European Criminal Law - 6 crediti [in lingua inglese]
Objectives
Knowledge of the reason underlying the need for harmonization of national criminal law and procedure. Knowledge of the interactions between EC-EU sources and national criminal law and procedure. Knowledge of the features of the Area of Freedom Security and Justice under the Treaty of Lisbon.
Contents
Institutional part: (I) The lack of competence in criminal matters of European institutions: underlying reasons and historical development. (II) Principle of legality and European law sources. (III) The impact of human rights on the development of a European criminal law. (IV) The sanctioning power of European institutions: European administrative sanctions. (V) The influence of EU regulations and directives on national criminal law: the disapplication of national law; the harmonization of national criminal law under the principle of loyal cooperation; the principle of conforming interpretation. (VI) The development of a European criminal policy as from the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam. (VII) The attribution to the EC of a criminal law competence under the ECJ case-law (VIII) The Lisbon Treaty: the attribution of (indirect) competence in criminal matters to the EU.
Special part: (I) The European Arrest Warrant; (II) EU directives in criminal matters: dir. 99/2008 on the protection of environment through criminal law; dir. 2011/36 on human trafficking; dir. 2011/92 on sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. (III) A direct criminal law competence for the protection of EU financial interests? Problems and perspectives.
Procedural part: (I) Judicial cooperation and mutual recognition in criminal matters (II) The European Arrest Warrant (procedural profiles) (III) The mutual recognition to judgements in criminal matters (IV) Eurojust, Europol, Joint Investigation Teams (V) The harmonization of the procedural rights in criminal proceedings.
Oral exam
Text and Materials
For students attending the course, the exam will focus on the issues and materials discussed in class.
For students who do not attend the course, the following materials are mandatory:
H. Satzger, International and European Criminal Law, 2012, pp. 43-177;
J. A. E. Vervaele, European Criminal Justice in the post-Lisbon Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, Trento, 2014 (chapters 1, 4, 7), free download at http://eprints.biblio.unitn.it/4399/
