Absolute Convictions PDF Download

Author: Eyal Press
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312426576
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
In 1998, one of only two doctors in Buffalo, New York, who performed abortions was shot dead by a radical antiabortion activist. The son of the surviving doctor now presents a gripping account of a family and a city caught in the crossfire of moral fervor and individual rights in the fierce battle over abortion.

Author: Oliver Rollins
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 150362790X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
Exposing ethical dilemmas of neuroscientific research on violence, this book warns against a dystopian future in which behavior is narrowly defined in relation to our biological makeup. Biological explanations for violence have existed for centuries, as has criticism of this kind of deterministic science, haunted by a long history of horrific abuse. Yet, this program has endured because of, and not despite, its notorious legacy. Today's scientists are well beyond the nature versus nurture debate. Instead, they contend that scientific progress has led to a nature and nurture, biological and social, stance that allows it to avoid the pitfalls of the past. In Conviction Oliver Rollins cautions against this optimism, arguing that the way these categories are imagined belies a dangerous continuity between past and present. The late 1980s ushered in a wave of techno-scientific advancements in the genetic and brain sciences. Rollins focuses on an often-ignored strand of research, the neuroscience of violence, which he argues became a key player in the larger conversation about the biological origins of criminal, violent behavior. Using powerful technologies, neuroscientists have rationalized an idea of the violent brain—or a brain that bears the marks of predisposition toward "dangerousness." Drawing on extensive analysis of neurobiological research, interviews with neuroscientists, and participant observation, Rollins finds that this construct of the brain is ill-equipped to deal with the complexities and contradictions of the social world, much less the ethical implications of informing treatment based on such simplified definitions. Rollins warns of the potentially devastating effects of a science that promises to "predict" criminals before the crime is committed, in a world that already understands violence largely through a politic of inequality.

Author: Kimberley Brownlee
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191645923
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
The book shows that civil disobedience is generally more defensible than private conscientious objection. Part I explores the morality of conviction and conscience. Each of these concepts informs a distinct argument for civil disobedience. The conviction argument begins with the communicative principle of conscientiousness (CPC). According to the CPC, having a conscientious moral conviction means not just acting consistently with our beliefs and judging ourselves and others by a common moral standard. It also means not seeking to evade the consequences of our beliefs and being willing to communicate them to others. The conviction argument shows that, as a constrained, communicative practice, civil disobedience has a better claim than private objection does to the protections that liberal societies give to conscientious dissent. This view reverses the standard liberal picture which sees private 'conscientious' objection as a modest act of personal belief and civil disobedience as a strategic, undemocratic act whose costs are only sometimes worth bearing. The conscience argument is narrower and shows that genuinely morally responsive civil disobedience honours the best of our moral responsibilities and is protected by a duty-based moral right of conscience. Part II translates the conviction argument and conscience argument into two legal defences. The first is a demands-of-conviction defence. The second is a necessity defence. Both of these defences apply more readily to civil disobedience than to private disobedience. Part II also examines lawful punishment, showing that, even when punishment is justifiable, civil disobedients have a moral right not to be punished. Oxford Legal Philosophy publishes the best new work in philosophically-oriented legal theory. It commissions and solicits monographs in all branches of the subject, including works on philosophical issues in all areas of public and private law, and in the national, transnational, and international realms; studies of the nature of law, legal institutions, and legal reasoning; treatments of problems in political morality as they bear on law; and explorations in the nature and development of legal philosophy itself. The series represents diverse traditions of thought but always with an emphasis on rigour and originality. It sets the standard in contemporary jurisprudence.

Author: Mark Kersten
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191082945
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
What happens when the international community simultaneously pursues peace and justice in response to ongoing conflicts? What are the effects of interventions by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the wars in which the institution intervenes? Is holding perpetrators of mass atrocities accountable a help or hindrance to conflict resolution? This book offers an in-depth examination of the effects of interventions by the ICC on peace, justice and conflict processes. The 'peace versus justice' debate, wherein it is argued that the ICC has either positive or negative effects on 'peace', has spawned in response to the Court's propensity to intervene in conflicts as they still rage. This book is a response to, and a critical engagement with, this debate. Building on theoretical and analytical insights from the fields of conflict and peace studies, conflict resolution, and negotiation theory, the book develops a novel analytical framework to study the Court's effects on peace, justice, and conflict processes. This framework is applied to two cases: Libya and northern Uganda. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the core of the book examines the empirical effects of the ICC on each case. The book also examines why the ICC has the effects that it does, delineating the relationship between the interests of states that refer situations to the Court and the ICC's institutional interests, arguing that the negotiation of these interests determines which side of a conflict the ICC targets and thus its effects on peace, justice, and conflict processes. While the effects of the ICC's interventions are ultimately and inevitably mixed, the book makes a unique contribution to the empirical record on ICC interventions and presents a novel and sophisticated means of studying, analyzing, and understanding the effects of the Court's interventions in Libya, northern Uganda - and beyond.

Author: Jack Lindeman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Author: William C. Kashatus
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 9780819178831
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Addresses the popular misconception that all Quakers, historically, have been absolutely against war and participation in civil government during a time of war. By examining the personal, theological and moral dilemmas and sacrifices of individual Friends and Quaker groups who, complied with the Revolutionary War effort, this book provides a new understanding of the diversity as well as complexity of the Quaker involvement in the American Revolution. Contents: Thomas Paine & the Ideology of the American Revolution; The Fighting Quaker-Nathanael Greene's Conflict of Conviction; Quakerism, Patriotism & Transformation in the Valley Forge Community, 1684-1778; and The Lamb's War Ethic of the Free Quakers.

Author: Tim Muehlhoff
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830847995
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In today's polarized context, Christians often have committed, biblical rationales for very different positions. How can Christians navigate disagreements with both truth and love? Tim Muehlhoff and Rick Langer provide lessons from conflict theory and church history on how to negotiate differing biblical convictions in order to move toward Christian unity.

Author: Justin Giboney
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830848118
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
Have you ever felt too progressive for conservatives, but too conservative for progressives? It's easy for faithful Christians to grow disillusioned with civic engagement or fall into tribal extremes. Representing the AND Campaign, the authors of this book lay out the biblical case for political engagement and help Christians navigate the complex world of politics with integrity.

Author: Brent E. Newton
Publisher: Aspen Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Theory and practice go hand-in-hand in the newest edition of Criminal Litigation and Legal Issues in Criminal Procedure. Author Brent Newton merges elements from traditional substantive criminal law or criminal procedure courses with the skills training of a trial advocacy program to create an experiential learning course perfect for the next generation of law students. With short, easy-to-digest scenarios and limited, specific case references, Criminal Litigation and Legal Issues in Criminal Procedure, 5th Edition, allows students to practice their research and advocacy skills in a low-risk environment. New to the 5th Edition: Update scenarios reflecting changes in Supreme Court and lower court case law. Professors and students will benefit from: Combining substantive law from “doctrinal” Criminal Procedure courses with the development of students’ courtroom advocacy skills. Learning by doing—every week of the semester. Students role-play prosecutors, defense counsel, and trial judges—providing insights into the law from all three vantage points. An entirely self-contained course—no additional research or resources required. A rare opportunity for law students to develop their public-speaking skills and conquer their fears of public speaking—on a weekly basis.

Author: David McGowan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 25

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Book Description
Prosecutors may seek to disqualify defense counsel based on conflicts among defendants. In doing so prosecutors do not assert rights of current, former, or prospective clients, as in the usual conflicts assertion. They instead assert other interests, the most concrete of which is the interest in not wasting resources in a retrial if a conviction is tainted by a conflict. Wheat v. United States sets a lenient standard for assessing such assertions. Judges may disqualify defense counsel even if the relevant parties are willing to waive conflicts that should be waivable as both a positive and normative matter. Wheat rested this standard on a set of concerns that are insufficient to justify its holding. As colloquy at argument showed, the Court was particularly concerned that defendants would not be held to waivers but instead would challenge on appeal even knowing and intelligent waivers of waivable conflicts.Wheat was wrong on the facts, wrong on the law, and sets bad policy. It was wrong on the facts because the conflict at issue was waivable and the trial court abused its discretion in holding that it was not. It was wrong on the law because it collapsed materially different conflicts into one category and because it refused to decide whether a knowing waiver would bind a court. It set bad policy because it sought to offset the free option of appeal with a free option to prosecutors to challenge defense counsel. The Court's concern illustrates the risk to defendants of permissive standards of appeal. A defendant unable to commit credibly to a waiver may lose the benefits a waiver would provide, with little or no gain to offset the loss. This paper frames the problem of permissive standards of appeal by drawing a partial analogy to the familiar "lemons" framework. The problem is discussed more fully in future work.