(1) Justice Systems and the Public in Different Societies and in Different Time-Frames.
July 26, 8:15am - 10:00am.

(a) "The Magic Bullet? Educating the Public about Crime and Criminal Justice"
Martina Feilzer, University of Wales, Bangor

The paper will present findings from experimental research, which tested the hypothesis that the provision of factual information on crime and the criminal justice system through a local newspaper will have an impact on readers’ level of knowledge of these issues. The research consisted of a large-scale public opinion survey; the experimental intervention - 26 columns published in a local newspaper; a repeat survey; and in-depth interviews with members of the public. Findings from the research will be placed in context of the existing literature, and their contribution to scholarship assessed.

(b) "Public Attitudes to Driving Offences Involving Death"
Mike Hough, King's College London

This paper will present findings from a study conducted for the Sentencing Advisory Panel in England and Wales examining public attitudes to the sentencing of offences involving death by dangerous, careless or illegal driving. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to map public attitudes to the sentencing of these offences. The Sentencing Advisory Panel commissioned the work to fulfil its obligation to consult with the public over its sentencing advice.

(c) "Law as a Product of Emotion: The Rise of the Victim"
Mina Rauschenbach, Université de Genève

The presentation will dwell on a retrospective evaluation of the Swiss law on victim assistance undertaken in order to appraise its evolution and semi-directive interviews of victims allowed us to highlight their expectations, needs and feelings, as well as the status they claim in the legal arena. Results demonstrate the growing consideration given to victims by the criminal justice system through the evolution of the Swiss legislation on victims’ rights.

(2) The Public’s Confidence in Courts and Legal System: A Comparative Approach.
July 28, 8:15am - 10:00am.

(a) "Public's Opinion of Courts and Rule of Law Reforms in the Republic of Armenia"
Kristina Galstyan, Yerevan State University

The paper on Armenian experience will discuss the findings of a research aimed at measuring the awareness of the country’s population of their legal rights and responsibilities, their attitude towards laws, legal institutions and the judiciary and their participation in legislative drafting processes. The paper will also attempt to study accessibility of the judicial system for all the layers of population and analyze the information sources on the performances of the judicial entities and reforms in that area.

(b) "The Role of Courts in Tackling Environmental Problems: NGO Perspective"
Olha Melen, Environment-People-Law

The presentation will dwell on public opinion of environmental cases in Ukrainian courts.

(c) "The Public Perception of the Judicial System in Serbia"
Dejan Pavlovic, Belgrade University

The presentation is aimed at presenting how the public perception of the judiciary has been changing since the political changes in 2000, describing and analyzing the attitude of the most influential media, and assessing the actions and responses from the judiciary itself, using available data from the leading pooling agencies in Serbia, official data and daily and weekly newspaper in the period 2000-2005.


(d) "The Uses of Public Opinion Research on the Courts: The International Experience"
David Rottman, National Center for State Courts

The paper used the California survey data to carry out a preliminary empirical examination of the dynamics of the relationship between immigrants and the courts. California is uniquely situated for a study of immigrant perceptions given that over 28 percent of California’s population (and 31 percent of the survey sample) are foreign-born. Also, the sampling strategy provides oversamples of Asian Americans and Latinos were taken, making possible exploration of intra-group differences for the state’s largest ethnic groups.