Prevention of recidivism in crimes against minors

MOTION FOR A RECOMMENDATION

Doc. 7748 Revised

26 March 1997

presented by Mr ABOUT, Mr HOEFFEL and Mr LEGENDRE and others

The Assembly,

Considering that the first human right is safety;

Considering that protection of the weakest members of society, namely children and adolescents, is one of the fundamental values of European civilisation;

Considering that European citizens cannot consider that freedom of movement by individuals constitutes progress if it undermines personal safety and promotes a Europe of criminals;

Considering that there are therefore grounds for organising a Europe-wide mechanism for preventing crimes against minors;

Considering that although the European Union has decided on joint action, giving Europol responsibility for searching for criminals, such action does not involve judicial or criminal co-ordination, and that if the Union wished to establish such co-ordination, it would have to act within the framework of legal and judicial co-operation, which comes under the "third pillar" of the Maastricht Treaty, and consequently resort to a Convention, which, moreover, would cover only the fifteen Member States;

Considering, in view of the Council of Europe's competence and experience in the matter of conventions on judicial co-operation and the need to extend such co-operation throughout the European continent, that the Council of Europe, which embraces forty European States, is the most appropriate framework within which to establish a

Convention providing for co-ordination in the prevention of offences and crimes against minors;

Considering that of all forms of crime paedophilia has one of the highest rates of recidivism and that recidivism is a fact that must be brought to the attention of the courts called upon to try a person charged with an offence against minors, with a view to proper appraisal of the chances of rehabilitating the person charged;

Noting that a legal finding of recidivism can only be made if the offences or crimes have been committed within the territory of one and the same State, and that therefore a person who has been convicted in one State is not considered as a recidivist if, after serving sentence, he or she commits the same acts in the territory of a different State, and is accordingly not liable to the heavier sentences laid down for repeat offenders;

Considering, nevertheless, that it would be inadvisable to standardise the provisions of criminal law or criminal procedure in the field of preventing offences and crimes against minors, which provisions in fact vary considerably from one Council of Europe Member State to another, but that the co-ordination of information of a nature to establish recidivism must be organised as a matter of urgency;

Considering that final sentences passed in the Member States of the Council of Europe, which are also signatories to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, must be regarded as being lawful and of equal value;

Considering, therefore, that the proper course of action would be to draw up a Council of Europe Convention ensuring exchange of relevant information and allowing national courts to take account of previous convictions in one or more of the Organisation's other Member States,

Recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

• draw up, in consultation with the Parliamentary Assembly, a Council of Europe convention setting up a register of final convictions for offences against minors;

• provide for this register to be placed under the supervision of the President of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg;

• entrust the President of the European Court of Human Rights with supervision of compliance with the provisions of the convention, including confidentiality, the lawfulness of requests for consultation and the application of the rules on amnesties;

• provide that criminal courts in the signatory states shall notify the President of the European Court of Human Rights of any final sentence to at least three years' imprisonment for an offence against a minor, as well as any accessory penalties in accordance with the legal classifications, procedural rules and penalties in force in the State in which such conviction was made; also, provide for notification of any amnesties or cancellations of sentences occurring since the initial decision was notified;

• provide for the convictions notified to be entered in a register placed under the authority of the President of the European Court of Human Rights;

• define the regulations governing access to the data appearing in such register, communication of which can only be requested by a court dealing with the prosecution or trial of acts constituting an offence against a minor, which communication request may, as appropriate, be transmitted by the governmental authorities of the requesting state;

• lastly, provide for the application of the rules on amnesty to the convictions notified, and consequently for the cancellation of the entries in the register established under the convention, in accordance with the criminal legislation of the state in which the sentence notified was passed.

Signed: (1)

ABOUT, France, LDR
HOEFFEL, France, EPP
LEGENDRE, France, EDG
ALLONCLE, France, EDG
AMORUSO, Italy, EDG
ANDRES, Germany, SOC
ALEFFI, Italy, EPP
ANTRETTER, Germany, SOC
ATKINSON, United Kingdom, EDG
AVERCHEV, Russia, SOC
BAUMEL, France, EDG
BEHRENDT, Germany, SOC
BIANCHI, Italy, EPP
BINDIG, Germany, SOC
BIRRAUX, France, EPP
BRIANE, France, EPP
CONTESTABILE, Italy, EPP
de COSSE-BRISSAC, France LDR
COUVEINHES, France, EDG
DANIEL, France, EDG
DE DECKER, Belgium, LDR
DENIAU, France, EDG
FLEETWOOD, Sweden, EDG
GEOFFROY, France, LDR
GIANNATTASIO, Italy, EPP
GNAGA, Italy, LDR
HOOPER, Grande-Bretagne, EDG
IOTTI, Italy, SOC
JEAMBRUN, France, LDR
JOHANSSON, Sweden, SOC
KHARITONOV, Russia
KOSTIUTKIN, Russia
KUZMICKAS, Lithuania
LENTZ-CORNETTE, Luxembourg, EPP
LESEIN, France, LDR
LIIV, Estonia
LOPEZ HENARES, Spain, EPP
LORENZI, Italy, LDR
LUKIN, Russia, LDR
MAGNUSSON, Sweden, SOC
MARTELLI, Italy, EDG
MASSON, France, EDG
MAXIMUS, Belgium, SOC
MELNIKOV, Russia
MIGNON, France, EDG
NESTOR, Estonia, SOC
NEWALL, United Kingdom, EDG
RAGNARSDOTTIR, Iceland, EDG
ROSETA, Portugal, LDR
SAVITSKI, Russia
SCHREINER, France, EDG
SEITLINGER, France, EPP
SELVA, Italy, EDG
SHISHLOV, Russia
SINKA, Lithuania, EDG
STEOLEA, Romania
TERBORG, Germany, SOC
TURINI, Italy, EDG
VALKENIERS, Belgium, LDR
VALLEIX, France, EDG
VASILE, Romania
VISHNYAKOV, Russia
VIN�ON, France, EDG
ZHEBROVSKY, Russia
ZINGERIS, Lithuania

Note: 1
SOC: Socialist Group
EPP: Group of the European People's Party
EDG: European Democratic Group
LDR: Liberal, Democratic and Reformers Group
UEL: Group of the Unified European Left
NR: Not registered