The system of international criminal justice was established in response to gross human rights violations committed during World War II. Despite its development over the past seven decades, challenges and critiques remain unresolved or have subsequently emerged, particularly in the context of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Key issues include amnesties, immunities, controversial acquittals, non-cooperation, interpretative fragmentation, and cultural clashes. Criticism emerged as a rea...

Until the end of the 1990s, EU integration in the area of criminal law centred primarily around the regional deepening of traditional judicial cooperation in criminal matters and the development of law enforcement cooperation (including the setting up of Europol as a support agency). By the end of the 1990s respectively 2000s, the EU also gained (limited) supranational competence in the areas of substantive respectively procedural criminal law. Both judicial and law enforcement cooperation we...

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...