By Luis Arroyo Zapatero
At the beginning of the year Pedro Rubens David passed away in Buenos Aires, born in Tucumán in 1929 in a family of Syrian-Lebanese origin. It will be very difficult from now on not being able to count on your affable participation, generous and with so much and such good humor in the work of international criminal and criminological life. His long life has been very fruitful since he finished his law studies at the University of Tucumán., which he joined immediately as a professor of sociology. On 1957 obtained a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a doctorate at Indiana University, which concludes with his teacher Jerome Hall. After passing through Argentina, he joined 1973 as a full professor at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (USA), where do you reside until 1994. Upon his return to Argentina, he founded with his wife Elisa Herren the “Universidad Argentina John F.. Kennedy”, at the same time that he performs his position as Judge to pass in 1982 to be interregional Advisor on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at the United Nations Center in Vienna, until 1993. In this responsibility I visit more than 100 countries and carried out work in highly complex countries. Subsequently, he has continued to be linked to the United Nations, for example as president of the Intergovernmental Group for identity fraud., of the Standards and norms in Criminal Justice and crime prevention of the United Nations and (2004) and co-editor of the Manual of seizure and confiscation of property from crime. He has been an active member of the United Nations Latin American Institute since 1981 and member of the Governing Council of the Interregional Institute for Research on Crime and Justice of the United Nations in Turin, and advisor to the International Anti-Corruption Academy in Vienna.
In accordance with the Argentine tradition, Pedro David has cultivated the teaching of Law and the exercise of the judicial function. From the position of State Prosecutor and Chamber Judge in Salta in 1951 until 1956 and from 1974 as a judge of the Argentine National Chamber in criminal matters of the Federal capital until 1976. Upon returning from his international responsibilities, he joined the Federal Chamber of Supreme Criminal Cassation of the Argentine Republic, since its creation in 1992 to date and in which he has become its president.
Combining research experience with the judicial function has given rise to the production of numerous highly original scientific publications.. Very especially when in the international sphere it has faced the problems of global crime and asset recovery. From his authentic arsenal of scientific publications published in Spanish and English, in addition to other languages such as Italian, Japanese and Chinese, I allow myself to especially highlight the following books: The conduct, Integrativism and Sociology of Law. Bs.As. 1970; juvenile criminal sociology, 5 editions between 1965 and 1979; The world of the criminal, translation from the original English, published in usa. with the title The world of the burglar, (1974), U.N.M. Press, Albuquerque ; Social Studies and Criminology. Maracaibo 1979, with pertinent editions in Mexico and Bs.As.; legal sociology, Bs. As. 1980; globalization, crime prevention and criminal justice, which is his latest and most complex work on the most current penal and criminological problems, published in Spanish in 1999 and in Italian in 2001 en the prestigious Italian editorial Giuffré.
The great academics promote scientific progress by convening transnational collective tasks and with the incorporation of young researchers. Its results are reflected in directed or compiled books. As an example of an editor I think it is enough to indicate the following: The book edited with Eduardo Vetere in homage to Ivonne Mellup, an extraordinary lifelong personality of the United Nations Crime Commission, with the title "Victims of Crime and abuse of power”, which was presented at the IX United Nations Crime Congress. 2006. Of the same character is the book tribute to the founder of the criminal and social defense branch of the United Nations, Don Manuel López Rey, with the title Crime and criminal policy, edited by angeli, Roma, 1985. To all the books of his authorship cited and those edited by him, there are more than one hundred articles published in scientific journals and book chapters.. The assessment of all this is complemented by the circumstance that he himself was the recipient of a tribute book published by the Latin American Institute of the United Nations (Costa Rica) with contributions of more than 50 specialists from all over the world who thus showed him their admiration and respect.
Of special significance is his status as Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.. He was elected as such by the United Nations General Assembly with the favorable vote of all the countries that comprise it., unanimity that had never taken place. I'm sure the world owes Pedro R. David Much of the improvements in these years in crime prevention and the increase in justice for crimes against humanity that the International Court has achieved. But between one responsibility and another, the extraordinary report that he carried out at the request of the Secretary General of the United Nations on the functioning of the ad hoc Tribunals in 1999, Its importance lies in the fact that the author had to know the intricacies of all the legal cultures that are the protagonists of these courts and establish the corrections that were actually adopted..
He was always very active in the life of scientific societies. At the time that a strictly governmental system was established in the Crime Commission, he promoted with Simone Rozés Edurdo Vetere and the Centro Nazionale de Prevencione dee Defessa Soziale of Milan ( https://www.cnpds.it/index.php?link = organizations 1 ) the creation of a space of its own for non-governmental organizations , el International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme – ISPAC, constituted in 1991. I wish to point out that he has been Vice President of the Société Internationale de Défense Sociale since 2007, year in which he received the Beccaria medal at the National Institute of Criminal Sciences of Mexico at our XII world congress. We have always found in him a determined support in the increasingly difficult tasks of international cooperation, at a time when groups of countries are directly related, without the intermediation of scientific societies. we have left, In addition to his scientific work, the pleasant memory of his presence and his bonhomie. The great Spanish doctor and historian Gregorio Marañón liked to point out that the opposite of serious was not frivolous but rather boring., and that the ideal partner is to be serious and fun and that is what our friend Pedro R was. David, which helped a lot to address the serious problems of the criminal matter. We will never forget the many anecdotes he related., always fun and useful for knowledge, among other, his report on the visit in Chinese prisons to Mao's widow and the rest of the "gang of four", as well as his unfaithful lawyer, and of course Luis de la Barreda will not forget it, who was the last to hear it in Mexico City, where he was called by his friend and colleague Sergio García Ramírez. His memory will shine with particular force with the presence of his wife, colleague and friend the sociologist Elisa Herren.
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