Violence and Extremism

The main objectives include:

• Studying the penal aspects of extremism (including terrorism) and violence against individuals, property, and the state from a comparative law perspective.
• Understanding the mechanisms that lead an individual to radicalize, or even to adopt violent behaviour, in order to identify potential effects on the assessment of culpability (analysis of criminal responsibility).
• Evaluating the penal mechanisms (preventive and repressive) applicable to individuals and companies in light of fundamental rights.
• Assessing the extent and permeability of Swiss criminal law norms in comparison with other foreign legislations.
• Evaluating the adequacy of penalties and measures available to courts.
• Measuring the impact of new technologies on violent offenses and their apprehension by criminal authorities (Should the culture of body and sex on social networks change the legal definition of pornography, or child pornography? Should the 'snowball' effect of certain violence committed on the Internet be considered? etc.).

Ongoing projects

• “Rethinking Penal Dogmatics in the Context of Combating Violent Extremism and Terrorism": The world is witnessing an increase in various forms of violent extremism, a phenomenon that transcends national borders and challenges global security frameworks. In response, national legislations (especially in the fields of criminal law and criminal procedure) are becoming increasingly stringent. Reflecting on penal dogmatics in the context of combating violent extremism and terrorism sparks a crucial debate.
  The group explores the need to rethink existing legal frameworks to better adapt to contemporary challenges. By examining the gaps and limitations of current approaches, the aim is to propose reforms that more effectively prevent and suppress these behaviors, while respecting democratic principles and fundamental rights. The legal analysis focuses on the (fragile) balance between national security and individual liberties, seeking to identify innovative legal mechanisms and establish strict criteria that favor an appropriate and adaptive penal response.
• Godel Thierry, L’entreprise extrémiste en droit pénal suisse – analyse critique et comparative des éléments de la responsabilité pénale individuelle, collective et entrepreneuriale (habilitation)
• Délèze Morgane, Le concept de violence et son expression en droit pénal suisse (thèse de doctorat Université de Lausanne / UniDistance Suisse)

Previous projects

• Godel Thierry (2022), La privation de liberté dans les affaires liées au terrorisme et à d’autres formes d’extrémisme violent, in : Perrier Depeursinge C./ Dongois N./ Garbarski A. M./ Lombardini C./ Macaluso A., Cimes et Châtiments, Mélanges en l’honneur du Professeur Laurent Moreillon, Stämpfli
• Godel Thierry, Carmine Gionata (2021), Saisir la pornographie enfantine à l’ère du numérique, Forumpoenale 2/2021, pp. 130-136
• La répression de la pédopornographie à l’ère du numérique : casse-tête juridique ? (2021), Séminaire de formation continue organisé par le Service de psychiatrie légale des Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève (8 octobre 2021) sur le thème « La pornographie infantile à l’ère du numérique : compréhension et lutte contre la récidive » 
  • Sexual Offenses in the Digital Age: Nowadays, new information and communication technologies have given disproportionate prominence to pornography and everything related to the culture of the body and sex. This raises the question of whether these new technologies have raised (or not) our tolerance threshold towards certain sexually explicit behaviors, to the extent that courts might be required to now tolerate images and videos that navigate the murky waters of "sexualized eroticism ».

Posters

Discover below the posters that succintly present the research topic of violences and extremism. You can display them full-size by clicking on the images.