Aim: Issue XII of the Observer covers topics that could have a significant impact on both public safety strategy and the future development of criminal justice policy. There is no doubt that the strengthening of constitutional values and the need to make the functioning of state power more effective are new challenges for law enforcement. The following reviews report on research from abroad that can serve the development of policing, law enforcement and criminal justice.
Methodology: In addition to the traditional jurisprudential methodology, the literature increasingly draws on political science disciplines with a global perspective. A good example is Tamás Suszter’s paper, which gives us a picture of how the situation of NGOs in some countries has been assessed in recent times. Róbert Berei also reports on ground-breaking research in his report on the organisational culture of the Metropolitan Police Service in London in 2023. Bernadett
Bacsó’s analysis is not far behind, confronting the reader with the lessons of the so-called German police family model. Typical criminological reactions are highlighted by Barbara Mágó when she notes that ‘the majority of narratives on human trafficking focus on criminals exploiting vulnerable victims’.
Findings: One of the findings of the study analysing the situation of NGOs is that, ‘It is important to note, however, that although the laws against NGOs do not appear to be a cause of wider human rights repression in the period under review, this does not mean that they do not have a deterrent effect on the functioning of NGOs.’ A new feature in the criminological analysis of trafficking is the analysis from the perspectives of consent, coercion and fraud, which ‘... provides a somewhat more nuanced view of the rigid legal definition, and empirical studies present a less hostile picture of trafficking. The approach of the study can thus be considered as a niche one.’ Róbert Bogotyán cites a US example from the field of penitentiary law when he states, ‘The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries saw a dramatic jump in parole revocations: both new offenses and parole violations were now sufficient to contribute to the increase in American incarceration.’
Value: Despite the diversity of the reviews in the fields of constitutionalism, public security, law enforcement, criminal justice and prison culture, they are united in their defence of human values. From civilian control to the reintegration of those serving their sentences, the common theme is the effective and humane service of public order and public safety.