Nemzetközi Rendészeti Figyelő XV.

Aim: The international law enforcement literature focuses on the study of unlawful human behaviour that violates public order and threatens public security. Research focusing on the internal workings of law enforcement authorities and prosecution services is relatively rare. There are also few examples of academic work on crimes committed by law enforcement officials. The Observer now reports on such articles. Methodology: Attila Sümegh’s review gives an overview of the methods used by the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation in the fight against corruption. In addition to the traditional methods of detecting official and economic bribery, the Prosecutor’s Office also performs tasks that reveal the shortcomings of inadequate legislation that can significantly increase the risk of corruption. Ronett Radvánszki’s summary outlines a methodology for investigating so-called ‘police crime’ in the United States. She points out that police officers who cross the line of legality in the possession of a monopoly on legitimate violence may think that their status makes them less accountable. Findings: Gábor Bélai’s work is exceptionally wide-ranging and professional in its approach, and provides us with an insight into the criminalistic practices of the former GDR (German Democratic Republic) and the former FRG (Federal Republic of Germany) and the differences in the procedural order of law enforcement. While we can be convinced that the former GDR’s training in criminology was of a high professional standard, we must also understand that prosecutorial control of law enforcement in the former GDR still offers considerably more guarantees than in a conception that did not follow the criteria of the rule of law. Value: From a publication dedicated to the study of domestic violence, Bíborka Horváth highlights that ‘current legislation focuses primarily on violence in individual, public places and does not pay enough attention to those who are victims of multifaceted abuse by intimate partners or family members.’ This research also goes far beyond the criminal justice dimensions of domestic violence to report on the moral values that can be the source of the outcomes of individual and social inclusion. Aura Vörös provides information on a study of the legitimacy of the state’s monopoly on violence, with a special focus on the interpretation of the police monopoly on violence, an inescapable task for any democratically functioning constitutional power.