We're a handful of jurists here on stage, and maybe more in the room. We all graduated Law Faculty. So Law Faculty, not Justice Faculty. Why isn't it called Justice Faculty? One of the explanations would be that through the pursuit of justice, the pursuit of rightfulness was always looked for.
By studying Law you come to realize that legal truth is often not the palpable truth in the world around us, and often times it is not right. But there is one area of Law that always tends towards the material, unaltered truth, towards reality. Criminal law.
I am a prosecutor and I see almost daily stories that show me more often than not that there is only a choice between justice and injustice. Sometimes inspired, sometimes not. Let me tell you a few stories.
My father.
My father is a man who, although he grew up in the city, has always been involved in activities specific to the rural area. He loves raising animals and he does that somewhere near the city. And, just like in the village, sometimes there were arguments with the neighbors. The fights got heated and the hatred so great, it ended with fights. Once, my father was with my brother when he sought justice, so therefore, being greater in number, they were not the victims, but perpetrators, suspects, defendants and eventually convicted of assault or other violence. Fortunately for them, fortunately for us, with a two-year conditioned suspension.
Ioana.
Ioana is 21 and has always been a diligent student. She's a student at the Sociology Faculty and this summer she managed to fulfill her biggest dream: she got into Medicine in Bucharest. In parallel, she met Victor, whom she loves very much. She noticed that Victor was in the business of selling all sorts of things, including some "precious" powders. She confronted him and found out they were drugs. Many, of many kinds.
From time to time, Victor took her with him when he met the people he gave these drugs to. Sometimes he would ask her to keep the pack in her purse, because he didn't have pockets and didn't carry a purse. Other times he would even ask her to do him a favor and take some packages to a few addresses for him, because he was at his job. Ioana was arrested for 30 days for high-risk drug trafficking, and then received another 30. The reason: she accompanied Victor to an authorized purchase when- meaning when we use someone that has a fake identity for buying drugs from the one suspected to sell. Ioana helped him carry the drugs in her bag, because he was her boyfriend. She did the same with his cigarettes, or with a chocolate, or a can of beer. It was something normal for him to put one thing or another in her bag, despite the things being his. She missed the beginning of the year at the Medical school and every time I saw her, she was crying.
Radu.
Radu was a national champion in speed skating, he had obtained at 16 years old the qualification at the Junior World Cup. A teenager whose future was predictable. A top athlete, with remarkable achievements, who you expected to see at the Olympics. But in 2024, at 24, he was being sought out by drug users to buy his stash. A denunciation was made against him and the denunciation was proved. He himself started using drugs at the age of 19, and from using to trafficking it was only a step. Cocaine, marijuana, amphetamine, ketamine, g's, speed, crack, ecstasy, pills, crystal - Radu could get his hands on all of them, so he was living a very financially lucrative life.
Catching him red-handed was a matter of time and opportunity. Radu is now under arrest and will remain so for some good years. He is on trial for trafficking in risk and high-risk drugs, and the law no longer allows suspended sentences for high-risk drug dealers. From a good example in society he is now seen as a danger to it.
Edi has always liked cars. He couldn't wait to turn 18, get his license and get his own car, to drive and go wherever he could see with his eyes. Thing which actually happened. He loved revving the car, stepping on the gas pedal. One morning, on a narrow and sinful street in Brasov, he hit a little boy of only 8 years old. Edi was desperate. He was happy to learn that he was only traveling at a speed of 57 km/h at the time of impact, as he used to drive much faster than that. Besides, apparently there was no pedestrian crossing that he hadn't seen. The kid came out of nowhere. Only the speed limit in the area was 30 km/h, and he was well over it. The little boy was hit badly, hospitalized and remained with scars for life. Edi became a suspect in a criminal case. Then indicted, tried and convicted of bodily injury.
The expert's report showed that if he had been traveling at 40 km/h, which was already higher than the legal speed limit on that stretch of road, he could have avoided the impact. The choice he made - to disobey the rules of the road - changed his whole future. Both his and the 8-year-old child's.
What have I understood from all these stories and dozens of others in the 12 years I have been a prosecutor?
That there are many young people who do not have the right guidance and who do not know that life, especially up to the age of 30, puts you in some situations where you have to make choices.
I feel there should be a greater openness to the area of personal development for our children. They need to know much more about life than Mathematics and Romanian. They need, after they finish their chemistry and biology classes, to start legal education, civics, psychology.
We have seen, repeatedly, that we have a real need for them to know how the human mind works, how we relate to the environment and how we not to go, unknowingly, beyond the law.
I wish teachers to invite us to hold legal education classes in schools. To teach children about their rights and obligations, and about what drugs mean beyond the chemical formula, and about how easy it is to cross the barrier from a normal life to that of a suspect or a defendant. The information exists everywhere now. But I believe, very strongly, that meeting students or college students in a conversation with us, the justice professionals, will ultimately lead to more right choices.
I wish students would find out how the best and safest choices are the "right", correct ones, made not under pressure, not in anger, not out of revenge, but with responsibility, with care for one another, without selfishness. Sure, in the end they may consciously choose to break the law, but this must come with responsibility. With a complete understanding of the situation in which they put themselves in.
