Former Fellow

Maria Kaiafa-Gbandi

Professor of Criminal Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)

Research topic:
“Artificial intelligence as a challenge for Criminal Law: in search of a new model of criminal liability?”

Project description:
The research project is trying to answer the question whether we need a new model for ascribing criminal liability in cases of causing harm with the use of AI systems. After delving into the current scope and the significance of the use of artificial intelligence as a challenge for law in general, the research tries in an initial approach to shed light on the emerging concerns and their significance for criminal law and especially to discuss the question of ascribing criminal liability for harm caused by the use of AI systems in the framework of the existing law. On this basis it discusses a wide range of crucial questions of the theoretical framework for ascribing criminal liability and at the end it focuses to answer the question whether alternative schemes of attributing criminal responsibility to an e-person or e-personality is compatible with the European legal civilization. (Maria Kaiafa-Gbandi)

Events:

Online lecture as part of the Tuesday seminar of the Institute for Criminal Sciences and Philosophy of Law at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main23.November 2021, 4 pm
AI and criminal law: Need for a new model of criminal liability?

Fellow Colloquium
December 16, 2021, 11 a.m.
Algorithmic Justice for Deciding on Criminal Matters?


Research project:
Criminal security law to combat terrorism and the limits of criminalization

Research project:
The research focuses on the application of criminal law in the context of the modern EU security agenda against terrorism: its characteristics, the observable erosion of important basic features of criminal law through the corresponding new EU criminalization requirements (Directive 2017/541) – and above all the question of the limits of criminalization in the modern constitutional state. The investigation of the development from “risk” to “security criminal law” is intended to contribute to the discussion on the fundamental rights-related limits of criminalization in the constitutional state. The aim of the research project is to formulate a concrete proposal for restoring the lost balance between freedom and security in the area of criminal repression of terrorism. (Maria Kaiafa-Gbandi).

Events:

24 October 2017, 6 p.m.
Lecture within the Legal Theory Working Group at the Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of Normative Orders” (Prof. Dr. Klaus Günther)
Human dignity: Protected or endangered by criminal law?
Campus Westend, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main

November 2, 2017, 11 a.m.
Lecture

The criminal respression of racist rhetoric, racist crimes, and race discrimination – the Greek example

  • Biografische Angaben

    Maria Kaiafa-Gbandi is Professor of Criminal Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is also Director of the "Research Institute for Transparency, Corruption and Financial Crime" at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a member of the EU Commission's Expert Group on European Criminal Policy.
  • Publikationen

    – (mit Ath. Giannakoula und D. Lima) »Combating Crime in the Digital Age: A Critical Review of EU Information Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice – Challenges for Criminal Law and Personal Data Protection in the Post-Interoperability Era«, in: Brill Research Perspectives in Transnational Crime 2:4, 2020. – (mit Ν. Karaliota, Εl. Kompatsiari und Chr. Lampakis) »The New EU Counter-Terrorism Offences and the Complementary Mechanism of Controlling Terrorist Financing as Challenges for the Rule of Law«, in: Brill, Transnational Crime 3:1, 2020. – »Information exchange for the purpose of crime control: The EU-paradigm for controlling terrorism-Challenges of an »Open« System for Collecting and Exchanging Personal Data«, in: EuCLR, 2019, S. 141-174. – »Prosecution-Led Investigations and Measures of Procedural Coercion in the Field of Corruption«, in: D. Brown, J. Turner, B. Weisser (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of Criminal Process, 2018, S. 393-416.   – Elements of EU Criminal Law and its transposition into the Greek legal order, Athen-Thessaloniki 2016. – Τhe EU and US criminal law as two tier models-Αcomparison of their central axes with a view to addressing challenges for EU criminal law and for the protection of fundamental rights, Stockholm 2016. – »Punishing Corruption in the Public and the Private Sector: Key Issues on the Current EU Policy and the Rule-of-Law Challenges«, in: Research Handbook on EU Criminal Law, eds. V. Mitsilegas, M. Bergström und Th. Konstadinides, 2016, pp. 376-399. – »A cohesive Model to Counteract Financial Crime and Corruption in the Public Sector«, in: Financial crime and corruption in the public sector, Bd. 3, eds. Dikaio & Oikonomia – P.N Sakkoulas, Athen 2015.

News from the research center

News
04.12.2025

The crisis of democratic theory from a sociological perspective

Sociologist Jenny Brichzin's lecture "Crisis of Democratic Theory? A sociological intervention" opened our lecture series "At the crossroads? On the future of democratic theory". The sociologist criticized the fact that social coexistence has so far been insufficiently addressed in democratic theory. A follow-up report

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Publication
21.11.2025 | Anthology

Handbook of Leadership. Applied Business Psychology for Managers

Felfe, Jörg; Dick, Rolf van (eds.) (2025): Handbook of Leadership. Applied Business Psychology for Managers. Springer.

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News
20.11.2025

Voluntary or compulsory? Military service, peace and democratic responsibility

Review of the 58th "Römerberggespräche". The topic of compulsory military service and the question of what a democratic state is allowed to demand of its citizens were at the center of the 58th "Römerberggespräche" "Conditionally ready for action? Military service and the duty to serve the state", which took place on November 15 in cooperation with the Research Centre Normative Orders in the Chagallsaal at Schauspiel Frankfurt.

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News
13.11.2025

Goethe Lecture Offenbach on ableist discrimination

Regina Schidel hat im Rahmen der Goethe Lectures Offenbach eine Kritik ableistischer Diskriminierung präsentiert. In ihrem Vortrag „Ich kann, also bin ich?“ diskutierte sie praktische Ausprägungen und philosophische Herkünfte von Ableismus.

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Event
10.02.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Satanic Politics. Democracy after Liberalism

Lecture, Lecture Series

Lecture by Michael Rosen (Harvard University) as part of the lecture series "At the Crossroads? On the crisis of democracy" in the winter semester 2025/2026

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Event
04.02.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Demokratien verteidigen. Zur Aktualität des Gewaltbegriffs bei Camus und Derrida

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Christine Abbt (Universität St. Gallen) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Am Scheidepunkt? Zur Krise der Demokratie" im Wintersemester 2025/2026

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Event
29.01.2026 | Frankfurt

Civil Geopolitics and the Dilemmas of the Democratic State

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von David Owen (Universtiy of Southampton) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Am Scheidepunkt? Zur Krise der Demokratie" im Wintersemester 2025/2026

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Event
14.01.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Vom Retten der Welt zum Vorbereiten auf den Kollaps: Neuorientierungen in katastrophischen Zeiten

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Christine Hentschel (Universität Hamburg) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Am Scheidepunkt? Zur Krise der Demokratie" im Wintersemester 2025/2026

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Event
10.12.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

How Democracy Relies on the Future

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Jonathan White (LSE) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Am Scheidepunkt? Zur Krise der Demokratie" im Wintersemester 2025/2026

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