Variable Vulnerabilities? Comparing the Rights of Adult Vulnerable Suspects and Vulnerable Victims under EU Law

Abstract

EU instruments regulating the rights of adult vulnerable victims and vulnerable suspects differ in their conceptualisation of ‘vulnerability’. The Victim Directive mainly focuses on persons who are vulnerable to secondary victimisation due to external factors, while vulnerability in the Recommendation on procedural safeguards for vulnerable persons suspected or accused in criminal proceedings hinges on endogenic factors, such as the suspect's mental or physical condition. The aim of the latter instrument is to remedy the suspect's inability to understand and to effectively participate in criminal proceedings. These different conceptualisations have resulted in different guarantees for vulnerable victims and vulnerable suspects. The Recommendation contains provisions that – once adopted in a victims' rights instrument – could considerably strengthen the current protection of vulnerable victims and vice versa. In order to provide for a more comprehensive protection the EU should embrace both perspectives in its dealings with vulnerable persons, regardless of whether they are victims or suspects.

EU Criminal Law and Persons with Disabilities: Reflections on “Vulnerability” and the Influence of the CRPD

“…However, van der Aa also notes that these victims are not by definition "vulnerable," and this must be determined on the basis of an individual assessment. 11 Those victims who are identified as requiring special protection because of their "vulnerability" can be interviewed in premises designed or adapted for that purpose, be interviewed by professionals who have been specially trained, have all interviews with the same person, and be interviewed by a person of the same sex in the case of victims of sexual violence. 12 Additional protection can also be provided during criminal proceedings.…”