That’s not quite the same thing. NAFTA does not create any criminal law or rules of procedure. The EU does. Not by statute, of course, but you can’t expect everyone to know that.
The EU does not create any criminal law or rules of procedure. That’s what riled Svejk up, that you guys don’t know the difference between the EU and a country.
The ECHR does, and the European Commission can; it just doesn’t.
IANAL, so I cannot answer with certainty, but what I had in mind was the german guy’s vandalized car. Obviously the public prosecutor won’t be involved there, you have to file the indictment yourself.
But in case of homicide it would be like you describe. However, if the victim’s family wants to collect any damages from the killer they have to file a lawsuit in civil courts. The criminal court will only send the killer to the jail.
Ditto this question.
Also.
If the Athens Police catch your mom selling two grams of meth behind the Parthenon, do they have to do a community outreach activity to find a citizen willing to pony up 100 euros and handle the prosecution?
I also shudder to imagine a society where you can get someone arrested and charged just by paying 100 euros. Imagine what a weapon that would be in the hands of organized crime. If you cross the Boss, one of his goons will file charges claiming that you did something horrible, leaving you to pay an attorney your life savings to defend yourself against the charge.
In the US, we have “sponsor a child” programs where you pay a little every month to help a poor child. I can’t believe that some jurisdictions have “sponsor a prosecution” programs where one low monthly payment will help put criminals in jail where they belong, and without your support, they will go free.
They can issue directives and guidelines regarding issues which may involve criminal law, but they can not issue laws. They define procedures to be used when you’re dealing with an EU-level organization, but not those to be used by other organizations, any more than the FBI tells the police of Broward Country which forms to use.
?? In The U.S. they can do this for free.
If you are caught by the police then you are obviously prosecuted by the police and noone has to pay the 100 euro fee.
The fee’s intention is to cut frivolous lawsuits, eg suing your neighbour because his dog peed on your lawn, etc.
It is not perfect and in some cases people will get shafted, but if you are really poor and cannot pay the fee there are several NGOs and charities that can pick up the legal costs for you.
I understand, but at least in the U.S., if I report a crime, I’m not “filing” anything. I’m describing to the police what I observed to be a crime and its then up to them (and ultimately the prosecutor) to determine if further steps will be taken.
I’m with other posters here. If I’m beaten to a pulp, and the perp was smart enough not to do it in full view of the police, do I have to write a check with my crippled, broken, and bloodied hand before the police will put down their donuts and coffee?
The thing is that lawsuits have nothing to do with police.
And if it’s stop frivolous reporting of “crime”, then the police can just do what they do everywhere else and tell you to go away if it’s not their job.
What happens if you have 50 euros stolen? You can’t report it without losing money, even if it’s resolved? Or does the criminal pay the fee if caught? If it really is this way it sounds like a gamble to stop any crime that caused less than 100 euros worth of loss being reported.
I don’t think it’s quite analogous, but, yeah, of course I’d consider it a fair question. Why the hell not?
In general, they are. The police clock you with a radar, and pull you over to write a ticket. Or, an automated device uses radar or magnetic loops embedded in the road to take your picture and they send you a ticket. Pretty much the same all around the continent. I suppose the difference is that in Mexico, you can negotiate a discount if you pay immediately. 
Plus, how often do the police actually witness a crime?
So can someone from Greece or who has lived in Greece actually clarify how this works in practice?
IF only applies to petty property theft and similar crimes I suppose it sucks but if the taxes aren’t there to support the police I suppose discouraging people from wasting time giving reports on stolen bottles of soda makes sense. It would basically turn theft into a civil rather than criminal matter, but if the choice is between that or no police to investigate murder well…
IF it applies to all crimes or any police interaction it is monsterous, don’t call the police to report a murder without money and make sure when you go to the police station in tears to report a rape you have cash in hand.
How did Napoleon manage to impose a code on Quebec, which had been lost by the French six years before he was even born? For that matter, it seems odd that he would have had much to say about Louisiana’s government, though that’s more plausible.
I don’t even agree with that. I could steal a bottle of soda (or 90 Euros) from every person in town and nobody would report it because it doesn’t make sense to pay 100 Euros to recovery 90.
If any of you have seen my previous posts, you know that I’m typically for small government. But I can’t imagine one single thing that should come from taxpayer money before basic police protection. Having to pay people who you are already paying to do the job that you are paying them to do seems absurd.
The idea of such a fee strikes at the heart of a real problem… frivolous police reports consuming an inordinate amount of resources.
In my humble experience (6 years at a 9-1-1 center) the vast majority of reports are not crimes at all. The largest single reported category, about 13% of all reports, is burglar alarm activation with 97% being false alarms. To help combat that many communities have imposed fees on alarm system owners, waived if it turns out to be real. Details on such fees vary by community.
Add in reports for a lost (not stolen) driver’s license or passport, or a motor vehicle accident without injuries in a private parking lot and the police budget gets stretched to provide service unrelated to investigation or prevention of crime. But sometimes a fee is charged to receive a needed copy of such reports so at least the person making the report has to pay per use to help support such functions.
If police were not buried with such issues (and I’m not sure if the Greek police have the same problems) perhaps they would have sufficient taxpayer funding to address more minor crimes.
Actually, they can issue laws. Read the ruling I linked to. That’s beside the point, however, which is that the EU is completely unlike NAFTA, and assuming that criminal reporting procedures might be somewhat standardized across Europe is not a per se stupid question.
Good point. Leave Quebec off the list.
The problem is the 100Euro, which is a huge amount - $140 or so. I can se a nuisance or paperwork fee - you need a report filed to show the insurance company, we will charge you for that service. $10 or $20 (depending on the value of the item) might be reasonable. $140 basically is a “go away, we want to sit here and eat donuts” message.
The system in Quebec (and I assume Louisiana) is the French CIVIL code, which was inherited from previous owners. Criminal code is strictly Anglo-American provenance.
However, napoleon (or his minions) codified the system for criminal law too. IANAL, and I’m sure someone with more knowledge will chime in. the most significant difference is no right to avoid testifying against yourself in their court system (but no right for the state to charge you with perjury - a guilty man will say anything to escape punishment.) However, there is also IIRC a role which combines investigator, prosecutor and judge to some extent; plus citizens can file charges (?) against someone.
Not sure, but I believe this system became pretty much standard across much of Europe thanks to it being the law for at least 10 years, and nobody had a better idea; most medieval law was a mish-mash of arbitrary measures and contradictory decrees across much of the continent and needed fixing. Some other countries adopted it because that’s how the rest of Europe did things and it was a handy guide.