Many factors contribute to attrition in sexual offense cases from victim reluctance to systemic barriers. This book examines the attrition of sexual offenses across seven countries—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and Türkiye. Using various jurisdictions and legal systems sheds light on how those systems' distinctive features impact investigation and adjudication. Through the critical analyses of various sexual offenses and statistical data, European Perspectives on Attrition in Sexual Offenses demonstrates how cases continue to attrite through their journey from commencement to the finalization within the European criminal justice systems. This book would be of interest to scholars studying criminology, criminal justice, and law as well as practitioners within the criminal justice and legal professions.

The essays presented in The Ian Willock Collection on Law and Justice in the Twenty-First Century by those who knew Ian Willock as well as those who have been inspired by his concerns represent the wide compass of Ian’s interests. These range from a concern with the development of legal regulation to the relationship between social change and the justice system, as well as his particularly interest in the limitations on the accessibility of the justice system. This tribute provides a microcosm of the changes and shifts which occurred in legal education and the legal profession in the years between 1964 and the current century. The profound impact of Ian Willock’s life work is evident through the wide-ranging essays in this collection.

This book is a comprehensive analysis of the criminal defence of self-defence from a philosophical, legal and human rights perspective. The primary focus is on self-defence as a defence to homicide, as this is the most difficult type of self-defensive force to justify. Although not always recognised as such, self-defence is a contentious defence, permitting as it does the victim of an attack to preserve her life at the expense of another. If one holds that all human life is of equal value, explaining why this is permissible poses something of a challenge. It is particularly difficult to explain where the aggressor is, for reasons of non-age or insanity for example, not responsible for her actions. The first part of the book is devoted to identifying the proper theoretical basis of a claim of self-defence. It examines the classification of defences, and the concepts of justification and excuse in particular, and locates self-defence within this classification. It considers the relationship between self-defence and the closely related defences of duress and necessity. It then proceeds critically to analyse various philosophical explanations of why self-defensive killing is justified, before concluding that the most convincing account is one that draws on the right to life with an accompanying theory of forfeiture. The book then proceeds to draw upon this analysis to examine various aspects of the law of self-defence. There is detailed analysis of the way in which, on a human rights approach, it is appropriate to treat the issues of retreat, imminence of harm, self-generated self-defence, mistake and proportionality, with a particular focus on whether lethal force is ever permissible in protecting property or in preventing rape. The analysis draws on material from all of the major common law jurisdictions. The book concludes with an examination of the implications that the European Convention on Human Rights might have for the law of self-defence, especially in the areas of mistaken belief and the degree of force permissible to protect property.

This collection of essays honours the work of Sir Gerald Gordon CBE QC LLD (1929-). In modern times few, if any, individuals can have been as important to a single country's criminal law as Sir Gerald has been to the criminal law of Scotland. His monumental work The Criminal Law of Scotland (1967) is the foundation of modern Scottish criminal law and is recognised internationally as a major contribution to academic work on the subject. Elsewhere, he has made significant contributions as an academic, judge and as a member of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. Reflecting the academic rigour and practical application of Sir Gerald's work, this volume includes essays on criminal law theory, substantive law and evidence and procedure by practitioners and academics within and outside of Scotland, including contributions from England, Ireland and the USA. Key Features: *chapters encompass a broad range of subjects of contemporary interest and significance *both substantive and procedural criminal law *contributors from practitioners and academics from both within and outwith Scotland, reflecting the influence and recognition afforded to Sir Gerald's work.