Penal Sanctions

Legislative and regulatory infrastructure— strengthen legislation, increase penal sanctions, and empower law enforcement agencies... 

The 1988 Act describes various violations of labour legislation (particularly as regards work, health and safety, employment and social security) d categorises them as minor, serious or very serious offences. The same Act states that administrative sanctions may include the imposition of fines of varying magnitude and even temporary or permanent closure of the workplace. Offences which have greats social impact are categorized as criminal labour offences in the Penal Code and are subject to penal sanctions. 

Administrative sanctions. The labour inspector may impose the following sanctions on any employer, manufacturer, producer, importer or supplier who infnnges the provisions of the health and safety laws or the provisions of the presidential decrees or ministerial decisions issued under the terms of these laws, independently of the penal sanctions, on the basis of a fully reasoned decision and after summoning the person to provide explanations. The sanctions are as follows ... 

Penal Sanctions may also be imposed on any employer, manufacturer, producer, importer or siqjplier who willfully violates ttie Act or the rules promulgated by it. Offences committed due to negligence (on conviction) carry flie fidl sanction of a fine or a prison sentence not exceeding one year. 

The Geneva Conventions must be contrasted with the vaguer provisions in Article 28 of The Hague Convention. This gives rise to a number of problems of interpretation. What offences are covered by Article 28 Under what conditions can the offences be committed, in particular what mens rea (mental element) is required (i.e. does the offence have to be committed wilfully or wantonly ) On what basis would Contracting Parties exercise jurisdiction over the offences Nor is it clear in what circumstances it would be appropriate to impose a disciplinary sanction as opposed to a penal sanction. 

This provision covers various kinds of behaviours and accordingly States Parties may wish to provide for a wide range of penal sanctions. 

According to the generally held view, sanctions under the AVIG/LACI do not have a penal character and, hence, can be imposed more than once without any... 

Enforcement powers. Labour Inspectors have righte of access to workplaces and to certain information kept by the enterprise and can issue official notifications (of infi ingement, settlement, etc.) and propose administrative or penal sections for violations of social legislation Administrative offences, which are subject to sanctions imposed at the posal of the Labour Inspectorate, are covered mainly by the Labour Offences and Sanctions Act, first implemented in 1988/ the Workers Statute and the Prevention of Occupational Hazards Act. 

In thirteenth-century Spain, the penalty for homosexuality was castration and "lapidation [execution by stoning]. Ferdinand and Isabella changed this, in 1479, to burning alive and confiscation, irrespective of the station of the culprit. In other words, then the crime was subject to punishment by both secular and ecclesiastic courts— just as now it is subject to punishment by both penal and psychiatric sanctions. In 1451, Nicholas V empowered the Inquisition to deal with it. When the institution [Inquisition] was founded in Spain, Lea writes, .. . the Seville tribunal made it [homosexuality] the subject of a special Inquest there were many arrests and many fugitives, and twelve convicts were duly burnt. The Spanish Inquisition, whose principal enemies, as we have seen, were Judaizers and Moriscoes, was thus also hard on homo-sexuals.f... 

One weakness of the Convention was the lack of clear provisions to repress breaches of the Convention. The only provision is Article 28 under the heading of Sanctions which obligated the Parties to take within the framework of their ordinary criminal jurisdiction, all necessary steps to prosecute and impose penal or disciplinary sanctions upon those persons, of whatever nationality, who commit or order to be committed a breach of the present Convention . 

The application by a regulatory body of sanctions against an entity, intended to correct and, as appropriate, penalize non-compliance with conditions of an authorization. Engineered Failure... 

Actuarial justice is a concept utilised in criminological literature to describe the tendency towards instrumental, regulatory modes of crime governance. Writers such as David Garland (2001) have identified the development of a bifurcated criminal justice system, which combines an instrumental strategy and an expressive strategy. On the one hand, modern penal practices are characterised by the imposition of harsher sanctions, politicised penal policies, and the expansion of the penal infrastructure. At the same time, however, the criminal justice system... 

In principle, every case of non-compliance can be prosecuted, either once the notice s deadline has expired or, in serious cases immediately following the visit. Two types of sanctions can be applied administrative and/or penal. Administrative sanctions are applied if the plant remains non-compliant after the notice s deadline has expired. The objective is to make the plant compliant. To that end, the Prefet can order that the sums needed to pay for the necessary works be deposited (the amount depends on the cost of the work to be carried out to achieve compliance) have the work done at the operator s expense or suspend the plants activity until it is compliant. 

Since the 2013 reform to the Environmental Code, a new form of sanction has been introduced penal transaction . Before prosecution, and as a replacement to it, the Prefet can agree transaction with the operator, depending on the circumstances and the seriousness of the offense, the nature of the operator and its resources. In this case, the Prefet and the operator discuss the amount of the transactional fine and the operator s responsibiU-ties the idea is to both punish the operator and pay for any damages. The amount is limited to a third of the initial fine. 

The introduction of penal transaction is final confirmation that the objectives of environmental policies are not to issue sanctions in cases of non-compliance, but to try to reconcile different interests, especially economic. With this kind of sanction available, public authorities may become less and less strict. 

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