Research project SE/D6/02 (Research action SE)
Since the Pentecost agreements, the federal government has taken several initiatives to increase citizens' trust in the justice system and to limit
the (subjective) feeling of insecurity. The measures considered have often been taken without prior in-depth examination, in a scattered order,
and without the agreement of the departments concerned (i.e. Justice and Internal Affairs) or of the actors on the field. The present project aims
to analyse, support, and exploit pluriannual policy plans issued by the Ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs. Two questions constitute the
central focus of this project:
1.Can one speak of a consistent policy?
2.How is the policy applied in practice?
Many hot issues arise in relation to these two questions. They can be grouped under six general headings:
1.Are the policy measures internally consistent?
2.Do they sufficiently conform with the basic principles of law?
3.On the field, which features or problems complicate the efficient enforcement of these measures in practice?
4.Are the two aspects of these policies in sufficient harmony?
5.Do the measures contribute to better integration of vulnerable groups?
6.Do they actually increase the population's trust in the police and justice system?
These six items pertain both to the police and to the justice system. As the research partners are familiar with the problems involved, the project
highlights, each in turn, various police- and justice-related matters.
A.Concerning the police, stress is laid on:
1.Policy impact on the population's trust in the (new) way the police force functions and in the measures taken: assessment of citizens'
perception of the objectives stated in the "mutual trust agreements", measures to reorganise the police, avoidance of social exclusion;
2.Policy impact on how the police force itself functions and is organised: to what extend do the police agree with the above-mentioned
objectives, what are the locally arising resistances and hot points?
3.The practicality of the instruments newly implemented for recording and analysis of criminality by the police, with a view to assessing the
implemented policy
B. Concerning the justice system, the following items are emphasised:
1.The internal consistency of criminal policy;
2.Hot points regarding compliance with the basic principles of law and resulting from the new possibilities of dependence for the prosecution
department and acceleration of proceedings;
3.Practical application of the policy regarding the justice structures discerned: interactions, obstruction factors;
4.Social integration or social exclusion: justice policy displays an increasingly two-tiered character, which means that some categories of
potential users of the system are increasingly excluded from society;
5.Re-establishing citizen's trust in the legal system;
6.A consistent security and integration policy: what knowledge is necessary to develop a consistent security and integration policy and to
enforce it in practice?
The study of these hot points, both theoretically and empirically, enables us to formulate proposals for future improvement of
policies and their enforcement. To achieve this, we compare the results of the Belgian study with the research conducted and
policies enforced in other EU Member States.
Fondements d'une politique criminelle intégrée: résumé de la recherche
Snacken, Sonja - Eliaerts, Christian - De Nauw, Alain Bruxelles: SSTC, 2001 (SP0691)
[To download]
Bouwstenen voor een geïntegreerde criminele politiek: samenvatting van het onderzoek
Snacken, Sonja - Eliaerts, Christian - De Nauw, Alain Brussel: DWTC, 2001 (SP0692)
[To download]
Towards an integrated criminal policy: summary of the research
Snacken, Sonja - Eliaerts, Christian - De Nauw, Alain Brussels: OSTC, 2001 (SP0693)
[To download]
Bouwstenen voor een geïntegreerde criminele politiek
Snacken, Sonja - Eliaerts, Christian - De Nauw, Alain ... et al. Brussel: DWTC, 2001 (SP0707)
[To download]
[To order]
