Taking The Law Into Their Own Hands

Over much of Africa, crime and insurgency are a serious problem and one in which the distinction between the two is being eroded. Left without state protection people have sought to preserve their lives and property through vigilante groups and militias that pay scant attention to the law or human rights. Likewise, the state security forces, under pressure to cut crime and rebel activity, readily discard lawful procedures. Torture provides them with vital information, whilst extra-judicial executions save the need to go through the prolonged criminal justice system. After a general overview of the role of the rule of law in a democratic society, Bruce Baker provides five case studies that capture the current complex realities and their impact on the new democracies. The citizen responses considered are vigilantes in East African pastoral economies, The Bakassi Boys an anti-crime group in Nigeria and private policing initiatives in South Africa. The state responses are those of the Ugandan Defence Forces towards the Lords Resistance Army, the Senegalese army towards the Casamance secessionists and the Mozambique Police response towards criminals.

Border security and illegal immigration along the U.S.–Mexico border are hotly debated issues in contemporary society. The emergence of civilian vigilante groups, such as the Minutemen, at the border is the most recent social phenomenon to contribute new controversy to the discussion. The Law Into Their Own Hands looks at the contemporary nativist, anti-immigrant movement in the United States today. Doty examines the social and political contexts that have enabled these civilian groups to flourish and gain legitimacy amongst policy makers and the public. The sentiments underlying the vigilante movement both draw upon and are channeled through a diverse range of organizations whose messages are often reinforced by the media. Taking action when they believe official policy is lacking, groups ranging from elements of the religious right to anti-immigrant groups to white supremacists have created a social movement. Doty seeks to alert us to the consequences related to this growing movement and to the restructuring of our society. She maintains that with immigrants being considered as enemies and denied basic human rights, it is irresponsible of both citizens and policy makers to treat this complicated issue as a simple black or white reality. In this solid and theoretically grounded look at contemporary, post-9/11 border vigilantism, the author observes the dangerous and unproductive manner in which private citizens seek to draw firm and uncompromising lines between who is worthy of inclusion in our society and who is not.

Over much of Africa, crime and insurgency are a serious problem and one in which the distinction between the two is being eroded. Left without state protection people have sought to preserve their lives and property through vigilante groups and militias that pay scant attention to the law or human rights. Likewise, the state security forces, under pressure to cut crime and rebel activity, readily discard lawful procedures. Torture provides them with vital information, whilst extra-judicial executions save the need to go through the prolonged criminal justice system. After a general overview of the role of the rule of law in a democratic society, Bruce Baker provides five case studies that capture the current complex realities and their impact on the new democracies. The citizen responses considered are vigilantes in East African pastoral economies, The Bakassi Boys an anti-crime group in Nigeria and private policing initiatives in South Africa. The state responses are those of the Ugandan Defence Forces towards the Lords Resistance Army, the Senegalese army towards the Casamance secessionists and the Mozambique Police response towards criminals.

Sandberg (rabbinics, Gratz College), ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, analyzes two divergent paths that Jewish law took as it proceeded from classical to medieval rabbinic sources in regard to such mitzvot (commandments/ good deed) as obeying Prophets, preserving trees, and corporeal punishment. Tables summarize the continuity/discontinuity development process of halakhic rulings on each mitzvah discussed. Indexed by biblical and rabbinic reference as well as subject. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

First published in 1986, Jewish Jurisprudence is the second volume of an important series analysing and setting forth the substantive principles of Jewish jurisprudence. It encompasses the applicable sources of Jewish law from the original transmission to Moses on Sinai of the terse written law and its accompanying oral elaboration through its development to the present day. Each topic concludes with the authors’ view of the present status of the law. In former years, the public teaching and discussion of law occupied a prominent place in Jewish culture. Today, estrangement from the language of Halacha has made it less accessible to the general public. This series is an attempt to open the world of Jewish law to the layperson, general scholars and specialists in jurisprudence.

"This book ... is a descendant of my eponymous Quain Lectures, delivered at University College London in 2014"--Preface.

This book explores the evolution of international punishment from a natural law-based ground for the use of force and conquest to a series of jurisdictional and disciplinary practices in international law not previously seen as being conceptually related.