Brill Research Perspectives in Transnational Crime – serie

The last decades have witnessed a growing emphasis on the relationship between environmental law and criminal law. Legislation aimed at tackling environmental crime has been adopted at national, EU, and international level and has been gradually evolving over time. These developments notwithstanding, the current legal framework faces a number of challenges in tackling the largely inter-related phenomena of transnational, organised and economic environmental crime. This study by Valsamis Mitsilegas and Fabio Giuffrida addresses these challenges by focusing on the role of the European Union- and more specifically its criminal justice agencies (Europol and Eurojust)- in tackling transnational environmental crime. The study analyses the role of Eurojust and Europol in supporting and coordinating the competent national authorities dealing with investigations and/or prosecutions on transnational environmental crime, and it shows that, for the time being, the full potential of these agencies is not adequately exploited with regard to fighting this phenomenon effectively

National criminal justice systems are slowly integrating in an effort to combat cross border criminality. New Perspectives on the Structure of Transnational Criminal Justice provides a forum for critical perspectives on this evolving system, with the goal of testing and challenging conceptions of transnational criminal law. Collectively, the papers in this special issue investigate the main symbolic and material characteristics of this space of justice, how it is organized and what dynamics shape its functionality and impact.

This volume is devoted to the dark side of human mobility, that is migrant smuggling, and, linked with it, human trafficking. Both subjects will be mainly treated from an Italian perspective; however, due to their having a generally transnational character, the analysis will necessarily require that international and supranational actions/measures also be taken into account. Moreover, the legal perspective will be supplemented by the phenomenological/criminological one, through which the authors try to provide the work with a realistic dimension aimed at grasping the practical aspects of both migrant smuggling and human trafficking emerging from the different ways in which such crimes are de facto committed.

In Corporate Criminal Liability and Compliance Management Systems: A Case Study of Spain, Santiago Wortman Jofre offers a case study where he examines the way in which Spain understands and implements Compliance Management Systems. Corporate criminal liability has become a matter of controversy in civil law countries since it challenges the traditional principle of societas delinquere non potest, by which corporations cannot be held criminally responsible.However, corporations have taken a new position in the world’s political agenda, as evidenced by the 2017 G20’s High Level Principles on the Liability of Legal Persons for Corruption. The new trend in criminal law advocates for the criminal responsibility of legal persons and pushes for the implementation of Compliance Management Systems as deterrent for corporate criminality. Santiago Wortman Jofre then presents evidence on the role of criminal justice and the importance of positive stimuli requirements as effective incentives to drive companies to implement compliance programs.

This study analyzes counter-smuggling and counter-trafficking operations carried out in the Mediterranean, mainly focusing on the EU operations Sophia and Themis. The purpose is to assess a number of issues linked with naval operations from a human rights perspective. These issues include the applicable law, the exercise of criminal jurisdiction over smugglers and traffickers, national strategies of coastal States as regards migration control policy and, finally, international responsibility for human rights violations perpetrated in connection with these operations. Although the study is primarily aimed at both Ph.D. students and legal scholars specialized in the field, it also seeks to provide insights that may be of guidance to NGOs, legal practitioners and legislators within the EU and its Member States.

This study analyses the modern EU counter-terrorism trends, focusing on two parallel axes: (a) the repressive one, where new criminal offences related to terrorist activity (receiving training for terrorism, terrorist financing, travelling and facilitating travelling for the purpose of terrorism) have been instituted, and (b) the preventive one, where establishing a framework of provisions aiming to deter terrorist financing prevails. After critically evaluating EU's interventions in both axes, the study concludes by noting a ‘paradigm shift’ between repression and prevention in the field of countering terrorism, while suggesting proposals on a transposition of Directive (EU) 2017/541 into national legislations that adheres to the fundamental EU law principles, and a preventive control over terrorist financing that abides by the rule of law.

Combating Crime in the Digital Age: A Critical Review of EU Information Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice in the Post-Interoperability Era. Challenges for Criminal Law and Personal Data Protection provides a systematic and comprehensive account of EU information systems functioning in the area of freedom, security and justice, with the aim to establish the contemporary links between information sharing and criminal law and evaluate the consequences. Part 1 offers a systemisation and critical assessment of pertinent systems (ECRIS, ECRIS-TCN, Prüm, PNR, Europol, SIS, Eurodac, VIS, EES, ETIAS) and the new interoperability regime from the perspective of their objective to prevent and combat serious crime. Part 2 explores personal data protection law, police law and criminal procedure law, in order to propose safeguards and limitations for regulating this rapidly evolving framework and addressing the challenges for fundamental principles and rights. The authors’ central suggestion is that the issue falls within the context of an emerging precognitive paradigm of criminal law.

The twentieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo, 2000) is a timely moment for an appraisal of the Convention system, its developments (including the recently adopted review mechanism) and the challenges it faces. In The Palermo Convention at Twenty: Institutional and Substantive Challenges experts with different backgrounds begin such a discussion by focusing on the institutional and substantive features of the Convention and its potential as a tool for countering different forms of criminality – including some that were not meant, in principle, to fall under its scope.