National Guidelines for Italian Social Workers, Victims Support and Restorative Justice Organizations ENGLISH ABSTRACT

Transcription

1 VICTIMS AND CORPORATIONS Implementation of Directive 2012/29/EU for victims of corporate crimes and corporate violence National Guidelines for Italian Social Workers, Victims Support and Restorative Justice Organizations ENGLISH ABSTRACT September 2017

2 These National Guidelines for Italian Social Workers, Victims Support and Restorative Justice Organizations (Linee guida nazionali per i servizi sociali, le organizzazioni che offrono assistenza alle vittime e I centri di giustizia riparativa) are one of the outcomes of the project Victims and Corporations. Implementation of Directive 2012/29/EU for Victims of Corporate Crimes and Corporate Violence, co funded by the conjunct programme Rights, Equality and Citizenship and Justice of the European Union (Agreement number JUST/2014/JACC/AG/VICT/7417) Project coordination Gabrio Forti (Coordinator) and (in alphabetical order) Stefania Giavazzi, Claudia Mazzucato, Arianna Visconti Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Centro Studi "Federico Stella" sulla Giustizia penale e la Politica criminale Federico Stella Centre for Research on Criminal Justice and Policy Project partners Leuven Institute of Criminology, Catholic University of Leuven Max Planck Institut für ausländisches und internationales Strafrecht Steering group members Ivo Aertsen, Gabriele Della Morte, Marc Engelhart, Carolin Hillemanns, Katrien Lauwaert, Stefano Manacorda, Enrico Maria Mancuso Project website This document has been produced with the financial support of the Justice Programme of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the contributors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission. These guidelines where autored by Stefania Giavazzi ( XI), Enrico Maria Mancuso ( IV, VII and VIII), Claudia Mazzucato ( III, V, VI, X and XII) e Arianna Visconti ( I, II e XI). Editing and English Abstract by Claudia Mazzucato. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Centro Studi Federico Stella sulla Giustizia penale e la Politica criminale, Milan, 2017 WHOLE DOCUMENT S ISBN Copyright 2017

3 Linee guida nazionali per i servizi sociali, le organizzazioni che offrono assistenza alle vittime e i centri di giustizia riparativa ENGLISH ABSTRACT These National Guidelines for social workers, victim support services, restorative justice services and any other service coming into contact with victims are aimed at providing a practical and specific tool for a better implementation, within the Italian legal system and welfare system, of Directive 2012/29/EU, with specific respect to victims of corporate crime and corporate violence. Building on a previous theoretical and empirical research, these Guidelines provide an overview of the minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime established by the Directive ( I), with specific respect to the peculiarities and problems related to corporate violence victimization, i.e. to criminal offences committed by corporations in the course of their legitimate activities, which result in harms to natural persons health, integrity or life, and whose victims experience a whole range of distinctive risks of secondary and repeat victimisation, of intimidation and retaliation, as well as of harm to their dignity and private and family life. An overview of the harms and risks suffered by these victims is therefore indispensible in view of a competent and effective individual assessment of their specific protection needs ( II). The usually collective dimension of corporate violence victimization, together with the frequently long latency periods which characterize the onset of the harmful effects, and with the recurrence of scientific uncertainty about causal links and, in some cases, about the meaning and relevance of symptoms experienced by victims, all add to the greater difficulty in identifying and recognizing these victims and their status as such, so that specific guidelines are provided with this respect ( III). Due to the same factors, these victims also present peculiar needs for information ( IV), as well as for protection from secondary and repeat victimization, from intimidation and from retaliation, including against the risk of emotional or psychological harm ( VI), as well as against risks for their privacy, their personal integrity and personal data ( VII). Bearing in mind that social workers and victim support services have the task of informing victims about legal assistance, further guidelines for this specific target groups are provided in order to address, at this level, ways of tackling the difficulties victims of corporate violence experience in getting adequate and economically sustainable legal assistance ( VIII). Guidelines also cover the topics of access to criminal justice, participation in criminal proceedings, and access to compensation, from the points of view of social work and victim support: guidelines therefore focus on the importance of victim s preparation to trials, hearings, and extrajudicial settlements, pointing out how victims must be helped in developing fair and realistic expectations from the justice system ( IX). The core of these Guidelines is represented by V: this chapter is devoted to assistance and support in a Country where no specific victim support services

4 Linee guida nazionali per i servizi sociali, le organizzazioni che offrono assistenza alle vittime e i centri di giustizia riparativa have, as yet, been provided nationwide. Social workers and the few victim support services available in Italy at present have a crucial, yet difficult, task, which is outlined here within the national and local systems of welfare, and according to the need to expand such services. The possibilities that victims of corporate violence have to access specific restorative justice programmes are also addressed ( X): they represent one of the highlights of this practical tool. The importance of training for all the professionals and volunteers potentially involved in providing victims assistance and support is also addressed, with specific attention to the available channels for the implementation of adequate and specific trainings aimed at tackling corporate violence victims criticalities and needs ( XI). Finally, attention is drawn to possible critical issues, as well as general principles, related to the transposition of the Directive 2012/29/EU within the Italian legal framework and ( XII). Victims and Corporations Implementation of Directive 2012/29/EU for victims of corporate crimes and corporate violence

5 PARTNERS CSGP Centro Studi Federico Stella sulla Giustizia penale e la Politica criminale Federico Stella Centre for Research on Criminal Justice and Policy (CSGP) Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy. CSGP is the coordinator of the project. CSGP is a research centre on criminal law and criminal policy, committed to promote theoretical and applied interdisciplinary research, aiming at improving the criminal justice system. Its activities, projects and expertise cover a wide range of themes, including business criminal law, corporate liability, criminal law reform, restorative justice and victim support, environmental law, law and the humanities, law and the sciences. An Advisory Committee of prominent scholars, judges and leading experts in juridical, economic, philosophical and psychological disciplines coordinates its scientific activities. Leuven Institute of Criminology University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. The University of Leuven (KU Leuven) is charter member of the League of European Research Universities; European surveys rank it among the top ten European universities in terms of its scholarly output. The Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC) is composed of about seventy professors and researchers involved in criminological research and teaching. LINC continues the Leuven tradition of combining solid research with a deep commitment to society, a goal achieved through fundamental as well as policy-oriented research. LINC consists of eight research lines, one of which is on Restorative justice and victimology. Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law (MPICC), Freiburg i.b., Germany. Research projects undertaken at MPICC are comparative, international, and interdisciplinary in nature, and focus on empirical studies of criminal law, crime, crime control, and crime victims. Research also involves: harmonization and assimilation of criminal law and criminal procedure in EU Member States; development of criminal law thanks to insights into existing legal solutions to social problems, and into functional criminal and extra-criminal law alternatives. ASSOCIATE PARTNERS Scuola Superiore della Magistratura Associazione Familiari Vittime Amianto

6 This project is co-funded by the Justice Programme of the European Union