In Europe, as in most countries of the world, building resilience to terrorism is a key concern a... more In Europe, as in most countries of the world, building resilience to terrorism is a key concern at the moment. One way of building resilience out of many, is to normalise and depoliticise counterterrorist measures by giving powers over them to seemingly non-political and technical actors, the police. These attempts to build resilience to terrorism by normalising counterterrorist procedures may lead to losing political powers to bureaucracies and even third states. The role of Europol in countering terrorism serves as an example to demonstrate this development. Since the police, including Europol, is seen as a technical, non-political actor, its role in countering terrorism can be seen to facilitate and normalise anti-terrorist procedures. Simultaneously, however, Europol lacks accountability and democratic oversight and collaborates with organisations that are less accountable than itself such as intelligence services. What happens to data shared with the Counter Terrorism Group or Interpol? The article points to an alarming development that requires further scholarly attention.
This article analyses the history and present day of the police-prosecutor relationship in Finlan... more This article analyses the history and present day of the police-prosecutor relationship in Finland. A special emphasis is put on the division of labour in preliminary investigations. The main research question is: »Why do prosecutors not supervise preliminary investigations in Finland?» In order to give a thorough answer to this question, researching the historical debate concerning the strengths and weaknesses related to different ways of managing this task will be given a central role. With historical developments and discussions as background, it is possible to examine why and how the current model has been formed as it is. Sweden is used as a point of comparison for the research. This is because it has typically served as an example for Finnish reforms and has a similar legal system in many respects. My interest is in finding out why some essential parts of the Swedish model were left out of the Finnish version.
The Evolving Role of the Public Prosecutor Challenges and Innovations, 2018
The modern public prosecutor is a figure both powerful and enigmatic. Legal scholars and criminol... more The modern public prosecutor is a figure both powerful and enigmatic. Legal scholars and criminologists often identify “three essential components” of criminal justice systems: police, courts and corrections. Yet increasingly, the public prosecutor occupies a distinct role independent from any of these branches. Acting outside of the court, and therefore largely out of the public eye, the prosecutor’s control over whether and what charges proceed to court can limit judicial discretion on sentencing, open pathways to alternative measures and even deny entry into the criminal justice system entirely. In this sense the prosecutor serves as a true “gatekeeper” to the criminal process.
This book addresses key aspects of the evolving role of domestic and international prosecutors in common law and civil law systems in the twenty-first century, and the challenges posed by this evolution. This collection of chapters from respected scholars takes an international, comparative approach and explores how these different legal systems have borrowed theorisations and articulations of the prosecutorial role from each other in adapting the office to changing conditions and expectations. The volume is structured around four main themes relating to the role of the modern prosecutor: the nature of the prosecutor’s office, the role of the prosecutor in investigations, prosecutorial discretion and how it is exercised, and politicisation and accountability of prosecutors.
This book is essential for scholars and students in criminal justice, pre-law/legal studies, criminology, justice studies and political science, and is useful as a resource for those interested in legal change around the world.
The Evolving Role of the Public Prosecutor Challenges and Innovations, 2018
The modern public prosecutor is a figure both powerful and enigmatic. Legal scholars and criminol... more The modern public prosecutor is a figure both powerful and enigmatic. Legal scholars and criminologists often identify “three essential components” of criminal justice systems: police, courts and corrections. Yet increasingly, the public prosecutor occupies a distinct role independent from any of these branches. Acting outside of the court, and therefore largely out of the public eye, the prosecutor’s control over whether and what charges proceed to court can limit judicial discretion on sentencing, open pathways to alternative measures and even deny entry into the criminal justice system entirely. In this sense the prosecutor serves as a true “gatekeeper” to the criminal process.
This book addresses key aspects of the evolving role of domestic and international prosecutors in common law and civil law systems in the twenty-first century, and the challenges posed by this evolution. This collection of chapters from respected scholars takes an international, comparative approach and explores how these different legal systems have borrowed theorisations and articulations of the prosecutorial role from each other in adapting the office to changing conditions and expectations. The volume is structured around four main themes relating to the role of the modern prosecutor: the nature of the prosecutor’s office, the role of the prosecutor in investigations, prosecutorial discretion and how it is exercised, and politicisation and accountability of prosecutors.
This book is essential for scholars and students in criminal justice, pre-law/legal studies, criminology, justice studies and political science, and is useful as a resource for those interested in legal change around the world.
Despite worldwide counterterrorism efforts, an internationally agreed legal definition of terrori... more Despite worldwide counterterrorism efforts, an internationally agreed legal definition of terrorism does not exist. The main obstacle for international counterterrorism initiatives and the creation of a shared definition has been the political and ambiguous nature of terrorism. A terrorist act is a combination of illegal deeds (murder or arson, for instance) and political goals (destroying the Western civilisation as such, for instance). Defining an act at the same time elusive and highly political is difficult, or possibly even impossible. Furthermore, using the term terrorism is itself already an act of labelling, as the term has a pejorative connotation.
Most past definitions of terrorism have included a political element. What would terrorist acts be without the political/ideological element? Mass killings, hijackings, bombings... 'Common' crimes, combined with often uncommonly destructive elements. Regardless of this inherent political element, the last decades have seen a global trend of depoliticising terrorism for the purpose of international collaboration.
My thesis describes and discusses this trend and the reasons behind it. Following a thorough analysis of international conventions and treaties as well as bilateral extradition treaties from the 1800s until the early 2000s, it suggests that terrorism has been depoliticised due to the existence of the so-called political offence exception to extradition that emerged in extradition treaties in 1834. Because of this widely accepted spawn of the revolutionary era, political offenders, in some cases including terrorists, were for a long time protected from extradition.
Almost immediately since the creation of the exception, the first limitations to it emerged. These limitations remained rare until the emergence of the modern terrorist threat since the 1970s. The spread of terrorism in Europe and elsewhere in the world from the 1970s onwards made the threat global and acute. One of the attempted solutions to the pressing problem was identical to the one that had been used in the late 19th century in the fight against anarchism: the depoliticisation of the violent acts. The aim of the depoliticisation formula was to protect ‘legitimate’ political offenders, but exclude terrorism from the scope of this protection excluding terrorist acts from the protection of the political offence exemption. The formula re-emerged for the first time since the 1800s in the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism in 1977. Slowly it was added to bilateral extradition treaties and was later used also by Interpol and the UN. Simultaneously, the political offence exemption was limited.
My thesis suggests that terrorism is destroying the political offence exception and the liberal idea that political dissidents, regardless their political ideologies, deserve protection. With the coming into force of the European Arrest Warrant in 2004, the political offence exception, a child of the revolutionary era, has seized to exist within the EU. It remains to be seen, whether this will happen worldwide. Some signs of this already exist.
In addition to the depoliticisation of terrorism, we have witnessed a contradicting trend of what I call repoliticisation, where special laws and tribunals have been set to deal with the terrorist threat. The new laws, contrary to the depoliticisation strategy, underline the political nature of terrorism by criminalising acts such as the glorification of terrorism.
My thesis examines these contradictory trends and suggests that the abovementioned strategies used against terrorism do not necessarily serve the purpose they intend to serve. I take a critical look at the various implications of both the depoliticisation of terrorism and underlining the political element of it. One of these implications is the decreasing global protection for non-violent political offenders.
A book on the history of the prosecutor's office of Helsinki, starting from the roots of the offi... more A book on the history of the prosecutor's office of Helsinki, starting from the roots of the office in the 17th century and finishing with the changes that have occurred in the recent years.
The sources of the book include archival material from different centuries as well as interviews with prosecutors, judges and police.
In Europe, as in most countries of the world, building resilience to terrorism is a key concern a... more In Europe, as in most countries of the world, building resilience to terrorism is a key concern at the moment. One way of building resilience out of many, is to normalise and depoliticise counterterrorist measures by giving powers over them to seemingly non-political and technical actors, the police. These attempts to build resilience to terrorism by normalising counterterrorist procedures may lead to losing political powers to bureaucracies and even third states. The role of Europol in countering terrorism serves as an example to demonstrate this development. Since the police, including Europol, is seen as a technical, non-political actor, its role in countering terrorism can be seen to facilitate and normalise anti-terrorist procedures. Simultaneously, however, Europol lacks accountability and democratic oversight and collaborates with organisations that are less accountable than itself such as intelligence services. What happens to data shared with the Counter Terrorism Group or Interpol? The article points to an alarming development that requires further scholarly attention.
This article analyses the history and present day of the police-prosecutor relationship in Finlan... more This article analyses the history and present day of the police-prosecutor relationship in Finland. A special emphasis is put on the division of labour in preliminary investigations. The main research question is: »Why do prosecutors not supervise preliminary investigations in Finland?» In order to give a thorough answer to this question, researching the historical debate concerning the strengths and weaknesses related to different ways of managing this task will be given a central role. With historical developments and discussions as background, it is possible to examine why and how the current model has been formed as it is. Sweden is used as a point of comparison for the research. This is because it has typically served as an example for Finnish reforms and has a similar legal system in many respects. My interest is in finding out why some essential parts of the Swedish model were left out of the Finnish version.
The Evolving Role of the Public Prosecutor Challenges and Innovations, 2018
The modern public prosecutor is a figure both powerful and enigmatic. Legal scholars and criminol... more The modern public prosecutor is a figure both powerful and enigmatic. Legal scholars and criminologists often identify “three essential components” of criminal justice systems: police, courts and corrections. Yet increasingly, the public prosecutor occupies a distinct role independent from any of these branches. Acting outside of the court, and therefore largely out of the public eye, the prosecutor’s control over whether and what charges proceed to court can limit judicial discretion on sentencing, open pathways to alternative measures and even deny entry into the criminal justice system entirely. In this sense the prosecutor serves as a true “gatekeeper” to the criminal process.
This book addresses key aspects of the evolving role of domestic and international prosecutors in common law and civil law systems in the twenty-first century, and the challenges posed by this evolution. This collection of chapters from respected scholars takes an international, comparative approach and explores how these different legal systems have borrowed theorisations and articulations of the prosecutorial role from each other in adapting the office to changing conditions and expectations. The volume is structured around four main themes relating to the role of the modern prosecutor: the nature of the prosecutor’s office, the role of the prosecutor in investigations, prosecutorial discretion and how it is exercised, and politicisation and accountability of prosecutors.
This book is essential for scholars and students in criminal justice, pre-law/legal studies, criminology, justice studies and political science, and is useful as a resource for those interested in legal change around the world.
The Evolving Role of the Public Prosecutor Challenges and Innovations, 2018
The modern public prosecutor is a figure both powerful and enigmatic. Legal scholars and criminol... more The modern public prosecutor is a figure both powerful and enigmatic. Legal scholars and criminologists often identify “three essential components” of criminal justice systems: police, courts and corrections. Yet increasingly, the public prosecutor occupies a distinct role independent from any of these branches. Acting outside of the court, and therefore largely out of the public eye, the prosecutor’s control over whether and what charges proceed to court can limit judicial discretion on sentencing, open pathways to alternative measures and even deny entry into the criminal justice system entirely. In this sense the prosecutor serves as a true “gatekeeper” to the criminal process.
This book addresses key aspects of the evolving role of domestic and international prosecutors in common law and civil law systems in the twenty-first century, and the challenges posed by this evolution. This collection of chapters from respected scholars takes an international, comparative approach and explores how these different legal systems have borrowed theorisations and articulations of the prosecutorial role from each other in adapting the office to changing conditions and expectations. The volume is structured around four main themes relating to the role of the modern prosecutor: the nature of the prosecutor’s office, the role of the prosecutor in investigations, prosecutorial discretion and how it is exercised, and politicisation and accountability of prosecutors.
This book is essential for scholars and students in criminal justice, pre-law/legal studies, criminology, justice studies and political science, and is useful as a resource for those interested in legal change around the world.
Despite worldwide counterterrorism efforts, an internationally agreed legal definition of terrori... more Despite worldwide counterterrorism efforts, an internationally agreed legal definition of terrorism does not exist. The main obstacle for international counterterrorism initiatives and the creation of a shared definition has been the political and ambiguous nature of terrorism. A terrorist act is a combination of illegal deeds (murder or arson, for instance) and political goals (destroying the Western civilisation as such, for instance). Defining an act at the same time elusive and highly political is difficult, or possibly even impossible. Furthermore, using the term terrorism is itself already an act of labelling, as the term has a pejorative connotation.
Most past definitions of terrorism have included a political element. What would terrorist acts be without the political/ideological element? Mass killings, hijackings, bombings... 'Common' crimes, combined with often uncommonly destructive elements. Regardless of this inherent political element, the last decades have seen a global trend of depoliticising terrorism for the purpose of international collaboration.
My thesis describes and discusses this trend and the reasons behind it. Following a thorough analysis of international conventions and treaties as well as bilateral extradition treaties from the 1800s until the early 2000s, it suggests that terrorism has been depoliticised due to the existence of the so-called political offence exception to extradition that emerged in extradition treaties in 1834. Because of this widely accepted spawn of the revolutionary era, political offenders, in some cases including terrorists, were for a long time protected from extradition.
Almost immediately since the creation of the exception, the first limitations to it emerged. These limitations remained rare until the emergence of the modern terrorist threat since the 1970s. The spread of terrorism in Europe and elsewhere in the world from the 1970s onwards made the threat global and acute. One of the attempted solutions to the pressing problem was identical to the one that had been used in the late 19th century in the fight against anarchism: the depoliticisation of the violent acts. The aim of the depoliticisation formula was to protect ‘legitimate’ political offenders, but exclude terrorism from the scope of this protection excluding terrorist acts from the protection of the political offence exemption. The formula re-emerged for the first time since the 1800s in the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism in 1977. Slowly it was added to bilateral extradition treaties and was later used also by Interpol and the UN. Simultaneously, the political offence exemption was limited.
My thesis suggests that terrorism is destroying the political offence exception and the liberal idea that political dissidents, regardless their political ideologies, deserve protection. With the coming into force of the European Arrest Warrant in 2004, the political offence exception, a child of the revolutionary era, has seized to exist within the EU. It remains to be seen, whether this will happen worldwide. Some signs of this already exist.
In addition to the depoliticisation of terrorism, we have witnessed a contradicting trend of what I call repoliticisation, where special laws and tribunals have been set to deal with the terrorist threat. The new laws, contrary to the depoliticisation strategy, underline the political nature of terrorism by criminalising acts such as the glorification of terrorism.
My thesis examines these contradictory trends and suggests that the abovementioned strategies used against terrorism do not necessarily serve the purpose they intend to serve. I take a critical look at the various implications of both the depoliticisation of terrorism and underlining the political element of it. One of these implications is the decreasing global protection for non-violent political offenders.
A book on the history of the prosecutor's office of Helsinki, starting from the roots of the offi... more A book on the history of the prosecutor's office of Helsinki, starting from the roots of the office in the 17th century and finishing with the changes that have occurred in the recent years.
The sources of the book include archival material from different centuries as well as interviews with prosecutors, judges and police.
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Papers by Julia Jansson
counterterrorist procedures may lead to losing political powers to bureaucracies and even third states. The role of Europol in countering terrorism serves as an example to demonstrate this development. Since the police, including Europol, is seen as a technical, non-political actor,
its role in countering terrorism can be seen to facilitate and normalise anti-terrorist procedures. Simultaneously, however, Europol lacks accountability and democratic oversight and collaborates with organisations that are less accountable than itself such as intelligence services. What happens to data shared with the Counter Terrorism Group or Interpol? The article points to an alarming development that requires further scholarly attention.
Books by Julia Jansson
This book addresses key aspects of the evolving role of domestic and international prosecutors in common law and civil law systems in the twenty-first century, and the challenges posed by this evolution. This collection of chapters from respected scholars takes an international, comparative approach and explores how these different legal systems have borrowed theorisations and articulations of the prosecutorial role from each other in adapting the office to changing conditions and expectations. The volume is structured around four main themes relating to the role of the modern prosecutor: the nature of the prosecutor’s office, the role of the prosecutor in investigations, prosecutorial discretion and how it is exercised, and politicisation and accountability of prosecutors.
This book is essential for scholars and students in criminal justice, pre-law/legal studies, criminology, justice studies and political science, and is useful as a resource for those interested in legal change around the world.
This book addresses key aspects of the evolving role of domestic and international prosecutors in common law and civil law systems in the twenty-first century, and the challenges posed by this evolution. This collection of chapters from respected scholars takes an international, comparative approach and explores how these different legal systems have borrowed theorisations and articulations of the prosecutorial role from each other in adapting the office to changing conditions and expectations. The volume is structured around four main themes relating to the role of the modern prosecutor: the nature of the prosecutor’s office, the role of the prosecutor in investigations, prosecutorial discretion and how it is exercised, and politicisation and accountability of prosecutors.
This book is essential for scholars and students in criminal justice, pre-law/legal studies, criminology, justice studies and political science, and is useful as a resource for those interested in legal change around the world.
Most past definitions of terrorism have included a political element. What would terrorist acts be without the political/ideological element? Mass killings, hijackings, bombings... 'Common' crimes, combined with often uncommonly destructive elements. Regardless of this inherent political element, the last decades have seen a global trend of depoliticising terrorism for the purpose of international collaboration.
My thesis describes and discusses this trend and the reasons behind it. Following a thorough analysis of international conventions and treaties as well as bilateral extradition treaties from the 1800s until the early 2000s, it suggests that terrorism has been depoliticised due to the existence of the so-called political offence exception to extradition that emerged in extradition treaties in 1834. Because of this widely accepted spawn of the revolutionary era, political offenders, in some cases including terrorists, were for a long time protected from extradition.
Almost immediately since the creation of the exception, the first limitations to it emerged. These limitations remained rare until the emergence of the modern terrorist threat since the 1970s. The spread of terrorism in Europe and elsewhere in the world from the 1970s onwards made the threat global and acute. One of the attempted solutions to the pressing problem was identical to the one that had been used in the late 19th century in the fight against anarchism: the depoliticisation of the violent acts. The aim of the depoliticisation formula was to protect ‘legitimate’ political offenders, but exclude terrorism from the scope of this protection excluding terrorist acts from the protection of the political offence exemption. The formula re-emerged for the first time since the 1800s in the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism in 1977. Slowly it was added to bilateral extradition treaties and was later used also by Interpol and the UN. Simultaneously, the political offence exemption was limited.
My thesis suggests that terrorism is destroying the political offence exception and the liberal idea that political dissidents, regardless their political ideologies, deserve protection. With the coming into force of the European Arrest Warrant in 2004, the political offence exception, a child of the revolutionary era, has seized to exist within the EU. It remains to be seen, whether this will happen worldwide. Some signs of this already exist.
In addition to the depoliticisation of terrorism, we have witnessed a contradicting trend of what I call repoliticisation, where special laws and tribunals have been set to deal with the terrorist threat. The new laws, contrary to the depoliticisation strategy, underline the political nature of terrorism by criminalising acts such as the glorification of terrorism.
My thesis examines these contradictory trends and suggests that the abovementioned strategies used against terrorism do not necessarily serve the purpose they intend to serve. I take a critical look at the various implications of both the depoliticisation of terrorism and underlining the political element of it. One of these implications is the decreasing global protection for non-violent political offenders.
The sources of the book include archival material from different centuries as well as interviews with prosecutors, judges and police.
counterterrorist procedures may lead to losing political powers to bureaucracies and even third states. The role of Europol in countering terrorism serves as an example to demonstrate this development. Since the police, including Europol, is seen as a technical, non-political actor,
its role in countering terrorism can be seen to facilitate and normalise anti-terrorist procedures. Simultaneously, however, Europol lacks accountability and democratic oversight and collaborates with organisations that are less accountable than itself such as intelligence services. What happens to data shared with the Counter Terrorism Group or Interpol? The article points to an alarming development that requires further scholarly attention.
This book addresses key aspects of the evolving role of domestic and international prosecutors in common law and civil law systems in the twenty-first century, and the challenges posed by this evolution. This collection of chapters from respected scholars takes an international, comparative approach and explores how these different legal systems have borrowed theorisations and articulations of the prosecutorial role from each other in adapting the office to changing conditions and expectations. The volume is structured around four main themes relating to the role of the modern prosecutor: the nature of the prosecutor’s office, the role of the prosecutor in investigations, prosecutorial discretion and how it is exercised, and politicisation and accountability of prosecutors.
This book is essential for scholars and students in criminal justice, pre-law/legal studies, criminology, justice studies and political science, and is useful as a resource for those interested in legal change around the world.
This book addresses key aspects of the evolving role of domestic and international prosecutors in common law and civil law systems in the twenty-first century, and the challenges posed by this evolution. This collection of chapters from respected scholars takes an international, comparative approach and explores how these different legal systems have borrowed theorisations and articulations of the prosecutorial role from each other in adapting the office to changing conditions and expectations. The volume is structured around four main themes relating to the role of the modern prosecutor: the nature of the prosecutor’s office, the role of the prosecutor in investigations, prosecutorial discretion and how it is exercised, and politicisation and accountability of prosecutors.
This book is essential for scholars and students in criminal justice, pre-law/legal studies, criminology, justice studies and political science, and is useful as a resource for those interested in legal change around the world.
Most past definitions of terrorism have included a political element. What would terrorist acts be without the political/ideological element? Mass killings, hijackings, bombings... 'Common' crimes, combined with often uncommonly destructive elements. Regardless of this inherent political element, the last decades have seen a global trend of depoliticising terrorism for the purpose of international collaboration.
My thesis describes and discusses this trend and the reasons behind it. Following a thorough analysis of international conventions and treaties as well as bilateral extradition treaties from the 1800s until the early 2000s, it suggests that terrorism has been depoliticised due to the existence of the so-called political offence exception to extradition that emerged in extradition treaties in 1834. Because of this widely accepted spawn of the revolutionary era, political offenders, in some cases including terrorists, were for a long time protected from extradition.
Almost immediately since the creation of the exception, the first limitations to it emerged. These limitations remained rare until the emergence of the modern terrorist threat since the 1970s. The spread of terrorism in Europe and elsewhere in the world from the 1970s onwards made the threat global and acute. One of the attempted solutions to the pressing problem was identical to the one that had been used in the late 19th century in the fight against anarchism: the depoliticisation of the violent acts. The aim of the depoliticisation formula was to protect ‘legitimate’ political offenders, but exclude terrorism from the scope of this protection excluding terrorist acts from the protection of the political offence exemption. The formula re-emerged for the first time since the 1800s in the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism in 1977. Slowly it was added to bilateral extradition treaties and was later used also by Interpol and the UN. Simultaneously, the political offence exemption was limited.
My thesis suggests that terrorism is destroying the political offence exception and the liberal idea that political dissidents, regardless their political ideologies, deserve protection. With the coming into force of the European Arrest Warrant in 2004, the political offence exception, a child of the revolutionary era, has seized to exist within the EU. It remains to be seen, whether this will happen worldwide. Some signs of this already exist.
In addition to the depoliticisation of terrorism, we have witnessed a contradicting trend of what I call repoliticisation, where special laws and tribunals have been set to deal with the terrorist threat. The new laws, contrary to the depoliticisation strategy, underline the political nature of terrorism by criminalising acts such as the glorification of terrorism.
My thesis examines these contradictory trends and suggests that the abovementioned strategies used against terrorism do not necessarily serve the purpose they intend to serve. I take a critical look at the various implications of both the depoliticisation of terrorism and underlining the political element of it. One of these implications is the decreasing global protection for non-violent political offenders.
The sources of the book include archival material from different centuries as well as interviews with prosecutors, judges and police.