sexta-feira, 31 de julho de 2015

Die Schuld

Pessoa amiga chamou-me a atenção para esta palavra alemã: die Schuld. A um tempo, é a dívida e a culpa. Não explicará tudo, mas ajuda. O capitalismo não (sobre)vive pelas palavras, ainda que por elas se justifique.

quinta-feira, 30 de julho de 2015

Borrachos

... el área de Seguridad Vial de la Fiscalía General del Estado (FGE) ha publicado este jueves su balance anual, donde destaca que las condenas por conducir borracho han aumentado un 9% en solo un año. Estas sentencias han pasado de las 53.793 de 2013 a las 58.607 de 2014. Y ya representan el 24,3% "de todas las dictadas en todo el territorio nacional por toda clase de delitos".

terça-feira, 28 de julho de 2015

Presunção de inocência

Na análise do putativo crime de enriquecimento injustificado, o Tribunal Constitucional veio, mais uma vez, recordar o princípio da presunção de inocência. Num Estado de Direito, é um princípio absoluto, que não consente exceções nem se pode conjugar entre o sim e o não. Se assim é no espaço público, deveria ser também um imperativo ético no espaço privado. Não deixou de me surpreender que um eventual candidato presidencial, Rui Rio, não se tivesse coibido de considerar Sócrates culpado, ainda que temesse que tal convicção pudesse estar viciada pela manipulação comunicacional.

segunda-feira, 27 de julho de 2015

Erro judiciário 11

I edit the National Registry of Exonerations, which compiles stories and data about people who were convicted of crimes in the United States and later exonerated. The cases are fascinating and important, but they wear on me: So many of them are stories of destruction and defeat.
Consider, for example, Rafael Suarez . In 1997 in Tucson, Suarez was convicted of a vicious felony assault for which another man had already pleaded guilty. Suarez’s lawyer interviewed the woman who called 911 to report the incident as well as a second eyewitness. Both said that Suarez did not attack the victim and, in fact, had attempted to stop the assault. A third witness told the lawyer that he heard the victim say that he would lie in court to get Suarez convicted. None of these witnesses were called to testify at trial. Suarez was convicted and sentenced to five years.
Samuel R. Gross, professor na Universidade de Michigan
Publicado no The Washington Post

domingo, 26 de julho de 2015

Capacidade de influência

Si algo asombra del sumario del caso Púnica son las inquietantes relaciones de Francisco Granados, ex número dos de la Comunidad de Madrid, y su capacidad de influencia sobre algunos jueces, fiscales, abogados o policías. Desde mediar para que el hijo del exdecano de Madrid apruebe un examen, a ser recibido con dos besos por la jueza que investiga el espionaje a políticos de Madrid quien le dijo que estaba “para servirle”, según relata él después por teléfono a su esposa.

Público


sexta-feira, 24 de julho de 2015

Do Prosecutors Have an Unfair Advantage in Our Criminal Justice System?

Autor: Steven Greenhut
reason.com

One of California's most prominent federal judges, Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit court of appeals, has sparked a nationwide debate about the state of the nation's criminal-justice system with a recent 42-page jeremiad in the Georgetown Law Review. The article depicts a system that tilts heavily in favor of district attorneys, incarcerates thousands of innocent people and fails to hold accountable prosecutors who abuse their power.
The judge's piece challenges many of our fundamental assumptions about the justice system. It is a compelling and important read — especially as legislatures around the country wrestles with issues of prison overcrowding, police reform, changes to civil-asset forfeiture laws, police body camera bills and the like.
"Police investigators have vast discretion about what leads to pursue, which witnesses to interview, what forensic tests to conduct and countless other aspects of the investigation," Kozinski wrote. "Police also have a unique opportunity to manufacture or destroy evidence, influence witnesses, extract confessions and otherwise direct the investigation so as to stack the deck against people they believe should be convicted." Wow.
A recent admission by an elite FBI forensic unit "gave flawed testimony in almost all (of the 268) trials" it testified in over two decades, according to an article he quoted. "How can you trust the professionalism and objectivity of police anywhere after an admission like that?" Kozinski asked.
By the way, Kozinski is no liberal and was appointed to the court in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan. Yet he blames the nation's incarceration rates — far higher than any other industrialized nation, and far beyond the rates in authoritarian China — on a "war on drugs" (that ramped up during the Reagan era), along with mandatory minimum sentences and three-strikes laws.
The judge is dismayed at the unwillingness of the system to examine credible allegations of wrongful convictions. Those inmates — 125 nationwide in 2014 — who have been exonerated largely because of the Innocence Project are the rare "lucky" ones where clear evidence still exists, he argued. But it's often a tough road. (For instance, the Innocence Project in California has produced compelling evidence that 12 people are serving long sentences for crimes they did not commit, yet 11 of them still languish in prison.)
He argues that Americans accept some truths that might not be so true: eyewitnesses are reliable, fingerprint evidence is unassailable, witness memories are reliable, prosecutors play fair, confessions are infallible, and guilty pleas always mean guilt.
On the last point, he laments "the trend of bringing multiple counts for a single incident – thereby vastly increasing the risk of a life-shattering sentence in case of conviction – as well as the creativity of prosecutors in hatching up criminal cases where no crime exists and the over-criminalization of virtually every aspect of American life." Faced with long sentences and padded criminal charges, many people simply cop a plea and avoid the risk of spending decades in prison.
The judge's solutions fall into two categories: openness and accountability. He calls for requiring prosecutors to be more open and rigorous about, say, releasing any exculpatory evidence. He calls for video-recording interrogations, limiting the use of jailhouse informants and better vetting of expert witnesses. He also suggests creating panels that investigate claims of wrongful conviction and ones to look into allegations of prosecutorial misbehavior. He advocates eliminating "absolute prosecutorial immunity," which currently means that prosecutors aren't held liable even when they engage in misbehavior.
Some other thought experiments: video-recording juries so judges can see if jurors followed instructions and eliminating judicial elections, which will enable judges to be less concerned about being portrayed as insufficiently tough on crime. My favorite: Repealing many felonies given that "a big reason prosecutors have so much leverage in plea negotiations is that there are many laws written in vague and sweeping language, inviting prosecutorial adventurism."

Uma vitória para Hollande

O Conselho Constitucional julgou conforme a Constituição o essencial da nova lei francesa em matéria de informações.

Le Monde

terça-feira, 21 de julho de 2015

Países Baixos

De 1 de julho a 1 de setembro, os holandeses têm em consulta pública um projeto de lei que prevê o aumento significativo da capacidade de vigilância dos serviços de informação. Para além da recolha de grandes quantidades de dados na net do tratamento automático dos metadados, sobressai a possibilidade da utilização de técnicas de intrusão para a obtenção de chaves de criptagem.


Os cuidados de Hollande

Também em França foi aprovada uma nova lei sobre os serviços de informação, permitindo-lhes a recolha sistemática de dados e o seu tratamento. Hollande, face a uma significativa discordância pública, sujeitou-a à apreciação do Conselho Constitucional. É a primeira vez que um presidente da República faz uso do preceito constitucional que lhe permite sujeitar uma lei àquele Conselho antes de a promulgar. Caso tal viesse a ocorrer em Portugal, não seria a primeira vez.

segunda-feira, 20 de julho de 2015

O tempo e o modo da vigilância

Emergency surveillance legislation introduced by the coalition government last year is unlawful, the high court has ruled. A judicial challenge by the Labour MP Tom Watson and the Conservative MP David Davis has been upheld by judges, who found that the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (Dripa) 2014 is “inconsistent with European Union law”. The act requires internet and phone companies to keep their communications data for a year and regulates how police and intelligence agencies gain access to it.

The Guardian

Nota: dado que há meia dúzia de dias foi aprovada* idêntica legislação em Portugal, a notícia do The Guardian merece particular relevo.
Adenda: *Na generalidade.