Criminal law in European Democracy

Extraits

[...] Criminal law in European Democracy CONTENTS TABLE OF LITTERATURE INTRODUCTION I. CRIMINAL LAW: A NATIONAL RESPONSE TO HARMFUL ACTS A. Prevention of crime 1. Prevention through education and mass media 2. Prevention: punitive and social welfare approaches B. Repression of crime: between the law and social action 1. Why punish? 2. The use of imprisonment and its alternatives C. [...]

[...] In general, North-Western Europe uses many short sentences, and many Central and Eastern European countries use many long sentences. Although the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, the United Kingdom has a higher proportion of its population imprisoned than any other European nation. This leads regularly to overcrowding because of inadequate budgets, tensions within prisons and human rights violations. Overview of criminal procedure While some European nations already have common crime patterns or are subject to similar international crime trends, their criminal justice systems and their crime and penal policies differ markedly. [...]

[...] As of late 2001, the UN had 189 members. The present priority areas are the organized crime (money laundering, trafficking of persons, trafficking in firearms also economic crime, urban crime, juvenile crime etc Many conventions have been signed like in 1961 the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, in 1988 the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs, in 2000 the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Furthermore, some 40 international standards and norms have been set up, for example, on the treatment of prisoners in 1955 or on the use of force and firearms in 1990. [...]

[...] In Germany, all criminal cases are dealt with the ordinary courts system which is a four tier structure, this consists of: Local courts “Amtsgerichte” (for less serious misdemeanors, composed of single judges and two lay justices), District courts “Landgerichte” (composed of the Great and the Small Criminal Chamber), Supreme court on the länder level “Oberlandgerichte” (deal with offences against the state and other grave offences) and the highest Court of the Republic, the Federal Supreme Court “Bundesgerichtshof”, it is responsible for maintaining consistency in judicial decision making at the national level. In England & Wales, Magistrates´ Courts (three lay magistrates) deal with by far the largest number of criminal cases. They hear minor offences. [...]

[...] The “Broken window theory”: it sets that signs of crime (window of a car broken) send subconscious message that crime can be committed with impunity. So if the window is repaired as soon as possible, it avoids that the problem escalates (purpose of “zero tolerance”). On the other hand, there are measures to increase the risk of detection: for example, establishment of private security guards and commercial protection services: but as consequence, in Denmark, Germany and United Kingdom, the private security sector is beginning to match that of the public police. [...]