The project “RevACLaw” brings together interdisciplinary researchers who are determined to investigate major changes that are occurring in criminal justice systems of several jurisdictions – notably on the supply side – when it comes to react to transnational corporate corruption. In fact, fighting transnational corporate corruption is today a global task that requires the attention and commitment of a wide range of state and non-state actors. Enforcement of anti-corruption norms has, in fact, flourished in recent years, resulting in multi-jurisdictional criminal procedures. This change is due to the revamping of strategies in three major fields of law (substantive criminal law, procedural criminal law, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters). Focusing on four of the most active jurisdictions (France, Switzerland, USA, and the UK), RevACLaw team members are researching theses revamping strategies and the resulting cross-cutting dynamics. Astonishingly, a hybrid model of corporate criminal justice has emerged, which was unthinkable in the past and still is unthinkable in almost any other field of criminal justice. This heretofore insufficiently studied model has led to a new, opaque, and exclusive way of conducting criminal justice: non-trial settlements. This is an important development in various criminal justice systems that rises the following question: does this kind of criminal justice sufficiently satisfy societal needs in terms of legal security, equal treatment of offenders, and public transparency of criminal justice? This question gains relevance especially against the background of the general political and legal tenor considering this new way of doing criminal justice as a step forward.
RevACLaw’s objectives are the following:
(A) unveiling the revamping strategies and how they interact in three fields of law (substantive criminal law, procedural criminal law, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters), and conceptualising this new way of conducting justice as a social practice, (B) delivering both a theoretical and empirical analysis of the accessibility of the resulting settlements, and (C) analysing case-making and the occurring narratives of corporate corruption and anticorruption law enforcement.
These objectives will be achieved by a novel interdisciplinary approach, including both legal and empirical socio-legal research. The project will impact the fields of legal theory as well as the study of law and society with regard to a present-day phenomenon.
