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VOL. 11, ISSUE 10 (2025)
Criminal law and drug trafficking in Jordan: Legal reforms, enforcement gaps, and cross-border challenges
Authors
Mohammad Airout
Abstract
This paper examines debt imprisonment in
Jordan as a continuing legal and social convention criminalising economic
incapacity. Focusing on the Execution Law, prison enforcement of civil debts
continues despite international and national attempts at proportionate and
rights-based methods. Enlisting a qualitative case study method, the study
integrates doctrine-guided exploration of statutory law with empirical data
from court proceedings and semi-structured interviews from judges, lawyers,
debtors, and civil activists. The study concludes that jail terms neither
secure repayment nor forestall default but institutionalise poverty at
disproportionate scales amongst poor households and erode trust in the
judiciary. By using such mechanisms, judges have discretion over whether to
apply negotiated settlements or traditional custodial sentences. In the end,
the study concludes that existing practices violate both more general human
rights principles and Article 11 of the ICCPR. It calls for reforms that
include formal repayment procedures, civil remedies, and improved social
protection against punitive incarceration in its conclusion.
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Pages:78-83
How to cite this article:
Mohammad Airout "Criminal law and drug trafficking in Jordan: Legal reforms, enforcement gaps, and cross-border challenges". International Journal of Law, Vol 11, Issue 10, 2025, Pages 78-83
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