Law Talk

This past Wednesday, we took a break from riots and terror opted for a more low-key field study. Dr. Lajos Korona, from the Budapest Attorney General's Office, was kind enough to sit down with some New Hampshire hooligans and educate us about a new aspect of the Hungarian legal system. Dr. Korona works as a public prosecutor within the Department of Supervision of Investigations. The department's name illustrates the main purpose: to oversee police investigations. In the most basic terms, Dr. Korona and his colleagues make sure the police are carrying out investigations in compliance with the law. There are local offices in charge of the same task, but they only deal with lower-level crimes. Dr. Korona deals with more serious offenses. High-scale drug crimes, crimes against property above two million forints (about $8,900), and crimes against life all fall under his expertise.

To help us better understand his department's responsibilities, Dr. Korona outlined his place within a typical homicide investigation. Police initiate investigations once they discover a crime has been committed, and must inform the Attorney General's Office that they are undertaking such an investigation. The justice system in the States has statutes of limitations - a maximum amount of time between when the crime is committed and when legal action can be taken. For example, most states have a statute of limitations on rape ranging from five to ten years. (More on U.S. statutes of limitations on rape, state by state.) The Hungarian legal system believes that investigations should be concluded in no longer than two months - for any crime. If the deadline passes, police must outline any further investigation plans. It is then up to the prosecutor check the process and files from beginning to end, before extending deadlines. Protracted cases require enhanced supervision by the General Attorney's Office. This deadline on investigations struck me as very strict and short. In the United States, investigations can be dragged out for months. It can depend on a number of different factors, from the integrity of the evidence, the severity of the offense, or the number of officers assigned to the case. Even media attention can disrupt and prolong the investigation. The Casey Anthony trial, for example, garnered an almost unprecedented amount of media attention this past summer. Casey Anthony's daughter was reported missing on July 15, 2008. The trial regarding her death and disappearance did not take place until May 9, 2011 - during which the investigation was ongoing. (ABC outlined the investigation's timeline here.) If the trial had been picked up and dropped down within Budapest's borders, I wonder how the Hungarian legal system would have handled the setbacks and media interruptions. Would Dr. Korona have had to intervene after two months, to make sure that the police investigations were remaining on track and within the penal code? If we had the same set-up in the States, perhaps it would create a more stable, strict, efficient system, Dr. Korona mostly deals with procedural issues. Just like in the States, Hungarian citizens have the right to a lawyer. When interrogating a witness interrogated, some police may break the accepted code of conduct. During house searches, citizens have the right to ask for an independent witness to be present. By not providing one, an officer is going against the penal code. These are instances when Dr. Korona and his associates intervene. Some of you back home - especially those who I force to watch

Law and Order: SVU with me - may relate Dr. Korona's duries to those of Internal Affairs or Internal Investigations offices. These departments intervene when it becomes evident that an officer may have used excessive force or broken procedure during the course of their work. Generally, officers loathe these types of departments - they break up the stereotypical police "brotherhood" by asking for statements from different officers within departments. They never intervene when something has been done correctly, but only when there's a hint that something was done wrong. Anyone would come to correlate this department with negative feelings. Since this is the only department I can compare to Dr. Korona's work, I wonder if the Hungarian Rendőrség find it meddlesome.

I truly enjoyed learning about Dr. Korona's line of work. I think we all found him to be a very intriguing, engaging, and open guest speaker. I'd love to sit down and talk with him again sometime, but I'm afraid the thirty kilograms of seized marijuana that he told us fell on his desk that morning may keep him busy with investigations for at least a while...