This book deals with human rights in European criminal law after the Lisbon Treaty. Doubtless the Lisbon Treaty has constituted a milestone in the development of European criminal justice. Not only has the reform following the Treaty given binding force to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, but furthermore it has paved the way for unprecedented forms of supranational legislation. In this scenario, the enforcement of individual rights in criminal matters has become a core goal of EU legislation. Alongside these developments, new interactions between national and supranational jurisprudences have emerged, which have significantly contributed to a human rights-oriented approach to European criminal law. The book analyses the main developments of this complex phenomenon from an interdisciplinary perspective. Criminal and procedural law, constitutional law and comparative law must thus be combined to achieve a full understanding of these developments and of their impact on national law.

Just a few months after the entry into force of the EU Framework Decision on the fight against organized crime, this book provides an unprecedented analysis of the national and European legislation on organized crime. The book provides a critical examination of the European policies and legal instruments to promote the harmonization and approximation of criminal law in this field (including the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime). The current level of harmonization among EU Member States and the approximation to the standards of the new Framework Decision are discussed in detail, with the help of tables, graphs and maps. The results highlight the problems surrounding the international legal instruments and the inconsistencies of the national approaches to combating organized crime.

This book analyses the rights of crime victims within a human rights paradigm, and describes the inconsistencies resulting from attempts to introduce the procedural rights of victims within a criminal justice system that views crime as a matter between the state and the offender, and not as one involving the victim. To remedy this problem, the book calls for abandoning the concept of crime as an infringement of a state’s criminal laws and instead reinterpreting it as a violation of human rights. The state’s right to punish the offender would then be replaced by the rights of victims to see those responsible for violating their human rights convicted and punished and by the rights of offenders to be treated as accountable agents.

Over the past 20 years the European Union has been increasingly active in the area of criminal law. Meanwhile, the status of European Union citizenship has been progressively developed and strengthened. Adopting an expressive and communitarian perspective of the criminal law, this book considers EU criminal law in light of EU citizenship with a view to revealing the structure of the EU's political community as expressed in its criminal law. It argues that while national communities remain dominant, through transnational processes certain features of a supranational community can be said to emerge. The book will be of interest to scholars of EU citizenship, EU criminal law and EU law and integration more generally.

This volume represents the first attempt to systematically compare organised crime concepts, as well as historical and contemporary patterns and control policies in thirteen European countries. These include seven ‘old’ EU Member States, two ‘new’ members, a candidate country, and three non-EU countries. Based on a standardised research protocol, thirty-three experts from different legal and social disciplines provide insight through detailed country reports. On this basis, the editors compare organised crime patterns and policies in Europe and assess EU initiatives against organised crime.

European criminal law is explained as a multi-level field of law, in which the European Union has a normative influence on substantive criminal law, criminal procedure and on the co-operation between Member States. This book aims to describe the contours of the emerging criminal justice system of the European Union and to present a coherent picture of the legislation enacted and the case law on European Union Level and its influence on national criminal law and criminal procedure. Among the topics and questions covered in this book are the following: What does mutual recognition mean in the context of the European Arrest Warrant? How can European Union law be invoked by an accused? When is the Charter of Fundamental Freedoms applicable in national criminal proceedings? These and other pertinent questions are dealt with on the basis of an-in-depth analysis of the case law of the Court of Justice and legislation. In addition, the book challenges the reader to assess the mutual (and sometimes conflicting) influence of European Union law and national criminal law respectively and explains how European Union law will usually prevail although national criminal law still remains relevant. The book covers a wealth of court decisions and legal instruments making European Criminal Law, written for practitioners, academics and students, an invaluable source for every European and criminal lawyer This second updated and extended edition covers all recent developments since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009. Book jacket.

EU Criminal Law is perhaps the fastest-growing area of EU law. It is also one of the most contested fields of EU action, covering measures which have a significant impact on the protection of fundamental rights and the relationship between the individual and the State, while at the same time presenting a challenge to State sovereignty in the field and potentially reconfiguring significantly the relationship between Member States and the EU. The book will examine in detail the main aspects of EU criminal law, in the light of these constitutional challenges. These include: the history and institutions of EU criminal law (including the evolution of the third pillar and its relationship with EC law); harmonisation in criminal law and procedure (with emphasis on competence questions); mutual recognition in criminal matters (including the operation of the European Arrest Warrant) and accompanying measures; action by EU bodies facilitating police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters (such as Europol, Eurojust and OLAF); the collection and exchange of personal data, in particular via EU databases and co-operation between law enforcement authorities; and the external dimension of EU action in criminal matters, including EU-US counter-terrorism co-operation. The analysis is forward-looking, taking into account the potential impact of the Lisbon Treaty on EU criminal law.