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| Public Discussion on Indicators of Public Confidence in Justice: Tools for Policy Assessment
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 On 24 March 2009 at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) the Center for the Study of Democracy held a public discussion on indicators of public confidence in justice as tools for policy assessment. The discussion took place as part of the international scientific conference within the framework of the project Scientific Indicators of Confidence in Justice: Tools for Policy Assessment (JUSTIS) (http://www.eurojustis.eu/), which the Center hosted on 24-25 March 2009.
 In her opening remarks, Dr. Maria Yordanova, Director of the CSD Law Program, briefed the participants about the purpose of the JUSTIS project and the activities designed for its achievement. She described the activities in the area of judicial reform carried out by CSD so far, linking them with the current involvement of the Center in the efforts to develop reliable indicators for measuring public confidence in justice. Dr. Yordanova acknowledged gratefully the support of the Ministry of Justice and the National Institute of Justice stressing on the importance of having all relevant institutions on board so that the future indicators could have the desired impact on policy making.
 The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ms. Miglena Tacheva, addressed the participants of the discussion by declaring independence a basic principle in the work of the judiciary and stressing on the need of public debate on the efficiency of justice. She considered the public discussion and the conference as part of the efforts for the achievement of European space of freedom, security and justice and pointed out that Bulgaria, as part of the EU legal order, suffered an increase in crime and social instability as part of the global economic crisis. According to the Minister, the JUSTIS project has gathered a remarkable group of experts, which should continue working and exchanging experience with Bulgarian institutions.
 The Director of the National Institute of Justice Dr. Pencho Penev congratulated the CSD and the other project partners for the timely discussion on indicators and noted that Bulgaria had a significant problem with public confidence in justice, despite the hope that the transition from totalitarian rule would bring more trust on the part of society towards the judiciary and some recent positive trends to end the tendency of decrease of public confidence. According to Dr. Penev, in order to fully reverse this tendency, more political will is needed, as well as serious and well-intentioned co-operation with NGO’s and media. Moreover, the task of educational institutions like the National Institute lies within the framework of public confidence being a function of efficiency of justice and, as such, the NIJ is offering training to 5000 magistrates and 1000 court clerks each year.
 Prof. Mike Hough from the Institute for Criminal Policy Research - King’s College, London, coordinator of the JUSTIS project, made a presentation on crime problems and crime futures in an EU context. He looked at trends in crime in Britain from 1982 to 2007/2008 and pointed out that crime rates had previously fallen in many European countries because of improving economy, better prevention of criminality, better design of criminal justice policies and better policing. Within the current context of worsening economic prospects and expected rise in crime rates, however, Prof. Hough spoke of the JUSTIS project as a rights approach to crime control and emphasized that EU Member States needed indicators of trust in justice, allowing countries to identify where trust is weak and why.
 Following up on Prof. Hough’s presentation, Prof. Julian Roberts from the University of Oxford, Chair of the JUSTIS External Expert Group, looked at some common problems of criminal justice, namely the rising or stability of high prison populations, the low levels of public knowledge and high public expectations, as well as negative attitudes towards the system. Prof. Roberts attributed public misperceptions of criminal justice to media coverage, populist politicians, criticism by criminal justice professionals, the complexities of the system itself and the psychology of attitude formation. He cited among the essential findings of research on confidence in criminal justice the fact that it was lower than that in other public institutions and it was high for local criminal justice and low at national level.
 Mr. Hristo Manchev, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria, pointed again to the timeliness of the project and underlined the role of the indicators for public trust as an objective measurement for the efficiency of justice. He proposed that indicators should be prepared on all important issues, concerning criminal justice, since society requires rule of law, predictability in the actions of the authorities and consistency in criminal justice policy. Mr. Manchev observed that indicators should reflect the actual achievements of criminal justice authorities and should serve as a unified system for comparison among all EU Member States.
 In the ensuing discussion Dr. Stefano Maffei from the University of Parma, Italy elaborated upon the tendency of putting preambles to legislative acts, which underlined the importance of public anxiety and concern, and, at the same time, the lack of objective measure of anxiety and concern on European level, which the JUSTIS project addressed, despite of being met with skepticism on the part of domestic professionals. Dr. Maffei also noted how frequently governments quoted only surveys they sponsored themselves and, therefore, how urgently objective criteria for trust in justice were needed.
 The observations of Mr. Vladislav Slavov, Chair of the Union of Lawyers in Bulgaria, were directed towards the lack of methodology in Bulgaria for registering and reporting crime.
Mr. Evaldas Visockas from the Centre for Crime Prevention in Lithuania spoke about a recent victimization survey carried out in Lithuania.
A proposal was made by Mr. Hristo Manchev that the work on the JUSTIS project be publicized among all state authorities by electronic means.
 Dr. Kauko Aromaa from the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control in Finland pointed his attention to the political underpinnings of the JUSTIS project and the fact that it aimed at changes in the criminal justice system also on political level. 
Mr. Dimitar Markov, Project Coordinator at the CSD Law Program, presented the work on the JUSTIS project, carried out in Bulgaria so far, namely the questionnaire on existing indicators of public confidence, distributed among criminal justice managers, NGO and academic researchers, etc. He concluded that Bulgaria needed indicators for public confidence in justice, because those were lacking at the present moment - this allows for misuse of concepts like public trust, since raising the effectiveness of criminal justice does not necessarily reflect into a raise in the public trust towards it.
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