JUSTICE FOR ALL: Enhancing the Rights of Defendants and Detainees with Intellectual and/or Psychosocial Disabilities. EU Cross-Border Transfers, Detention and Alternatives

Research Topic & Roadmap

The JUSTICE FOR ALL project aims to strengthen the rights of persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities who are deprived of their liberty in a criminal context. It also promotes judicial cooperation and mutual recognition in criminal matters within the EU. From January 2022 to December 2023, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights’ (LBI-GMR) “Human Dignity and Public Security” programme line will cooperate with Antigone (Italy), the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (Bulgaria), Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Germany), Mental Health Perspectives (Lithuania), and the Peace Institute (Slovenia) as a part of this project.

While many relevant projects have addressed fundamental rights issues of the prison population in general, there have been few initiatives on persons with psychosocial and/or intellectual impairments deprived of liberty in the criminal justice context. In particular, little attention has been paid to the particular challenges faced by this group in cross-border cases.

For this reason, the JUSTICE FOR ALL project will identify challenges, gaps and best practices regarding the transposition and application of relevant EU Framework Decisions. It will also examine domestic issues that may stand in the way of cross-border cooperation.

The project is aimed at:

• criminal justice actors (e.g. judges, lawyers, probation officers)
• supervisory and control bodies
• decision-makers (e.g. ministerial representatives, members of parliament, EU representatives)

Research Focus

In particular, the project will:

• Educate on international, EU and national norms and standards that exist for defendants and detainees with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities
• Facilitate cooperation between Member States and strengthen mutual learning and knowledge exchange between different stakeholders at a national and an EU level

Research Method

An outcome will be achieved by means of conducting national secondary research, national and regional consultation processes, and the preparation of comparative reports and key recommendations.

• Project Title: JUSTICE FOR ALL: Enhancing the Rights of Defendants and Detainees with Intellectual and/or Psychosocial Disabilities. EU Cross-Border Transfers, Detention and Alternatives
• Project Consortium: Antigone (Italy), Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (Bulgaria), Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Germany), Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (Austria), Mental Health Perspectives (Lithuania), Peace Institute (Slovenia)
• Project Team LBI-GMR: Bernadette Fidler (project leader), Giuliana Monina, Caroline Paar, Edith Riegler
• Project Duration: January 2022 to December 2023
• Funding Sources: Co-funded by the Federal Ministry of Justice of the Federal Republic of Austria, the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection of the Federal Republic of Austria, the Justice Programme of the European Union and the Zukunftsfonds of the Republic of Austria
• Programme Line LBI-GMR: Human Dignity and Public Security