Alexia Jonckheere

Bio: Alexia Jonckheere is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Comparative research & Economic Justice. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 10 publications receiving 22 citations.

Managing forensic DNA records in a divided world: the Belgian case

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to describe the activity of managing records related to forensic DNA identification. First, it illustrates the fundamentals behind the technique of forensic DNA identification. Second, it explains the legal and institutional contexts in which it is used as well as the notion of DNA-based judicial records. Third, it provides details of records management issues that are met in practice. Design/methodology/approach – An interdisciplinary team reflects upon the practices surrounding the management of DNA-based records in the Belgian National DNA database during more than 10 years. Findings – The main problems with managing DNA-based judicial records stem from the existence of natural boundaries between the various stakeholders operating with or within the Belgian judicial system. Six types of issues have been found: non-automaticity and omission, error-prone and inefficient manual operations, electronic issues, results quality, useful reporting and incoherence and duplication. These...

Des assistants de justice aux prises avec SIPAR : un regard sur le management des maisons de justice

Abstract: The doctoral dissertation aims to question the daily activity of judicial assistants while they are adapting to the use of a computer application, SIPAR

Structuring Discretion Among Belgium’s Prison Leave Decision-makers

Abstract: Prison leave decision-making remains largely unknown, operating as a black box in which applications enter and decisions come out, without knowing what happens in between. Prison leave decision-making in Belgium is no exception to this. After a prisoner submits an application for prison leave, the prison director has to provide a written opinion about it, which is then sent on to the Service for the Management of Imprisonment (SMI), which decides whether a prisoner should obtain prison leave. Five years after implementing the legislation, the Directorate General of Penitentiary Institutions mandated a national study of prison leave decision-making practices. The study showed that both key actors, prison directors and the SMI, used their own highly discretionary approach to decision-making. There was little transparency regarding the other actor’s approach, fuelling mutual misunderstanding and frustrations about the other actor’s decisions. Since then, attempts have been made to structure discretionary decision-making. In this article, we first outline the types of prison leave as they have come into existence since 2006. Next, key observations of the first national study are given, as they set the scene for what came afterwards. We then go on to reconstruct steps in an ongoing process of structuring discretionary decision-making. These have led to an increased proportion of prison leaves being granted, with more concordance in decision-making between prison directors and staff at the SMI. We conclude the article by linking the Belgian practice to wider debates about decision-making.

DETOUR - Towards Pre-trial Detention as Ultima Ratio : Comparative Report

Abstract: The main research question addressed in this report is: “Is PTD in practice used as a means of last resort (ultima ratio) in the participating countries?” More specific secondary research questions: - How extensively is PTD used? - What developments can be observed with respect to the use of PTD and alternatives, what factors appear to be relevant in this respect? - What factors influence decision-making? - What parties are involved and what are their roles? - Are alternatives to PTD available and are they used? What are potential obstacles? - If alternatives are used are there indications of net widening? - Are there any groups which are treated differently and if so, which ones, and in what respect? - To what extent do European aspects play a role for PTD practice, and could cooperation within Europe or internationally help to avoid PTD? The results of our study are relevant not only for scholars but also, in particular, for practitioners and policy makers, both on the national and the European level. Practitioners – judges, defence lawyers, public prosecutors, as well as those from the police, criminal justice, social and related fields – should profit from our insights, which demonstrate that many problems affect different jurisdictions in the same way, but constructive options are sometimes found elsewhere. These options may serve as examples for domestic purposes.

Diversité des modes de régulation au sein de l’administration de la justice pénale : le cas des maisons de justice

Abstract: Observation of probation officers’ everyday workplace practices shows the diversity of tools that regulate their activities and the hybridization of these tools through management. Each worker still retains some professional discretion however it is striking to find that they cannot rely on collectives due to extremely limited opportunities of cooperation in the field studied, the Probation Service.

Enjeux contemporains de la prison

Abstract: Indicateur sensible des changements de la punitivite dans le monde occidental, l'usage de la prison n'en finit pas de croitre depuis une trentaine d'annees; dans le meme temps, la critique de la prison et la demonstration de ses impossibilites ont rarement ete aussi nourries par les experiences et analyses de ceux qui, a divers titres, cotoient l'univers carceral. Les enjeux contemporains de la prison se declinent autour de ce paradoxe.Mise en chantier en 1996, une legislation destinee a encadrer l'execution des peines privatives de liberte a ete adoptee en 2005. Si cette loi confirme le mouvement de judiciarisation et de juridicisation impulse dans les annees 1970 en vue de la reconnaissance des droits des detenus, les modalites de sa mise en œuvre montrent plutot qu'elle est avant tout une nouvelle source de legitimation de l'institution, de plus en plus reduite, pour le reste, a ses fonctions de neutralisation dans un contexte de punitivite accrue.A cette critique est opposee l'impossibilite de mettre en œuvre une telle loi face a la situation de surpopulation qui caracterise nombre d'etablissements penitentiaires belges. Le constat est loin d'etre faux, mais il ne doit pas pour autant occulter d'autres obstacles, parfois plus fondamentaux, que permet de discerner l'examen des principaux objectifs lies a la rehabilitation, que sa forme soit ancienne - la reinsertion - ou nouvelle - declinee sur le mode de la reparation ou de la responsabilisation.Face a ce qu'un collectif d'agents de l'administration penitentiaire avait appele « l'impossible reforme des prisons », il faut alors revenir sur la question de l'abolition de la prison.Cet ouvrage est base sur les lecons de la chaire Francqui que l'auteur a occupee a l'Universite Saint-Louis en 2011.

Représentations des mesures alternatives et des aménagements de peine de la population et des intervenants socio-judiciaires belges

Abstract: Representations des mesures alternatives et des amenagements de peine de la population et des intervenants socio-judiciaires belges

Managing electronic records across organizational boundaries: The experience of the Belgian federal government in automating investigation processes

Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the reasons behind the relatively poor level of implementation of e-services. To this end, records management procedures in a particular Belgian federal administration – the Belgian Federal Public Service (FPS) Employment, Labor and Social Dialogue – will be studied. Based on this concrete and relevant case study, the authors examine how cross-organizational differences in terms of the implementation speed of digital workflows can hinder the development of innovative e-services. By doing so, the authors raise relevant questions about the efficacy of digital workflows and work processes. The impact on the consultation and exchange of government records among public services and toward citizens will be examined as well. Design/methodology/approach In the context of an on-going four-year research project named HECTOR (Hybrid Electronic Curation, Transformation and Organization of Records), the study is conducted from an interdisciplinary approach, closely combining information sciences and law. Moreover, this approach also has implications on information sciences through the integration of archival principles at an early stage of conception of hybrid (paper-based and digital-based) records management strategies, instead of confining archivists to a depository and preservation role. This “integrated archival” approach is highly encouraged to anticipate best practices for the long-term preservation of records (Rousseau and Couture, 1994). Furthermore, the project adopts a bottom-up approach based on an exploratory analysis of the particularities of hybrid records management within a project called “e-PV” led by the FPS Employment, Labor and Social Dialogue to draw general conclusions that could eventually be applied to other public services. In this case study, standardized surveys were used to collect information from a manager perspective, followed by in-depth interviews with field workers. Findings The miscellaneous reasons for the aforementioned poor level of implementation are a continuously decreasing public budget, a strongly rooted resistance to change, the difficult but inevitable cross-organizational relations between public administrations, the legal uncertainties arising from a fast-changing digital environment and the political autonomy in the decision-making process of the different public entities. As a consequence, the substantial differences between the many public administrations lead to a lack of interoperability not only at a technical level but also at an organizational level. The many local and other non-connected initiatives that this situation has generated do not help fostering collaboration either. The absence of well-established records management policies is interpreted both as a cause and a consequence of some of the factors mentioned before. Research limitations/implications Research is carried out within Belgium’s particularly complex administrative context, where competences are not only spread but also shared at multiple levels (national and regional) and in multiple domains (legislative and executive). Consequently, the political decision-making process is also highly complex. Nevertheless, the observations and the findings of the study are deemed to be applicable to any administrative structure (both national and international ones). Originality/value This paper outlines the constraints of an almost completely implemented eGovernment initiative which may guide other public administrations in the development of their own e-services, as well as showing them the importance of taking into account records management and archiving principles. The multidisciplinary approach represents a significant added value.

Managing forensic DNA records in a divided world: the Belgian case

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to describe the activity of managing records related to forensic DNA identification. First, it illustrates the fundamentals behind the technique of forensic DNA identification. Second, it explains the legal and institutional contexts in which it is used as well as the notion of DNA-based judicial records. Third, it provides details of records management issues that are met in practice. Design/methodology/approach – An interdisciplinary team reflects upon the practices surrounding the management of DNA-based records in the Belgian National DNA database during more than 10 years. Findings – The main problems with managing DNA-based judicial records stem from the existence of natural boundaries between the various stakeholders operating with or within the Belgian judicial system. Six types of issues have been found: non-automaticity and omission, error-prone and inefficient manual operations, electronic issues, results quality, useful reporting and incoherence and duplication. These...