Salduz: bijstand van advocaten bij verhoren

Na het arrest van 27 november 2008 van het Europees Hof van de Rechten van de Mens in de zaak Salduz versus Turkije, werden talrijke artikels gepubliceerd over hoe dit arrest moest geïnterpreteerd worden en of de Belgische wetgeving al dan niet¨aan die rechtspraak moest aangepast worden. Naarmate het EHRM meer rechtspraak produceerde in dezelfde zin als het ‘Salduzarrest’ werd steeds duidelijker dat een wetswijziging zich opdrong. Met de ‘Salduzwet’ van 13 augustus 2011, die van krachtwordt op 1 januari 1012, is deze discussie beëindigd. Dit betekent echter niet dat de discussie over de bijstand van de advocaat bij het politieverhoor nu voorbij is, wel integendeel. De nieuwe wet zorgt voor een van de grootste omwentelingen ooit in ons strafrechtsysteem in het algemeen en voor politionele onderzoeken in strafzaken in het bijzonder. Het gaat immers niet alleen om de verhoren,ook de onderzoeksprocessen van de politie zullen moeten herbekeken worden in functie van de nieuwe rechten die personen krijgen aan wie een misdrijf ten laste kan worden gelegd.The politics and administration of institutional chang

Checks and balances in democratic control of public police. A case study of the Dutch national police after the reform

This paper researches the quality of democratic control of the public police in a democratic society. Governance structures tend to be complex, reflecting that in democratic societies the police perform a wide range of tasks, both (inter) nationally and locally. Given the variety of police authorities and consultations at different levels, is there room for adequate democratic oversight? In this article, a theoretical frame on democratic control is drawn up which is applied on the recently established Dutch system of national police. Based on an extensive multi-method field research the authors conclude that the governance of the Dutch national police is not multi-level, that centralist influences are strong, that the mechanisms for vertical integration of local concerns in national policies are weak, and that there is a democratic deficit within the Dutch police system

Counterterrorism in Belgium: Key challenges and policy options. Egmont Paper 89, October 2016

From the Introduction. Some days can never be forgotten. Tuesday, 22 March, started just like any other day of any other week, as another grey morning followed another cold night in Belgium. But at exactly 7:58, that morning turned into a living nightmare. Two individuals detonated powerful bombs in the departure hallway of Brussels Airport. One hour later, at 9:11 a.m., a third explosion in the Brussels subway confirmed that Belgium was under attack. Thirty-two people died, and more than 300 were injured on that tragic day. For most Belgian citizens and residents, this was more than a tragedy; it was a traumatic event. Many could relate with the victims or with the location of the attacks. Most people still recall exactly where they were, and what they were doing at the moment they heard the news

An expanding culture of control? The municipal administrative sanctions Act in Belgium

This article provides an in-depth study of the Act on Municipal Administrative Sanctions 1999 (MAS), which is the first major piece of legislation regulating antisocial behaviour in Belgium. MAS provides municipalities with an instrument to sanction antisocial behaviour and conduct perceived to disturb public order. The article uses Garland’s(2001) thesisonthecultureofcontroltoanalysewhetherMAShasledtoincreasedgovernmentcontrol and the exclusion of significant groups of the population. The research is based on a multiple case study in which the application of MAS was analysed over a 25-year period of security policies in Belgium (1985–2010). The Act’s implementation was studied in the two Belgian cities of Antwerp and Liège in order to consider the influence of the Flemish government and the Walloon government, respectively, in this policy area. The article uses insights from this comparison to revisit the culture of control thesis and its limitations in understanding the political competition that exists over the formulation of policies on antisocial behaviour. Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights in a pluralist worl