European Society of Criminology
Constitution of the European Society of Criminology
Section 1: Name, Incorporation and Objectives
The European Society of Criminology
(ESC) is a scientific institution founded under the
Literary and Scientific Institutions Act 1854, a statute
of the parliament of the United Kingdom.
It has the following objectives:
a) To bring together, in one multi-disciplinary
society and on a European level, persons actively
engaged in research, teaching and/or practice in the
field of criminology;
b) To foster criminological scholarship,
research, education and training within academic institutions;
c) To encourage scholarly, scientific
and practical exchange and cooperation among those
engaged in criminology, particularly at the European
and international levels;
d) To serve as a forum for the dissemination
of criminological knowledge at the European level.
The term criminology, as used in
this Constitution, refers to all scholarly, scientific
and professional knowledge concerning the explanation,
prevention, control and treatment of crime and delinquency,
offenders and victims, including the measurement and
detection of crime, legislation and the practice of
criminal law, and law enforcement, judicial, and correctional
systems.
The
official seat of the ESC shall be permanently located
at the premises of the Institute of Criminology, University
of Cambridge, England.
Section 2: Membership
Active Members shall be engaged in
the discipline of criminology, as defined in section
1. Student Members can be studying full time in appropriate
disciplines in colleges and universities, or in training
programs in the area of criminal justice.
Membership shall be dependant upon
review by the Executive Board. In order for a Member
to exercise the rights of membership, his or her annual
dues, as defined in section 7, must be paid up.
Members
who have seriously violated their obligations towards
the ESC can be excluded by the Executive Board, but
shall have the possibility to appeal, within one month,
to the General Assembly.
Section 3: The General Assembly
The General Assembly must be held
whenever one fifth of the Members require it to be
convened, and regularly during the Annual Meeting
of the ESC. It shall be convened by the Executive
Board.
The date of the meeting of the General
Assembly is to be communicated to the Members at least
one month in advance, with an indication of the agenda.
By a majority of two thirds of the Members present,
the General Assembly may also decide on subjects not
announced in the agenda.
The General Assembly shall elect
the Executive Board. The Executive Board will publish,
at least three months before the date of the General
Assembly, a call for nominations which will be open
to all members.
The General Assembly may revoke the appointment of
any officer who has seriously violated his obligations
towards the ESC.
The General Assembly may make and
amend by-laws of the ESC by simple majority vote of
Members present at the Assembly.
The
General Assembly shall decide by the majority of those
taking part in the vote. At the request of at least
five members, votes and elections are to be held by
secret ballot. The General Assembly may decide to
submit certain decisions or elections to a referendum
by postal ballot among all Members. The procedure
of voting by ballot shall be laid down in by-laws.
Section 4: The Executive Board
The Executive Board shall administer
all those affairs of the organization which are not
left, by law or this Constitution, to the General
Assembly or any other body. The Executive Board is
composed of elected and appointed members.
The elected members of the Executive Board are the
following:
a. President
b. President-Elect
c. Past-President
d. Two at-large Board members
The appointed members of the Executive Board are
the following:
(I) The Executive Secretary
(II) The Newsletter Editor
(III)The Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal
of Criminology
(IV) The Organizer of the next Annual Meeting
(V) The Organizer of the last Annual Meeting
Elected members are voting members
of the Executive Board and shall be actively involved
in research and/or teaching in Europe. Appointed members
are non-voting members of the Executive Board. Nevertheless,
the Newsletter Editor can vote on issues related to
the Newsletter; the Editor-in-Chief of the European
Journal of Criminology can vote on issues related
to the European Journal of Criminology; and the Organizers
of the Annual Meetings can vote on issues related
to the Annual Meetings. Members of the Executive Board
shall normally not occupy at the same time more than
one of functions (a) to (d) and (I) to (V) listed
above.
The Executive Board can invite, occasionally
or permanently, further non-voting members to participate
in its meetings.
The president is elected for a term
of three business years: the first year as President-Elect,
the second year as President, and the third year as
Past-President. The President, the President-Elect,
and the Past-President shall not come from the same
country. A former President of the ESC is not eligible
for re-election as President but is eligible for any
other elected or appointed position on the Executive
Board.
The two-at large Board members are
elected for a term of two business years. There must
be an interval of two years between any two terms
served by them on the Executive Board.
The Executive Secretary, the Newsletter
Editor, and the Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal
of Criminology are appointed by the Executive Board
for a term of five business years, reconfirmable annually
by the Executive Board.
The Executive Board shall meet at
least once in each business year. It decides by vote
of the majority of those members entitled to vote
who are present at the meeting, or alternatively by
postal ballot. No member shall take part in the discussion
or vote where a conflict of interest may arise between
his or her personal interests and those of the ESC.
The Executive Board takes office
on the day following the General Assembly that takes
place during the Annual Meeting. The business year
ends on the day of the General Assembly that takes
place during the following Annual Meeting. The financial
report covers a full fiscal year.
Section 5: Committees
The Executive Board can approve the
creation of Committees. The term existence of all
such committees shall cease at the end of the business
year.
The
Executive Board shall appoint the members of a Program
Committee for the Annual Meeting, with the exception
of the Program Chair, who shall be elected by the
General Assembly.
Section 6: Annual Meeting
The Executive Board shall decide
on the site of each Annual Meeting and on the general
program. Due consideration shall be given to adequate
rotation among the various countries and regions of
Europe.
Members and non-members can submit
proposals of presentation papers for consideration
by the Program Committee, which will take into account
the quality of the proposals and the constraints of
time and meeting space. The Program Committee can
invite distinguished speakers at the expense of the
ESC.
As a general rule, English shall
be the working language of ESC meetings. The Program
Committee can admit panel sessions and presentations
in other languages.
The registration fee shall be determined
by the Program Chair. Reduced fees can be offered
to Members of the ESC and to student participants.
The
Executive Board will make appropriate financial arrangements
with the local organizers.
Section 7: Membership dues, budget and financial
obligations
The General Assembly shall determine
the membership dues, decide upon the budget and ratify
the accounts that have been presented by the Executive
Board and approved by the auditors.
Neither the Members, nor the officers,
nor any other person appointed as members of the Executive
Board of the ESC shall be individually or collectively
liable for any of the debts or other legal liabilities
of the ESC, beyond the amounts payable by them as
membership dues.
The
Executive Board shall adopt guidelines concerning
the payment of expenses by the Executive Secretary.
Section 8: Periodicals and Editorial Committee
In the form of a Newsletter, the
Executive Board shall inform the Members about significant
events and developments.
The
ESC is publishing the European Journal of Criminology
(EJC), a refereed journal. A by-law shall determine
the composition and powers of the Editorial Committee,
as well as the society's policies in this respect.
The financial arrangements between the ESC, the Editors
of the EJC and the Publisher will be determined by
a special agreement.
Section 9: Administration
A list of all Members of the ESC
and of all of its officers and other persons appointed
to the Executive Board from time to time, shall be
maintained and open to public inspection at the seat
of the ESC.
Two members will be elected as auditors
by the General Assembly for a period of two years.
They will be in charge of checking the books and accounts
of the ESC and report to the General Assembly on their
observations.
The Executive Secretary shall prepare
the annual accounts of the ESC and submit them to
the auditors within six months of the end of each
calendar year. Upon receipt of the auditors' report,
the Executive Secretary shall ensure that copies of
the accounts and of the report are deposited at the
seat of the ESC, where they may be examined by any
Member upon request during reasonable office hours.
The Executive Secretary shall subsequently submit
the annual accounts, together with the auditors' report,
for ratification by the next regular General Assembly
of the ESC.
The academic activities of the ESC
shall be administered from the offices of the Executive
Secretary, wherever these may be located from time
to time.
The Executive Secretary will receive
an honorarium as adopted by the Executive Board.
The
duties and responsibilities of the Executive Secretary
will be determined by the guidelines adopted by the
Executive Board.
Section 10: Property and Legal Proceedings
The money, financial assets and all
other movable property of the ESC, wherever located,
shall be collectively vested in the members of the
Executive Board from time to time. Any immovable property
of the ESC shall be vested either in trustees, who
are to be appointed by the General Assembly for that
purpose, or as may be otherwise required by the law
of the jurisdiction in which such immovable property
is located.
The President of the ESC from time
to time is hereby nominated as the person in whose
name any and all legal proceedings may be brought
against or by the ESC in any jurisdiction.
Any
judgment or award obtained against the President acting
in that capacity shall be enforceable only against
the property of the ESC and the proceeds of any judgment
or award obtained by the President acting in that
capacity shall be the property of the ESC.
Section 11: Amendments to the Constitution
Whenever it is sought either (i)
to abridge, extend or otherwise amend the objectives
of the ESC, as set out in Section 1 of this Constitution,
or (ii) to amalgamate the ESC with or merge the ESC
into any other institution or organisation, then the
following requirements must be complied with:
a. The Executive Board shall schedule
a Special Assembly of Members to consider the proposition.
b. The Executive Board shall send
a written notice of the Special Assembly to all Members,
together with a copy of the proposition, at least
one month before the date of the Special Assembly.
c. If the proposition is approved
by at least 60 percent of the Members present at the
Special Assembly, the Executive Board shall schedule
a second Special Assembly to take place one month
after the first Special Assembly.
d. If the proposition is approved
by at least 60 percent of the Members present at the
second Special Assembly, it may thereafter be carried
into effect.
e. If at least 40 percent of the
Members consider that a proposition, which has been
duly approved, is calculated to prove injurious to
the ESC, they may apply to the United Kingdom's Secretary
of State for Trade and Industry in writing within
three months of the second Special Assembly, asking
the Secretary of State to investigate the matter.
f. If the Secretary of State, upon
investigation, finds that the proposition is indeed
calculated to prove injurious to the ESC, then that
proposition shall not be carried into effect, but
may be resubmitted to Special Assemblies at any time
thereafter.
Any
other provision of this Constitution may be amended
by a vote of two-thirds of the Members present at
any General Assembly, but no amendment may be inconsistent
with the requirements of the Literary and Scientific
Institutions Act 1854.
Section 12: Dissolution of the ESC
The ESC may be dissolved at any General
Assembly by a vote of at least 60 percent of all of
the Members and such dissolution shall take effect
immediately or at a specified time thereafter. The
Members then present shall either wind up the affairs
of the ESC and specify the institution to which its
net assets, after satisfaction of all debts and liabilities,
shall be given, or mandate the Executive Board to
complete these tasks. In neither case shall the net
assets of the ESC be distributed among the Members
or given to any of them.
If
the Members, or the members of the Executive Board
as the case may be, are unable to agree upon the institution
to which the net assets shall be given, or if any
Member is dissatisfied with the manner in which the
affairs of the ESC are proposed to be wound up, she
or another Member or officer may apply to the County
Court with jurisdictional competence at the seat of
the ESC, or, if no County Court should have jurisdiction,
to the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice
of England and Wales, for an order resolving the matter.
Section 13: Adoption of the Constitution
The present Constitution has been
approved, as a general project, by the meeting of
the Founding Members held at the Ministry of Justice
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 7 and 8 April
2000, and ratified in its present form by an exchange
of letters, which are kept in the files of the ESC.
It has been amended at the General Assemblies held
at Amsterdam on 27 August 2004, at Krakow on 2 September
2005, and at Tübingen on 28 August 2006.
Hans-Jürgen Kerner, President 2005-2006
The Founding Members:
Prof. Hans-Jörg Albrecht, MPI, Freiburg im Breisgau
Dr. Kauko Aromaa* (7), National Research Institute of
Legal Policy, Helsinki
Dr. Catrien Bijleveld, WODC, Den Haag
Prof. Gerben Bruinsma, NISCALE, Leiden
Prof. Henk van de Bunt*, WODC, Den Haag
Prof. Manuel Eisner, ETH, Zürich
Prof. Chris Eliaerts, Vrije Universiteit, Brussel
Prof. David Farrington, Institute of Criminology, Cambridge
Prof. Uberto Gatti, University of Genoa
Prof. Katalin Gönczöl, Eötvös Lorand Univeristy, Budapest
Prof. Beata Gruszczynska*, Warsaw University
Prof. Hanns von Hofer, Stockholm University
Prof. Josine Junger-Tas (2), University of Leiden, Den
Haag
Prof. Georges Kellens, Université de Liège
Prof. Hans-Jürgen Kerner (6), University of Tübingen
Prof. Martin Killias* (1), University of Lausanne
Dr. Britta Kyvsgaard, Justitsministeriet, Kopenhagen
Prof. Mike Levi*, Cardiff University
Dr. Laurent Mucchieli*, CESDIP-CNRS, Guyancourt
Prof. Cristina Rechea Alberola*, University of Castilla-La
Mancha, Albacete
Prof. Ernesto Savona* (4), University of Trento
Prof. Alenka Šélih, University of Ljubljana
Prof. Sonja Snacken (5), Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Prof. Michael Tonry, Institute of Criminology, Cambridge
Prof. Per-Olof Wilkström*, Institute of Criminology,
Cambridge
Paul Wiles (3), Home Office, London
* Board 2000-2001
(1) President 2000-2001
(2) President 2001-2002
(3) President 2002-2003
(4) President 2003-2004
(5) President 2004-2005
(6) President 2005-2006
(7) President 2006-2007
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