Knowledge Database – July 2021 Update

This is a monthly update from our Knowledge Database editor Sasha Boychenko. If you would like to submit publications to the Database, please reach out at vse@victimsupporteurope.eu

This month, there are two blocks of publications we have prepared for you. Echoing VSE’s social media posts about the FYDO project in July, the first block includes articles on facility dogs – dogs supporting victims of crime in various settings. The second block provides some extraordinary academic articles and opinions on various subjects. from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on society to the notions of justice in the European Union. Let us now take a closer look at some of these publications.

Using Dogs for Emotional Support of Testifying Victims of Crime by Marianne Dellinger analyses the legal foundations supporting the use of service dogs for emotional support of complaining witnesses in open court in the United States.

Facility Dogs: Helping Victims Access Justice and Exercise Their Rights also looks into facility dogs in the United States. The authors argue that victims are legally entitled to access the courts, to be treated with due dignity and respect, and to participate in a meaningful way in the criminal justice system. Neither defendant’s rights, nor the proper exercise of the judicial processes, require victims to endure revictimization to exercise their rights. If the assistance of a facility dog can remove impediments to victim participation in criminal justice proceedings, courts should encourage and adopt this practice.

An article titled “Let’s “Paws” to Consider the Possibility: Using Support Dogs with Victims of Crime” by Susan McDonald and Lara Rooney explores working with facility dogs in Canada. The authors show that animals in general and dogs in particular can have a positive impact on vulnerable persons in various contexts, including victims of crime providing testimonies.

As mentioned earlier, the second block of publications came from academic journals such as the European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. These articles and opinions explore a variety of interesting and sometimes controversial topics, such as Eroding Mutual Trust in an European Criminal Justice Area without Added Value. The article analyses the impact of the Treaty on European Union and the subsequent establishment of the Area of Freedom Security and Justice on the criminal justice systems and whether the declared goal of strengthening the rights of the individual citizen in the criminal justice system has been achieved.

Another article, EU Competence in the Area of Procedural Criminal Law: Functional vs. Self-standing Approximation of Procedural Rights and Their Progressive Effect on the Charter’s Scope of Application, look at procedural rights in criminal proceedings, including victims’ rights as well as defence rights. The author explores the EU-wide rights and how they look in practice.

Finally, two articles explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first article, titled The Crisis that Changed Everything: Reflections of and Reflections on COVID-19, looks at how the pandemic has affected various areas such as manifestations or representations of crime in Europe; legislation, policies and practices in European States (such as lockdown measures); and contributions to criminological debate in Europe. The second article, covid-19 and the Social Responses thereto: Penal and Criminological Lessons, Human Rights and Rule of Law Implications, focuses its attention on the human rights and environmental effects of the pandemic. The article also explores the notions of self-disciplining with regard to following government-imposed lockdowns and other restrictions. Further, the article touches upon data protection concerns with regard to collecting, storing, and using people’s personal information for covid-related reasons. The final section of the article discusses crime, hate, and scapegoating.

“The social responses to the new Coronavirus have also revealed a certain dark side of European democracies. The virus has shown how little it takes to become intolerant, suspicious and xenophobic. When sars-CoV-19 reached Europe, not only the Chinese residents, citizens and tourists but Asians in general have become the target of hate speech and violence. In the UK, Anti-Asian hate crimes have been reported to have increased by 21% during coronavirus crisis. When the virus gained its foothold in Europe but not yet in the USA, it was Europe or people flying in from Europe (excluding UK) that were seen by the US President as germs or virus-carriers, and so the presidency decided to close borders to them. The virus itself did not of course make people racist and xenophobic; it just brought it out and inflamed it more.”

List of featured publications:

• Using Dogs for Emotional Support of Testifying Victims of Crime
• Facility Dogs: Helping Victims Access Justice and Exercise Their Rights
• Let’s “Paws” to Consider the Possibility: Using Support Dogs with Victims of Crime
• Eroding Mutual Trust in an European Criminal Justice Area without Added Value
• EU Competence in the Area of Procedural Criminal Law: Functional vs. Self-standing Approximation of Procedural Rights and Their Progressive Effect on the Charter’s Scope of Application
• The Crisis that Changed Everything: Reflections of and Reflections on COVID-19
• covid-19 and the Social Responses thereto: Penal and Criminological Lessons, Human Rights and Rule of Law Implications