group of case studies adopt a legisprudential perspective and examine parliamentary deliberations in the light of the theory and methodology of legislative justification; the contributions in the second part follow approaches that fall outside – but are largely compatible with –legisprudence, and deal with aspects such as the rhetorical strategies employed by MPs when debating bills, and the role of elected legislators as constitutional interpreters.

Contributing to the literature on comparative criminal procedure and Latin American law, this book examines the effects of adversarial criminal justice reforms on victim’s rights by specifically analyzing the Colombian criminal justice reform of the early 2000s. This research focuses on the production, interpretation, and implementation of rules and institutions by exploring how different actors have employed the concept of victims and victims’ rights to promote their agendas in the context of criminal justice reforms. It also analyzes how the goals of these agendas have interplayed in practice. By the early 2000s, it seemed that the Colombian criminal justice system was headed towards a process characterized by broader victim participation, primarily because of the doctrine of the Constitutional Court on victims’ rights. But in 2002, the Colombian Attorney General promoted a more adversarial criminal justice reform. This book argues that this reform represented a sudden and unpredicted reversal of the Constitutional Court’s doctrine on victim participation, even though one of the central justifications for the reform was the need to satisfy human rights standards and adhere to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court on victims’ rights. In the criminal justice reform of the early 2000s and its subsequent modifications, the promotion of a dichotomous interpretation of the adversarial model—which conceived the criminal process as a competition between prosecution and defense—served to limit victim participation. This study examines how conceptions of victims’ rights emerged out of the struggles between different and at times competing agendas. In the Colombian process of reform, victims’ rights have been invoked both as a justification for criminal sanctions and as an explanation for crime prevention and restorative justice. After assessing quantitative and qualitative data, this book concludes that punitive approaches to victims’ rights have prevailed over restorative justice perspectives. Furthermore, it argues that punitiveness in the criminal justice system has not resulted in more protection for victims. Ultimately, this research reveals that the adversarial criminal justice reform of the early 2000s has not substantially improved the protection of victims’ rights in Colombia.

This edited collection introduces and defines the concept of “comparative restorative justice”, putting it in the context of power relations and inequality. It aims to compare the implementation and theoretical development of restorative justice internationally for research, policy and practice. In Part I, this volume compares practices in relation to the implementing environment - be that cultural, political, or societal. Part II looks at obstacles and enablers in relation to the criminal justice system, and considers whether inquisitorial versus adversarial jurisdictions have impact on how restorative justice is regulated and implemented. Finally, Part III compares the reasons that drive governments, regional bodies, and practitioners to implement restorative justice, and whether these impetuses impact on ultimate delivery. Featuring fifteen original chapters from diverse authors and practitioners, this will serve as a key resource for those working in social justice or those seeking to understand and implement the tenets of restorative justice comparatively.