Comparative law and justice/Luxembourg

Part of the Comparative law and justice Wikiversity Project

Subject classification: this is a comparative law and justice resource.

Basic Information

Population

• The total population in Luxembourg is 491,775 as of July 2010. The population is broken down into 46,918 male and 44,052 females, between the ages of 0-14, who make up 18.5% of the population.66.7% of the population is made up of 165,342 males and 162,681 females between the ages of 15 to 64 years old. 29,839 males and 42,943 females make up the rest of the population consists of 14.8% of people who are age 65 and older.

Geographic Information

• Luxembourg is located in Western Europe between the countries of France and Germany. France, Germany, and the country of Belgium boarder the country of Luxembourg. The total Land mass in Luxembourg is 2,586 sq km. Usually the climate in Luxembourg consists of mild winters and cool summers. The city of Luxembourg is the largest in the country making up 78,800 of the country’s population.

Religion

• The country of Luxembourg does not have an official Religion even though the country is mainly broken down into 87% of people who practice the Catholic Religion. The remaining 13% of the population choose to practice other religions such as; Protestant, Jewish, and Islamic.

Ethnicity

• The majority of the ethnic groups that live in Luxembourg, and are not native born, come from other European countries. The native born Luxembourger make up 63.1% of the population. The rest of the ethnic groups found in this country are 13.3% Portuguese, 4.5% French, 4.3% Italian, 2.3% Germans,7.3% other EU countries and, 5.2% of the rest of the population come from other countries.

Language

• Luxembourgish is the Nation language of the country. Languages like French and German, are also spoken in the country by it citizens.

Economic development'

• GDP per capital

In Luxembourg the GDP per capita is an estimated $79,600.

• GDP-

• Key industry

the key Industries in Luxembourg consists of banking and financial services, iron and steel, information technology, telecommunications, cargo transportation, food processing, chemicals, metal products, engineering, tires, glass, aluminum, and tourism.

• Exports

The Country of Luxembourg export chemicals, rubber products, glass, machinery and equipment. Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Germany, France, and the UK are all export partners with Luxembourg. The country make about 14.18billion dollars in exports.

• Imports

The Imports of Luxembourg consists of minerals, food products, quality consumer goods and metals. The Netherlands, China, France, Germany and Belgium are partners with Luxembourg.

Health and Education

• The infant mortality rate is 4.56 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• The Life expectancies rate in the Country of Luxembourg is 79.33 years of the total population. Males in the country live to about an average age of 76.07, and the females live to about 82.81 years of age.
• The Literacy rate in Luxembourg is about 100%. In the country the people are exposed to a first- rate education system and the people of the country are required to stay in school until the age of 16, similar to the United States School System.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/lu.html http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107734.html?pageno=2

Brief History

In 1815 the Congress of Vienna made Luxembourg a Grand Duchy. Before this date Luxembourg was dominated by a lot of different European countries. It had been part of Charlimeagnes Empire, after being made a Grand Duchy the country was given to King William I in 1838. The country of Luxembourg became independent in 1835, but it was not until the year 1867 when Luxembourg was given the guarantee of perpetual neutrality, and recognized for their independence. In 1949 Luxembourg became a charter member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and gave up their Neutrality. During World War I, the country was used as an area where the German soldiers used to stay, even though the country of Luxembourg decided to remain neutral during the war. The same thing happened in World War II and the Germans once again took over the country of Luxembourg, during the war 5,259 of the citizens of Luxembourg lost their lives.

Governance

The Luxembourg Government is set up like a Constitutional Monarchy. Luxembourg received its independence in 1839 from and adopted a constitution in 1868. Like the United States the Luxembourg government is broken down into three branches. The Executive Branch consists of the Grand Duke, who is the head of state, and is used only for ceremonial purposes. The Prime minister is also in this category and he is considered to be the head of state. The other branch of government is the legislative branch which is set up as a unicameral parliament; it has a chamber of deputies with council of state who serve as consultative body. The third branch of the Luxembourg Government is the Judicial Branch this is where the superior court is found.

Courts and Criminal Law

Law Enforcement

The nation Police of Luxembourg is known as the “Police Grand-Ducale”. This name was adopted after January 2000. Before this date the Police system was made up into a dual system, the national police known as “corps de la police” and the Gendarmerie. The police work under the supervision of the Minister of Justice.

A general directorate, central units and regional divisions, are all part of the Police system in Luxembourg. The General Directorate is divided into five different Branches and it has the overreaching authority.

The Secretary General- Watches over the five branches, buys the items for the different units and advices the new projects before the director General has time to make his decision.

Human services department is in charge of the recruitment, retirements, payroll, internal transfers and the training in foreign countries The Operational department organizes big events. This department also takes care of the security intelligence, and deals with the function of the national emergency unit.

Budget and Equipment department handles the budget accounting, barracking and logistics covering the management of the fleet, arming, etc. Information technology department assures the access and information of judicial documents, establishes criminal statistics, and runs the offices of international co-operation and the internal computer and telephone system.

Organization and Methodology department is where the creation and development of new procedures are sometimes created to replace the existing ones, it also has the responsibility of updating police documents.

The central Units is where the Criminal Investigation Department is Located. This department is organized based on the different types of crimes. The sub departments located in the Criminal Investigation Department include: Protection of Minors, Police Records, Crime Analysis General Crime, Organized Crime, Drugs, Financial and Economic Crimes. The Criminal Investigation Department also has the responsibility of preserving evidence and conserving crime scenes.

The Regional division is in charge of preventing crimes and misdemeanors.

Crime Rates and Public Opinion

Luxembourg is known to be a safe place. Violent crimes are not a common thing in this country. Theft on the other hand has slowly become a problem .Residential burglary happens in the country usually by people who spend a lot of time watching their victims every move in order to find the perfect opportunity to invade their home and steal their belongings. In public areas such as the hotel lobbies, train stations, bus stations and air ports, pick pocketing often occurs. The most common non Violent Crime in Luxembourg is car theft. Lately there has been a new drug epidemic and the country is trying their best to try and cope with the situation. West African immigrants have been the ones eliciting the drugs to the youth who in return are committing petty crimes in order to support their habits. The country has been trying different things in order to deal with the problem. Outreach programs in the schools have proven to be effective so far.