Russia CLJ
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[edit] Basic Information
[edit] Demographic Characteristics
The total population is 140,041,247. 0-14 years: 14.8% (male 10,644,833/female 10,095,011) 15-64 years: 71.5% (male 48,004,040/female 52,142,313) 65 years and over: 13.7% (male 5,880,877/female 13,274,173) [1]
[edit] Geographical Information
Climate:ranges from steppes in the south through humid continental in much of European Russia; subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north; winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; summers vary from warm in the steppes to cool along Arctic coast.[2]
[edit] Religions
Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2%.
[edit] Ethnic Groups
Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1 [4]
[edit] Languages
Russian, many minority languages. [5]
[edit] Economic Development, Health, and Education
Infant Mortality rate:total: 10.56 deaths/1,000 live births country comparison to the world: 152 male: 12.08 deaths/1,000 live births female: 8.94 deaths/1,000 live births. [6]
Life expectancy:total population: 66.03 years country comparison to the world: 162 male: 59.33 years female: 73.14 years [7]
Literacy rates:total population: 99.4% male: 99.7% female: 99.2%[8]
[edit] Brief History
[edit] Governance
[edit] Elections
Just like in the United States, “Russia’s executive branch of the government is headed by the president”.[9] There are some requirements for becoming president, "A candidate for president must be a citizen of Russia, at least thirty-five years of age, and a resident of the country for at least ten years."[10] The current president of Russia is Vladimir Putin, he was elected in 2000. In Russia “The term of office is four years, and one person may only serve for two terms.” [11]The president “controls the Defense and Security Councils and is in charge of the country's foreign policy.”[12] The president is also the commander in chief of the armed forces and "can appoint or dismiss top military commanders, and may declare martial law or a state of emergency."[13] If for some reason "a president becomes unable to continue in office because of health problems, resignation, impeachment, or death, a presidential election is to be held not more than three months later. In such a situation, the Federation Council is empowered to set the election date"[14]
[edit] Judicial Review
Russia has a Supreme Court but "The Supreme Court of Russia does not have the right of judicial review but has the right of legislative initiative and may submit its conclusions concerning the interpretation of laws."[15]The Russian Supreme Court "cannot overturn laws in the way the US Supreme Court can." [16]The Constitutional Court of Russia was established in 1991, “The Constitutional Court is vested with the power of constitutional review, i.e., it can, upon motion of an interested governmental organization, hold a statute or an executive enactment unconstitutional.”[17]
[edit] Courts and Criminal Law
[edit] Punishment
Russia has not executed anyone since 1996 and the regulations of the Council of Europe prohibit it from doing so at any time in future. [18]. Despite this fact the death penalty still remains in the law books. Its constitution states that “until its abolition, death penalty may only be passed for the most serious crimes against human life."[19] All sentences do require a jury trial. Women are not eligible for the death penalty, along with men who were over 65 or under 18 at the time in which the crime was committed.No crime has a mandatory death sentence.[20]
Russia only allows the death penalty for five crimes.
- murder, with certain aggravating circumstances (section 105.2)
- attempted murder of a government or public official (section 277),
- attempted murder of a person carrying out justice or a preliminary investigation (section 295),
- attempted murder of a law enforcement officer (section 317),
- genocide (section 357).
On November 19, 2009 Russia outlawed the death penalty "saying a moratorium on capital punishment should remain in force until the nation fully bans executions."[21]
[edit] Legal Personnel
The judiciary in Russia is split into three sections, “the regular court system with the Supreme Court at the top, the arbitration court system with the High Court of Arbitration on top, and the Constitutional Court as a single body with no courts under it.”[22] The courts of arbitration handle “dispute between business entities”. In Russia “there are eighty-two courts of arbitration with some two-thousand judges handling about three hundred thousand disputes annually.” [23]
The regular court system is the people's court. It serves each city district or rural district. [24] In Russia “A jury trial is only available in serious crimes--those where jurisdiction originates in the oblast courts. A decision made by the lower trial courts can be appealed through intermediate courts up to the Supreme Court of Russia.” [25]Cases can be tried in different ways “a case can be tried by a presiding, professional judge and two lay judges called "people’s assessors," or by a panel of three professional judges, or by a single judge.”[26]
Lawyers who choose to have a private practice in Russia “work mostly within colleges of advocates--self-managed, cooperative-type organizations there are about nineteen thousand advocates in more than one hundred colleges.” [27] The colleges of advocates are created with territorial subdivisions--in the cities, regions (oblasts), Republics or autonomous entities. In its territory any college is represented by law firms or legal aid offices, which render all regular legal assistance to citizens: advocates counsel people, draft legal documents, represent plaintiffs or defendants in civil litigation, and provide defense in criminal proceedings.” [28]
[edit] Law Enforcement
Russia has a militia, which is a public agency, that is part of the executive branch of government. “Its tasks are protecting life, physical health, rights and freedoms of citizens; protecting property, and the interests of the state and society from criminal and other unlawful infringements. The Militia is authorized to use force to perform its functions.” The militia is divided into the criminal militia and the public security militia. [29]
The criminal militia “has the task of prevention, suppression, and exposure of criminal offenses that require a preliminary investigation; the organization of searches for persons who have escaped from bodies of inquiry; investigations under judicial bodies involving persons who avoid the execution of criminal punishment; investigation of missing persons and of other persons as the law prescribes.” [30] On the other hand the public security militia “has the task of ensuring the personal security of citizens; ensuring the public security; protection of public order; prevention and suppression of criminal offenses and minor delinquencies; the disclosure of criminal offenses that do not require a preliminary investigation; investigation of criminal offenses in the form of inquiry; the rendering of assistance to citizens, officials, businesses, establishments, organizations and public associations.”[31]
There are requirements that must be met in order to join the militia, “a person is required to pass professional training in specialized higher or secondary educational establishments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or other state departments. To enter these establishments, a person must be 18-35 years old, have a secondary Education and no previous convictions. An officer serves a probation period lasting from 3 months to 1 year.” [32]
[edit] Crime Rates and Public Opinion
Crime rates in Russia are very high. Russia has a criminal code which serves as its only source of criminal legislation. The code classifies crimes into two categories: major offenses, such as rape, kidnapping, treason, espionage, crimes against the justice system, serious violent crimes, and murder; minor offenses such as offenses against property, hooliganism, and offenses against the public order.[33] This classification helps determine the amount of time the offender will serve, as well as the “type of correctional institutions to which they are sent.” [34]
In Russia the age in which a person can be criminally responsible is sixteen. Persons over 14 years old will bear responsibility only for murder, major bodily injury, rape, kidnapping, larceny, robbery, burglary, stealing of firearms and drugs, malicious hooliganism, and train catastrophe.[35]
| Lie | Theft | Breach of Contract | Assualt | Cheat |
[edit] Rights
[edit] Family Law
In Russia “local court judges in the area where the child lives approve adoptions. The judge’s decision is based on a review of the various documents in the case (these are listed below), and a closed court hearing which usually lasts about an hour.The law requires the parents that are adopting to attend the hearing.”[36] Even though the judge makes a decision on the day of the hearing, “it does not take effect for ten calendar days, during which time it can be appealed. Many judges waive the ten-day waiting period. This is entirely up to the judge, and seems to depend to some extent on the region and on the judge’s experience with international adoption cases.” gay and lesbian couple adoption is not allowed..”[37]
The Russian Court has jurisdiction in divorce cases on the following grounds [38]
- where both spouses are the citizens of the Russian Federation;
- where the respondent spouse resides in Russia;
- where the respondent spouse has property in Russia;
- in divorce, child/ spousal support cases when the plaintiff spouse resides in Russia;
- in divorce cases when one of the spouses is a Russian citizen.
In Russia the irretrievable breakdown of marriage is still the only formal ground for divorce. Once irretrievable breakdown is shown, a divorce will be granted. [39] De facto exists under Russian law which means that the court is not entitled to make any enquiry as to the grounds for divorce and divorce on the ground of mutual consent”. [40]In the case “that one of the spouses does not agree to dissolution of the marriage, the court can order a reconciliation period of not more than 3 months. If after this period, either of the spouses wishes to proceed to divorce, the courts will establish irretrievable breakdown and grant a decree.” [41]
[edit] Social Inequality
[edit] Human Rights
According to a 2009 report “human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers who spoke openly about human rights abuses faced threats and intimidation. The police appeared to be reluctant to investigate such threats and a climate of impunity for attacks on civil society activists prevailed.”[42] When it comes to freedom of expression the report noted that “several human rights defenders and supporters of opposition groups faced criminal charges for expressing dissenting opinions or criticizing government authorities.”[43] unfortunatly in 2009 “at least 87 people died in the course of the year as a result of racially-motivated attacks. Government officials acknowledged that this was a serious problem and called for harsh punishments for those convicted of such crimes. However, no comprehensive plan to combat racism and racial discrimination had been put in place by the end of the year.”[44] Trial procedures did not always meet international standards of fair trial and there were continuing concerns about lack of respect for the rule of law. In some cases with a political context, the treatment of suspects amounted to persecution. The right of suspects to legal representation during investigation was repeatedly violated..”[45]
[edit] Works Cited
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://www.russiansabroad.com/russian_history_256.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://www.russiansabroad.com/russian_history_256.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://www.uoregon.edu/~jbonine/review.html
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Russia
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Russia
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Russia
- ↑ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_death_penalty
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://faculty.cua.edu/Fischer/ComparativeLaw2002/Russian%20Federation%20Website.html
- ↑ http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/wfbcjrus.txt
- ↑ http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/wfbcjrus.txt
- ↑ http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/wfbcjrus.txt
- ↑ http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/wfbcjrus.txt
- ↑ http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/wfbcjrus.txt
- ↑ http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/wfbcjrus.txt
- ↑ http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/wfbcjrus.txt
- ↑ http://ukinrussia.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-russia/adoption-in-russia
- ↑ http://ukinrussia.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-russia/adoption-in-russia
- ↑ http://www.manches.com/practices/family/service.php?id=338
- ↑ http://www.manches.com/practices/family/service.php?id=338
- ↑ http://www.manches.com/practices/family/service.php?id=338
- ↑ http://www.manches.com/practices/family/service.php?id=338
- ↑ http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/russia/report-2009
- ↑ http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/russia/report-2009
- ↑ http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/russia/report-2009
- ↑ http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/russia/report-2009
