The ImprovEAW-project concerns European Arrest Warrant proceedings in seven Member States (Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania). Maastricht Law Series No. 23 contains the country reports for Greece, the Netherlands and Poland. ImprovEAW is a follow up to an earlier project that focused on In Absentia Judgments (Maastricht Law Series No. 12). This book looks at various other aspects of the EAW surrender procedure that are problematic in practice, such as the ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting our everyday lives in a myriad of ways. The use of algorithms, AI agents and big data techniques also creates unprecedented opportunities for the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences and the efficiency of the criminal justice system. Equally, however, the rapid increase of AI and big data in criminal justice raises a plethora of criminological, ethical, legal and technological questions and concerns, eg about enhanc...

Terrorism trials are an exceptional opportunity for better understanding and, hence, countering terrorism, since they are often the only place where most if not all of the actors of a terrorist incident meet again, and where the media report and broadcast their respective accounts. A nexus between terrorist violence, law enforcement and public opinion, terrorism trials showcase justice in progress and thus demonstrate to the world how terrorism suspects are treated under national law.

This vo...

Belgium has one of the highest numbers of Jihadist fighters per capita in Europe. A large group of often young men and women left Belgium for the IS Caliphate in Syria and Iraq. This book focuses on the law governing this situation, with its aim being twofold. First, it provides a comprehensive and detailed overview of the legal framework. Second, it provides suggestions on how to improve the framework, both with a view to effectiveness and with respect for fundamental rights and principles.

...

Jose Luis de la Cuesta is Honorary President of the AIDP, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and Director of the Basque Institute of Criminology (Spain).

Isidoro Blanco Cordero is a member of the Committee of Reviewers of the RIDP and professor at the University of Alicante (Spain).

Miren Odriozola Gurrutxaga is the Secretary of the Scientific Committee of the AIDP, Lecturer in Criminal Law at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and member o...

Age of consent refers to the age below which it is prohibited to engage in sexual activities with a child. The legislators always need to keep a balance between protecting children from sexual abuse and respecting their sexual autonomy while setting the age boundary. In addition, as a legal concept, age of consent is closely related with the construction of childhood and once set, it affects the age at which children engage in sex.

The age of consent legislation in Europe have been revised tr...

The concentration camps are closed. Auschwitz is over. Every year we commemorate and say we never want this again. But why then do we still have systems in our Western society in which people are locked up in degrading conditions? Is Auschwitz really over? To answer this question, this book makes a comparison between the camp structure of Auschwitz and the basic structure of the current prison system in the United States. This prison system houses 2.3 million guilty or innocent people in degr...

This collection centers around two trends that currently influence freedom of expression. The first trend confirms the fact that many Western countries have become, over a long period of time, less strict about sacrilegious expression. In the process, many repealed their blasphemy laws or became less harsh in their punishment of blasphemy, hence "the fall of blasphemy law".

The second trend manifests an opposite movement, hence "the rise of blasphemy law". Over the last decades, namely, West...

'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree', 'Like father like son', 'Chip off the old block'. All these idioms seem to suggest that offspring resemble their parents and this also applies to criminal behaviour. This dissertation investigates mechanisms that might explain why children with criminal parents have a higher risk of committing crime. Several explanations for this intergenerational transmission have been contrasted, such as social learning (imitation of behaviour), official bias agai...

A transfer of criminal proceedings may take place between a judicial authority from one Member State and a judicial authority in another Member State when it is in the interest of a proper administration of justice that a criminal offence is further investigated and prosecuted in the second Member State.

There was a general feeling among experts on judicial cooperation in the Member States that the current practice of transferring criminal proceedings could and should be improved. Researchers...