Offender-based tracking through a local justice system

Access to justice is one of the significant pre-requisites for sustainable human development and it has been made available in the form of both the formal and informal systems stretching from the very top of the judiciary to the local justice system in Bangladesh. The formal justice system, even though it plays the most pivotal role, has been facing huge pressure from case backlogs, which ultimately hampers the true spirit of justice. On the other hand, most people's perception towards informal justice system is also fairly poor with lack of trust due to partisan political interference, corruption, religious dogmas, and social elitism, which have made this system almost ineffective. Consequently, state-sponsored local justice system has come forward with a view to combining the both streams in a single channel in the form of restorative justice and a quorum of quasi-formal justice system aimed at ensuring and dispensing justice to the people in rural areas in an affordable and convenient manner. In line with this view, village courts have been established to redress petty civil and criminal issues. This article attempts to examine the feasibility of the present legal framework of village courts to deliver justice efficiently at the grassroots level.

Using a cross-over study design, vital signs were collected from 60 patients by 6 nurses. Each nurse was randomly assigned for manual vital sign collection in 5 patients and for automated data collection in other 5 patients. The mean time taken for vital signs information to be available in EMR was significantly (p <0.004) lower after automated data collection (158.7±67.0) than after the manual collection (4079.8±7091.8 s). The nursing satisfaction score of collecting vital signs was significantly lower (p<0.007) for the manual way (10.3±3.9) than for the automated way (16.5±3.4). We found that 30% of vital sign records were transmitted to EMR with at least one error after manual data collection whereas there wasno transmission error with automated data collection. Allparticipating nurses stated that the automated vital sign collection can improve their efficiency and save their time for direct patient care.

Due to the growing presence of digital technologies in factories, an increasing number of automated processes systematically record various data such as timestamps, product IDs, quantities, and defects. However, this is still not the case for many manual assembly lines, which often rely on manual data acquisition where workers, in addition to the assembly tasks, are asked to record data manually. Such manual data generation can significantly reduce the data quality and increase the variation of the data. In this paper, the authors study this problem by conducting a case study of a manufacturer of engine components based in Switzerland. The paper examines the antecedents of deviations in manually collected assembly line data—both from a technical and behavioral perspective. Based on the findings, a model is developed for the case company that compares manually collected data to the same data in the planning systems to identify and act on data discrepancies. The paper concludes with practical guidelines on how to mitigate data quality loss in manual assembly.

Increasing crime rates generate considerable public concern over the performance of the criminal justice system. Many citizens would be shocked to learn that the system operates on the basis of mutual cooperation and consultation, rather than the media image of the strident prosecutor battling a committed defense attorney. The actual operation of the American system of criminal justice is vastly different from the ideal adversary system. The reality is bureaucratic bargaining.1 Approximately ninety percent of all criminal cases are resolved through the process of pre-trial negotiation or plea bargaining.2 Plea bargaining results from an agreement between the prosecutor, defense attorney, and ocrasionally the defendant. The prosecutor offers the defendant a quid pro quo (charge reduction or sentence recommendation) for pleading guilty. Plea bargaining is a low visability process, one which occurs in a private and informal setting. Decisions are made over lunch or in the hallway of the criminal court building. Moreover, the participants wield such discretion that in most cases they serve as the final arbiters in the sentencing decision. The practice of plea bargaining has created considerable controversy. Various study groups such as the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice and the American Bar Association have endorsed the practice, although recommending certain reforms.3 However, other groups, specifically the Nixon Administration's National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, have argued for the abolition of plea bargaining.4 Given the prevalence of the practice, as well as the widespread disagreement over its use, plea bargaining merits further study and research. This study examines the effect of a prosecutor's values and social background on his rate of plea bargaining. The findings presented here are based on a mail survey of prosecuting attorneys and their assistants in the state of Illinois.6 The survey instrument contained both open-ended and closed questions focusing primarily on the prosecutor's plea bargaining practices and his view of these procedures. Respondents were also asked to supply biographical data.

In India Courts are overburdened with litigations. There are so many reasons for over burdening but one of the good reason is that proportionately to the case number of courts are less, and applications of procedural law consumes lot of time and it result into delay. “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied” that is the reason people usually frustrate by litigations in India. Recently there is a good realization amounts all stockholders of law that there should be quick disposal of cases and prompt justice delivered system. Considering this aspect, to lessen the burden of court alternate dispute resolution system is encouraged and having good result in the form of mediation and arbitration. Even civil courts under section 18 resort to settle the matter through mediation. In criminal arbitration of justice now fast track courts are doing very good role and delay in criminal trials to some extent is minimize may not be fully controlled. But for that we have to give credit to Supreme Court of India by giving directions in number of Public interest Litigation started from Hussainara Khatun &amp; Others Vs Home Secretary, State of Bihar ( 1979 AIR 1369,1979 SCR(3)532). There is also a one thought to introduce plea bargaining in India. Plea bargain usually occurs any time before verdict is passed. Good thing about Plea Bargain is that it concludes a criminal case without a trial. PLEA BARGAINING IN INDIA Prior to the Criminal law (Amendment) Act, 2005 the concept of Plea Bargain was totally unknown. In state of UP vs Chandrika( AIR 2000SC 164) and Kripalsingh Vs State of Haryana 2000(1) Crimes 53 (SC). Supreme Court of India observed that the concept of Plea Bargaining is against the Public Policy and further said that neither that trial Courts nor High Court has Jurisdiction to bypass the minimum sentence prescribed by the law. Before proceeding to plea bargaining the concept now started introducing in India, it would be good known what is pleas bargaining. There is no perfect or simple definition of Plea Bargaining. Simply we can put it and say that a plea bargaining is a contractual bargaining between the prosecution and in defendant accused concerning disposition of a criminal charge. However, unlike other contractual obligations it is not enforceable until a Judge approved it. From the point of view accused means who trends conviction and demand lesser sentence where he likely to be convicted. As researcher written about that the Plea bargaining, introduced in India from the year 2005 and not earlier. But there are certain provisions n earlier Acts also i.e. provision in chapter XXI of Crpc. The same has taken place through amendment I criminal law (Amendment) Act, 2005 and came into the effect from July 2005. Recognizing that there are significant differences in criminal procedures as well as in the role and status of various agencies in different countries, the Act does not give recognition to any existing practice akin to plea-bargaining. Instead, it lays down procedures with a distinct feature of enabling an accused to an application for plea bargaining in the court where the trial is pending. The Act further requires the court after receiving the application, must examine the accused in camera to ascertain whether the application has been filed voluntarily. Once the court is convinced that the accused is participating, in the plea-bargain voluntarily, the court must then issue notice to the Public prosecutor or the complainant to work out a mutually satisfactory disposition of the case. The negotiation of such a mutually acceptable settlement is left to the free will of the prosecution (including the victim) and the accused. If a settlement is reached, the court can award compensation based on it to the victim and then hear the parties on the issue of punishment. The Court may release the accused on probation if the law allows for it; if a minimum sentence is provided for the offence committed’ the accused may be sentenced to half of such minimum punishment; above, then the accused may be sentences to one fourth of the punishment provided or extendable for such offences. The accused may also avail of the benefit under section 428 of the code of criminal Procedure, 1973 which allows setting of the period of detention undergone by the accused against the sentence of imprisonment in plea bargained settlement. The court must deliver the Judgement in open Court according to the terms of the mutually agreed disposition and formula prescribed for sentencing including victim Compensation. IT may be noted that this Judgement is final and no appeal lies apart from a writ petition to the State high Court under article 226 and 226 of the Constitution or a special leave petition to the Supreme Court under Article 136 of the Constitution. IN addition to above the Act also provides: • If the accused is a first time offender, the court will have the option of releasing him/her on probation. Alternatively, the court may grant half the minimum punishment for the particular offence. • The plea-bargaining is applicable only in respect of those offences for which punishment of imprisonment is up to a period of 7 years; it does not apply where such offence affect the socio-economic condition of the country or has been committed against a woman or a child below the age of 14 years; • The application for plea – bargaining should be filed by the accused voluntarily; • The statement or facts stated by an accused in an application for plea-bargaining shall not be used for any other purpose other than for plea bargaining; This was the concept of plea bargaining, in a nutshell, as included in Indian Criminal Justice Process. It would be pertinent here to understand how different the above process is from the plea bargaining as practiced in United States. In India rate of conviction is not high, on the contrary acquittal rate is more i.e. why accused do not resort to plea-bargaining. Because in plea bargaining once you accept guilt, conviction is must. When most of the accused are told that the will be acquitted by court they usually do not come forward for plea bargaining. Therefore unless and until conviction rate is not become higher, there will not be good result of plea bargaining what actually was happened in USA same cannot be happened in India immediately. The need of the time is to revamp criminal administration of the justice.

This article intends to highlight the rationale for access to local justice mechanisms and village court that can play a significant role towards access to justice for the rural community in Bangladesh. The paper is basically based on the review of secondary materials. Previously the term ‘access to justice’ had only been perceived as an individual's possibility to get justice through legal bodies or legal representation. But now the meaning is more than that and has gained new forefront and quest in development agenda. It is obvious that access to local justice is now regarded as a fundamental instrument of ensuring human rights, good governance, inclusive and sustainable development as well as a process of tackling poverty, inequality, lawlessness and discrimination. Yet, the majority of the people in the globe, particularly developing economics have the dearth of access to formal courts. Moreover, the quest for access to justice in Bangladesh has historically rooted in the formal and informal structure of local justice mechanisms. The evidence suggests that the village court in Bangladesh is the only state-sponsored local justice system and is also believed that village court is the most accessible, affordable, convenient and viable opportunity for grassroots community as opposed to the formal judicial process. Despite having drawbacks, village court has been playing a significant avenue of the marginalized people for access to justice and a mechanism in settling petty local disputes and helps the formal judicial system to lessen its workloads. Therefore, the article concludes that access to local justice mechanism is needed to promote and tackle broader structural, social and economic issues of the country.

The objective of this study was to investigate and improve the use of automated data collection procedures for nursing research and quality assurance. A descriptive, correlational study analyzed 44 orthopedic surgical patients who were part of an evidence-based practice (EBP) project examining post-operative oxygen therapy at a Midwestern hospital. The automation work attempted to replicate a manually-collected data set from the EBP project. Automation was successful in replicating data collection for study data elements that were available in the clinical data repository. The automation procedures identified 32 "false negative" patients who met the inclusion criteria described in the EBP project but were not selected during the manual data collection. Automating data collection for certain data elements, such as oxygen saturation, proved challenging because of workflow and practice variations and the reliance on disparate sources for data abstraction. Automation also revealed instances of human error including computational and transcription errors as well as incomplete selection of eligible patients. Automated data collection for analysis of nursing-specific phenomenon is potentially superior to manual data collection methods. Creation of automated reports and analysis may require initial up-front investment with collaboration between clinicians, researchers and information technology specialists who can manage the ambiguities and challenges of research and quality assurance work in healthcare.

The article analyzes the issues of legal regulation of the plea bargaining institution, which in the author's opinion do not contribute to ensuring the implementation of the objectives of criminal proceedings and contradict its principles. It is proved that the restriction of such a right is one of the preconditions for abuse by the prosecutor in concluding a plea bargaining. The author reveals the shortcomings of this institution, which negatively affect the implementation of the prosecutor as a key party to the plea bargaining of its powers and provide the prosecutor with hypothetical opportunities to abuse their rights during the conclusion of such a plea bargaining. The ways to eliminate the identified shortcomings are suggested. The inexpediency of restricting the right of a prosecutor, including a higher-level prosecutor, to appeal a sentence under a plea bargaining is substantiated, as such a restriction is one of the preconditions for abusing the prosecutor's right in concluding such an agreement. Moreover, the research does not identify sufficient grounds to restrict the prosecutor's right to appeal a sentence on the basis on a plea bargaining. The article presents the results of the study of court decisions and materials of criminal cases, which confirm that violations of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine are committed by both prosecutors and judges. Moreover, the article studies the cases of violation of the rights and interests of the person in the conclusion of plea bargaining, which, in connection with the restrictions established by Part 4 of Art 394 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the prosecutor's right to appeal the sentence on the basis on a plea bargaining, remain unresolved. Restricting the right of a prosecutor, including a high-level prosecutor, to appeal a sentence on the basis on a plea bargaining significantly violates the rights and legitimate interests of participants in criminal proceedings and does not contribute to the effective performance of his tasks. It is proposed to secure for the prosecutor the right to appeal the sentence on the basis on a plea bargaining in case the court does not verify the circumstances provided for in Part 7 of Art 474 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. At the same time, the author concludes that it is necessary to establish additional grounds for the court's refusal to approve the plea bargaining. As a result, in order to effectively apply this institution, it is necessary to make the significant changes to the legislation.

The Prosecutor's Dilemma: Bargains and Punishments

Churning of the customer base is always a top issue in Banking. It is directly related to recurrent revenue, and the ever increasing acquisition costs for new customers. In a first approach, this issue is related to both the quality of service (which is mainly in the front-office, say the contact center) and the speed of service, which is mainly in the back-office. Many studies published to date on this required manual data collection. This creates in general two concerns: worker behavior may change under observation, and manual data collection is expensive and often error prone. In this paper it is shown by means of a case study for a Multi-National Bank (with 5000 employees in the back office) how automated Business Process Discovery, which is an advanced type of process mining, makes it possible to handle the above concerns. The automated data collection and the analysis, in terms of Hidden Markov Models, are key elements. Several results regarding the quality and speed of service have been obtained. Most interesting was the discovery of deeper root causes for customer attrition. Once the deficiencies in the processes are identified, appropriate process improvements can be designed and simulated based on the models emerging from process discovery. In this case study, significant quality and speed improvements as well as customer churn reductions have been obtained.

Igniting the Plea Bargaining Discourse in Namibia: What is it and Do We Need it?

Plea bargaining is an out of court process whichallows the accused to plea for reduction of a charge or sentence for an offencethat he had committed. It is a common practice among the accused and theprosecutor to expedite the disposal of criminal case. It benefits the prosecutorto secure the punishment of the accused without proceeding to a full trial,which needs a certain procedure and a higher standard of proof to prove theaccused guilty of an offence. Through plea bargaining, the accused will not besubjected to severe charge or punishment, and the prosecutor and the accusedcannot appeal the case to the higher court if plea bargaining is successful.Nevertheless, the process of negotiation without the assistance of a thirdparty could lead to the unsuccessful of plea bargaining which may result to afull trial. This happens if the prosecutor or the accused disagree with thesentence or a new charge offered by any one of them. This will causeinconvenience to the accused if he initially agrees to plea bargaining forreduction of the charge or sentence, however, due to the dissatisfaction of thesuggestion of a new charge or sentence offered by the accused, the prosecutor tendsto proceed the case to a full trial. This can be avoided if a neutral thirdparty assists the accused and the offender to reach a deal. For instance, inSingapore a judge acts as a mediator to facilitate the process of pleabargaining to resolve criminal cases out of court. Thus, this research examineshow plea bargaining is conducted under the Criminal Procedure Code of Malaysia.It also analyses how mediation helps plea bargaining process under the law ofSingapore. It is suggested that the Criminal Procedure Code of Malaysia beamended to allow a third party to facilitate the process of plea bargaining.

The viability and competitiveness of tourism locations depends, in part, on climate. Netnographic research utilising TripAdvisor reviews can objectively evaluate tourists’ climatic sensitivity and the meteorological factors most important to them. Manually reading and coding hundreds of reviews is time-consuming. Web-scraping can automate this process and analyse hundreds of thousands of reviews nationwide to evaluate climatic influence more comprehensively. This paper compares the outputs of manually collected and web-scraped TripAdvisor reviews, evaluating the efficacy of a web-scraping approach. The total number of climatic mentions captured varied by a statistically insignificant 3.56%, demonstrating a reasonable efficacy of web-scraping. Out of 26,687 TripAdvisor reviews, 1,163 mentioned climate. This 4.4% mean sensitivity to climatic variables is statistically significantly different to the 7.9% yielded from manual data collection. The two methodologies had minor statistically insignificant differences in climatic references at 19 destinations, ranging from 0.42% to 8.26%. A webscraping approach is thus possible but should be used with caution.

The Current Legal Framework on Plea Bargain in Nigeria

Plea Bargaining and the Right to the Effective Assistance of Counsel: Where the Rubber Hits the Road in Capital Cases