Cooperation in criminal matters
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.
Keywords
Police, judicial cooperation, criminal justice, models, human rights, integrationist agenda, penal cooperation, penal integration, safety
