International Law only reaches its heyday after the Second World War. The reason of International-Law existence is that it would reduce potential interstate wars, as well as promoting world peace and security and economic growth. Unfortunately, up until now, International Law is a relatively new word here in Cambodia, so what our prospect of stability and economic benefits is.
A past few decades, we have seen Cambodia’s quite active regional and global participations; memberships to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), World Trade Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization, and other regional organizations and political/economic gatherings in the regional and global levels, as well as signatory to other international legal instruments. The purposes of these participations and other high-level gathering are: “stability and economic growth.”
Practically, looking into aspects of Cambodia’s International Law, will this Cambodia’s foreign participations be a formula to reach stability and economic growth? International Law is a relatively new word here in Cambodia. “Relatively new” means that: only really few government officials and the public have ever acquainted with what we merely call International Law.
As an LL.M candidate with focus on International Law, I come to know that no more than two Cambodian universities offer this course, with quite an acceptable quality. Moreover, academic materials and professors are always inadequate. Most importantly, International Law is tremendously far from interests of young students.
With the aforementioned personal evidences, I do feel that one of the answers to why Cambodia is lacking behind other regional countries and other countries around the world, in particular in term of economic benefits, is that we are in extreme lack of International Law human resources. Extreme lack of International human resources means that we can not get what we deserve in the negotiation table, our national interests are distorted by international instruments with other countries, our diplomacy is stigmatized, and so the interests for the Cambodian publics.
Criminal law can be generally defined as the branch of law that majorly classifies crimes, treats of their nature, and provides best effective ways or approaches that can be followed for their punishment. In recent times, it has emerged as one of the few fields that are attracting many young aspirants to make their career. In fact, in the last few years the ratio of students practicing criminal law has increased rapidly. These days, many young lawyers are engaged in criminal law practice work for a governmental agency on either the federal or local level or in the non-indigent defense work for solo or small private practices. Today it is counted among one of the major vital parts of the legal system in the United States and offer rewards that are very exciting and better than any other profession. However, the field of criminal law even features some of the most important facts that are worth to be known.
Today if we talk about the criminal law then it is very important to understand the exact meaning or the classification of crimes. In simple terms, crimes can be classified as felony or misdemeanor, but there is a slight difference between felony and misdemeanor. The basic distinction between felonies and misdemeanors rests on the penalty and the power of imprisonment. Basically, a misdemeanor is defined as an offense for which a punishment other than detention or death in the state prison is followed by the law. Besides this, there are many people who often get confused with the term “degree of crime”. Now, the term degree of crime primarily relates to distinctions in the guiltiness of a crime because of the circumstances surrounding its commission.
In the United States, the power to define crimes and set penalty generally depends on the legislatures of the United States, the states, and the territories along with the principal authority associated to that of the individual states. In addition, a common-law crime is one punishable universal regulation, as distinguished from crimes specified by statute. However, these days in many U.S. jurisdictions, including those in which inclusive criminal law has been enacted the common law in relative to the criminal process.
The procedure in criminal cases is significantly similar all through the United States. If the offense is severe, the case is initially passed to a grand jury, which draws up condemnation if there is enough proof to validate the trial, or else it discharges the charged convict. However, it is really surprising to find that in the United States, the offenders proved as guilty in the criminal offence may be liable to get life long imprisonment, which can go up to 100 years. Moreover, the electric chair punishments and other severe criminal punishments have been amended in US, many years back.
If we talk about the criminal laws in gulf countries then the picture is totally different. The laws are very strict with regard to the execution of punishments. In gulf countries, the criminal laws are majorly governed by the Islamic code of conduct or ‘Shariat’ and there is no subject of any kind of amendments. In the United Kingdom, criminal acts are majorly considered as crime against the entire community. And, moreover, the state in addition to different international organizations plays a major role for crime prevention and deal with convicted offenders. The criminal laws vary across the world, but the basic of most of these laws is based on one prime rule to punish the culprit.
Nevertheless, today if we talk in terms of career options in the field of criminal law then there are numerous opportunities. Many students are working on a volunteer basis and gaining experience with externships. The field is very broad one with various options available in almost every sector of industry, both private and public.
Law School admissions officials are often asked “can you become a lawyer if you have a DUI?” The fact is, there is a small barrier to law school with a DUI.
The reason the question comes up in regard to law school and not other graduate programs is that law students will presumably apply for admission to the bar of at least one state. And, the board of legal examiners requires a certificate of good moral standing for licensure.
As part of their background check, the state bar association will do a thorough background check. This will include pulling your criminal record, credit record, and more. You’ll even have to list every address at which you have lived any time in your life.
The bar will be looking specifically for indications of “moral turpitude.” In an attempt to protect the profession, they will exclude anyone who might steel client’s money or otherwise reflect badly on the profession.
Because law schools know that you will eventually have to go through this scrutiny, they try to see if you’ll be disqualified before they accept you. They don’t want to invest their time and your money in an education that you can’t use.
The law school will ask you whether you have ever been arrested for any crime. You’ll need to list all arrests and convictions, even if they happened when you were a juvenile, and even if they were expunged.
Having said all of that, will a DUI disqualify you from going to law school? Not in and of itself. If your record shows that you are an otherwise upstanding person of moral character, you can still be admitted to law school. However, multiple arrests or a single arrest with great bodily harm may put your application into doubt.
Be upfront with the law schools you apply to about your record. Don’t assume you can hide anything. Even if the law school does not find out about your DUI, the bar will. And, they will also find out that you lied to the law school which further puts your moral character in doubt.
You can go to law school after a DUI, but you will need to go the extra mile to show that you have the character it takes to be admitted to the bar.
