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Background report: Drug Users in Prison – the Norwegian Experience

Author(s): Hedda Giertsen / Language(s): English

This report is the preliminary research work under the Punishment vs. Treatment: the Situation of Drug Users in Prison initiative which main output is a forthcoming comparative analysis of the treatment of drug users in Bulgarian and Norwegian prisons. The study was prepared by the University of Oslo and it overviews the general context on Norway – general information on the country and its criminal justice system, policy and legislation on drugs explaining what are the perimeters of drug restriction and what are the national policies towards drug use. This information is illustrated with statistics on crime rates and drug crime in particular. It also presents the alternative sanctions available for drug users. Furthermore, the reports looks at prison population using drugs and sentenced to drug-related crimes – what are the principles by which prison authorities are guided in their attitude towards this group of inmates and what programs are available for them in Norwegian prisons.

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Background report: Policies on drugs in Bulgarian prisons

Author(s): Dimitar Markov,Maria Doichinova,Lyubomira Derelieva / Language(s): English

This report provides a snapshot of the situation of drug users in Bulgaria. As it is aimed to serve as a basis for comparative study on policies and practice towards drug users, particularly in prisons, in Bulgaria and Norway, it presents the country’s context – general information on the country and its criminal justice system, policy and legislation on drugs explaining what are the perimeters of drug restriction and what are the national policies towards drug use. This information is illustrated with statistics on crime rates and drug crime in particular. The report also investigates how court looks upon the fact that the accused are using or addicted to narcotic substances within the criminal proceedings and specifically on the type and the term of the sentence. Finally, it looks upon the sanctions available for drug users and their situation once sentenced to imprisonment – what treatment, rehabilitation and harm reduction programmes are available in different prisons.

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Bulgaria: Legal and Judicial Reform, Judicial Assessment

Author(s): Alex Iorio,Galöina Mikhlin,Nancy E. Worthington / Language(s): English

This report was written by Alex Iorio (Counsel, LEGEC) and Galina Mikhlin (Counsel, LEGEC) based on findings of a mission that visited Bulgaria in October 1998. Ms. Nancy Worthington (Consultant) participated in the mission and substantially contributed to this report.

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Changes and Amendements to the Privatization Law Adopted by the National Assembly in June 1994

Author(s): Valentin Karabashev / Language(s): English

Bulgaria adopted its Privatization Law in 1992 - later than the other Central and Eastern European countries. (Actually, under the provisions of other Bulgarian governmental regulations, some privatization started before the adoption of the Law; however, most enterprises became eligible for privatization beginning in mid - 1992.) The Privatization Law favors capital privatization, i.e. sale, rather than free distribution of state property. This approach was accepted because of the belief that ownership should be transferred to persons with proper management skills and the ability to provide fresh investment.

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Civic Defender and Local Civic Mediators: Concept Paper and Draft Law

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The publication Civic Defender and Local Civic Mediators: Concept Paper and Draft Law consists of both a concept paper and a proposal for a draft law for the establishment of the institutions of the Civic Defender and Local Civic Mediator in Bulgaria. It is the result of the extended research work carried out by the Law Program of the Center for the Study of Democracy during the period 1998 - 2002. The concept paper and the Draft law reflect the opinions and recommendations of Bulgarian and foreign experts, politicians, representatives of state institutions and non-governmental organizations provided at the numerous public discussions, meetings and consultations during this time.

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Countering Extortion Racketeering: The Italian Experience

Author(s): Elena Sciandra,Antonio Iafano / Language(s): English

Extortion racketeering is a crime which spans all sections of society, poses threats to the well-being of local communities and impairs the growth and development of business. No country is immune to it, although it varies across time, space and economic context. Extortion can be perpetrated by single offenders, or it can be part of more complex criminal schemes. In this sense, the case of Italy is typical because Italian mafias systematically resort to extortion racketeering.

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Crime Trends in Bulgaria 2000 – 2005: Executive Summary of CSD Report

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

The current publication focuses on the main findings from the National Crime Surveys. Toward the end of the 1990s and, particularly after the year 2000, as the prospect of EU membership became more likely, greater political stability and economic prosperity in Bulgaria led to a gradual decrease in crime. This trend, which was most perceptible in the period 2000–2005, was the result of several factors. Declining unemployment, rising incomes and economic growth provided alternatives to many individuals with criminal incomes. Demographic processes and emigration also contributed to the reduction in crime. Further strengthening of the judiciary and the law-enforcement systems, in an attempt to meet EU-set requirements, revived the criminal justice system, which in 2004 issued six times more sentences than it did in 1993.

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CRIME VICTIMS AMONG POPULATION AND BUSINESSMEN IN BULGARIA

Author(s): Boyan Stankov / Language(s): English

In 2000 Bulgaria conducted a survey of crime victims among the population and business people on the initiative of the Turin-based UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), using its methods (the ICVS 2000 and ICBS 2000 questionnaires, face-to-face interviews). The survey was carried out in Sofia. Overall, 1,505 people were willing to participate out of a sample of 1,700, and 532 business people out of a sample of 550. Data collection and processing was assigned to Vitosha Research, a joint contractor of Gallup Hungary. Dr Boyan Stankov was national coordinator of the survey.

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Drug Use in Bulgaria. National representative survey, December, 2002 – January, 2003

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

On March 14, 2003 the Center for the Study of Democracy hosted a round table on Public-Private Partnerships in Preventing Drug Abuse and Trafficking. Experts from government agencies and non-governmental organizations were invited to the discussion. Experts from the Working Group on the Abuse and Trafficking of Drugs at the Center for the Study of Democracy presented the results of the first national representative survey on drugs consumption in Bulgaria. Experts from the Sofia Directorate of Internal Affairs, the National Service for Combating Organized Crime, Customs Agency, National Council on Narcotics, Bulgarian Youth Red Cross and Free and Democratic Bulgaria Foundation took part in the discussion.

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E-newsletters on the VICS initiative. Number 1. Национален доклад за правната помощ за пострадалите от престъпления

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

E-newsletters on the progress of the initiative Improving protection of victims’ rights: access to legal aid (VICS) are regularly compiled and distributed among stakeholders to keep them informed about activities and recent developments. The newsletters include information about publications and events within the framework of the initiative and other legislative and practical updates in the area of victims’ rights.

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E-newsletters on the VICS initiative. Number 2. Обучителен семинар „Положението на пострадалите от престъпления в наказателното производство и достъпът им до правна помощ“

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

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E-newsletters on the VICS initiative. Number 3. Представяне на националния доклад за България по инициативата "Подобряване на защитата на правата на пострадалите от престъпления: достъп до правна помощ"

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

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E-newsletters on the VICS initiative. Number 4.Кръгла маса „Формиране на дългосрочни политики за подобряване на положението на пострадалите от престъпления”

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

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E-Tools for Criminal Case Management within Selected EU Member States

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In recent years, public authorities have begun to adopt several statutory reforms to incorporate ICT into everyday tasks of judicial systems’ actors. In the European sphere, the concept of e-justice has been mainly developed in justice administration. This publication provides comparative analysis of current practices of justice recordkeeping and the electronic tools for measuring the judicial system performance in Finland, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, and England and Wales as well as an overview of the introduction of ICT in the judiciaries of Bulgaria and Poland.

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Fighting VAT Fraud: The Bulgarian Experience

Author(s): Konstantin Pashev / Language(s): English

This paper draws on the experience of Bulgaria in identifying the types and modus operandi of VAT frauds with a focus on the abuse of tax credit. It analyses the elements of tax design permissive of such abuses and discusses the possible solutions in the light of the international and domestic experience and the capacity of the tax administration. It offers a critical analysis of the Bulgarian anti-fraud device the VAT account, as well as the various alternative policy and administrative measures proposed or applied as barriers to abuse of VAT credit, including those pertaining to the domain of commercial registration, or those related to indicative “market” prices of commercial transactions. The study concludes that the possible solutions should be sought along the lines of optimizing risk management and the principle of joint liability rather than through tighter controls at entry and on the conduct of business.

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Improving Protection of Victims’ Rights: Access to Legal Aid. Research paper on legal framework and best practices. Country Report – Bulgaria

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The report explores whether the victims of crime receive sufficient information about their legal situation, who is entitled to legal aid and what its scope and extent is. The document also relates the opinions of various institutional, private and NGO stakeholders, approached by CSD researchers, on the situation of victims, as regards their access to legal aid and advice. A number of recommendations are given as to the improvement of the legislative and practical framework of legal aid to victims. The national report on legal aid for victims of crime was prepared within the framework of the Improving Protection of Victim’s Rights: Access to Legal Aid initiative.

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INDEX DE SURVEILLANCE DES CONDITIONS DE DÉTENTION. Méthodologie et résultats de l’application pilote

Author(s): Dimitar Markov,Maria Doichinova / Language(s): French

International organisations, national governments and human rights NGOs exercise various types of monitoring of the penitentiary systems. In order to quantify their results, there are some generally accepted indicators (such as the number of inmates per 100.000 citizens), but in many specific areas like healthcare, employment, security and safety, such indicators have never been applied. Therefore, those monitoring efforts will substantially benefit from an instrument capable of supplying comparable and easy-to-use data on the situation in prisons. To address this need, the Center for the Study of Democracy, in cooperation with the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the Observatory on the Penal System and Human Rights with the University of Barcelona, the Law Institute of Lithuania and Association Droit au Droit, developed a Prison Conditions Monitoring Index (PCMI) – a system of indicators translating into comparable figures the situation in different prisons. In the end of 2014, the PCMI was piloted in several prisons in Bulgaria, Germany and Lithuania to test its operability and analyse the potential use of the results it generates. The present report elaborates on the methodology underlying the PCMI and offers a summary of the results of its pilot implementation. It is intended for a broad audience of readers including policy makers, prison staff, lawyers, social workers, academics and NGOs interested in the topic of prison monitoring.

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Justice Sector Institutional Indicators for Criminal Case Management

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The present white paper summarises the main findings of the Justice Sector Institutional Indicators for Criminal Case Management study. It puts forward the main problems which EU countries face in measuring justice system performance – there is no single assessment model and many countries are still in the experimental phase. Besides the legal accountability mechanisms courts tend to be a subject of managerial accountability. Despite the different approaches followed by the studied EU member states and the lack of a leading assessment methodology, certain indicators as caseload, duration of the procedure, available resources per number of cases can be distinguished as best practice.

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Legal Aspects of the Private Sector in Bulgaria: Legal and Institutional Framework of the Private Sector

Author(s): Valentin Georgiev / Language(s): English

Following the socialist revolution in 1944, the legal system and legislation served the purpose of fortifying the economic framework of socialist society. A number of laws adopted in the first years of socialism put public property and socialist planned economy in the foreground. Private property was rejected and certain laws were passed stipulating the expropriation of private means of production, the collectivization of farm land, and finally, the nationalization of personal property of citizens - housing, and others.

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MANUEL SUR LES GROUPES DE DÉTENUS VULNÉRABLES

Author(s): Alejandro Forero Cuéllar,María Celeste Tortosa,Klaus Dreckmann,Dimitar Markov,Maria Doichinova / Language(s): French

In prison, certain groups of inmates are subject to disadvantages due to specifics of their origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc. These groups usually need special treatment, which is not always provided, which leads to unequal treatment and violation of their rights. This handbook examines the situation of such vulnerable groups within the prison systems of Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania and Spain. Starting from the classification of the UN Handbook on Prisoners with special needs and looking at the different national contexts, the authors identify different groups as vulnerable in different countries. In order to encompass as many groups as possible, their list was extended to include some particularly marginalised groups, such as sex offenders, prisoners with disabilities, etc. Each group is viewed in context, explaining the situations of vulnerability both generally and in the selected countries. From one side, the handbook presents the efforts for compensation of vulnerabilities in every country available in the legislation or provided by prison authorities or other actors. From the other side, it identifies the gaps in the measures and practices, which vary both from country to country and from group to group.

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Series:CSD Papers on Law, Criminology, Prosecution