WP5 Contextual Data

start date month 14 – closing date month 24

WP LEADER: UNIVERSITY OF PARMA

WP5 aims to provide the consortium members with a portfolio of country-based contextual data to highlight local specificities and assist the consortium in interpreting survey-based attitudinal indicators. The objective of WP5 is to select and collect country-based contextual data. It is expected that they will include officially-recorded figures on legal matters (e.g. the human rights record of Member States, length of criminal proceedings and preliminary detentions of suspects) social matters (media coverage of crimes, level of urbanisation and criminal trends, etc…) and criminological matters (e.g. crime rates, prison population, police density, etc…). The structure of domestic criminal justice systems, the style of domestic and regional policies on crime and social justice, as well as the media coverage of criminal affairs - albeit not actual indicators of public confidence – will provide the essential context by which confidence and legitimacy may be understood and interpreted. They are also factors that exercise a significant influence on public confidence and attitudes to justice.

Task 5.1: Country-based data: the criminological context

This task will review a number of criminological matters (determined in WP3) that are relevant to public confidence and attitudes to justice. They are likely to include crime trends (esp. street crime, violent crime, organised crime) as well as the involvement of social minorities and marginalised groups (esp. immigrants) in crime. It will also summarise countries’ strategies for controlling crime and dealing with offenders.

Task. 5.2: Country-based data: the sociological context and the media coverage of crime

This task will review a number of sociological matters (determined in WP3) that are relevant to public confidence and attitudes to justice. Differences between countries in the degree of urbanisation may be critical variables in understanding variation between countries in confidence, for example. So too may be differences in income disparity – and policies to respond to income disparity. Special attention will be paid to mass-media coverage of crime as a crucial factor in shaping public perceptions of (and confidence in) justice.

Task 5.3: Country-based data: the legal context

This task will review a number of legal matters (determined in WP3) that are relevant to public confidence and attitudes to justice. They are likely to include the Human Rights record of Member States (determined by rulings against governments by the European Court of Human Rights, and by other international monitoring reports), the quality and promptness of criminal sanctions, areas of criminalisation, frequency of pardon laws, etc.

Task 5.4: Trends on contextual data and piloting of survey-based indicators

This task will define a number of European policy trends on crime and criminal policy based upon on the contextual data considered under Task 5.1-5.2 and 5.3 It will also determine which countries / policies / population are suitable for the piloting of new survey-based attitudinal indicators of public confidence developed in WP4.

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