EUROCRIMJUS

"EU Criminal Justice in Comparative Perspective (Council of Europe, European Union, United States)"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Once part of the realm of the sovereign state, criminal policy has now become a competence of the European Union. The Lisbon Treaty will facilitate the design of arrangements that guarantee mutual recognition between member states’ criminal justice systems. Potentially affecting most aspects of domestic penal procedures, these new developments in European law take place in a domain where culturally distinct legal characteristics are deeply entrenched. In that respect, the promotion of enhanced police and judicial cooperation throughout the Union may be considered as a daunting task, but the existence of comparable institutional structures by which distinct and very different national penal systems are coordinated shows that it is possible. The Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice built within the Union can hardly be analyzed without regard to these extra-EU legal settings. For this reason, the aim of the research is to compare the new EU framework for police and judicial cooperation with the long established and highly integrated American criminal justice system on one hand, and with the Council of Europe instruments devised to establish minimum standards in relation to human rights throughout the European continent on the other hand. The comparison will bear upon the institutional arrangements which promote the definition of common standards in criminal and penal procedure, and the substance of these standards themselves, taking into account the historical background and the political values underlying each of these particular settings. Such a contextual approach should enable the specificity of the Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice to be understood and its sustainability assessed in the light of the experiences of Council of Europe and the US. This contextual comparison will enable the identification of potential sticking points or, alternatively, effective tools for overcoming the seemingly intractable conflicts between opposing penal cultures.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

The new EU framework for police and judicial cooperation has a different character compared to the Council of Europe approach and the American criminal justice system. An EU-funded initiative compared these two models with the EU framework.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Running for two years to end-August 2013, the 'EU criminal justice in comparative perspective (Council of Europe, European Union, United States)' (EUROCRIMJUS) project was carried out under the Marie Curie Action 'Intra-European Fellowships for career development'.

The Council of Europe has instruments devised to set minimum standards with regard to human rights throughout the European continent. The United States, on the other hand, has a long standing and highly integrated criminal justice system. There are obvious differences between the two models, with the EU sitting somewhat ambiguously between them in terms of its integrationist agenda.

Bibliographical work involved identifying, collecting and reviewing works related to penal cooperation and penal integration within the EU, the Council of Europe and the United States. They wrote intermediary research reports based on the collected documentation. Each describes, for all three systems, the legal institutions (rules and bodies) that organise cooperation and integration of state criminal justice systems. One intermediary report sets out the relations of similarity and dissimilarity between the three comparators and assesses EU rules and institutions.

Two international conferences on issues of integration of criminal justice systems in Europe were organised, as were two international symposiums. EUROCRIMJUS also participated in conferences related to its particular topic.

A number of publications were produced as a result of project work. These include the book 'The Transformation of Criminal Justice: Comparing France with England and Wales', articles in periodicals and chapters in edited books.

Although the project's funding period has ended, ongoing work includes the finalisation of two articles related to EUROCRIMJUS research. Furthermore, the publication of two collections is anticipated based on the two international conferences organised by the project.

Project activities generated knowledge that is important for police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters with a view to enhancing the safety of EU citizens.