EUROPEAN CRIMINAL LAW (1) (CRI 511)

Professor Willem F. Korthals Altes

This course teaches the ins and out of a European criminal trial, both practical and theoretical. In the final class, the students will plead the arguments of prosecution and defense in a jewelry robbery case set somewhere in Europe. They will use a reality- based file and a code of criminal procedure based on continental European law.
The course instructor, a judge in the criminal court of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, will prepare the students by explaining and discussing the way in which criminal cases are dealt with in Europe. The students will get to know the position and work of the investigative judge, the trial judges, the prosecutor, the defendant, the defense attorney, and anyone else who might play a role in a trial.

A second element will be the role of European law. This relates to both the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Articles 5, 6, and 7 in particular) and the increasing impact of European Union law (the emergence of a European Prosecutor’s Office, the introduction of legal instruments dealing with the rendition of criminal defendants, the gathering of evidence, and the exchange of information between Member States of the EU). We will discuss whether Europe should create its own criminal court system as a complement or alternative to the current domestic court systems.
This one-credit course will be offered in a condensed form, four days of four hours of class per week during two consecutive weeks at the beginning of the semester. The students will be graded on the basis of a take home paper on a relevant topic of their choice and on their presentations at the mock trial.