Forensic psychiatry legislation on June 12, 2019Forensic psychiatry is a sub-speciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. There are two major areas of criminal evaluations in forensic psychiatry: competency to stand trial and mental state at the time of committing an offense. CST is the competency evaluation to determine that a defendant […]
Pre-conviction detention of juvenile inmates on April 2, 2019Under-trial prisoners (UTPs) or pre-conviction detainees are those prisoners, who are detained in prisons but their trials are in progress and they have not yet been convicted of the offence by any court of law. Pre-trial detainees on the other hand refer to those prisoners who are detained during pending investigations and trial courts have […]
Juveniles’ and criminal responsibility on March 1, 2019The term criminal responsibility refers to a person’s ability to understand his or her conduct at the time a crime is committed. In other words, what a person is thinking when he commits a crime, or what result is anticipated or expected when a crime is committed. Laws define crimes in terms of an act […]
The Juvenile Justice System Act of 2018 on September 7, 2018On May 18 2018, the President of Pakistan approved the Juvenile Justice System Act (JJSA) 2018, which was passed by the Parliament earlier this year. JJSA 2018 overcomes the shortcomings which were present in Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, and provides a much better system for criminal justice and social reintegration for juvenile offenders. The […]
The Tayyaba verdict: how it happened on April 24, 2018The Islamabad High Court (IHC) fixed Tuesday, April 17 2018 for the announcement of the final verdict regarding the Tayyaba Torture Case. The judge presiding over the case was Justice Aamer Farooq. I was present in his courtroom, representing civil society along with Madam Tahira Abdullah, a human rights activist. Justice Aamer Farooq announced the […]