Crisis and Transformation of Criminal Justice Systems in Europe Within the Fight Against International Terrorism

Abstract

This paper analyses the crisis and the consequent transformation of the criminal justice systems in the face of the emergency posed by international terrorism, towards an increasing European harmonisation of national policies, legislation and practices and a regression of their relationship with the fundamental principles and rights enshrined in national and supranational Charters. With special reference to the European landscape, the research —supported by brief comparative references and by some statistical data published by Eurojust and Europol— summarises the main causes of this transformation and the essential profiles of criminal and judicial policy that characterise it. This paper seeks to demonstrate that the prevention of terrorism through the exceptional features of criminal law in this field is essentially pursued in two ways: by increasing the rate of effectiveness of trials in terms of convictions and by immediately and for as long as possible neutralising any individual —be it a terrorist, a radicalised or someone about to be radicalised— who may pose a risk to national security