The Research Council of Lithuania has awarded funding under the Programme for the Implementation of Lithuanian Studies Priority Areas for 2025–2030 to the LCSS Law Institute project "Post-Soviet to European? Diverging Paths of Prison Systems and Carceral Collectivism in the Baltic States (BRIDGE)." The project will be implemented from 1 July 2026 to 30 December 2028 by Dr Rūta Vaičiūnienė (project leader), Dr Gavin Slade, Dr Arta Jalili Idrissi, and PhD candidate Goda Dainauskaitė.

Through the project, the researchers will analyse the developmental trajectories of prison systems in the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) from a contextual and comparative perspective, with particular attention to models of carceral collectivism and cell-based imprisonment, their transformations, and lived experience in everyday prison life. Following the restoration of independence, the Baltic states shared similar historical starting positions, however, over time, their reform paths diverged. The outcomes of these trajectories are reflected in international evaluations, prison infrastructure, organisational governance, and the social life of prisons. Estonia implemented a fundamental restructuring of prison infrastructure and the execution of imprisonment, Latvia has entered a new phase of modernisation, while Lithuania remains the most reliant on the carceral collectivism – a legacy of Soviet times.

The researchers will examin how different forms of imprisonment materialise in the physical and social prison environment, how they are internalised by staff and prisoners, and how they shape interpersonal relations, subculture, order maintenance, organisational functioning and institutional environment.

The project will develop and publish methodological guidelines for empirical research involving prisoners, prison staff, and policymakers. These guidelines will make a significant contribution to research on prison systems in post-Soviet countries.

The research team of the project consists of: Dr Rūta Vaičiūnienė (project leader), Dr Gavin Slade, Dr Arta Jalili Idrissi, and PhD candidate Goda Dainauskaitė.

The project is funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), Contract No. S-LISm-26-19.

More information about the project here.

In their article “Post-Soviet Prisons in Lithuania: Examining Prison Officers’ Perspectives in the Context of Ongoing Reforms,” published in the journal “Zeitschrift für Rechtssoziologie,” researchers at the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences – Dr. Artūras Tereškinas, Dr. Rūta Vaičiūnienė, Dr. Simonas Nikartas, and Dr. Liubovė Jarutienė – examine the daily roles, responsibilities, and perceptions of prison officers in three Lithuanian prisons. The findings reveal a duality in officers’ roles, as they are required to navigate between rigid bureaucratic structures inherited from the Soviet era and modern aspirations to develop a humane and rehabilitative correctional system. This duality stems from the fact that Lithuanian prisons remain institutions shaped by Soviet-era historical legacy – marked by outdated infrastructure and entrenched criminal subculture – while simultaneously undergoing reforms aimed at aligning with European standards.

The analysis of empirical data, collected through 33 semi-structured interviews and four focus group discussions, demonstrates that officers working in Resocialisation Units primarily perceive themselves as caregivers, focusing on emotional support, conflict resolution, and attending to the individual needs of inmates. One of the main obstacles to effective work in these units is bureaucratic overload, which has paradoxically increased as a result of recent reforms. In contrast, Security Management Units have retained practices deeply rooted in Soviet-era disciplinary frameworks characterised by hierarchical obedience and rigid formality. This dichotomy fosters interpersonal tensions between different groups of staff and undermines the collaboration necessary for successful institutional reform. Officers’ practices and responses to reform initiatives are also shaped by differing perceptions of prison subculture: while some perceive it as a functional tool for maintaining order, others explicitly identify it as a Soviet legacy that encodes tension and mistrust.

According to the authors, achieving meaningful change in Lithuanian prisons requires systemic interventions that reduce excessive bureaucratic burdens, improve officers’ professional training, and bridge the divide between staff working in security-oriented and resocialisation-focused units.

The open-access article can be accessed here.

This article was written using data from the project “Changes in prison officers’ professional roles within the shifting custodial sentencing policy and practice” (PRISTA), implemented by the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences (LSMC) and funded by the Research Council of Lithuania. The project results are available at: https://teise.org/projektai/prista/.

Dr. Ingrida Kerušauskaitė-Palmer, Senior Research Fellow at the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, delivered two presentations on geopolitical strategic corruption and “corrosive” capital at international conferences in late March – early April.

From 30 March to 1 April 2026, the 20th Research Committee on Political Finance and Political Corruption (a branch of the International Political Science Association, IPSA) held its bi-annual conference at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon. The Committee examines the multifaceted role of money and resources in political life and public governance, including political party and campaign financing, lobbying, media manipulation, and other mechanisms of illicit political influence. Its scholars empirically test theoretical concepts and promote international and comparative research. At this conference, Dr Kerušauskaitė-Palmer presented a paper titled “Assessing Preparedness to Counter Geopolitical Strategic Corruption: A Comparative Analysis of Political Integrity Policies”, co-authored with Andrew Rogan. This paper examines how political integrity policies, frameworks and institutions can detect and respond to geopolitical strategic corruption, defined as a state’s use of corruption as a foreign policy instrument. The paper develops a framework to assess national readiness to confront geopolitical strategic corruption and tests it through a comparative case study of Moldova’s 2024 and 2025 elections, both targeted by malign foreign actors. The findings provide practical insights for policymakers aiming to strengthen preparedness against geopolitical strategic corruption.

On 8–10 April 2026, the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) held its annual conference “Beyond Boundaries: Wellbeing, Innovation and the Future of Public Management” at the School of Business and Law of Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, bringing together scholars, students, and practitioners of public management from around the world. This year’s conference focused on new research and discussions on the role of wellbeing and innovation in the future of public governance. On 9 April, Dr Kerušauskaitė-Palmer also presented her paper “Geopolitical Strategic Corruption Risks in Development Finance”. She noted that in recent decades, increasing volumes of funding have been channelled through development finance institutions and development banks. While these institutions typically have well established business integrity teams equipped to identify and counter corruption, they are not immune to geopolitical strategic corruption risks. Such risks can include complex, long-term government-orchestrated schemes to gain control over other countries’ political figures, strategic industries, and key pillars of democratic governance using corrupt practices and corrosive capital. In her presentation, the researcher offered a practical understanding of responsible investment risks and provided concrete, actionable recommendations for investors facing geopolitical strategic corruption and corrosive capital risks.

On 30 April 2026, the internationally recognized publishing house Cambridge University Press published a collective monograph “The Cambridge Handbook of AI and Technologies in Courts”, which was led by researchers from the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences (hereinafter – the Law Institute). In this book, 72 authors from 25 countries examine the use of AI and digital technologies in courts across domestic and regional jurisdictions in Europe, North and South America, the Asia-Pacific region, and Africa. Among the contributors are representatives from Lithuania, including the Law Institute and Vilnius University.

In many countries (from Brazil to Poland and Lithuania), artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in courts, particularly for auxiliary technical tasks such as transcribing court hearings, assisting with the anonymisation of judgments, and similar functions. There are also already initial attempts to apply the capabilities of artificial intelligence in judicial work, including analysing case materials and assisting in the drafting and adoption of court decisions. It is hoped that these innovations will help reduce workloads, especially where resources are limited and court caseloads are overwhelming.

In this Handbook, scholars, judges, policymakers, legal professionals, and technologists from more than 60 different international academic institutions, public administration, and business organisations provide an interdisciplinary and cross-jurisdictional perspective on how artificial intelligence is deployed in courts, what legal and practical challenges this raises, and how judicial institutions are responding to the opportunities and risks posed by AI use in courts

The central insight that emerges from the forty-five chapters of this Handbook is that the impact of AI on courts cannot be understood merely as a question of technological progress or administrative modernisation. When AI is used by judges, this is a question about the future of justice. The deployment of AI in judicial systems touches the very foundations of the rule of law, fundamental rights, democratic accountability, institutional legitimacy, and public trust, and requires us to rethink the very nature of courts. If AI systems are used not only to assist the court‘s administrative tasks but to take judicial decisions – if ‘robo-judging’ moves from science fiction to reality – then we must ask: what remains of the judicial function?

Therefore, each chapter examines not just how AI can be deployed in courts, but also what courts must do to ensure that AI tools enhance, rather than erode judicial values, justice and the rule of law. The editors of this internationally significant publication – Dr. Monika Žalnieriūtė and Dr. Agnė Limantė, senior researchers at the Law Institute – note that upon completing the book it became clear that the future of courts and AI is not a question of “if”, but “how”. The integration of AI and digital technologies into courts is no longer theoretical, peripheral, or experimental – it is global, active, and transformative

The preparation of this book was supported by the Research Council of Lithuania under the project Artificial Intelligence in Courts: Challenges and Opportunities (TeismAI), agreement number: S-MIP-23-73.

The book can be accessed here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-handbook-of-ai-and-technologies-in-courts/C16E665E36D28143B92988D28D7A12BF

.

On 17 April 2026, the 6th international scientific–practical conference “Trends and Challenges in European and National Criminal Policy” was held at the Ministry of Justice. For the second consecutive year, it was organized by criminal justice scholars from four Lithuanian legal research institutions: the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences (LCSS), Mykolas Romeris University (MRU), the Faculty of Law of Vytautas Magnus University (hereinafter – VMU), and the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University (hereinafter – VU). This year, the main organizer of the conference was the LCSS Law Institute. The conference was opened and participants were welcomed by Vice-Minister of Justice Martynas Dobrovolskis and Director of the LCSS Law Institute, Dr Dovilė Pūraitė-Andrikienė.

The conference consisted of three sessions. In the first session, held in English, scholars O. Calavita from the University of Turin (Italy), C. Konopatsch from FenUni (Switzerland), and M. Kilchling from the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (Germany), together with S. Bikelis from the LCSS Law Institute, analysed the legal regulation of confiscation of criminal assets in Italy, Austria, Germany, and Lithuania, respectively, and its compliance with the new Confiscation Directive No. 2024/1260. S. Bikelis presented a dilemma currently faced in Lithuania: whether to implement the Directive through an improved civil asset confiscation law or to supplement the regulation within criminal legislation. The first option entails certain risks related to international cooperation. It also illustrates the fluidity of confiscation instruments between civil and criminal law. The working group addressing this issue has opted for the first approach.

The second session focused mainly on issues of criminal procedure, including the immunity of politicians from criminal liability, judicial impartiality, and a range of procedural issues where practice may interpret procedural law too flexibly. It also addressed the problem of appealing against clearly misapplied legal provisions after a fine has been paid and, finally, discussed issues related to the enforcement of penalties, more specifically, conditional release from places of imprisonment.

The third session, devoted to substantive criminal law issues, featured two presentations by doctoral student Liutauras Lukošius of the Law Institute: “Fragmentation of Criminal Liability for Tax Evasion: Is a Consolidated Solution Possible?” and, together with colleagues from MRU and VDU, “Issues of Compensation for Damage Due to Temporary Restrictions of Property Rights in Criminal Proceedings.”

In addition to these topics, the session also covered issues such as the dilemmas of criminalising unlawful collection of personal data, the indeterminacy of the offence of abuse of office, and the reform of the regulation of sexual offences, including the introduction of liability for sexual relations without consent. The latter topic sparked some of the most intense discussions during the closing part of the conference.

We would like to invite students from Lithuania and around the world to undertake a summer internship at the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences. The summer internship is a two-month (July–August) scientific project carried out accordin to an individual programme. Each internship will be supervised by an academic mentor – a researcher at the Law Institute. This is an excellent opportunity to work alongside experienced researchers, develop academic writing and presentation skills, and gain valuable professional experience. In addition, the internship is paid – students will receive a stipend of €2,000 (€1,000 per month). International students will be provided with additional funding for accommodation.

This year, the Law Institute offers students a choice between two research topics selected by the Research Council of Lithuania as eligible for funded placements.

The topic proposed by Dr Ingrida Kerušauskaitė-Palmer is: “Understanding geopolitical strategic corruption risks and mitigation measures in the context of the 2024 parliamentary elections Lithuania.” The intern’s research will consider geopolitical strategic corruption challenges and controls in the context of the electoral processes in Lithuania’s 2024 parliamentary elections. The intern will present their work at two conferences, including a dedicated two-day programme at the University of Cambridge, and prepare a science popularisation article.

The topic proposed by Dr Agnė Limantė is: “Generative Artificial Intelligence in Courts: Legal Regulation and the First Cases in Selected European States.” The intern will deepen their knowledge of the application of generative artificial intelligence in courts and acquire practical skills that will open pathways to an academic or professional career in legal innovation. The internship will also provide the student who chooses this topic with an excellent opportunity to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the work of courts and to contribute to one of the most relevant law and technology debates in Europe.

Applicants wishing to participate in the student summer internship competition implemented by the Research Council of Lithuania must submit their applications by 23 April 2026. For information on eligibility and where to submit applications, see https://lmt.lrv.lt/en/research-funding/career-development-mobility-and-networking-opportunities/funding-for-students-research-projects-summer-schollarships/

The Research Council of Lithuania, under its funding instrument “Applied Research Projects”, has awarded funding to the project “Assessment of the Application and Execution of the Arrest Penalty in the Lithuanian Legal System” (ARBA), implemented by the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences (hereinafter – LCSS LI). The project will be carried out by the LCSS LI research team during the period 2 March 2026 to 28 February 2027.

Given that the arrest penalty has been applied and enforced in Lithuania for several decades, there is a need to conduct research from both legal and criminological perspectives, particularly as it has not been systematically examined and its enforcement practice has lacked consistency.

The aim and objectives of the research are to assess the practice of the application and enforcement of the arrest penalty, to determine the categories of persons to whom the arrest penalty is typically applied in Lithuania, to analyse the social impact of the arrest penalty on detainees. All of this will be carried out with a view to determining the appropriateness of the arrest penalty and possible alternatives within the Lithuanian legal system.

In order to collect data on the socio-demographic characteristics of sentenced persons, the conditions of enforcement of the penalty, and subjective assessments of the impact of the arrest penalty on the social environment and family ties, the project team will conduct a questionnaire survey of persons serving the arrest penalty. Semi-structured interviews with prison staff will be used to collect data on their perspectives on issues related to the enforcement of the arrest penalty, while expert interviews with district court judges and prosecutors will help to assess the appropriateness of the application of the arrest penalty and the prospects for improving its legal regulation.

Having analysed the application and enforcement of the arrest penalty, the project researchers will formulate and present research-based recommendations and proposals for improving the application and/or legal regulation of the arrest penalty.

The research team of the project consists of: Dr. Rokas Uscila (project leader), Dr. Skirmantas Bikelis, Dr. Darius Pranka, Ignas Kromerovas, Brigita Kavaliauskaitė and Akvilė Tamulytė.

The project is funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), Contract No. S-REP-26-6.

More information about the project here.

We are pleased to announce that the Research Council of Lithuania has awarded funding for the postdoctoral fellowship project of Dr Gabrielė Taminskaitė-Kočiūnė, a researcher at the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, entitled “Work–Life Balance: Legal Measures and Their Implementation” (LEGATO). The project will be carried out from 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2027.

The research will analyse the legal measures that ensure work–life balance in Lithuania, their goals, and their practical application. It will examine how the requirements arising from European Union and international law are integrated into the national legal system, particularly in Lithuania (e.g., the obligation to ensure a child’s relationship with both parents and to create opportunities for mothers to return more smoothly to the labour market), as well as identify legal measures that are applied exclusively at the national level.

The novelty of the study lies in its aim to identify and reveal which legal instruments (together with the services and measures they guarantee), designed to ensure work–life balance, are, should be, and could be made available not only to families but also to single, working-age individuals without legally recognised family obligations.

By employing a comparative analysis method and using publicly available indicators such as the standard of living of society and its individual groups, health levels, life satisfaction, the national average wage, demographic trends, and other relevant data, Dr Taminskaitė-Kočiūnė will seek to identify good foreign legal practices that could be adopted, as well as those that should be avoided, in ensuring work–life balance.

The project also plans to publish a monograph in Lithuanian summarizing the research findings, which will conclude with recommendations for addressing the issues examined. Interim research findings will also be presented at scientific conferences and published in science communication (popular science) articles.

Postdoctoral Fellow – Dr Gabrielė Taminskaitė-Kočiūnė. – Dr. Gabrielė Taminskaitė-Kočiūnė.

Postdoctoral Fellowship supervisor – prof. dr. Ingrida Mačernytė-Panomariovienė.

The project is funded Lietuvos mokslo taryba (LMTLT), sutarties Nr. S-PD-23-106/5T-1.

More information about the project here.

When discussing the January 1991 events, the Lithuanian academic community still lacks deeper theoretical insights into the concepts of crime, injured party, and victim in the specific context of this crime. Therefore, the object of this article is the crime of the January events themselves and the victim, or injured party, as defined within the Lithuanian legal system, as well as the ways in which the victims reflect upon and interpret themselves.

The author of the article, researcher Monika Rogers, emphasizes that the victim of the January 13th events, as constructed in Lithuanian legal, criminological, and victimological discourses, differs from the typical “ideal victim” of international crimes in that they are neither weak nor passive, and thus do not conform to the classical definition of the “ideal victim.” In legal discourse, the victims of these events are portrayed as an especially significant part of the Lithuanian political nation – active defenders of Freedom who defended the Lithuanian State and its independence.

Having analyzed interviews with victims and witnesses of the January 13th events, the researcher concludes that some injured persons find it difficult to accept the label of “hero” or even to acknowledge their status as victims. At the same time, they reject identification with the role of a passive victim and instead present themselves as dignified and proactive individuals.

The open-access article is available here.

The project “The January 13th Case and Events: A Legal, Criminological and Historical Research” (SAUSIO13), on the basis of which the article was prepared, was funded under the 2016–2024 Programme for Lithuanian Studies and Dissemination by the Research Council of Lithuania, Contract No. S-LIP-20-71.

We are delighted that the Research Council of Lithuania, under its funding measure “Researcher Groups Projects”, has granted financial support to the project implemented by the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences – “Hope of release: The Implementation and Impact of Life Imprisonment in Lithuania” (IMPACT). The project will be carried out by the Law Institute research team during the period from 12 November 2025 to 28 April 2028.

In 2019, amendments to legislation were adopted in Lithuania granting persons serving life imprisonment the right to apply for the commutation of this sentence to a fixed-term custodial sentence of between five and ten years, provided that they have already served at least 20 years of their sentence and meet other requirements established by the court. Nevertheless, the two-tier life sentence commutation procedure implemented by the Lithuanian legislator has raised significant concerns regarding its adherence to the European Court’s (ECtHR) criteria in practice, and its capacity to provide institutional (as opposed to transformative) hope for individuals serving life sentences.

During the implementation of the IMPACT project, a multi-method and interdisciplinary approach will be applied to critically examine the evolution of Lithuania’s ultimate penalty since the abolition of the death penalty through to the ECtHR’s decision, and assess its current implementation from the perspective of frontline practitioners. In addition, the project will explore the lived experiences of life imprisonment through interviews with persons sentenced to life imprisonment and prison staff. By going beyond prison walls and seeking to understand the everyday realities of both practitioners and convicted persons, the IMPACT project team will also aim to determine the extent to which the new commutation procedure offers a realistic hope of release.

The research team of the project consists of: Dr Catherine Appleton (Project leader), Prof. Dr Artūras Tereškinas, Assoc. Prof. Dr Simonas Nikartas, PhD student Goda Dainauskaitė, and Ieva Ruzgytė.

The project is funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), Contract No. S-MIP-25-78.

More information about the project here.