JustConf2024: is there any place for common sense in criminal justice?

JustConf unites the best professionals in the field of criminal justice, creating a unique space for exchanging ideas that could change and strengthen the system from the inside. That is not just a conference, that is the platform where new approaches are born and the future of criminal justice is shaped.

On November 28, 2024, we organized the fifth conference (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) focusing on the topics of “common sense” as the basis for justice. Once again JustConf2024 gathered people with common values, united by their striving to develop criminal justice and ready to make efforts to transform the system for the sake of securing observance of the right to justice.

Modern Ukrainian criminal justice is full of challenges: both the ones directly related to the full-scale war, occupation of territories, and international crimes, and the ones related to the adaptation of civil tasks and needs to the reality of war. JustConf is our center of stability and faith in the future in the background of today’s uncertainty. Together with inspiring lawyers striving for change, we did profound research into the problems of criminal justice and considered ways to fix them. We managed to embrace both moral and philosophical issues and quite down-to-earth daily life aspects.

”JustConf always gathers people who are ready to boldly voice their ideas, which may not always be popular, for which they will not be patted on the back. It is fundamentally important for us that no one determines the topics of the speeches here. We need to cultivate the ability to generate ideas within communities. We are very grateful to our speakers for their subjectivity and courage and to our partners who supported the creation of this space for the exchange of ideas,” said Vasylyna Yavorska, leader of the JustGroup Team.

Traditionally, we did not just organize an event with the invited experts but also provided an opportunity for everyone to try themselves as speakers, present their ideas, and share their visions and tools for solving relevant problems. We were impressed with the high quality of applications and the readiness of professionals from different areas of criminal justice to share their ideas and experiences. According to the results of an open competition, we selected 10 ideas that were presented on the JustConf2024 stage, viz.:

● lawyer at Miller Law Firm Artem Krykun-Trush dedicated his speech to the topic of humaneness in the context of criminal justice and to the analysis of the consequences of its absence or availability with the trial participants;

● professor of King Danylo University Mykola Karchevskyi shared the data on gaining knowledge in effective crime combatting based on open statistical data and on the mechanisms of democratic supervision of institutions;

● judge of Bila Tserkva Town District Court Oksana Vozniuk shared some ideas on the ways of conscious exercising of their rights by the criminal trial participants;

● assistant to the chief judge of Dniprovskyi District Court in the City of Kyiv Oleh Haievskyi dedicated his speech to the analysis of sentences passed in wartime and their effect on society’s legal awareness;

● Director of the Department of Forensic Support of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine Nataliia Tkachenko spoke about the need for introducing structural amendments to the legislation, that will ensure the objectiveness of judicial expertise;

● Head of the Unit at the Department of the Prosecutor’s General Office Stanislav Petrenko spoke on the cooperation between internal state and international institutions in war crime investigations;

● Deputy Head of the Investigation Department of the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Sumy region Tymur Koval shared some ideas on the excellence of the quality of investigations through the establishment of the information and analytical sector;

● Head of the Detectives Department of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi focused on the importance of economic analysis through the prism of resource prioritization and effectiveness of investigations;

● judge of the Commercial Court of Donetsk region Kostiantyn Kharakoz based his speech on the worldview perception of justice and judiciary in the system of social and political relationships;

● human rights activist, and Advocacy Manager at Human Rights Center ZMINA Аliona Luniova shared some thoughts regarding the challenges caused by the occupation of Ukrainian territories in the field of criminal justice.

All video records of speeches will be available on YouTube at the link. Read brief information on every idea in the post-release of the event’s information partner, Yurydychna Hazeta.

We consider it important to unite international organizations’ efforts around the idea of developing professional communities for criminal justice. We are grateful to our partners from the UNDP in Ukraine and the Government of Japan, the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative, the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, the OSCE Support Program for Ukraine, the EU “Pravo-Justice” project as well as the International Renaissance Foundation for supporting the JustConf platform that unites brave and persistent lawyers striving for quality changes and ready to do their best to make those changes sustainable for justice to have some chance to live! 

This year some institutions and law firms always became the event partners, in particular: the Prosecutor’s General Office, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the Supreme Court, and the High Anti-Corruption Court as well as Nazar Kulchytskyi and Partners Law Firm, Miller Law Firm. We do hereby express our gratitude for the time, resources, and energy of all those who supported the “JustConf2024: Common Sense in Action” and made this day full of senses, ideas, and warmth!

You can immerse yourself in the event atmosphere by watching a short video and looking at the pictures!

Photo: Anna Putylina