The Future of EU Criminal Policy

Session Submission Type: Pre-arranged Panel

Abstract

EU policymaking in criminal law is a matter of significant public concern for EU citizens and the Member States alike. The exercise of EU public powers in the fields of criminal law and law enforcement has tangible and adverse consequences for the liberties and well-being of individuals. Criminal policies and law enforcement are vehicles of social control which seriously restrict their fundamental right to movement and other fundamental freedoms. In a specific respect, criminal law reflects a value system which is also the source of its legitimacy in a given society.
The evolution of EU criminal justice policy in the last 30 years has nonetheless been remarkable. From being on the periphery of EU integration at the beginning of the 1990s, Treaty amendments in Maastricht, prolific legislative activity and a strong political commitment by the European Council in Tampere, Hague and Stockholm have helped push criminal justice to the centre stage of EU policy-making. This evolution culminated with the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty where the EU was explicitly conferred competence to harmonise national substantive criminal law and this field essentially was integrated into the traditional supranational decision-making structure. The transformation of EU criminal law to a more integrated policy area, however, imposes requirements on higher standards of legitimacy for the EU’s legislative activities in the field and raises questions regarding the rationale underpinning EU criminal law within the context of a multi-level polity.
The papers in this panel takes stock of these issues and examines the nature and scope of criminal law and policy within an EU context. It also discussed the overall objectives of EU criminal policy which on the one hand can be stated as pursuing deterrence, law enforcement and crime prevention objectives but also more specific objectives of creating stronger fundamental rights safeguards within this field.”

Subtopic

• Topic 5: Social Control and Criminal Justice / Criminal Policy, Criminalization, Policy of Criminal Sanctions (Criminal Law Making Policy WG)

Chair

• Jacob Oberg, University of Southern Denmark

Individual Presentations

• De-criminalisation in light of fundamental rights: a role for EU law? - Marloes van Noorloos, Leiden University

• The construction of the money laundering offence: An exploratory study on the foundations of EU criminal provisions - Sanne Buisman, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Rethinking the political economy of punishment at the EU level: an assessment of the alternatives to incarceration in the field of economic crime - Adriano Martufi, University of Pavia

• Effectiveness of EU Criminal Policy - Jacob Oberg, University of Southern Denmark