Facilitating cross-border criminal justice cooperation between the UK and Ireland after Brexit: ‘Keeping the lights on’ to ensure the safety of the Common Travel Area

Davies, Gemma (2021) Facilitating cross-border criminal justice cooperation between the UK and Ireland after Brexit: ‘Keeping the lights on’ to ensure the safety of the Common Travel Area. The Journal of Criminal Law, 85 (2). pp. 77-97. ISSN 0022-0183

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018320977528

Abstract

Much of the cooperation on criminal justice matters between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland is based on EU level instruments. While there has been consideration of the broader impact of Brexit on the Good Friday Agreement and consensus on the need to avoid a return to a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, more detailed consideration has not been given to the effect that Brexit may have on continued criminal justice cooperation across the border. This article highlights the combined risks that Brexit presents for Northern Ireland in the form of increased criminality at a time when the loss of EU police cooperation mechanisms may result in a reduction of operational capacity and the removal of the legal architecture underpinning informal cooperation. Part 1 seeks to highlight the historical context of UK-Irish cooperation in policing matters. Part 2 explores the risk that post Brexit the Irish border may become a focus for criminal activity. The risks relating to increased immigration crime, smuggling of commodities and potential rise in terrorist activities are explored. Part 3 considers how the risks of increased criminal threats are exacerbated by the loss of EU criminal justice cooperation mechanisms and how this will affect UK-Irish cooperation specifically. Consideration is particularly given to the loss of information sharing systems. Part 4 considers how loss of EU level cooperation mechanisms could be mitigated. The viability of bilateral agreements between the UK and Ireland is considered alongside ways which police cooperation can be formalised to compensate for the potential loss of EU criminal justice information sharing systems. Nordic police cooperation is considered as a potential blueprint for the UK and Ireland.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: The author received financial support for the research, authorship, and publication of this article from the Arts and Humanities Council for funding the UK-Irish Criminal Justice Cooperation Network (AH/S002197/1).
Uncontrolled Keywords: Criminal justice cooperation, Brexit, police cooperation, EU criminal law
Subjects: M200 Law by Topic
Department: Faculties > Business and Law > Northumbria Law School
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 12 Nov 2020 16:38
Last Modified: 31 Jul 2021 16:07
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/44747

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