Eurooppalainen kriminaalipolitiikka ja kriminalisointiperiaatteet
Avainsanat:
EU-rikosoikeus, eurooppalainen kriminaalipolitiikka, eurooppalaiset kriminalisointiperiaatteet, ihmis- ja perusoikeudet, kriminaalipolitiikka, kriminalisointiperiaatteetAbstrakti
European criminal policy and criminalisation principles
European criminal policy is a topic about which not much has been written. The article combines the influences stemming from EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights regime to give a comprehensive picture of the multi-layered European criminal policy. The article introduces European criminalisation principles. Those deriving from the ECHR regime are respect for human dignity and the principle of democracy. The principle of legality is a common criminalisation principle of both the ECHR regime and EU law. Other EU level criminalisation principles are the transnational dimension of the ultima ratio principle that is derived from the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, respect of the fundamental elements of national criminal justice systems, respect of human rights and fundamental rights, and the protection of legal interests. These criminalisation principles are also constitutional principles and they should guide the criminal legislative work in the EU and in the Member States. The union legislator naturally needs to follow its own criminalisation principles, but also those of the ECHR regime, since all EU Member States are parties to the ECHR. The Member States naturally need to follow ECHR criminalisation principles in every criminal legislative measure they enact. They also need to follow EU criminalisation principles when they are implementing EU criminal legislative acts. In addition, they need to take EU criminalisation principles into account when enacting purely national criminal legislation so as not to hinder the objectives of EU law.
