Fourth Virtual Regional Consultation Workshop with Judges and Prosecutors
The “Justice for All” project invited judges and prosecutors from EU Member States to share challenges, promising practices and strategies for strengthening the rights of persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities.
On 01 February 2023, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR) organised the last of a four-part EU-wide consultation series in the framework of the project “Justice for All: Strengthening the Rights of Persons with Intellectual and/or Psychosocial Disabilities in criminal deprivation of liberty. EU Cross-Border Transfers, Detention and Alternatives”.
The consultation brought together judges and prosecutors from different EU Member States to share experiences, gather new ideas and information, and identify the main challenges for the judiciary in working with defendants and detainees with psychosocial and/or intellectual disabilities within criminal justice systems in the European Union.
The cases and practices presented during the workshop highlighted the various challenges for people with psychosocial and/or intellectual disabilities within criminal justice systems in the EU. In particular, the current fundamental and human rights situation for persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities in the EU was examined in more detail in the context of cross-border proceedings. A special focus was placed on the procedures and experiences in the respective member states.
Through informative presentations by various experts and engaging discussions, participants shared common requirements and implementation difficulties. They shared best practices to better implement existing laws and procedures for people with psychosocial and/or intellectual disabilities in practice.
The focus of the project’s EU-wide online workshops is on a specific stakeholder group that is involved in the criminal process with defendants and detainees with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities: The kick-off consultation invited lawyers to exchange with peers from the EU. This was followed by consultations with probation officers (Wed., 7 December 2022) and representatives of national preventive and oversight mechanisms (Wed., 18 January 2023). The workshop with the judges ist the last one (Wed., 1 February 2023).
