Content, progress and pedagogy of the module

• Criminal law and criminal justice is traditionally seen and taught primarily from a national perspective. The aim of the course is therefore to add the international perspective to the field of criminal law. This means that course aims to enable the students to understand and reflect on matters of criminal Law and justice in a wider, international context and to develop strategies towards the solution of problems connected with the internationalization of criminal justice. This widening of the perspective is useful as many legal problems and specific cases do not limit itself to the national level (e.g. in connection with cross-border crimes)

• During the course various questions of criminal justice in an international context will be discussed: Those questions will be raised from four perspectives:

• The course raises the question of expending own criminal jurisdiction to crimes committed outside own state territory.
• The course raises the question of international influences on domestic criminal law, for example by disusing the question of the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Torture Convention on national systems of criminal justice.
• The course raises the question of EU criminal justice and the instruments within EU cooperation.
• The course raises the question of “crimes beyond borders” (e.g. international crimes or or crimes which are not clearly connected to one legal system, for example maritime piracy).

Learning objectives

Knowledge

• By adding an international perspective to the legal area of criminal law, the course builds on several courses in the field of criminal law and also on courses on international law. The course enables the students to work with legal questions in the field of criminal law in an international context which is a crucial step in being able to work as a lawyer in a globalized world. More specifically the course is aiming at that students will acquire knowledge of:

• The legal framework in connection with jurisdiction in criminal cases
• Human rights law and the interplay between national criminal law/criminal procedure and human rights
• The legal framework I connection with the prevention of torture and how this is secured/implemented
• The legal framework for cooperation between states in criminal cases with examples from both inside and outside the EU
• Issues of criminal justice in the EU (some selected examples)
• International criminal law
• Issues of law enforcement at sea

Skills

The course aims to enable the students to understand and reflect on matters of criminal justice in a wider, international context and to develop strategies towards the solution of problems connected with the internationalization of criminal justice. The students are expected to be able to select and access different sources of law on the national, European international level in the context of criminal justice. The students are further expected to be able to localize the level of certain legal issues (e.g. national, European, international) and to analyze and independently work with selected issues in connection with the internationalization of criminal justice. The students are expected to be able to communicate the results of their own work in oral and written form. Im sum the students will acquire the following skills:

• Master the terminology and central concepts of the field
• Apply legal interpretation methods on different national European or international sources of law
• Identify and analyse different problems/challenges in connection with the internationalisation of criminal justices
• Interpret and apply the relevant rules in connection with specific questions or cases
• Independently locate relevant legal sources in the field, including case law, traveux preparatoire and scholarly works
• Explain and react to the challenges posed by the internationalisation of criminal justice
• Present and explain an analysis of a theoretical or practical problem in a convincing and appropriate manner

Competences

• Apply legal interpretation methods to different sources of law
• Recognize problems connected to the international dimension of criminal law and criminal justice
• Recognize risks in connection with cross-border crime and cases and react appropriately
• Advise on very diverse legal matters relating to ithe international dimension of criminal law and criminal justice

Type of instruction

• Lectures

Extent and expected workload

• ECTS-declaration:

Exam

Prerequisite for enrollment for the exam

• Essay handed in on time

Exams

Additional information

• The module is open to students from Law and Business Law