Legal Resilience Between Opportunities and Challenges

• In Event: Non-Criminal Justice Responses to Delinquency Panel 2

Abstract

In the context of digitalization at all levels of social life, the criminal justice system in Romania is facing a series of specific challenges to which professionals are called upon to respond.
Our study aims to highlight the most significant transformations, risk and protective factors that contribute to what we have called legal resilience.
This type of resilience, in the context of the criminal justice system entails the capacity of the juridical system, as well as the interventions of the social actors throughout the entire duration of criminal proceedings (criminal prosecution, trial, execution of criminal sanctions), to restore the rule of law infringed and, especially, to treat the main protagonists, so that they can return to their original condition, also emotionally
Our research is a qualitative type and was based on conducting 30 semi-structured interviews: with policemen, prosecutors, judges and prison officers, respectively probation counselors from the Western region of Romania. The processing of the data obtained was carried out using the MAXQDA Analytics Pro software.
The results of our study highlight that protective factor, which play an essential role in building resilience, are typically defined as social and personal resources that encourage prosocial adaptation to criminogenic conditions. The professional’s resilience insight into the criminal justice system is based on the ability to prioritize tasks and manage time and resources effectively to cope with increased workloads and frequent changes in activity through the capacity to quickly adjust plans and strategies in response to changing policies and emerging needs. All these are connected to the needs of digitalization of the system.

Authors

• Mihaela Alida Tomita, West University of Timisoara

• Roxana Ungureanu, West University of Timisoara