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| Group photo (click for a larger version) |
The first working group meeting of the "Rethinking European Criminal Justice" network took place between the 20th and the 22nd of January 2007 in Freiburg and surroundings. The vast majority of the 24 project partners meet with the MPI researchers heading and associated with the project in order to discuss the template according to which country reports are being drafted as well as to plan the project as a whole.
The country report template includes a general introduction to the countries being compared, in particular to the structures of and surrounding the criminal justice system. More detailed sections relate to the police, the prosecution service and the courts and the working practices which facilitate vertical (e.g. police with prosecution service) and horizontal (e.g. police forces with differing jurisdictions) co-operation. Partners are then required to analyse the fundamental rights and principles which mark the administration and implementation of criminal justice in their systems and a final section provides an evaluation of their systems with recommendations as to what could be drawn from them for a European criminal justice structure.
Discussions during the three day meeting covered all points raised by the template sparking considerable exchange as to the way in which criminal justice systems are structured and individual institutions work with one another. A major focus was, however, placed upon the mechanisms by which rights are protected and how fundamental principles (such as of democratic legitimacy) effect the criminal justice system. Which rights and principles should be explored by which means in the country reports, provided a central issue of discussions.
The network meeting concluded that even upon completion of the country reports and initial analysis by the MPI, there is considerable need for further network input. Immediately in order to discuss criminal justice co-operation in the international context and beyond that in order to back the legal information gathered up with details of factual practice both on a national and an international level.
