This work is based on the translation from french of the book published in January 2019 (La politique criminelle sur le fil, Paris: Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne–IRJS, coll. Les voies du droit, pp. 458). The present book is an updated version and the bibliography has been enriched with new references. In addition, a post-script has been added in order to highlight some issues of the pandemic.

Reading this book is illuminating well beyond the sphere of criminal law and even beyond the limits of the States. By studying the global challenges, we go from terrorism to the financial crisis, from international human rights law to international trade law, but also from national law to European or even global law. In all these domains, the author observes not only the behaviors of the States, but still the rise of transnational corporations (TNCs). She explores the main crime policy trends, with special emphasis on the concept of public security and on the relationship between human security and market security and considers the role of new technologies in the formulation of crime policy choices.

The ambition of her work is not limited only to portray but it is further accompanied by a critical reflection that leads the reader to address, in the ‘concluding chapter’, the crucial question if these drifts of a democratic and liberal crime policy, toward an authoritarian –even totalitarian– model and sometimes even toward a society of permanent monitoring, are now irreversible or if there are effective remedies.