NCJ Number
99451
Journal
Crime and Social Justice Issue: 23 Dated: (1985) Pages: 80-90
Date Published
1985
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The author surveys papers presented at the 3-day conference, the First Scientific Symposium on Politics and Ideology in its Relationship with Law, held in Cuba in 1984, and describes her impressions of Cuban legal institutions in practice.
Abstract
Among the topics covered were the development of legal norms from the revolutionary stage, the Cuban perspective on international law, the right to work and the right to education in a socialist democracy, a comparison of bourgeois and socialist rights, and human rights guaranteed by the Cuban constitution. In addition to attending the conference, the author visited prisons for men and women, a juvenile rehabilitation center, and a criminal/civil trial. She met with the Ministry of Justice, the Federation of Cuban Women, and the State Arbitration System. Unlike American prisons, she did not find an atmosphere of heavy security, hostility, and underlying violence in the prisons, but was impressed with programs for conjugal visits, work, and education. The author emphasizes that the Cuban prisons have low recidivism rates and focus on returning offenders to society as productive human beings. Discussions with government officials concerned the labor code currently being drafted, the effectiveness of the Family Code after 10 years, and the arbitration system. The paper also describes a trial for drunken driving and personal injuries. Based on her visit, the author concludes that Cuba has progressed substantially in its theoretical posture and in the implementation of theory into everyday practice.