NCJ Number
189819
Journal
Justitiele verkenningen Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Dated: 2001 Pages: 88-102
Date Published
2001
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article discusses three aspects of the European harmonization of forensic expertise: (1) the international exchangeability of investigation results, (2) the impact of the principle of equal treatment of citizens in Europe, and (3) quality assurance and enhancement in the criminal justice system and in forensic expertise in particular.
Abstract
A strong stimulus for further harmonization, especially with respect to investigation results that must be exchanged across borders, comes from the presidency Conclusions of the Tampere European Council (October 1999) that announces a striving for mutual recognition of legally obtained evidence, among other things. Besides that, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) strongly advocates the equal treatment of European citizens. However, the ECHR’s starting point is that the judicial rules belong to national jurisprudence and thus that it is difficult to ensure equal treatment. Quality improvement is a strong influence, but it has been applied only on single links of the judicial chain. The quality improvement of the whole chain needs more emphasis. Analysis of the effects of European decisions can aid the necessary harmonization. National and international institutions should make funds available to stimulate these investigations into the desirability and necessity of harmonization in forensic expertise. Footnotes and 16 references (Publisher summary modified)