Third Parties in Criminal Proceedings : A Comparative Law Study

This book deals with the role and the protection of third parties in criminal proceedings. Starting from a comparative-law definition of formal parties in criminal proceedings based on seven domestic jurisdictions, this research focuses on the increasing impact of criminal investigations and criminal trials on different categories of third parties, i.e. those individuals who, without being suspected or accused of a criminal offence, are involved in criminal investigations and trials. The complex features of this topic require a further analysis from another comparative perspective that looks at the protection of victims and third parties at the levels of international and supranational law. Particular attention is firstly be devoted to the acknowledgment of a set of procedural safeguards to victims and individuals other than formal participants in criminal proceedings by means of the enormous contribution made by international human rights courts, with a specific focus on the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Regarding victims in particular, their multifaceted status are also examined from the viewpoint of international criminal justice as well. The European scenario, moreover, allows for further deepening of the role and the procedural guarantees granted to third parties and victims from the viewpoint of EU law in relation to the area of freedom, security and justice, in which additional human rights challenges emerge in the field of transnational criminal justice. Comparison shall at all levels be carried out in the light of the enormous transformations due to the digital transition, which has brought about unbelievable changes in every area of mankind’s life, including criminal justice. Ever newer tools, indeed, govern procedural activities, and although unprecedented investigative measures allow for increasingly accurate fact-finding, new risks also arise, including those vis-à-vis third parties whose procedural rights risk to be inevitably infringed.

Stefano Ruggeri is Full Professor of Criminal Procedure Law, and European and Transnational Criminal Justice at Messina University. Experienced Researcher of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, he is member of the scientific or editorial board of several Italian and foreign criminal law journals. Founder and coordinator of the Springer Book Series in "Legal Studies in International, European and Comparative Criminal Law". Moreover he is editor of other Springer volumes, and is author of several scientific works in the fields of Italian, European and transnational criminal justice, comparative criminal justice, and general theory of procedural law. He is currently the Principal Investigator of a research project with national relevance (PRIN) on new forms of legal protection of third parties in criminal justice in the light of the developments of digital transition, and responsabile for the research unity at Messina University on a research project with national relevance (PRIN) on new frontiers for a participatory criminal justice towards the thresholds of metaverse (P.I. Prof. Benedetta Galgani from Pisa University).

Antonella Falcone is Doctor Iuris in Legal Studies at Messina University. Author of various scientific contributions on the independence of the judiciary, equality of arms, video-hearings, and other topics in the field of transnational criminal justice. Visiting researcher at University of Tübingen and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, she is currently research fellow of criminal procedure law, and holds lecture courses on European and Transnational Criminal Justice in the Campus of Priolo at the Messina University, on European Criminal Law and on Evidence Law in Criminal Matters at the Messina University. She has taken part as a lecturer in several national and international scientific conferences in the field of criminal justice, and is currently member of the research project with national relevance (PRIN) on new forms of legal protection of third parties in criminal justice in the light of the developments of digital transition (P.I. Prof. Stefano Ruggeri from Messina University). 

Viviana Di Nuzzo is PhD candidate in Legal Studies at Messina University. Author of some scientific contributions about the protection of victims, invasive pretrial measures, ne bis in idem and third parties in criminal proceedings. Visiting researcher at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Universidade de Lisboa. She is currently teaching fellow for the chair of criminal procedure law at Messina University. She has taken part as a lecturer in several national and international scientific conferences in the field of criminal justice and protection of human rights, and is currently member of the research project with national relevance (PRIN) on new forms of legal protection of third parties in criminal justice in the light of the developments of digital transition (P.I. Prof. Stefano Ruggeri from Messina University).