Criminal Justice School: we unite law students around the meanings

We believe that people have the greatest impact on the criminal justice system, and therefore we consider it necessary to work with students in particular – the future of the system which will become the real drivers of changes.

In partnership with the Faculty of Law of the National University of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, we have started building bridges between students and practitioners of the criminal justice system. The dialogue platform JustStudents became a starting point, and the Summer School is an important continuation of it.

“The transformation of the criminal justice system is impossible without fresh eyes and fresh energy. We are pleased to start working with students and believe that this Summer School is just the beginning, which will allow us to reveal the settings of criminal justice, and role models from among the practitioners of the system and encourage students to explore this sector more and become those who will help transform the system from within in the future,” said Vasylyna Yavorska, JustGroup Team Leader.

The week was productive — 5 days of a hard-driving program with analysis of practical cases, discussions with experienced lawyers, and gamification of activities to immerse students in the profession.

We covered a variety of current areas of criminal justice and did not miss topics about values, leadership, and courage. In particular:

• Pavlo Demchuk, Transparency International Ukraine, and Rasim Babanly, Supreme Court, helped to analyze the development of the system from Soviet times to the present day;
•  the role of standards in the pre-trial investigation was emphasized by Yurii Bielousov, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi, NABU;
• human rights in criminal proceedings were considered during the discussion with Mykola Mazur, Supreme Court, Nazar Kulchytskyy, “Nazar Kulchytskyy & Partners”, Andrii Denysyuk, NABU, and Ihor Polshchykov, Dniprovskyi District Prosecutor’s Office of the city of Kyiv;
• war crimes investigations and international justice were researched under the auspices of Yurii Bielousov and Stanislav Petrenko from the Prosecutor General’s Office, Rasim Babanly and Mykola Mazur from the Supreme Court;
• Daria Svyrydova, “AZONES” partner, introduced the principles of transitional justice to the students;
• the fight against corruption, of course, was discussed with representatives of the NABU, as well as representatives of the defense party;
• ethical aspects of the legal profession were explored with attorneys Serhiy Zaiets and Nazar Kulchytskyy, and leadership and courage were discussed with Svitlana Bugay, a business coach at LvBS;
• motions of “prosecutors” and objections of “lawyers” to the choice of preventive measures were considered together with judges Vira Mykhailenko, Olha Fedoriv, and Ihor Viter.

This Summer School, organized with the support of UNDP Ukraine and the Government of Japan, is a part of our systematic work to promote best practices in criminal justice based on the values of human rights and the rule of law.

“In times of war, when all Ukrainians have faced unprecedented challenges – such as the loss of loved ones, destruction, loss of property and income, and forced displacement – the effective functioning of justice institutions becomes particularly important as those who find themselves in difficult situations often turn to them for help. Under such circumstances, access to justice and the rule of law are essential to ensure that no one is left behind. At UNDP, we firmly believe that an effective and people-centred criminal justice system will contribute to building trust in the justice system,” she added. “In times of war, when all Ukrainians have faced unprecedented challenges, such as the loss of loved ones, destruction, loss of property and income, and forced migration, the effective work of the judicial bodies is of particular importance. People who have found themselves down and out usually turn to them for help. In such circumstances, access to justice and the rule of law are essential to ensure that no one is left behind. At UNDP, we sincerely believe that an effective and people-centered criminal justice system will help to build trust in the judicial bodies,” emphasized Olena Ursu, UNDP Ukraine Democratic Governance Team Leader.

Out of 200 applications, we selected 30 students from 9 regions of Ukraine and 8 higher education institutions: Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, National University “Kyiv-Mohula Academy”, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukrainian Catholic University, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Dnipro State University of Internal Affairs, and King Danylo University.

“For me, this event began with fear and misunderstanding of what awaits us. Hundreds of articles of the CCP, a ton of case law, and stories about criminal justice issues. However, on the fifth day, I can confidently say that it is primarily about people and those for whom this justice system works. And this event is about rethinking “meanings”, about new breath and faith, and about debunking myths and legends. Therefore, I sincerely hope that these insights and advice from both coaches and participants will be implemented. And criminal justice will finally get JUSTice”, Vladyslav Levchuk, the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” student shared his impressions.

Not only the participants but also the coaches received positive impressions from the interaction within the School. 

“The possibilities of even the best academic education have their limitations. To achieve more, activities that expand the framework and provide a qualitatively different platform for acquiring knowledge and experience are needed. The Summer School is a platform where practitioners can directly convey their expertise to a new generation of lawyers. Having some experience in training representatives of law enforcement agencies, I felt a sincere interest in new experiences working with students. This is a new audience for me, from which I expected fresh views, lack of prejudice, and sincere interest”, convinced Stanislav Petrenko, the School’s coach.

We are grateful to our partners for their support and to the participants for their activity at the Criminal Justice Summer School despite the holiday season. We are confident that with such a community of caring lawyers, a progressive future will wait for us.

The Criminal Justice Summer School is organized by JustGroup with the support of the project “Transformative Recovery for the Safety of People in Ukraine”, which is financed by the Government of Japan and implemented by UNDP Ukraine in partnership with the Supreme Court, UCU Law School, and the Faculty of Legal Sciences of the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”.

Photo: Orest Filin