Five Foundations of Human Development (FFHD) is a philosophical, religious, and practical discourse on human development based on the following five foundations: Spiritual, Moral, Social, Intellectual, and Physical. The authors proffer that human beings possess the capacity to rise to a higher state of civilization when we allow Spiritual Intelligence to underpin human intelligence as our capable guide. The indomitable spirit within human beings that brought civilization out of the Dark Ages and into an Age of Enlightenment demonstrates our capacity to transcend moral hope and optimism for a better world with peaceful coexistence among individuals, families, and nations. This book will help inform, enlighten, and empower individuals and leaders in such fields as engineering, science, religion, politics, the military, and other great institutions to engender solutions to the myriad of unsolved problems of past centuries, problems of the present, and emerging problems of the future. Problems, such as wars, genocide, greed, and the exploitation of human beings begin within our destructive spiritual nature and manifest in the physical nature. Therefore, solutions also lie in the spiritual realm as a counterbalance to the natural realm of human existence. FFHD is a blueprint for human survival based on adherence to physical laws and spiritual laws that transcend a belief in an omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (everywhere) and omniscient (all knowing) being. It will awaken the conscience to comprehend the lifethreatening issues that face humankind. The solutions, therefore, cannot merely be left only to the educated elite, the military forces, and those in high public and private office. The global significance of this book is that it informs a more communal view of our world. It is the only perspective that will allow us to enter the global village prepared for the racial, social, cultural, environmental, and economic challenges that lie ahead.

By examining the reasons behind the preventive criminalization of Chinese criminal law, this book argues that the shift of criminal law generates popular expectations of legislative participation, and meets punitive demands of the public, but the expansion of criminal law lacks effective constraints, which will keep restricting people’s freedom in the future. The book is inspired by the eighth amendment of Chinese criminal law in 2011, which amended several penalties related to road, drug and environmental safety. It is on the eighth amendment that subsequent amendments have been based. The amendment stemmed from a series of nationally known incidents that triggered widespread public dissatisfaction with the Chinese criminal justice system. Based on John Kingdon’s theory of the multiple streams, the book explains the origins of the legislative process and its outcomes by examining the role of public opinion, policy experts and political actors in the making of Chinese criminal law. It argues that in authoritarian China, the prominence of risk control through criminal justice methods is a state response to uncertainties generated through reforms under the CCP’s leadership. The process of criminal lawmaking has become more responsive and inclusive than ever before, even though it remains a consultation with the elites within the framework set by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including representatives of the Lianghui, government ministries, academics and others. The process enhances the CCP’s legitimacy by not only generating popular expectations of legislative participation, but also by meeting the punitive demands of the public. The book will be of interest to academics and researchers in the areas of Chinese criminal law and comparative law.

In the Netherlands the vast majority of forensic mental health assessment on an in-patient basis is carried out at the Pieter Baan Centre, Utrecht, which has the legal status of a house of detention and observation centre. Suspects of serious offences are observed and assessed intensively for a period of seven weeks by a multidisciplinary team of experts. Not only has the enshrinement of forensic mental health diagnosis in the law led to the accentuation of an individualistic type of diagnosis but also makes it important for the expert to consider his position in the justice system. The various parts of the forensic mental health assessment are described in this volume as well as the legal enshrinement of the assessment, an international comparison of Dutch criminal law, the history of the hospital and a survey of relevant research. The Pieter Baan Centre has existed almost sixty years. Based on an extensive clinical experience, the authors offer an account of the way in which this hospital provides for forensic mental health reporting.

The criminal law on serious traffic offenses presents legislators with numerous controversial issues. One such issue is when severe consequences are matched with low moral culpability. How should the law deal with a driver who kills someone because she failed to see the person when looking? Another controversial issue concerns highly culpable behavior that remains without serious consequences. How should the law cope with a driver who nearly kills someone when overtaking recklessly? The traffic context generates many hard cases that call the outermost boundaries of general doctrinal concepts like intent, negligence, or causation into question. This book contains an international collection of essays on criminal liability for serious traffic offenses. With a focus on England/Wales, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Spain, the book reveals that there are enormous differences in both drafting and interpretation of serious traffic offenses. Additionally, it elaborates on the role of culpability and harm in sentencing, traffic-psychological insights relevant to accident causation, and the concept of conditional intent in relation to extremely dangerous traffic behavior. (Series: Governance & Recht - Vol. 11) [Subject: Criminal Law, Traffic Law, Comparative Law]