Criminal Misconduct In Office

Democracy cannot function if the public loses faith in politicians, and that faith will be lost if politicians abuse their power with impunity. This book analyses the criminal offence of misconduct in office, and explains how it should be used, along with other measures, to hold politicians to account for abuse of their position.

Investigating Corruption and Misconduct in Public Office Second Edition provides accessible, authoritative and practical information about anti-corruption agencies. It discusses the substantive principles underpinning propriety and impropriety, public office and corruption. It complements this coverage with practical principles, techniques and strategies for investigating and preventing corruption. Upon its initial publication in 2004, this work quickly became a significant point of reference in relation to the laws, principles, jurisdictional structure and practical operation of anti-corruption legislation and agencies in Australia. This long-awaited Second Edition has been significantly restructured and updated. It reflects more than a decade of activity by commissions of inquiry and state-based crime commissions, and by governments legislating in relation to public integrity, public trust obligations, corruption offences, organized crime and other matters. Features include expert analysis of the common law, legislative schemes for public corruption investigation and prevention bodies (such as the ICAC), and detailed analysis of the powers, investigative processes, and methodologies of corruption investigation.

This Brief proposes a criminological typology for understanding and addressing police misconduct. Through examination of each major type of police misconduct, the author proposes future research directions to deter and prevent misconduct. According to an examination of 50 years of police misconduct cases within the New York Police Department (NYPD) and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the author proposes 5 major typologies: police corruption, police criminality, excessive use of force, abuse of authority, and police misconduct. Through a systematic examination of each of these five types, the author aims to break down the nebulous topic of police misbehavior into manageable categories, with their own set of causes, and recommendations for detection and prevention. This work will be of interest for researchers in criminology and criminal justice, particularly with an interest in police studies, and related fields such as public policy and sociology. It will also be of interest for policymakers.

This book provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the law relating to corruption and misuse of public office, including specialist issues such as whistleblowing. This new edition covers major developments in the area since the publication of the first edition, and includes full coverage of the Bribery Act 2010.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

Should the criminal law be used to deter and punish corruption in politics: from employing family members at public expense to improper spending on elections, lobbying, and cronyism? How did so many MPs avoid facing charges after the 2009 government expenses scandal? In this book, Jeremy Horder tackles these questions and more. As well as offering the first treatment of the history, philosophy, and politics of the application of the offence of misconduct in office to Members of Parliament in England and Wales, Horder explains how political corruption might be dealt with in future, and how politicians could be held accountable for their actions so that they are deterred from betraying the public's trust. Use of the criminal law should not be the sole or even the main way to remedy all corruption in politics. Nevertheless, for too long the offence of misconduct in a public office has had an ambiguous status in the political realm. If we are to preserve the good health of government it must be seen as a constitutional fundamental. A charge of misconduct provides a way in which corrupt conduct on the part of legislators can be punished with an appropriate label, holding them to account for the misuse of power by reference to the standards of ordinary people. When other - civil law or regulatory - means prove insufficient, it should be possible for ordinary members of a jury, and not for Parliamentarians or other officials, to decide whether, for example, the expenditure of public money on legislators' private income and benefits amounts to a criminal abuse of the public's trust. This book offers an authoritative and accessible account of a 'bottom-up' (jury standards-led), as opposed to a 'top-down' (officials applying their own standards), approach to the role of the criminal law in constitutional contexts.