Improving Justice Through Collaboration and Cooperation

Ernesto Savona, an editor of the SpringerBriefs in International and Comparative Criminology and an editor of the volume the Evolution of Illicit Flows, discusses how working together transparently and with the spirit of supporting the most vulnerable is the key for the improving social justice on a global scale.

Tell us about the nature of your work

My work develops through the following tasks: 1) Managing and representing a University Research Centre; 2) Attending conferences upon invitation; 3) Tutoring young researchers in preparing research proposals; 4) Mentoring senior researchers in their career development, 5) Doing research and 6) Publishing. Organized crime and economic crime are the two main areas of my work   

What do you think is the most productive way that researchers can engage policymakers? What has your experience been with policy engagement?

From the beginning of my career I have worked together with national and international policymakers. Many of them were representatives of international or regional organisations such as United Nations, Council of Europe, World Economic Forum, European Commission and European Parliament. I have found in each of these environments great attention and collaboration in discussing solutions to those problems that my research and Transcrime research have pointed out. In order to reinforce this cooperation, it is important to speak the same simple language, allowing the two sides to interact reciprocally. It is also important that researchers show the results of their research, when based on evidence approach, and policy makers search for concrete solutions.   

What does public engagement look like in your field and how important do you think it is for researchers to make a societal impact with their work?

Public engagement in the area of criminology means working together with policy makers and practitioners on policy solutions and police activities. Both oriented toward crime reduction and protection of victims. This engagement works better when researchers, policy makers and practitioners sign Memoranda of Understanding. They contain exchange of data that help researchers to develop their research and analyses, that help policy makers to find solutions to crime problems and police to better investigate authors and victims’ profile to understand their modus operandi. This engagement brings to societal impact of research.
The virtuous circle starts from good data, continues with good analyses and ends with innovative methods of investigation. The challenge for researchers is transferring results of their research in policies and police actions.

What progress would you like to see next towards justice, victims' rights, and/or International Criminal Justice?

Progress means, in terms of outcome, less crime and less consequences from crime. In terms of outputs, it means more cooperation in the area of police and judicial cooperation. Therefore, building Police and Judicial capacities in the most vulnerable countries should be a priority for the most developed ones. We should be aware of the vicious circle of crime and underdevelopment, and of how these two factors influence each other. Actions directed toward the reduction of crime should go together with actions aimed to increase the economic and social development of the most vulnerable areas of the world and should be accompanied by actions directed to build capacities in the area of criminal justice. 

Read more from our authors and browse the collection on International Justice.

About the author

Ernesto U. Savona is Professor of Criminology and Director of TRANSCRIME, Joint Research Centre on Transnational Crime of the Università Cattolica in Milan. He is also Professor of Methodology of Criminological Research at the University of Palermo. From 2003 he is the Editor in Chief of the European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, an international refereed Journal published by Springer. He has been consultant to the United Nations, Council of Europe, the European Union, the Australian Government. He was also nominated President of the European Society of Criminology for the years 2003/2004. In June 2011 he was appointed Chair for the term 2011-2012 of the Global Agenda Council on Organized Crime of the World Economic Forum. He is today member of the EU Commission experts group on ‘Policy needs for data on crime & criminal justice.