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Over a decade since the Special Criminal Court (SCC) was established in Cameroon, hundreds of individuals have been indicted, tried and convicted. Sentences have been imposed, most of which include a term of imprisonment (principal punishment/penalty) and confiscation as accessory penalty or punishment. Research focus has not been directed at the sentences which, as argued in this paper, are inconsistent, incommensurate with the amounts of money stolen and a significant departure from the Penal Code. This paper aims to explore the aspect of sentencing by the SCC.

To identify, highlight and discuss the issue of sentencing, the paper looks at a blend of primary and secondary materials: primary materials here include but not limited to the judgements of the SCC and other courts in Cameroon and the Penal Code. Secondary materials shall include the works of scholars in the fields of criminal law, criminal justice and penal reform.

A few findings were made: first, the judges are inconsistent in the manner in which they determine the appropriate sentence. Second, in making that determination, the judges would have been oblivious to the prescripts in the Penal Code, which provides the term of imprisonment, and in the event of a mitigating circumstance, the prescribed minimum to be applied. Yet, the default imposition of an aggravating circumstance (being a civil servant) was not explored by the SCC. Finally, whether the sentences imposed are commensurate with the amounts of monies stolen.

This research unravels key insights into the functioning of the SCC. It advances the knowledge thereon and adds to the literature on corruption in Cameroon.

The prosecution and judges at the SCC should deepen their knowledge of Cameroonian criminal law, especially on the nature of liberty given to judges to determine within the prescribed range of the sentence to be imposed but also consider the existence of an aggravating factor – civil servant. They must also consider whether the sentences imposed befit the crime for which they are convicted.

The paper is an original contribution with new insights on the manner in which sentencing should be approached by the SCC.

The lack of legal framework on corporate criminal liability (CCL) in Mauritius is a matter of concern with the growing number of corporate crimes. The purpose of the paper is therefore to provide a critical overview of the existing framework on CCL in Mauritius with the aim of underlining its deficiencies and lacunas. As a consequence, an attempt is made to compare the Mauritian model with the French one, so that salient features and characteristics of the French model of CCL can be borrowed into the Mauritian legal framework.

This paper adopts the black-letter approach and the comparative research methodology. The legislative framework of Mauritius on CCL will be compared to the related laws of France with the goal of drawing lessons and inspirations for Mauritius, given that the French model of CCL is well established and highly effective.

The mandatory application of the identification principle in CCL, inspired from the British common law, is a serious impediment towards successful criminal prosecution of companies responsible for criminal offences. In addition, the lack of clear legal provisions on substantive and procedural aspects of CCL is a matter of concern and demonstrates the dire need for legal amendments and action from the legislator as the paper discusses.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper will be among the very first one tackling this area of law from a comparative perspective. The issue of CCL has indeed receive very little academic attention and this paper will help in filling the literature gap on this matter. It will also help future research on the matter for students, academics and corporate law practitioners.

In the case of money laundering (ML) originating from the predicate crime of corruption, law enforcers find it difficult to prove all or the existence of a predicate crime on assets that produce assets. This paper aims to analyze ML in corruption cases in Indonesia.

This research uses qualitative descriptive methods. This research discusses the law enforcement of corruption which coincides with the crime of ML.

New findings were discovered where against the corruption case which was carried out concurrently with the crime of money laundering, the value of which was Rp. 1bn and above and has been handled by investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), so the prosecution process is carried out by the public prosecutor from the KPK to continue the trial to the Corruption Court. With respect to cases of criminal acts of corruption, which were carried out concurrently with ML crimes, the value of which was Rp. 1bn and below and had been handled by the prosecutor’s investigators from the start, the prosecution process was carried out by the public prosecutor from the prosecutor’s office to continue the trial to the corruption court.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to use normative perspective on ML in corruption cases (white-collar crime). In contrast to previous studies that take fraud in general as an object of research, researchers are now interested in focusing more research on detecting suspected ML crimes: a case study on corruption cases in Indonesia.

The purpose of this research is to analyze the role of gender in the commission of white collar crimes and investigate it in five countries: Norway, Portugal, America, India and Iran.

Descriptive analytical method is used in this article.

A total of five observations were examined about the rank and percentage of women's participation in white-collar crimes, namely, from Norway (rank 3, 7%), USA (rank 26, 5%), Portugal (29th rank, 13%), India (rank 135, 11%) and Iran (rank 143, 5%). As is visually obvious, there seems to be no relationship between the level of gender equality and the percentage of women involved in white-collar crimes. However, according to Hobbs, in most research, the issue of gender and its effect on the occurrence of white-collar crimes have not been addressed, but by using the limited statistics and limited information available, it can be concluded that a small number of women have committed this crime. According to global crime reports, only 15 out of 200 prosecutions for white-collar crimes involve women.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this article is original and has been submitted only to this journal and has not been submitted to another journal at the same time.

The paper aims to recommend legal and regulatory reforms to better prevent child abuse in childcare institutions in Hong Kong.

A summary of investigation report and news reports are referred to in describing the abuse incidents which occurred in a children’s residential home. Routine Activity Theory (RAT) is used as the framework for identifying the causes. Local and overseas legislation, regulations, case law, and policies are analysed to provide recommendations for reforms.

There are systematic failures such as workload issues, inadequate supervision, and the absence of continuing professional development (CPD) that contributed to the incidents. The regulations governing the operation of childcare centres and criminal laws against child abuse are long overdue for an update in Hong Kong. On the institutional side, this paper recommends enacting regulations that mandate CPD, lower the staff-to-child ratio, and strengthen the Social Welfare Department’s (SWD) supervisory powers over childcare centres. From the criminal law perspective, it is recommended that “reasonable chastisement” be abolished as a defence of corporal punishment, and that there be new offences for failure to report suspected child abuse incidents and causing or allowing the death/serious harm of a child.

The child abuse incidents, occurring in a childcare institution, have drawn wide public concern. Reform is required to protect vulnerable children and regain public confidence.

The aim of the present study is to shed light on the role of legal practitioners, namely, lawyers and notaries, in the fight against money laundering: Are they considered as facilitators or obstacles against money laundering? How does the global and the EU legal framework deal with the legal professionals?

The research follows a deductive approach attempting to respond to questions such as: How do the lawyers’ and notaries’ societies react in front of the anti-money laundering measures that concern them and why? What are the discrepancies between the lawyers’ professional secrecy and the obligations that EU anti-money laundering legislation assigns them?

This study disclosures the response of the European union and international legal and regulatory framework as well as the reflexes of the international and European legal professionals’ associations to this danger. It also demonstrates the reaction of lawyers against European union anti-money laundering legislation, to the point that it limits not only the confidentiality principle but also the position of the European judicial systems to the contradiction between this principle and the lawyers’ obligation to report their suspicions to the authorities.

To fulfil the study goals, it was necessary to overcome some obstacles, like the limitation of existing sources. Indeed, transnational empirical research considering the professionals who facilitate money laundering is narrow. Besides, policymakers and academics only recently expressed more interest in money laundering and its facilitators.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study the legal professionals’ role not only in money laundering practices but also in anti-money laundering policies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of the rule of law, corporate governance and freedom of expression on the effectiveness of whistleblowing initiatives. This study interrogates the effectiveness of whistleblowing as a tool in combating economic and financial crimes, in political and corporate environments where good governance and the rule of law are firmly established and enforceable and where defamation is decriminalised.

The author conducted a comprehensive review of relevant textbooks, focusing on legal theories and concepts related to the research topic. This study analysed scholarly journal articles to gain insights into the current debates and research gaps. The author discussed seminal court decisions that have influenced the legal landscape pertaining to the research topic and reviewed newspaper publications to understand public opinion and societal implications related to the research topic.

To ensure effective whistleblowing as a tool of gathering information in combating economic and financial crime, good governance must be promoted, supremacy of law must be upheld, freedom of expression must be safeguarded and defamation must be criminalised.

This paper addresses a significant gap in the literature by examining the impact of criminal libel on whistleblowing, an area that has received limited attention in previous studies. The findings of this study have significant implications for policymakers, as they shed light on importance of the rule of law, good governance, freedom of speech and decriminalisation of defamation on effective implementation of an effective whistleblowing laws and policies.

This chapter discusses the extension of legal equality between male and female citizens in four states in North Africa – Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria – through one specific lens: A married woman's legal capacity to initiate and obtain divorce without the husband's consent. Building on the works of Stein Rokkan and Reinhard Bendix on the expansion of citizenship to the ‘lower classes’, it is argued that amendments in divorce law by introducing in-court divorce for women, in addition to out-of-court divorce, is a significant institutional change that extends legal equality between men and women. The introduction of in-court divorce expands female citizenship by bolstering woman's juridical autonomy and capacity in state law. Changes in divorce laws are thus part of state centralization by means of standardizing rules that regulate family law through public administrative institutions rather than religious organizations. Two questions are addressed: First, how did amendments in divorce laws occur after independence? Second, in which ways did women's bolstered legal capacity in divorce have a spill over effect on reforms in other patriarchal state laws? Based on observations on sequences of change in four states in North Africa, it is argued that amendments that equalize between men and women in divorce should be seen as a key driver for reforms in other state laws, that reduce legal inequality between male and female citizens. In all four states, women's citizenship was extended in nationality law and criminal law after amendments in divorce law gave women unilateral legal power to exit a marital relationship.

The purpose of this study is to compare women committing pink-collar and red-collar crimes in Iran. In the current study, the pink-collar crime, studying murder by women as red-collar criminals and the root of “pink-collar crime” is considered the related terms.

Descriptive analytical method is used in this article.

It was previously thought that white-collar crime has no victim, and it is not necessary to imprison the criminal or consider other punishments. There is no recognized solution for such crimes, as opposed to the legislature and the government’s efforts, and therefore, consumers, government, employees, companies and executives cannot realize these crimes or be aware of them. Unfortunately, recognizing red-collar crimes is impossible using the old, outdated set of laws, and new laws are required. The phenomenon of white- and red-collar crime is endless and must always be in the attention of society to prevent its dangerous consequences for the community.

This article is original and has been submitted only to this journal and has not been submitted to another journal at the same time.

The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which white-collar crime makes sense. Understanding business offending reflects the degree of sensemaking among respondents in the current survey research. Making sense implies a number of factors that influence understandability. An understandable act is not necessarily acceptable or justifiable. At a university in Iran, criminal law and criminology students answered a questionnaire regarding their extent of understanding of business offenders.

The research method is the use of experimental data using a questionnaire in one of the units of the Islamic Azad University in Iran, where 300 students were invited to respond to an online survey.

The respondents found it on average understandable that top executives and other privileged individuals abuse their positions to commit financial crime when they have problems with their personal finances, when the business struggles financially and faces the threat of bankruptcy, and when they offer bribes in corrupt countries to obtain business contracts. The extent of understandability varies with a number of propositions in the convenience theory.

This article has not been submitted elsewhere and is original.