The Boundaries of Criminalisation: Rethinking Public Goods and Legal Interests in Domestic and Transnational Criminal Law

This book challenges how we think about the foundations and boundaries of criminalisation by reimagining the concepts of public goods and legal interests--both nationally and transnationally. Can we identify common public goods and legal interests across borders that warrant protection through criminal law, or are they shaped by diverse national values and principles? To answer this, the book examines how these concepts justify, explain, and constrain the criminalisation of conduct across different legal systems. It blends rigorous academic analysis with practical recommendations to help further shape our ideas on criminalisation and the future of criminal law, making it a must-read for scholars, practitioners, and anyone invested in the future of criminal justice across Europe and beyond.

Jannemieke Ouwerkerk, Ph.D. (2011), Tilburg University, is Professor of European Criminal Law at Leiden University. She has published (co-edited) books and many articles on the various branches of EU criminal law, including EU harmonisation (competences) in the field of substantive criminal law.

Konstantinos Zoumpoulakis is a Lecturer in EU Criminal Law at Leiden Law School. His research focuses on European and comparative criminal law, with a particular interest in the harmonization of substantive and procedural criminal norms across the European Union, a field in which he has published widely.

Jeroen ten Voorde, Ph.D. (2007), Erasmus University Rotterdam, is Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure at Leiden University. His many publications deal in particular with issues of substantive criminal law and philosophy of criminal law and often lie at the interface of these fields of research.

Jacob Öberg is a Professor of European Union Law and Deputy Head of Department at the University of Southern Denmark. His research interests lie primarily in EU criminal law and EU constitutional law. He has published two monographs on EU criminal law and various research articles widely on those topics in top-tier journals on EU law.