Does the criminal justice system in Bulgaria need to be improved?

OBEKTIV DISCUSSION CLUB The results of the Centre for the Study of Democracy study ·Crime Trends in Bulgaria: Police Statistics and Victimization Surveys” raised several questions about the effectiveness of the criminal justice system and the possible avenues towards overcoming the current public feeling of a lack of justice, law and order. We invited Tihomir Bezlov, an expert from the Centre for the Study of Democracy, and Yonko Grozev, an attorney with the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, to the Obektiv Discussion Club to discuss what it is that has brought about the general public’s heightened sensitivity towards crime and its expressed desire for harsher penalties for the perpetrators. We also invited the deputy chief justice of the Plovdiv Regional Court, criminal judge Hristo Kracholov, to share his views on ways in which the efficiency of the criminal justice system could be improved, in order to counteract current perceptions of a lack of law, order and justice.

Does the criminal justice system in Bulgaria need to be improved?

Yonko Grozev, Attorney with the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee TO DATE, NOBODY IN THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER SERIOUSLY PROPOSED OR ACHIEVED A SERIOUS CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICY SOCIETY WILL FEEL LIKE IT HAS A HANDLE ON CRIME WHEN THERE ARE SUFFICIENT MEASURES TAKEN IN EVERY CONCRETE INSTANCE

There is a serious discrepancy between society’s expectations of what the criminal justice system should consist of and that which exists in reality. In examining this discrepancy, we should seek to discover what the problems are and some means for the possible improvement of the situation. In looking at the criminological ·big picture” in Bulgaria, prevention measures by means of an Interior Ministry criminal justice policy and the entire system for administering criminal justice, the Bulgarian picture emerges relatively clearly as compared to that of other European countries. Here we have a lower rate of crimes solved and a lower number of criminal proceedings that make it to the courts and result in final verdicts, but there are higher sentences imposed. To a large extent this picture corresponds to the fundamental problem in the Bulgarian justice system - that of decreased effectiveness. The heavy penalties explain the relatively high prison population, which does nothing to provide a sense of security or a feeling that the state is handling crime effectively. Society will feel like it has a handle on crime when there are sufficient measures taken in every concrete instance - an adequate level of crime-solving and procedures that result in an appropriate outcome. Then, even if there is not a heavy punishment imposed, the feelings of justice being served and of security will be much greater that those under a system in which the likelihood of completely avoiding any criminal prosecution is high, even if the penalty for such a criminal would be a big one. Unfortunately, the people are not in a position to make a clear enough distinction in these matters, between the effectiveness of the criminal justice system and the size of the penalties. Public sensitivity about the low effectiveness of the criminal justice system is high, because the issues, mostly related to the insti-

OBEKTIV DISCUSSION CLUB tutional rules and interrelationships of the various ·players on the field” - the Interior Ministry, the investigative service, the prosecutors’ offices - are very complex. There is an enormous amount of bureaucracy in the Interior Ministry, with complicated internal delineations. In discussing how to increase effectiveness, the conversation is quickly cut short, when it reaches such a level of specialisation and incomprehensibility to the average citizen that he loses interest.

The other discussion - about how we should get tough and punish these guys - is very easy. From the standpoint of its political use, it finds resonance very quickly, as a result of which the Bulgarian parliament is constantly increasing the punishments provided by the Penal Code. The theme of corruption is not a different subject, but rather the same one: that of the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. The ordinary person, searching for justice and depending upon this system, unavoidably runs into these realities, which strongly incite the sense of a lack of fairness and justice. But if we make a comparison from the standpoint of the big picture, we can say that the crime rate in Bulgaria is not high, and is not dramatic, in comparison with that in other countries, and that the size of Bulgaria’s prison population is also not dramatic.

What is the cause of this heightened public sensitivity towards crime and the desire for harsher punishments for the perpetrators?

Part of the reason for the strong feeling in society that there is not adequate justice, law and order, is not only the dramatic difference in the levels of crime before the 1990s and afterwards, but also the behaviour of the media. Thus the question of effectiveness and of changing the whole model is an essential part of the conversation. It is not avoiding the reaction of increasingly harsh punishments, but rather seeking increased effectiveness and overcoming all the networks built up around the various institutions, which is going to be key in instilling the sense of having an effective criminal justice system, and of fairness and security.

People with little education and low social standing, who have not committed especially serious crimes, have greater odds of being found guilty and sent to prison. Thefts account for about 70% of such cases.

Apparently, for grave, serious crimes, which warp the overall societal picture, there is a lower chance of receiving a guilty verdict. This observation reflects the

core issue very clearly - that of the system and its effectiveness. Because these are bureaucracies, which have certain given criteria for their work and usually proceed on a case-by-case basis, the more individual cases they add up, the better they consider themselves to be getting their work done, with corresponding chances of receiving a better evaluation. The cases are accumulated at the lower levels, by pursuing petty crimes, where there is no possibility of serious resistance.

In this way, we as a society punish petty crime, without being able to effectively pursue the crimes that to a much greater degree create the sense of lawlessness and impunity - all the crime that is related to a higher level of organisation, various corruption schemes and the total destruction of the market economic model in the country.

Observation of which people end up in prison and which do not provides another indication of the fundamental problem with our criminal justice system: that of a lack of sufficient effectiveness in setting priorities and in dealing with serious and complex crimes. It is precisely in this area, where there is serious resistance, that the system falls apart to the greatest extent; not only due to the problem of the corrupt officials within it, but also to the apportionment of the various phases of procedure amongst several different bureaucracies with varying interests, without a common will for synchronicity and good cooperation. This fragmentation is always utilised successfully by defence attorneys to block effective criminal investigations.

The fundamental problem in the criminal justice system is in the relevant institutions’ ineffective work in gathering and presenting evidence in court and in the presentation of the prosecution’s case - not in the strictness of the punishments or their application. The example of the ·single dose” is a classic in criminal justice policy where to direct the resources, which crimes to devote more attention to, and which crimes we consider to be less harmful or more harmful.

It would be wonderful if we had a criminal justice policy. Unfortunately, we do not, because those who control the entire process to some degree do not consider themselves obligated to formulate such a policy, and also because a large part of those in the legal profession are unable to make a policy. They simply operate on the principle of legality - if you’ve caught a criminal, you’ve got to prosecute him to the fullest extent.

This has nothing to do with the real picture. According to the data in the victimisation studies, there are about 700,000 crimes committed annually, while only about 30,000 are punished. Clearly there is room for a policy here! To this day, however, nobody in this country has ever seriously proposed - much less implemented - a criminal justice policy.