European Union and Cooperation in Criminal Matters: The Search for Balance

• NCJ Number: 216833
• Author(s): Matti Joutsen
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 44 pages
• Corporate Author: United Nations European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI)
• Sale Source: United Nations European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI)
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Finland
• Note: HEUNI Paper No. 25, 2006

Annotation

This report examines three common myths about the impact of the European Union (EU) on criminal justice: EU decisions have little impact on reality, the European Union is becoming a super-state with a harmonized criminal and procedural law, and the European Union focuses on the control of crime at the expense of due process and constitutional protections resulting in a more punitive criminal justice system.

Abstract

After looking at the evidence for all three of the opinions or “myths,” the report suggests that European Union cooperation in criminal justice does not fit any of the three views. In response to the European Union having little impact on reality, the European Union has been actively engaged in home and justice affairs for over 10 years. In that time, the extent and scope of police cooperation and cooperation in criminal justice has far outpaced cooperation elsewhere. On the opinion that there are strong institutional and other factors that limit the extent to which the EU member states are prepared to harmonize their criminal and procedural law, does not hold true. Many EU member states emphasize that their interest in greater cooperation extends only to serious forms of cross-border crime. The third opinion of the European Union is true to the extent that much of what the European Union is doing in police cooperation and cooperation in criminal justice is designed to make such cooperation more effective. In answer to what the European Union is doing to control crime, there appear to be three common opinions of the impact of the European Union on criminal justice: (1) the European Union spends its time fine-tuning the legal details of instruments that have little impact on reality, (2) the European Union is evolving into a super-state that is seeking to harmonize criminal and procedural law in all the Member States and (3) the European Union is working hand-in-hand with law and order adherents, focusing on the control of crime and favoring a more punitive criminal policy. The European Union represents a unique form of international cooperation. However, the tensions and assumptions reflected in the three myths described in this paper are not unique to the European Union. References