COVID-19 AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. EUROPEAN SUGGESTIONS TO PROTECT THE MOST VULNERABLE SUBJECTS

Abstract

The current sanitary emergency is not an unexpected event. At the beginning of 2020, COVID took the world by surprise; now, at the end of 2021, it is a problem we have to live with. The pandemic changed the notion of vulnerability, and it is necessary to equip support structures for the weakest subjects. The thesis is also confirmed in the relationship between criminal authority and people who, for various reasons, come into contact with it and who, due to the health measures, are in a situation of particular isolation and potential danger in terms of their own psycho-physical integrity. The concept of vulnerability takes on a new meaning: public authority has to take charge of the claims derived (albeit indirectly) from the health emergency. The inert conduct of states is reprehensible: it causes irreparable damage to individual rights, protected by supranational sources.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• vulnerability
• criminal justice
• domestic violence
• prison law
• European Convention of Human Rights