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CriminalJusticeReformInter-AgencyCoordinationCouncil Criminal Justice Reform Strategy Adopted on the 10th Session of ICC Criminal Justice Reform Inter-Agency Coordination Council (ICC) Secretariat www.justice.gov.ge [email protected] 24a, Gorgasali Street Tbilisi, 0114, Georgia (+99532) 240 50 97 (+99532) 240 57 94 Chapter 1. Introduction 2 1. OverallObjectivesoftheCriminalJusticeReforminGeorgia The Criminal Justice Reform in Georgia is a comprehensive initiative with the overall goal to strengthen the rule of law, protect human rights, prevent crime and ensure safe environment for the community. Criminal Justice Reform is one of the major priorities of the Government of Georgia. The Government remains strongly committed to create a system that is focused on crime prevention and protection of human rights, creation of independent and fair judiciary as well as development of impartial, accountable and efficient criminal justice system. This Strategy defines the key reform objectives set out by the Government: - Ensure liberalization and modernization of criminal legislation as well as bring it in compliance with international and European standards and principles; Bring juvenile justice fully in line with international standards; ensure protection of the best interest of child at all stages of criminal proceedings; Ensure effective crime prevention, reduction of crime rate and community safety; Transform the Prosecution Service into an independent, effective, transparent and accountable institution; Ensure full independence of the Legal Aid Service and ensure access to legal aid; Increase judicial independence and trust towards Judiciary; Improve conditions for inmates and reform the existing prison healthcare system; Reform probation system in a way to ensure full rehabilitation and reintegration of the convicts; Introduce individualized and prevention-oriented evidence-based policy approaches in criminal justice; Enhance and further develop legal education system, as well as ensure access to legal education; Ensure effective functioning of the Public Defender’s Office. 3 Criminal Justice Reform consists of the following 10 strategic directions: 1. Criminal Legislation Reform Overall Goal: To ensure liberalization and modernization of criminal legislation of Georgia and bring it in compliance with international and European standards and principles. The main objective of this component is to reform criminal legislation of Georgia in light of the new criminal policy of liberalization and bring it in line with the international and regional human rights standards. This objective is intended to be achieved through the improvement of the legislative framework that includes the revision of the Criminal Code and Code of Administrative Offenses, as well as strengthening the adversarial principle throughout the criminal proceedings; overhaul plea agreement mechanism, further clarify and protect victims’ rights, enhance jury trial system and bring operativeinvestigative activities in line with international standards. 2. Police Reform Overall Goal: To maintain public order, reduce crime rate and ensure community safety. The objective of the Police Reform is to improve the standards for effective crime prevention and investigation, as well as ensure transparency and bring police work in line with international standards. Particular attention shall be paid to the establishment of human rights protection procedures and monitoring mechanisms in order to effectively prevent and address human rights violations. In addition, it is significant to ensure high quality of service provided by police, adhere to integrity rules and increase personnel qualification. 3. Prosecution Reform Overall Goal: To transform the Prosecution Service into a transparent, effective and independent institution that is able to conduct prosecution in a fair and impartial manner in line with international and European standards. The objective of the Prosecution Reform is to transform the Prosecution Service into an independent, effective, transparent and accountable institution. It is crucial to ensure that all prosecutors possess adequate professional qualifications necessary for the accomplishment of their functions in a fair and impartial manner. Furthermore, it is essential to ensure that the prosecution service is being carried out in line with the liberalization policy. Particular emphasis shall be made on human rights protection and engagement of community members as well as increasing public trust. 4. Legal Aid Reform 4 Overall Goal: To ensure full institutional independence of the Legal Aid Service of Georgia and access to legal aid throughout the country. The objective of the Legal Aid Reform is to transform the Legal Aid Service of Georgia into an independent institution and introduce adequate legal guarantees for its accountability and transparency. The reform also aims at ensuring access to and high quality of legal aid service through expanding its territorial coverage, increasing professional development of the personnel and implementing public awareness activities on a continuous basis. 5. Judiciary Reform Overall Goal: To guarantee judicial independence in compliance with international and European standards, improve quality of justice and increase trust towards judiciary. The objective of the Judicial Reform is to create transparent mechanism for selection of judicial candidates, their appointment and promotion. Continuing and in-depth professional development of judicial candidates and judges shall be guaranteed by the High Council of Justice of Georgia through the enhanced training system that is in line with international standards. Moreover, it is essential to bring jury trial system in compliance with European standards, ensure transparency of jury selection process, justification and appeal of verdict as well as expand subject and territorial jurisdiction of jury trial. 6. Penitentiary Reform Overall Goal: To ensure better treatment and protection of prisoners’ rights as well as reduction of reoffending through the effective rehabilitation and reintegration activities. The objective of Penitentiary Reform is to improve living conditions of inmates and the existing infrastructure in the penitentiary establishments, develop adequate educational and vocational training programs, as well as expand employment opportunities. Particular emphasis shall be made on the provision of adequate health care service to all inmates based on their individual needs. Furthermore, it is essential to develop effective rehabilitation and reintegration activities, strengthen legal guarantees of prisoners, and enhance conditional release system as well as to ensure continuous professional development of the personnel. 7. Probation Reform Overall Goal: To ensure individualized and prevention-oriented socialization and rehabilitation of ex-prisoners and probationers. The key priority of the National Probation Agency is to ensure effective re-socialization and rehabilitation process of all probationers. It is crucial to increase the number of 5 rehabilitation, educational and vocational programs and expand them more broadly throughout the country. Furthermore, in order to reduce the risk factors contributing to the crime commission and ensure effective rehabilitation of probationers and exprisoners, individual sentence planning mechanism shall be further enhanced and fully implemented. 8. Juvenile Justice Reform Overall Goal: To create child-friendly juvenile justice system that complies with international standards and focuses on effective prevention as well as rehabilitation and reintegration of juveniles in conflict with the law. One of the key priorities of the Government within the framework of the Juvenile Justice Reform is to reduce the use of custodial measures against young offenders, develop alternative measures to criminal prosecution and bring criminal liability of juveniles in line with common European standards. The reform aims at prevention of juvenile delinquency and reduction of recidivism rate through the individual rehabilitation programs. Furthermore, within the framework of this reform the Juvenile Justice Code shall be elaborated, alternative measures to criminal prosecution shall be enhanced and significant efforts shall be put to prevent juvenile delinquency throughout the country. 9. Legal Education Reform Overall Goal: To ensure transparent system for adequate access to legal profession and increase the quality of legal education. The objective of the Legal Education Reform is to ensure accessibility of legal education; to develop effective and high quality legal education system and establish adequate mechanism for continuing and in-depth professional development of lawyers. 10. Efficient Public Defender’s Office Overall Goal: To ensure effective functioning of the Public Defender’s Office with the aim to reduce the number of human rights violations and raise public awareness of human rights. The effective functioning of the Public Defender’s Office shall be achieved by improving the legislative framework and building its technical and human capacities, developing the national preventive mechanism and improving the quality of service provided. Furthermore, in order to raise public awareness on the activities of the Public Defender’s Office and human rights issues in general, a wide range of educational activities shall be provided on the continuous basis. 6 2. Implementation and Monitoring of the Criminal Justice Reform The overall implementation of the criminal justice reform process is monitored by the Criminal Justice Reform Inter-Agency Coordination Council (hereinafter “Council”). Achievement of the objectives foreseen by this Strategy is supported by the active involvement of civil society, academia and international partners. The Council has Working Groups for 8 sub-components of the Criminal Justice Reform with the exception of Legal Education and the Public Defender’s Office. The Secretariat of the Council operates within the Ministry of Justice of Georgia with responsibility to facilitate and coordinate criminal justice reform through the work of the Council and aforementioned 8 Working Groups as well as monitor implementation of the National Criminal Justice Reform Strategy and Action Plan. The monitoring system of the Criminal Justice Reform implementation is carried out through the indicators and time bound targets covered by the respective Action Plans. Monitoring over the implementation process is undertaken biannually based on the agreed monitoring tools submitted to the Secretariat by the institutions responsible for the relevant subcomponents. The Secretariat is responsible for preparing unified report and submitting it for the approval to the Council as well as publishing monitoring tools and yearly progress reports. State institutions involved in the Criminal Justice Reform process annually update the relevant strategies and action plans that are subsequently approved by the Council. While updating these documents, particular attention is paid to the Basic Data and Directives (BDD) of Georgia that provides a strategic plan for the different sectors, the multiyear budgeting and relevant financial management system. Donor coordination Coordination with the donor community within the framework of the criminal justice reform is led by the Council in line with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in September 2010. The MOU highlights commitment of the state agencies and respective donors to make aid more effective by using government systems for program implementation. The MOU contains a fixed calendar for coordination meetings as well as agreed reporting schedule that ensures close coordination and cooperation among donors and responsible institutions. 7 Chapter 2. Criminal Justice Reform Strategy 8 1. Criminal Procedural Legislation a. Strengthening of Rights of Defence and Adversarial principle According to the Criminal Code of 2009 adversarial principle has been establishes as the ruling principle in criminal procedure. Despite this judicial practice has revealed certain issues where defense is in unfavourable situation. There were also certain obstacles concerning rights of defense and evidences. Practice shows that defense was unable to obtain information and evidence, receive survey protocol and court hearing’s protocol on time. Due to this face, in order to strengthen the adversarial principle, new draft amendments were elaborated to the Criminal Procedure Code. In order to strengthen the defense rights and comply with the ne bis in idem principle draft amendments instead of prohibition of dual “indictment” prohibits double “jeopardy”. Draft amendments also contain indications about the following issues: the expenditure on the investigation conducted by the state appointed attorney is covered by the state; the rights of the attorney will be expanded in order to provide better opportunity to effectively defend rights of the defendant; it will be allowed to have a foreign attorney with the consent of the Georgian Bar Association. According to the amendments it is necessary to indicate that the evidence other than indirect testimony should prove indirect testimony and that existence of exonerated circumstances is ground for termination of investigation and/or criminal prosecution. Further according to the amendments, facts established by the guilty judgment can only be binding if the parties agree with legality of the judgment. In the project of additional amendments the standard of proof has been defined as high degree of probability and courts are encouraged to use this standard. The first set of procedural law amendments have been drafted in close cooperation with the Georgian Bar Association. Later working on the project continued in the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. In 2013 14th of January, the above-mentioned project was introduced to the working group on Criminal Legislation that is established by the Criminal Justice Reform Inter-Agency Coordination Council. After the discussions, and the received comments and suggestions were incorporated in the draft and the consolidated version was submitted to the Georgian Parliament. The draft passed all three hearings and is in the process of waiting for the President’s signature in order to enter into force. b. The Jury One of the fundamental novelties of the Criminal Code of Georgia 2009 is the establishment of jury trail institute. However, to this date, the institute has limited territorial jurisdiction and is limited to the certain category of criminal cases. Certain issues have been revealed that are necessary to be researched and regulated for the fullscale functioning of the institute. Such issues include: ensuring transparency and 9 randomness in jury selection process, right of parties to recuse the jury candidates, standards for jury in terms of necessary votes, justification and appeal for the announcement of verdict and the right of the defendant to refuse jury trial. Concerning the mentioned problematic issues with the support of European Council foreign experts conducted research based on the jury trial institutes operating in the European States. New draft amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code of Georgia have been elaborated according to the findings of the research. Amendments try to encourage effective functioning of the jury trail institute while also trying to reach the balance between the protection of the defendant’s rights and public interest in prosecution. It is important to mention that, in order to expand the territorial jurisdiction of the jury institute new amendments have been made in the Criminal Procedural Code in 18 th of January 2013 according to which Batumi, Tbilisi and Kutaisi City Courts have been given authority to hear criminal cases, where the defendants and their possible coperpetrators are public officials. The mentioned amendment is relevant to the tendency, which includes sustainable and consistent expansion of territorial and subject matter jurisdiction of the jury trial. c. Plea-Bargaining Agreement Fundamental problems have been revealed in connection to the plea bargaining agreement during previous year. The problematic issues include: wide discretion of the prosecutor on guilt and sanction during bargaining process, ensuring voluntariness of the defendant’s consent and transparency of the procedure, court’s authority to control process of plea-bargaining agreement, imposing lower sanction below the minimum provided for in the legislation and using conditional sentence during existence of pleabargaining agreement. Various measures have been held in order to eradicate problematic issues and reform the plea-bargaining agreement institute. Representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Prosecutor’s Office participated in study visit held in the United States of America, in order to learn matters relating to the plea-bargaining agreement. Additionally, the expert of the project on the “Support of Criminal Legislation Reform in Georgia”, Agnezka Milart, together with the practitioner lawyers and representatives of academy conducted comparative research and elaborated draft on amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code concerning the reform of the plea-bargaining institute. The amendments to the drafts has been introduced after the consultations with the Georgian and foreign experts and were based on their comments made during the meeting of the working group. The main idea of the amendments is concerned with providing additional rights to the defendant and strengthening their conditions during the plea-bargaining agreement 10 concluding and approval process, making the protocol of the plea-bargaining agreement process, requirement of the evidences that prove the guilt of the defendant beyond the reasonable ground, proper informing of the defendant on the legal consequences of the plea-bargaining agreement, introduction of the face-to-face conversation of the defendants with the judge in order to ensure the voluntariness of his consent and court’s authority to check the proportionality of the sanction required by the prosecutor. Additionally draft contains amendments to the Criminal Code concerning imposing of sentence during plea-bargaining agreement. According to the draft, in article 50(5) of the Criminal Code phrase: “except in case of plea-bargaining agreement” will be deleted. This amendment will make it possible to use conditional sentence also during pleabargaining agreement and thus the legislation will limit wide discretion of prosecutor. Draft also amends article 55 of the Criminal Code. According to the amendment court will have authority to impose lower sanction below the minimum provided for in the legislation in case of existence plea-bargaining agreement. However the portion will be determined in order to limit courts authority to impose sanction below the minimum provided for in the legislation for less grave, grave and especially greave offences. The idea of this amendment is also to limit the wide discretion of the prosecutor and eradicate chances of using fundamentally different sanctions for the same type of offences. Mentioned draft is ready to be initiated in the Parliament. d. Victim’s Rights One of the main novelties of the Criminal Code of Georgia 2009 is that victim is not the party to the criminal proceedings and thus he does not have a right to appeal prosecutor’s decision to refuse to start or cease the prosecution. Very limited rights of the victims resulted in discontent in the society. Besides, from the European Court of Human Rights Georgia received direct recommendations that for the full compliance of the human rights and fundamental freedoms with the European Convention it was necessary to ensure wider sphere of rights of the victims in the criminal proceedings. In order to eradicate the mentioned problem, under the project on the “Support of Criminal Legislation Reform in Georgia” meetings of the working group was held with participation of the well-known expert on victims’ rights - Ian van Dijk, project director Renate Winter and project expert - Agnezka Milart. Within the meeting of the working group European Union’s Directive 2012/29 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime was reviewed in detail. The discussions about how to incorporate European Union’s and European Council’s standards into the Criminal Procedural Code also took place. The main concern of the discussions was about the legal recognition and respect 11 of the victim, ability to receive information about criminal proceedings, effective compensation and support of the victim in criminal procedural legislation. On the bases of the outcomes of the meeting of the working group the draft amendment to the Criminal Procedural Code should be made. 2. Revision of the Criminal Code of Georgia The main objective of the project is to reform substantive criminal law of Georgia in light of the new criminal policy of liberalization and to bring it in line with the international and regional human rights standards applicable in the field of criminal law. New criminal code shall be coherent, accessible and foreseeable for all the stakeholders – defenders, prosecutors and courts, as well as public at large. General part of the Code will be reviewed by the end of 2013 and the project will be introduced to the international and regional experts. From the beginning of 2014 the revision of private part of the Code will commence. Working group of experts that was established by the auspices of the Ministry of Justice is working on the general part of the Code. Working group held several meetings with the participation of the experts of the project on the “Support of Criminal Legislation Reform in Georgia” - Agnezka Milart and Rendel Barrows. During the meeting main problematic issues of the general part of the Criminal Code of Georgia has been identified and the ways to solve the problems was determined. At this point the draft of the general part to the Criminal Code is being elaborated based on the comments received from relevant experts. For further review the project will be introduced to the Working Group on Criminal Legislation that is established by the Criminal Justice Reform Inter-Agency Coordination Council. Amendments to the general part of the Criminal Code address: refinement of definitions of renewable and group crime, decriminalization of certain part of the incomplete crime, expansion of the non-incriminating and exonerated circumstances, refinement of purpose of punishment and determination of hierarchy according to the graveness of offences, reforming regulation of fine, eradication of the corrective labour as a type of sanction, determination of the main and additional sanctions and fundamental reform of the principles on imposing sanctions. This especially refers to the imposing sanction during accumulated crimes and accumulates sanctions. This was happening by using principle of partial or whole accumulation and now it is planned to incorporate principle of overlap in the general part of the Criminal Code. Besides this, fundamental revision will be made on using conditional sentence and imposing sanctions during existence of plea-bargaining agreement. Revision of the Juvenile Justice and reform of the identified problems is the major part of the reform of the general part of the Criminal Code. By the co-operation with the UNICEF and national experts in juvenile justice the main directions of the reform in different 12 parts of juvenile justice has been elaborated (16th and 17th Parts of the Criminal Code of Georgia). This include: using alternative sanctions for juveniles instead of their punishment, minimizing minimum sanctions for juveniles, using conditional sentence during grave and especially grave offences committed by juvenile, establishing institutes on pre-trial reports and court diversion in Criminal Code etc. The mentions issues have been discussed during the meeting of the working group in 2013. The process of revision of the parts 16 and 17 of the Criminal Code is being conducted. Drafting process of the special part of the Criminal Code of Georgia will be carried out by several expert working groups which will research and draft chapters on different types of crimes (crimes against property, crimes against administration of justice, etc). Drafts prepared by each working group will be presented for discussion and refinement to the Criminal Legislation Working Group. After finalization of the draft Code as a result of discussion of the prepared draft and recommendations to it by the Criminal Legislation Working Group, the draft will be submitted for expert review and for opinions of international and regional institutions. 3. Code of Administrative Offences Code of Administrative Offences was adopted on 15 December of 1984 and after this almost every part of Code was amended several times. Due to this, text of Code of Administrative Offences includes many vague and contradictory regulations. Especially, it is important that administrative liability (due to its character and severity) for some administrative offences requires same standards of fair trial as it is usually characterized to cases of criminal law. The issue to guarantee fair trial is curtail especially with regard to the using administrative imprisonment as sanction. On some issues of Code of Administrative Offences, new draft has been elaborated, which requires broad examination and analysis with participation of all stakeholders. On next stage, it is very important to start full-scale overview of Code of Administrative Offences to amend all outdated provisions and to refine text in a manner to comply with the international standards on human rights. 4. Law on Operative and Investigative Measures Law on Operative and Investigative Measures, which was adopted on 30 April of 1999, was criticized several times. In many cases it happened to be matter of constitutional proceeding in the Constitutional Court of Georgia. Some provisions of this law was already recognized as unconstitutional while they were inconsistent with right to privacy and standards on protection of personal information. Despite this, there are still some provisions in the law relating to covert video and audio recording, film, photo and electronic surveillance, also retrieval of information from computer system and communication channel, as well as rules on procession, storage and use of above mentioned information, which still threatens interference in the right of privacy without 13 objective and reasonable justification and creates possibility of arbitrariness from specific bodies of government. For the solution of the problems discussed, comparative-legal research is being conducted on the problems that are identified in the Law on Operative and Investigative Measures. After completion of this research it is very important to amend the law in accordance with the European standards. 14 Chapter 3. Police Reform Strategy 15 Police and Crime Prevention Structural Changes After the parliamentary elections held on the 1st of October, and a change in the Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (MIA), In order to respond to international/national recommendations and enhance Georgian police performance and accountability, the Ministry has undergone structural reorganization. The main aim of structural reorganization is to gradually depoliticize the police force, and establish an impartial, accountable, the community-oriented and transparent law enforcement structure. Structural changes included abolishing Constitutional Security Department and Special Operative Department (SOD) and transferring their functions to the newly formed structural units. Constitutional Security Department was replaced by State Security Agency and Anti-corruption Agency. The Anticorruption Agency carries out revelation of conflicts of interest in the public service and the fight against corruption and malfeasance by officials. The State Security Agency forecasts the threats to the country, identifies and responds to crimes against the state, and ensures protection of the constitutional order from forcible substitution with non-constitutional one. Criminal Police Department was transformed into Central Criminal Police Department, which will undertake the function of Former SOD in fight against organized crime. With the aim to institutionalize policy and planning processes in the MIA system, as well as to implement reforms and coordinate the monitoring of their implementation, the MIA Reforms and Development Agency was established. The main function of the Agency is elaboration of the Ministry’s short- and long-term development strategy. The MIA is actively working on the development of normative basis: MIA Short Term Development Strategy was elaborated. New Code of Police Ethics was drafted in accordance with international recommendations and was submitted to the Council of Europe for final comments. The process of amendments to the Law on Police is underway in order to bring it in accordance with international standards. Main Objectives of Police Reform The objective of the continuing police reform and development is to retain and improve the progress achieved through the major structural reform; to establish a communityoriented police; ensure police accountability and transparency; ensure participation of civil society; institutionalize Policies and procedures; improve human resource management; establish principles of protection of human rights and humanity in police 16 work; increase the standard of crime prevention and investigative practice through further development of personnel skills; ensure maximum transparency of police work and reform processes. Outline of Police Reform Reform tackles all important directions of the police work: 1) Fight against Crime; 2) Protection of Human Rights; 3) Prevention of Crime among Juveniles; 4) Road Safety; 5) Effective Management of Migration Processes; 6) Providing Quality Services; 7) Human Resource Management and Raising Professional Skills; 8) Institutionalization of Policies and Procedures; 9) Development of Material-Technical Basis and Infrastructure; 10) International Cooperation; 11) Public Relations. I. Fight against Crime The main function of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) is fight against crime, through detection, investigation/suppression and prevention of crime by the law enforcement officers. With the aim of ensuring the timely detection of crime, the MIA ensures operative and search activities, functioning of a 24/7 hot line and foot patrol as well as patrol crews. Specialized structural units of the MIA are responsible for crime investigation according to the categories of crime. With the aim of crime prevention, the MIA representatives ensure direct contacts with the population and upon necessity conduct preventive activities in cooperation with civil society, with a special focus on prevention of crime among juveniles. Taking into consideration the modern challenges, the MIA defines priority direction in fight against crime, which is: trafficking in human beings; illegal migration; domestic violence; cybercrime; corruption; terrorism; drug related crime; juvenile crime. II. Prevention of Juvenile Crime Special attention will be devoted to conducting interactive discussions and seminars at schools and other educational institutions on the causes of crime, threats and consequences thereof. In order to avoid juvenile crime recurrence and consequent adult criminal career, relevant measures will be taken for their re-socialization and reintegration into the society. Considering psycho-social development of the juveniles, it is common that they often tend to get voluntarily or involuntarily involved in crime or administrative offense. In order to avoid this, the MIA in cooperation with other relevant agencies is planning to conduct preventive activities at 3 levels: 1) the first level is aimed at raising the legal awareness of juveniles on crime/violation of law and its legal consequences (responsibilities) in order to avoid their voluntary or involuntary involvement in crime/violation of crime; 2) at the second level the MIA will make a special focus on juveniles in conflict with crime and on prevention; 3) at the third level the special 17 attention will be made on prevention of repeated crime among juveniles through complex approaches. For the purposes of effective prevention of crime/violation of law among juveniles it is necessary to ensure continued and coordinated work of relevant governmental agencies. Special attention will be devoted to conducting interactive discussions and seminars at schools and other educational institutions on the causes of crime, threats and consequences thereof. In order to avoid juvenile crime recurrence and consequent adult criminal career, relevant measures will be taken for their re-socialization and reintegration into the society. III. Protection of Human Rights 1. Policing and Human Rights The goal of the MIA is to ensure protection of human rights in the process of implementing its duties. In particular, any police measures should be grounded on the principles of legality, respect for personality, honour and dignity of an individual, as well as on humanity and accountability. 2. Protecting human rights in temporary detention isolators (TDI) Protecting human rights gains special importance in the Temporary Detention Isolators (TDIs). The Human Rights and Monitoring Main Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ensures temporary placement of the detainees in the TDIs, their registration, medical examination as well as provision of meals and relevant conditions for them and monitoring of their rights. The Main Division also ensures the provision of information to the detainees on their procedural rights. MIA conducted the needs assessment of TDI system and the detainees as well, commenced the installation of video surveillance systems, took into account the existing practice and the recommendations of local and international organizations such as: European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN), Public Defender of Georgia, Human Rights Watch, Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) etc. The reform is aimed at establishing international standards of protecting human rights, suppressing inhuman or degrading treatment and ensuring maximally safe environment for the detainees. For improving the quality of protecting human rights and security, in the framework of the reforms the following changes are implemented in the Main Division of Human Rights and Monitoring: 18 2.1. Monitoring enhancement Structural enhancement. To safeguard elimination of ill-treatment and ensure the proper conditions for detainees, the capabilities of the Monitoring Division have been enhanced, including increase in the number of employees and their functional capacities. Video Surveillance. To ensure protection of detainees’ rights and safety, the installation of video surveillance systems was conducted in all TDIs. Monitoring by human rights organizations. In accordance with the existing Memorandum of Understanding, Public Defender as well as nongovernmental organization have unhindered access to the TDIs to conduct independent monitoring. 2.2. Infrastructure rehabilitation Renovation works in the TDIs will take place country-wide, coupled with the improvements of heating systems and sanitary conditions where necessary. Detainees will be provided with new beds. 2.3. Human resources To avoid any type of mistreatment against the detainees, permanents trainings and retraining of TDI employees will take place on the issues including international human rights standards, first aid, rights and treatment of persons with special needs (people with disabilities, alcohol and drug addicts) etc. IV. Ensuring Road Safety Road Safety is an important component ensuring public order and security. Over the last years positive steps have been made towards enhancing the road safety. Soviet-type corrupted road police was replaced by Patrol Police that have soon won the trust among the public and played significant role in preventing road accidents and responding to the breaches of the law. Partial modernization of the roads in the country conditioned the need to improve the road safety. The number of accidents caused by excess speed, drunkenness, negligence of traffic safety rules and other factors is quite high. Respectively, it is reflected on death toll, severe bodily injuries and material loss. The main objective of MIA is to reduce the number of crashes and the severity thereof. For this purpose the priorities are: the renewal of vehicle fleet and increase of number of qualified personnel. This will increase the coverage areas and respectively the visibility of the police. This will contribute to accident prevention as well as timely response. Along with an increase in the number of crews, the acquisition of modern technologies 19 will ensure collection of the detailed information on exact accident places and causing factors. In framework of the existing Georgia - EU Association Agreement, Georgia has undertaken obligation to implement/transform the EU 2006/126/ EC Directive on Driving Licenses. The Directive defines rules and conditions for granting the rights to drive transport means as well as issuing driver’s license. The application of obligations envisioned by the Directive will have a positive effect on increasing the road safety as well as will support the process of recognition of Georgian driving licenses abroad. V. Effective Management of Migration Processes With the aim of effectively managing migration processes by state, the Commission on Migration was created in 2010 which unifies the representatives of the relevant agencies involved in the sphere of migration. As the result of the Commission work, the Migration Strategy and Action Plan was drawn out according to which Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia was considered as the leading agency in combating irregular (illegal) migration. In addition, the competence of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia is to facilitate dignified return of Georgian citizens which implies concluding readmission agreements with the third countries and implementation protocols with EU member states. Under the Migration Strategy and Action Plan the MIA took a responsibility to carry out the following activities: Functioning of the Migration Service within the ministry – one of the most important issues in the sphere of combating irregular migration is the functioning of the migration service. The above mentioned service ensures inspection/detection, voluntary return, expulsion and etc. of the irregular migrants on the territory of the state. Existence of the Detention Centre for Irregular Migrants – in order to ensure the protection of the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of migrants the Detention Centre for Irregular Migrants should be operating in accordance with the international standards. Detected irregular migrants will be placed in the Detention Centre until the enforcement of the expulsion. The period time during which the irregular migrants will remain in the Detention Centers is depended on the length of the procedures necessary for preparing the deportation documents. Accordingly, the existence of the above mentioned center ensures the prevention of free movement of illegal migrants on the territory of the state. Management of the unified data base – the purpose of the data base is to reflect any information that is related to the legal or illegal presence of migrants on the territory of the state. The system will identify the person who doesn’t have the legal grounds for staying on the territory of the state. According to the 20 database the Migration Service will perform monitoring of the stay of foreign nationals on the territory of the state. VI. Providing Quality Service One of the main functions of MIA apart from the law enforcement activity is the provision of service to the population, which is realized in 3 main directions: - - Conduction of custom procedures on vehicles, registration of vehicles, granting of the right to drive and issuance of driving licenses; Ensuring safety of citizens and organizations, creating calm and healthy environment for their life and activity; Providing high quality and easily accessible assistance to the population during emergencies – receiving phone calls via unified emergency number “112” in cases of emergencies and urgent necessities throughout the country, as well as coordinating timely response thereto. Development of reserve emergency response plan and assurance of network security is important to ensure permanent functioning of “112” during emergencies. After the creation of LEPL “112” of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia in 2011, it became possible to unify three independent emergency numbers (rescue, police and medical assistance). In process of creating the above mentioned service the main focus was made on the EU experience which implies provision of high quality and easily accessible emergency assistance to the population in cases of emergencies and urgent necessities. It is possible to receive calls for provision of patrol police, rescue and medical assistance services via “112”. Due to the fact that “112” is a newly established system, it faces several challenges which should be eliminated in order to further increase its efficiency. To this aim its planned to develop information technologies, to introduce stabile reserve system for responding the emergency cases, to create capability for identification of an institution’s location, to adopt system to disabled persons and to raise public awareness on existence of the unified emergency number 112. VII. Human resource qualification management and increasing personnel It is planned to elaborate human resource management within the reform the MIA. This process embraces the improvement and institutionalization of such issues as personnel recruitment, assessment, incentives, promotion, accountability and professional ethics and other standard operational procedures. The efficiency of combating crime is mostly depended on the qualification and skills of law enforcement personnel. Fight against particular crime requires having relevant 21 competence (skills). Improvement of ministry personnel professionalism is taken into the highest consideration by the MIA. MIA Academy is responsible for planning and organizing all types of police studies and training courses considering the need of MIA. As a result of the reform the basic training course for the District Police Officers was fully renovated and enriched. Due to this the duration of the basic training course was doubled – from 3 months to 6 months. Apart from this, in future, MIA Academy intends to collaborate and introduce master programs. The basic training program of MIA Academy is designed in accordance with the international standards with participation of international organizations and experts. The study entails theoretical course as well as the practical trainings under the supervision of the instructors having qualification in the relevant field. Apart from the basic training courses, the MIA personnel will undergo special trainings, courses and workshops organized with participation of local and foreign experts in the relevant field and with support of donor organizations. VIII. Institutionalizing policies and procedures Institutionalization of the policies and procedures is fundamentally important for effective and proper functioning of the MIA. Police activity contains risks. To protect others’ and own life, a police officer should be able to make independent, prompt and reasonable decisions. Hence, each police officer, without exception, has to be aware of relevant policies and procedures. Equally important is monitoring the fulfilment thereof. The reform of the MIA system envisages renovation/development of the personnel activity regulating policies and procedures and their institutionalization, as it is conventional in the progressive countries. Special attention will be devoted to elaborating the mechanisms of their communication to each police officer and of control over their implementation. These measures will improve the quality of the police service to the community and ensure perfection of management and internal control system. IX. Development of the material-technical base and infrastructure For the effective development of crime prevention, operational-search and investigation activities as well as solving and eradiating the crime swiftly, the MIA has planned the improvement of the material-technical capabilities, including the introduction of the modern electronic security means. Development of MIA infrastructure is also important through the capacity building of the Expert-Criminalistics Service and 112 alternative center. 22 X. International cooperation International cooperation is one of the extremely important issues for the MIA. It is directly linked to the support of reform processes and capacity building of structural units of the MIA. The ministry’s international cooperation is carried out in operative and non-operative directions. The Operative Cooperation includes: exchange of operative-search information, conducting joint operations and other relevant issues through Police Attaché cooperation, bilateral agreements, principle of reciprocity and support of international and regional organizations in accordance with international agreements and national legislation. Non-operative Cooperation includes issues like: cooperation with Euro-Atlantic structures, conclusion of international agreements, joint projects, events, exchange of experience, donor coordination, trainings, implementation of joint Action Plans, submission of report of activities etc. The following strategic partner/donor countries are actively supporting the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the implementation of obligations undertaken by international and national legal instruments as well as in the process of reform and capacity building of structural units: United States of America, European Union, EU Member States and Republic of Turkey. International legal cooperation and development of legal base is crucial. Ministry conducts activities related to preparation the conclusion of bilateral and multilateral treaties. Monitoring the implementation thereof is also within its competence. As for the development of the legal base, the Ministry has already elaborated a draft law on the “International Law Enforcement Cooperation” which will regulate the implementation of cooperation issues provided by bilateral and multilateral international treaties into the Georgian legislation. The aim of the draft law is to ensure effective international cooperation in the field of crime prevention, detection and suppression, to create a solid legal basis necessary for the implementation of international law enforcement cooperation and also to ensure full implementation of the obligations provided by the relevant bilateral and multilateral treaties concluded by Georgia. Currently, the draft law is subjected to the interagency procedures necessary for its approval. The Ministry in future intends to strengthen international cooperation in the field of fight against organized crime and to deepen the cooperation in police sphere. In this regard, the priorities of the MIA is to deepen the cooperation with the European agencies, to fulfil the obligations under MIA competence within the framework of European Neighbourhood Policy, to undertake activities within the framework of 23 Association Agreement, to coordinate the issues under MIA competence within the framework of Visa Dialogue, to continue cooperation with the EU specialized agencies, with NATO and USA respective agencies, as well as to deepen international cooperation in several directions - in bilateral and regional framework, to cooperate within the framework of various projects and to continue coordination with donor countries and organizations. Successfully implemented police reform and achieved results in fights against organized crime inspired other countries to recognize the necessity to modernize their own systems. In this regard the MIA should be considered as the agency providing knowledge and experience in the best implementation of police reform. These activities can be conducted by study visits, expert missions, seminars and working groups organized bilaterally with those countries or with the support of donors and international organizations. XI. Public Relations The MIA acknowledges that the efficiency of the law enforcement system is largely depended on the public support and cooperation. With all of the above-mentioned, which in its turn contributes to strengthening such kind of cooperation, the Ministry provides: • Rendering public information without difficulty; • Regularily providing public with information regarding the reforms, new legislation (within its competences), human rights protection, the work the policemen (both successful stories as well as instances of violations), through the different printed or software means (including the framework of own information initiatives: TV programs, Ministry web-site, printing materials of the Ministry). 1. Elaborating mechanisms for intensive contacts with the society Significant attention will be devoted to elaborating the mechanism for intensive contacts with the society. In order to conduct effective community-oriented policing, police inspectors should have regular contact with the population living on the territory of their jurisdiction. This will help to identify the existing needs and problems, in order to achieve their further solution. 2. Increasing public awareness on fight against crime Preventing and fighting against crime is effective only when the society is involved in this process together with the law enforcement agencies. In this regard, huge attention is devoted to individual responsibility of citizens. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will carry out information campaigns to raise awareness and achieve citizens’ involvement in the fight against crime. 24 Chapter 4. Prosecution Service Reform Strategy 25 I. Mission of the Prosecution Service Prosecutor performs crucial role in the criminal justice system, whose decisions affect not only the participants of the criminal proceedings, but the society as a whole. Pursuant to the Article 32 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia (hereinafter “CPCG”, the prosecution service is a body entrusted with the mandate to conduct criminal proceedings. For the purposes of fulfilment of respective task, prosecution service performs procedural supervision of the investigation process and supports charges brought against criminal defendants in the courts on behalf of the state. Alongside with performing duties imposed by the legislative acts, the prosecution service actively participates in drafting of the Criminal Justice Policy and crime prevention activities. For the purposes of better performance of its own functions and improvement of the legal environment, prosecution service actively cooperates with the investigation units of various bodies, lawyers, other representatives of legal professions, ombudsman, governmental and non-governmental organizations and other parts of society. Recently developed events and adopted Criminal Justice Policy have drastically modified the attitude of society towards prosecution service in Georgia. In particular, they entailed alienation between the respective body and the community. Prosecution service, as the principal body of ensuring the public security, failed to perform its constitutional and statutory duties properly. As a result, numerous facts of human rights violations were revealed. Failure to response to the human rights violations properly and lack of active communication/collaboration with the society transformed prosecution service to one of the most isolated body of the Government. For the purposes of elimination of above referred alienation and conducting activities in correct direction, Prosecution Service Development Strategy was significantly revised. Therefore, the respective document is oriented towards overcoming new challenges. II. Strategic directions of Development of Prosecution Service 1. Active Participation in Drafting the Criminal Justice Policy Strict Criminal Justice Policy that existed during the recent years entailed overcrowding of penitentiary institutions and formed negative attitude of society towards respective law enforcement agencies. At this stage liberalization of the referred policy is appropriate. Above mentioned liberalization implies wide application of the alternatives to criminal prosecution (diversion, mediation) and usage of non-custodial sanctions. 26 Based on the role of the prosecution service in criminal justice system, respective agency has sufficient potential to elaborate Criminal Justice Policy. Experience and information acquired while performing prosecutorial duties represent important source for the purpose of defining the Criminal Justice Policy. Based on aforementioned and while taking into account conducted researches and elaborated analytical documents, generalization of experience of prosecution service and defining policy priorities will be appropriate. For the purposes of implementation of aforementioned priorities, recommendations shall be drafted and implemented. Furthermore, fulfilment of respective recommendations shall be supervised. It is essential to increase the role and capacities of the prosecution service in the processes of research and analysis, defining evidence-based Criminal Justice Policy and strategic planning activities. It is also crucially important to actively engage representatives of scientific community in referred process. Thus, based on conducted research and analysis, they will be able to assist prosecution service in drafting recommendations related to the Criminal Justice Policy. 2. Increase of the Role of Prosecution Service in Crime Prevention Process According to the Law of Georgia on “The Prosecution Service”, participation in the crime prevention activities represents one of the functions of the respective agency. For the purposes of accomplishment of referred function, it is essential to elaborate and implement unified Strategy on Crime Prevention in collaboration with other bodies. Therefore, it is essential to establish and ensure coordinated practice of Inter-agency Working Group. It is also important to study statistics-related methods existing within various agencies, as well as orientation on common goals. Qualified examination of respective methods will enable revealing existing problems and causes entailing them. Above mentioned will permit elaboration and implementation of crime effective prevention activities. 3. Selection Procedure of Prosecutors and their Professional development For the purposes of effective and impartial performance of the prosecutors’ duties, ongoing process of attraction, selection and capacity building (improving qualification) of the employees is crucial. Furthermore, existence of qualified employees within the prosecution service system will greatly affect the level of trust of community towards respective agency. Improved trust will enable primary prevention as well. Therefore, it is essential to elaborate a standard of knowledge and skills for the prosecutors, as well as criteria for passing the contest and undergoing the internship. The criteria for appointing a candidate to the position of prosecutor shall also be 27 prescribed in a detailed manner. Analysis of the training needs as well as introduction of the flexible evaluation and attestation system is also required. Alongside with above mentioned, effective evaluation system of the activities undertaken by the prosecutors shall also be elaborated and introduced. This will enable top-level managements to assess work provided by each prosecutor based on objective criteria. 4. Society-oriented Prosecution Service Transformation of the prosecution service into the strong and open democratic institute largely depends on collaboration with the society. The level and pattern of communication with the community will affect creation of positive attitude of the society towards the prosecution service. Therefore, it is crucial to improve relations with not only means of mass-media, but also with the representatives of all segments of the society, lawyers, governmental and nongovernmental sector. To ensure the transparency of the prosecution service, the Strategy on Communication with the Community shall be elaborated. Respective document shall emphasize the need of communication of every prosecutor with the society. Refinement and support of development of community prosecution service is needed. This aim can be reached via implementation of the volunteer programs by the prosecutors as well as by bringing prosecution service’s employees closer to the society. Furthermore, the witness and victim coordination service, community council of the prosecution service and local coordination councils are already operating within the prosecution service. Their main task is to manage effective communication between the prosecution service and the community. 5. Protection of Human Rights and International Obligations Severe Criminal Justice Policy existing in the previous years has led to the human rights violation and deterioration of the image of law enforcement agencies. In certain conditions, the public interest of investigating the offense and bringing the perpetrator to justice took precedence over the rights of individual. Based on existing reality, improvement of the quality of work of prosecution service in a view of human rights protection is essential. To attain respective goal, it is crucial to create effective mechanisms for the purpose of enabling due performance of prosecutors’ statutory obligations. Study and analysis of human rights violation-related cases, as well as identifying the shortcomings in the work of prosecutors and reasons of the human rights violations are essential steps. It is also important to enhance the functions of the prosecutor within the penitentiary institutions for the purpose of human rights protection. Analysis and generalization of the decisions rendered by the European Court 28 of Human Rights is also crucial. It is desirable to apply international practice and actively collaborate with the prosecutor’s offices of various countries for the purpose of exchanging experience and information to increase the working quality of the prosecution service. 6. Modification of the Structure of Prosecution Service based on the Strategic objectives For the purposes of implementation of the respective Strategy, number of structural changes shall be introduced within the agency. This will enable bringing the prosecution service in compliance with the up-to-date standards. New structure must enable attaining set goals and solving existing tasks. It shall also support effective performance of the prosecutorial functions in terms of wide discretion. New structure shall fit the priorities and goals of the prosecution service. It shall ensure uninterrupted and due business processes and be based on the effective usage of the resources existing within the system. For these purposes, detailed action plan shall be elaborated; furthermore, the deadlines of implementation of respective document shall be defined to attain required result in the nearest future. 29 Chapter 5. Legal Aid Reform Strategy 30 Overview Legal aid reform in Georgia was initiated in 2005. In July 2007 the Parliament of Georgia adopted the Law on Legal Aid, which marked the beginning of a new phase of the reform. On the basis of this Law, in July 2007 Legal Aid Service (LAS) was set up under the Ministry of Justice of Georgia (MoJ). From February 1, 2009 the LAS has continued its operation within the system of the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia (MCLA) as a public legal entity. Today, the lawyers of the LAS employed at 11 legal aid bureaus and 4 consultation centers, provide legal assistance in the cases provided by the law throughout the country. Legal aid service includes free legal representation and consultation of an accused and/or convicted person in criminal cases, from the initiation of the case till the court hearing, also assistance of a lawyer in the cases involving adjudication of compulsory psychiatric treatment. From March 1, 2011 free legal service has become available in cases of administrative offence, which may be followed by administrative detention. Also, the new Imprisonment Code of 2010 provides the right to free legal aid in certain categories of disciplinary proceedings. In addition, any citizen regardless of his/her social status can apply to the consultation center and receive adequate counselling on particular legal issue; if necessary, the consultant will draft legal documentations on behalf of that citizen.1 Statistics of provided free legal services in 2012 are the following: Criminal cases - 7173; Juvenile defence – 284; Cases involving adjudication of compulsory psychiatric treatment – 643; Administrative cases – 4; Legal consultations -17557; Drafting of legal documents – 5338. In 2010-2011, the number of employees of the LAS increased; Legal Aid Bureau has been established in Samtskhe-Javakheti and consultation centers were opened in Akhalkalaki and Tsalka. In 2011, LAS also launched a renewed tri-lingual web site www.legalaid.ge, which features a new service of online consultations, special engine for thematic search and useful information for users in three languages. 1 Consolation centers operate in every legal aid bureau. In addition, 4 consultation centers function independently in Ambrolauri, Ozurgeti, Akhalkalaki and Tslaka. 31 1. Strengthening the Independence and Transparency To ensure independence and transparency of the LAS, it is necessary to renew the legal status of the service and strengthen its legal guarantees. In addition, a new mechanism of management should be established, which will ensure transparency, independence and accountability of the service and reinforce social guarantees for public lawyers. 2. Increase of LAS Accessibility To ensure compliance of the LAS with the needs of its beneficiaries, it is necessary to increase the access to legal aid through the following measures: 2.1 Expansion of the Mandate Based on pre-developed concept, lawyers shall pilot civil and administrative cases. LAS shall use the findings of the pilot project to plan and carry out the expansion of the mandate within the term prescribed by the law. 2.2 Development of Infrastructure LAS plans to develop its infrastructure and equip every office with modern hardware. Thereby, beneficiates, who apply for the service will be assisted in adequate environment and the employees of the service will have proper working conditions. On the basis of the needs assessment survey, new bureaus/consultation centers will be opened in remote locations, outside from regional centers, as well as in mountainous regions and regions with ethnic minorities. 3. Guaranteeing High Quality of the Service 3.1. High Quality of Services Provided In collaboration with Georgian Bar Association (GBA), the LAS shall develop quality assurance guidelines. The guidelines represent set of criteria, upon which performance of public lawyers shall be evaluated. 3.2 Effective Performance of Contracted Public Lawyers To ensure the effective performance of contracted public lawyers, it is necessary: to amend legal framework and case management procedures for lawyers listed in the register; to strengthen cooperation with the GBA in terms of formation of the register; to carry out needs assessment of the lawyers listed in the register and to encourage their professional development. 32 3.3 Specialization in Juvenile Defence To ensure that juvenile defendants are provided with high quality legal assistance, public lawyers will undertake specialized training programs in juvenile justice issues and specifics. LAS will also cooperate with the organizations and/or individuals, who have working experience with juveniles. 3.4 Management System Improving management system of the LAS will be carried out through the electronic software for case management, HR management and financial management of the agency. - 3.4.1 Human Resource Management System To ensure recruitment of highly qualified staff, LAS will implement two-stage recruitment procedure and will carry out internship programs (legal clinic). Effective ways to motivate employees (tangible and intangible) shall be developed. HR audit will be carried out, which will determine compliance of the employees with their positions. HR audit will also enable the agency to determine the sufficiency of current employees to perform the duties and face challenged of the LAS. The structure of the LAS will be optimized in accordance with the amendments in the status of the agency and the expansion of its mandate. - 3.4.2 Financial Management System The budget of the LAS shall be developed in accordance with the strategic goals and objectives of the agency, using program budgeting model (BDD). - 3.4.3. Case Management System LAS shall develop general procedures of case management, which will include registration of cases, their distribution, case-handling procedures and collecting data for statistics. LAS shall pilot and implement new case processing software. It is necessary to enhance the capacity of this software, in order to incorporate in it the cases handled by the lawyers of the register. In addition, extra software dealing with the flow of documentation and incorporate the modules on HR and accounting shall be introduced. 3.5 Continuous Professional Development of Employees To ensure high quality of service and continuous legal education of the employees, it is necessary to carry out trainings of public lawyers with due attention to the current legislative changes as well as needs of lawyers. The LAS will develop annual training plans which would be based on the needs assessment system established by the agency. 33 Training results will be assessed and analysed; a concept of the training center will be developed. In addition, the LAS will contribute to the strengthening the libraries of bureaus and consultation centers. 4. Public Awareness Campaigns Public will be kept informed of the LAS activities, on-going reforms and future events. Public lawyers will carry out field consultation in regions to raise public awareness on the availability of services provided by the LAS. Cooperation will be strengthened with local authorities and other governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as educational institutions and media. 34 Chapter 6. Strategic Directions of Judicial Reform 35 Creation of fair, independent and transparent judicial system is one of the priorities of democratic state and an important precondition for economic development of country. Ensuring high level of public trust towards judiciary and brining judicial system in compliance with international standards is a core strategic objective. Independent and effective judicial system has a significant role in protection of basic human rights and freedoms and that is of vital importance in the criminal proceedings. Bearing in mind the role of High Council of Justice in adoption of the recommendations for implementing the judicial reform, the Criminal Justice Reform Inter-Agency Council agrees on the following guiding principles and strategic directions of the judicial reform: I. Reform of Jury Trial The priorities are to bring the jury institute in conformity with the European standards; ensure legitimacy of jury’s verdict; ensure transparency and randomness in jury selection process; expand the territorial and subject matter jurisdiction of the jury trial and implement adequate professional training, carry out public awareness campaign and other activities. II. Publicity of Judicial Decisions and Transparency of Judicial System The priorities are to ensure publicity of judicial decisions; guarantee public access to the decisions of the Judicial Conference, High Council of Justice and Independent Council of the High School of Justice thereby increasing public control over the judiciary and public trust towards the judicial system. III. Strengthening Institutional Capacity of Criminal Court Judges The priorities are to improve the mechanism of selection, appointment, promotion and assignment of judges, guarantee the maximum impartiality; enhance the remuneration system; increase the role and functions of the judicial self-governing body - Conference of Judges; ensure transparency of selection and appointment process of the judges and thereby providing the society with an opportunity to monitor the whole process; as well as to eliminate discrimination on any basis throughout the selection process; promote the role and discretion of individual judges. IV. Reform of Disciplinary Procedures The priorities are to develop principles of disciplinary responsibility, establish clear and predictable regulations in order to eliminate possibility of broad interpretation; ensure transparency of disciplinary proceedings with due consideration to private life and protection of authority of the judicial system. V. Reform of High School of Justice and Capacity Building of Judges 36 The priorities are to enhance the methodology, system and curriculum of the professional trainings and additional trainings of judges and ensure its compliance with international standards; enhance the methodology for examination of the judges; ensure transparency of budget and curriculum of the High School of Justice; develop skills of judges in legal reasoning, jury trial procedures, adjudication of juveniles and other areas. VI. Creation of the Case Management System and Development of Criminal Case Statistics The priorities are to fully implement, develop and ensure proper functioning of the electronic case management system throughout the country; integrate the criminal case management system with the Prosecution Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs; as well as enhance criminal case statistics. VII. Reform of Plea Agreement The priorities are to strengthen court’s authority to control process of plea-bargaining agreement, improve the process of plea agreement for an adequate protection of the rights of defendant and limit wide discretion of the prosecutor during bargaining process. VIII. Juvenile Justice The priorities are to create an effective justice system oriented towards the best interests of juveniles and protection of their rights; implement the individual assessment mechanism to ensure individualization of punishment; ensure the opportunity to impose lower sanction below the minimum provided for in the legislation with primary the goal of criminal policy liberalization; apply diversion during the judicial proceedings, train them and familiarize with the specifics of working with children. IX. Strengthen the Role of Court in Sentencing Process The priorities are to strengthen the role of judiciary in sentencing process and develop the principle of punishment individualization. 37 Chapter 7. Penitentiary Reform Strategy 38 Introduction One of the major priorities of the Government of Georgia is to reform penitentiary system and ensure protection of fundamental rights of those deprived of liberty in line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rule for the Treatment of Prisoners and the European Prison Rules. Throughout the recent year a wide range of initiatives were carried out by the MCLA, including adoption of the new Code on Imprisonment of 2010. However, it is crucial to systematically revise and enhance the existing legislation and internal regulations, improve prison conditions, protect the rights of convicts and bring the whole system in compliance with European standards. Current Strategy is based on the Penitentiary Strategy and Action Plan elaborated in 2009-2012, as well as the Concept Note on the Reduction of Prison Overcrowding adopted by the Criminal Justice Reform Intern-Agency Coordination Council on 16th of December, 2011. Healthcare Reform is covered by the separate Strategy adopted by the MCLA on 6th of February, 2013. In its commitment to reform the penitentiary system, the Government of Georgia has outlines the following strategic directions: - Bring imprisonment and sentence enforcement system in compliance with international standards; Develop effective rehabilitation and reintegration programs; Create entrepreneurship zones for provision of employment opportunities; Develop individual sentencing planning mechanism and enhance early conditional release system; Strengthen legal safeguards of prisoners; Monitor human rights situation in penitentiary establishments; Ensure professional development of the personnel. I. Prison Conditions Generally, the different categories of prisoners shall be kept in separate institutions or parts of institutions taking into account their gender, age and legal grounds for their detention. Untried prisoners shall be kept separate from the convicted ones. Therefore, according to the new Code on Imprisonment there are pre-trial, semi-closed and closed types of institutions, as well as institutions for women, juveniles as well as medical correctional institutions for convicts and accused persons. The Government of Georgia is committed to ensure protection of human dignity and privacy, as well as to ensure adequate hygiene, clothing and bedding, nutrition, legal 39 advice and contact with outside world. In order to ensure that convicts are able to communicate with their family members, infrastructure for long visits and family visits shall be developed. Furthermore, it is essential to improve the quality of service provided to the members of convicts’ families, relatives and other people concerned. Significant steps shall be taken to develop employment opportunities for prisoners; in particular, a number of entrepreneurship zones shall be created on the territories of the penitentiary establishments which subsequently will have a significant impact on the rehabilitation process of prisoners. II. Rehabilitation of accused/convicts For the effective rehabilitation and reintegration process of prisoners, it is crucial to elaborate a wide range of rehabilitation programs gradually in all penitentiary establishments. Participation of prisoners in vocational and educational training programs shall be encouraged and be based on their needs, whereas juvenile prisoners shall be provided with the full access to general education. Furthermore, the MCLA plans to elaborate rehabilitation and reintegration strategy and action plan for the accused/convicts. III. Parole Boards A new mechanism of early conditional release was introduced by the MCLA and three Local Parole Boards were created throughout the country based on the Code on Imprisonment. From a moment a convicted person served the minimum mandatory sentence prescribed by law, a director of the penitentiary establishment is obliged to immediately submit an application for the early conditional release to the Local Parole Board and inform the convict concerned. In reviewing a parole case file, the Parole Boards take into consideration several criteria e.g. the category of crime, conduct of convict in the penitentiary establishment, previous conviction record, family circumstances, personality of the convict while making a decision concerning the release on parole. In addition to aforementioned, it is planned to enhance risks and needs assessment mechanism and elaborate individual approach towards each convicted person, which in turn, will lead to more effective functioning of the Parole Boards as it will get more comprehensive information related to the prisoner concerned. IV. Legal safeguards for Prisoners The new Code on Imprisonment incorporates separate chapters on disciplinary proceedings against prisoners and complaint procedures for inmates. Disciplinary proceedings should accommodate all internationally recognized guarantees of fair trial and should be processed in a manner that ensures due discipline and rapid response from the correctional institution. MCLA has ensured that complaint envelopes are available in all penitentiary establishments. In addition, brochures on the rights of 40 prisoners are published in several languages and distributed annually within the establishments. V. Inspection and monitoring Conditions of detention and treatment of the prisoners (untried as well as convicted ones) shall be monitored/inspected on continues basis by state/governmental as well as independent monitoring institutions, assessing whether the prisoners are administered in accordance with the requirements and standards of national as well as international law. The Human Rights Monitoring Unit established at the MCLA is entrusted with mandate to monitor conditions and treatment of prisoners in the penitentiary establishments, respond to the human rights violations and abuse of powers by the staff, handle complaints of prisoners, adjudicate on the matter raised and make recommendations for improvement. Monitoring is carried out through the planned and ad hoc visits to the establishments on a monthly basis and relevant reports are prepared thereby. Comprehensive work shall be done in terms of more effectively reviewing and addressing received complaints. 41 Chapter 8. Probation Reform Strategy 42 Goals and Objectives of the National Probation Agency The National Agency for Execution of Non-custodial Sentences and Probation established pursuant to the Law of Georgia on Procedure of Execution of Non-Custodial Sentences and Probation is a legal entity of public law functioning under the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia (MCLA). Goals of the National Probation Agency include execution of sentences, prevention of recidivism and re-socialization/reintegration of convicted inmates. Strategic Objectives The National Probation Agency’s Strategy 2013 envisages developing a short-term action plan committed to effectively implementing the Agency’s duties and responsibilities. This document provides an overview of the major priorities of the Agency in 2013, namely: Limited Liberty Establishment; Training of Limited Liberty Establishment staff; Rehabilitation/re-socialization of probationers; Vocational training of probationers; Employment of probationers; Individual sentence planning; Professional development of probation officers; Promotion of community work; Recidivism Study; Grants competitions for rehabilitation programs for probationers; I. Limited Liberty Establishment Based on the legislative amendments made as part of the criminal policy liberalization, Limited Liberty Establishment was set up within the system of the National Probation Agency as an important instrument for execution of non-custodial sentences in 2012. The Limited Liberty Establishment will deal with those convicted persons: who were sentenced to limitation of liberty by court; whose sentence of imprisonment was replaced by limitation of liberty by decision of the local board; whose conduct needs to be monitored, without being held in isolation from society. Creation of the Limited Liberty Establishment allows application of limitation of liberty as a sanction under the Criminal Code of Georgia. It will ensure adequate rehabilitation of convicted inmates, help them reintegrate into society and prepare their release from 43 relevant establishments. This establishment - “Establishment without Bars” - is separate from the structure of the Penitentiary Department. The recruitment of qualified staff, development of job descriptions for all positions and the implementation of staff training programs will have a crucial role in ensuring the effective functioning of the Limited Liberty Establishment. All newly recruited employees will undergo a basic training course designed to respond to the needs and gaps of specific groups according to their activities. II. Rehabilitation/Re-socialization One of the main goals of probation officers is to identify high-risk convicted inmates and to carefully plan and manage a probation period. Probation officers will assess risks and needs of each probationer and based on the identified needs as well as with due regard to the available resources, probation officers will refer probationers to respective rehabilitation programs contributing to their personal development. Involvement of probationers in a diverse range of rehabilitation and training programs reduces the risk of recidivism among offenders. Therefore, in 2013 one of the major priorities of the National Probation Agency is to carry out the following rehabilitation and training programs: III. Vocational Training Programs Participation in vocational trainings is of particular importance, as moving to the employment is a key factor of recidivism prevention. Therefore, the National Probation Agency is committed to creating and encouraging convicts to participate on vocational training programs. Probationers will be enrolled with various vocational and other training courses based on their skills and training needs identified during the individual sentence planning stage. IV. Employment of Probationers The National Probation Agency realizes that the employment status of probationers is a key factor of the likelihood of recidivism. Therefore, the Agency is determined to continue active cooperation with local self-government bodies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to ensure that the employment opportunities are available to probationers and they are duly employed. V. Individual Sentence Planning Risk and needs assessment methodology and individual sentence planning continue to be successfully applied in each probation bureau throughout Georgia. The Individual 44 Sentence Plan sets forth activities that aimed at reducing risk factors contributing to the crime commission as well as describes in detail and prioritizes problems and response measures thereto. This document represents some sort of agreement between the probation officer and the probationer on carrying out specific activities during the probationary period. Probation officers work alongside social workers and psychologists to deal with the cases of juvenile probationers registered at territorial bureaus of the National Probation Agency. VI. Personnel Policy Professional development of probation officers remains one of the biggest challenges faced by the National Probation Agency. Therefore, all probation officers will have to undergo special programs designed to help them develop social worker's skills, carry out risks and needs assessment as well as communicate with and assist in rehabilitation of probationers. Social workers in the probation system are actively engaged in preparing convicted inmates for release from establishments, three months before the moment of release. These efforts focus on assessing social conditions of convicted inmates and on drawing up specific action plan. VII. Promotion of Community Work A continuously updated job database and a job search system operating in the National Probation Agency offer those sentenced to community work a set of employment opportunities that match with their skills, qualifications and physical abilities. VIII. Recidivism Study The problem of recidivism is a major concern for the general public and policy makers within the criminal justice system. This study will contribute to the assessment of the interventions implemented within the system and be used as a basis for new initiatives and changes in the measures applied. Therefore, the Agency intends to carry out recidivism study with the following target groups: persons granted early conditional release (by the National Probation Agency’s standing commission), as well as pardoned probationers, who will be fully released from serving the sentence. The research will be carried out in close coordination with the Ministry of Internal Affairs given that the research has to deal with confidential information (databases, personal information, classified data, etc.) to which access is restricted by law. 45 As for the scope of study, it will involve keeping records and collecting statistics periodically (e.g. monthly) from the moment of detention (including the imposition of preventive measure on, conviction) of the target person alleged to have committed an offence. The Agency is expected to obtain precise information on the dynamics of recidivism; determine respective preventive measures; assess the effectiveness of activities of the Agency’s standing commission, identify possibility of further improving risks and needs assessment criteria, etc. IX. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Programs The key priority of the National Probation Agency is to ensure the re-socialization of all convicted inmates and probationers. Thus, it plans to announce grants program for the implementation of re-socialization/rehabilitation programs for probationers/convicted inmates. The Agency will contribute its own funds to the projects that are oriented towards reintegration of probationers into society and their psychosocial rehabilitation. Moreover, the grant programs will enhance the interest and the level of engagement of non-governmental organizations in carrying out re-socialization programs for target groups of probationers. 46 Chapter 9. Juvenile Justice Reform Strategy 47 Overall Aim The Juvenile Justice Reform Strategy (“Strategy”) aims at creating a system able to prevent juvenile delinquency and contribute to proper rehabilitation and reintegration of juveniles in conflict with criminal law. The Strategy ensures protection of child’s best interests and serves the long-term interests of the society including straightening public security and prevention of recidivism. Introduction One of the priorities of the Government of Georgia is creation of an effective justice system oriented towards the best interests of juveniles and their welfare. The Government of Georgia is committed to create a juvenile justice friendly system that complies with international standards inter alia principles and norms enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of the Juvenile Justice (“the Beijing Rules”), Guidelines for Prevention of Juvenile delinquency (the Riyadh Guidelines) and Guidelines for Action on Children in the Criminal Justice System. Before 2009 Georgia did not have a juvenile justice policy document ensuring adequate protection of the rights of juvenile offenders and responding to their needs within the criminal justice system. Therefore, in 2009 the Criminal Justice Reform Inter-Agency Coordination Council (“Council”) adopted the Juvenile Justice Reform Strategy. The Strategy is subject to revision by the Council. The major goal of the revision is to reflect positive results and improvements achieved by the Government of Georgia, to identify new challenges within the system and indicate future steps. Following 2009, as a result of a wide range of reforms in the juvenile justice system, the Government made significant progress; however, despite these achievements there are still a number of areas in need of further improvement and support. The Government of Georgia believes that the implementation of this Strategy should be carried out through joint and coordinated efforts of various agencies. In this respect, the important role should be played by the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs. Furthermore, active participation and support of civil society and international organizations is essential to achieve the goals of the Strategy. This Strategy is based on important principles, such as the best interest of child, promotion of alternative measures to criminal prosecution, fair trial guarantees, as well as protection of confidentiality of juveniles and inadmissibility of their stigmatization. In 48 addition, within the juvenile justice reform process the emphasis must be given to adequate rehabilitation and reintegration of juveniles in conflict with law. Strategic Objectives The strategic objectives of the current document are the following: - Prevention of juvenile delinquency; Improvement of the existing legal framework; Development of alternative measures to criminal prosecution; Use of imprisonment as a last resort; Rehabilitation and reintegration of juveniles in conflict with the law; Need for adequate professional training; Development of database system; Awareness raising campaign. I. Crime prevention Juvenile crime prevention is a crucial component of the whole juvenile justice system reform. From 2010, Georgia took the path towards the new liberal policy and moved to a new stage of justice where particular emphasize is given to the crime prevention. The Government of Georgia realizes that prevention policy is of significant importance for effective rehabilitation and reintegration of juveniles already in conflict with the law and ensures their development as law-abiding citizens from an early age. Elaboration of progressive and effective preventive programs is impossible without complex approaches and joint efforts of the governmental agencies, NGOs, private sector as well as international organizations. Therefore, it is crucial to have a unified prevention strategy establishing main directions and goals of delinquency prevention policy, as well as defining the roles and responsibilities of each state agency. Therefore, in 2011 through the joint efforts and active participation of civil society representatives, the Council developed the Juvenile Crime Prevention Strategy adopted by the Presidential Decree No. 235 in 2012. The respective Action Plan of the Strategy which will describe in detail the type of programs and activities to be implemented in order to achieve the goals of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Strategy will be developed at the end of 2013. A number of preventive programs have been introduced by various state agencies. The Ministry of Justice has elaborated community-oriented prosecution system, Diversion and Mediation Program, "My Senior Friend" Program, “Choice is Yours” and "e-Book" programs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also pays an active role with its "Life without Drugs" campaign and legal development program - "Legal Culture”, which aims at raising awareness of minors on crime related issues. Worth noting is the program implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science- “Safe School” introducing 49 Resource Officers at all schools. The results achieved by the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance within the penitentiary and probation system are also significant, namely full access to education and vocational programs, substantial improvement of infrastructure, etc. Child care programs available nationwide are implemented by the Ministry Health, Labor and Social Affairs. The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, established not so long time ago, has also developed a number of prevention programs, such as a youth camp - "Patriot", "Green Box" and "I assist". The aforementioned programs are conceptually unified within the single national policy document – the Juvenile Crime Prevention Strategy; however, most of them are being functioning in pilot regime; while many of them lack appropriate assessment mechanisms. Therefore, challenges in terms of juvenile crime prevention still remain. Prevention programs are particularly important for juveniles under a risk of offending and in conflict with the law, who are need of special approaches and care. These programs contribute to reduction and/or elimination of the risk-factors contributing to the delinquency. Therefore, prevention programs should be divided by the target groups and according to stages of the development of problem: (a) Primary/early prevention is directed towards all juveniles across the country; (b) The secondary prevention focuses on minors under a risk of committing a crime and ensures the reduction of these risk–factors. It should be noted that on this level proper identification juveniles at risk and development of an effective referral mechanism is utmost important. And finally, (c) tertiary prevention - aims at avoiding reoffending, as well as effective socialization and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. For the effective juvenile crime prevention programs, it is important to have a diverse range of activities, which should be implemented consistently and efficiently. In addition, while planning prevention programs the limited resources must be used effectively and efficiently and only those types of programs must be implemented that have been confirmed to be effective by relevant studies and international experience. The need for evaluation system of delinquency prevention programs must be stressed. Proper evaluation system will determine successful and effective prevention programs for their further implementation. In addition, proper evaluation system will enable saving and efficient utilization of the limited resource. II. Legislation Since 2009 Georgian legislative framework has been significantly changed. This includes adoption of the new Criminal Procedure Code and Code on Imprisonment providing effective guarantees for the protection of the rights of juvenile offenders. Another important step was the raise of minimal age of juvenile criminal responsibility to 14 years, as well as the improvement of the early release mechanisms and implementation of Diversion/Mediation Program. 50 In addition, within the framework of the criminal policy liberalization process initiated in 2010, particular parts related to the juvenile justice as well as penalties for certain categories of crimes are planned to be revised substantially by the Criminal Legislation Working Group of the Council. The goal of the revision is to develop alternative measures of criminal responsibility, reduce minimum sentence length, introduce pretrial report mechanism, etc. In addition, Council plans to create Juvenile Justice Code in future. In a long list of issues and amendments to be implemented and discussed within the Council, particular consideration is given to the issue of privacy of juvenile offenders. In accordance with existing international standards, information about personal life of juvenile must be confidential and protected at all stages, from the first contact with law enforcement agencies, throughout judicial proceedings and even afterwards in order to avoid harm being caused by undue publicity or by the process of labelling. This commitment must be fulfilled by all professionals involved in the juvenile justice process, whether it is a prosecutor or a social worker. This problem is especially sensitive when dealing with media, when publication of the information about a crime including identity of a juvenile offender or other parties involved may become known to public and thereby cause stigmatization and negative influence on child’s further development. III. Alternative measures to criminal prosecution Elaboration of alternative measures to criminal prosecution aims to divert juveniles from harmful influence of the formal criminal justice system. Alternative measures should be focused on social and educational activities and aimed at the rehabilitation of juveniles, as well as enhancing their personality, talents and capabilities. According to the official statistics, in 2009 criminal prosecution was initiated against 672 juveniles, in 2010 this figure was 733. In 2011 the number of juveniles against which the criminal prosecution was initiated was 641 and finally, in 2012 it further decreased to 494 juveniles.2 Despite this feasible decline, the rate of initiation of criminal prosecution is still high, whereas its reduction is only possible by development of alternative measures and their active implementation throughout the country. The efforts of the Government of Georgia in terms of development and implementation of alternative mechanisms are already vivid: Diversion and Mediation Program has been launched in 2010 and currently it effectively functions in 40 cities. In addition, it is planned to gradually introduce the Phase II and III of this program: II Phase includes expand of the Diversion Program throughout the country, and Phase III – extension of the program on some grave crimes. 2 2012 official statistics. 51 It should be noted that the introduction of alternative measures is particularly important to those juveniles, who have committed a crime for the first time and the offense falls under less serious or serious crime category. By introducing an alternative measure to prosecution, a juvenile in conflict with the law will be provided with a chance to be diverted from formal criminal justice system and avoid all negative consequences associated with it. Therefore, it is important to ensure effective implementation and functioning of the Diversion and Mediation program throughout the country. At the same time, other alternative measures to criminal prosecution should be introduced and their assessment instruments be developed. IV. Imprisonment, as a last resort Deprivation of liberty, including arrest, detention and imprisonment shall be used against a young offender as a last resort and for minimum period of time. However, in exceptional cases when the use of preliminary detention is inevitable, derived from the best interest of a child, his/her case must be considered by the court as soon as possible, so that she/he is isolated from the society for the shortest period. In addition, appropriate conditions and opportunities shall be ensured throughout the pre-trail detention inter alia access to educational activities, as well as a variety of programs that will contribute to his/her development. Special attention should be paid to the educational activities that should not be terminated even during his/her imprisonment period. Reduction in the use of pre-trial detention in cases of juvenile offenders and imprisonment is one of the major priorities of the Government. In 2009, pre-trial detention was applied against 272 juveniles and in 2010 this number was 296. In 2011, the 310 crimes committed by juveniles have been reported, out of this pre-detention was applied in case of 81 juveniles (26.1%) and 50 (16.1%) were diverted. In 2012, 403 crimes committed by juveniles have been reported, out of which pre-trial detention was applied in case of 80 juveniles (19.8%), whereas 114 (28.3%) were diverted from criminal prosecution. Therefore, this data show 6.3% decrease in the percentage of the use of pre-trial detention, data also show increased application of diversion – increase by 12.2% in 2012.3 The indicator of sentencing juveniles to depravation of liberty has also decreased: in 2009, 444 juveniles were sentenced to imprisonment, in 2010 - 348 juveniles, in 2011 – 190 and finally in 2012 only 74 juveniles were deprived of their liberty.4 Despite these tangible results, the use of detention as a measure of restraint and imprisonment of children in conflict with the law is still quite high. In this regard, efforts must become more active and must enhance the use of alternative sanctions with 3 4 2012 official statistics. 2012 official statistics. 52 respect to juveniles. In addition, alternative sanctions should be further developed and used appropriately, to fully consider emotional, mental and intellectual maturity of the child and the specifics of the case. V. Rehabilitation and reintegration The Government of Georgia made significant progress in reforming penitentiary system for juvenile convicts. The Concept Paper of the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance on the development of juvenile justice system is worth mentioning. Risks and needs assessment methodologies, as well as individual sentence planning mechanism have been effectively implemented. These methodologies are based on juvenile's individual needs and aim to reduce reoffending, to engage juveniles in socialization and rehabilitation programs. Individual Plan determines necessary measures for the reduction of juvenile individual risk factors and his/her further development. The plan is based on in-depth risks and needs assessment of juvenile as well as bio-psycho-social assessment carried out by the multidisciplinary council and is prepared for a period of 6 months. The multidisciplinary council meets within 6 months after the approval of individual plan and evaluates activities carried out in accordance with the plan, in order to compose an updated plan with newly defined needs. The importance of improving mechanism for early release should also be stressed; a special Juvenile Parole Board has been established in 2010 by the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance. The Board considers a case of juvenile every three months from a moment he/she becomes eligible for the parole consideration and is entitled with the mandate to decide on conditional release of juvenile and replacement of a part of sentence. Furthermore, as a result of efforts of the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance and active support of civil society representatives and international organizations, imprisonment conditions of juvenile offenders has been significantly improved. Penitentiary establishment for male juvenile convicts has been renovated and properly equipped, whereas girls have been isolated from adult female convicts. Currently, each juvenile convict has an access to education, sports, social and professional skills development programs. Despite significant positive results, challenges remain in terms of availability and sufficient number of effective rehabilitation and reintegration programs. It is important to further improve the concept of risks and needs assessment, as well as development of mechanisms of individual sentence planning and rehabilitation and refining their assessment tools. In addition, it is necessary to develop a unified standard / approach for the elaboration of individual plans in order to contribute to strengthening of common practice among professionals working in this system. It is also crucial to incorporate Individual sentence planning with the probation system, when the developed plan and the assessment carried out during the execution of sentence will become a basis for the individual plan prepared by the National Probation Agency. 53 Proper attention should be paid to the improvement of parole system. In addition, active work still needs to continue to ensure wide diversity of sports and educational activities, as well as vocational training and social programs within the penitentiary and probation systems. Effective rehabilitation/reintegration requires developing a special approach towards young convicted adults from 18-23 years and initiation of the discussion among the relevant stakeholders over the creation of special institution for these young people. VI. Training of professionals Within the criminal justice system great importance is paid to the qualifications of the personnel. For the effective juvenile justice system, appropriate training and development of adequate qualifications of each specialist involved in the system shall be ensured. Trainings are necessary not only for those who are having a direct contact and work with juvenile, but also for those staff members, whose daily job is related to children in conflict with the law or those under a risk of offending. These professionals should familiarize themselves with the specifics of working with children; receive information on the rights of child and applicable international standards. In addition, they must have an adequate knowledge of psychological and physical aspects of child development. For the existence of qualified personnel, trainings and seminars must be carried out systematically and continuously. According to the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia, adjudication of juvenile is carried out by properly trained judges, prosecutors and investigators. Their training on international and local legislation, as well as on the issues of psychological development and education of a child, has a permanent character. Trainings on the rights of a child, as well as on specificities of work with juveniles are offered for the employees of imprisonment facilities and probation offices. The strengthening of the role of a social worker in the juvenile justice system has to be stressed separately as he/she plays an important role in the process of assessing the needs of juveniles and their skills. Therefore, in order to ensure the welfare of a child, it is important to continue implementation of training programs and development of skills of those personnel involved in juvenile justice process. VII. Development of database system Important steps have been made towards the development of statistical system; namely, in 2010 an Inter-Agency Memorandum of Cooperation has been concluded on the publication of joint criminal justice statistical report. In addition, as of 2011, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has developed a new approach to cases of juvenile offenders, which includes gathering detailed information not only on the issues related to crime, but also on the personal characteristics of the juveniles. 54 Currently, it is important to elaborate mutually agreed data, as well as to develop and implement special statistical modules. In this regard, effective implementation and functioning of the Criminal Case Management System throughout the country is extremely important. It will incorporate all agencies involved in criminal proceedings within the unified system and, as a result, criminal cases handling will become fully electronic. At this point, it is important to improve existing statistical system, as well as to develop and implement specific indicators for juvenile cases processing within the system. VIII. Awareness raising campaign Legal awareness has a particular importance for the effective implementation of the juvenile justice reform. It shall be based on the attitudes of the general population towards juvenile delinquency identified through the relevant study which is planned to be conducted. Furthermore, it is important to work with particular target groups, held seminars with the representatives of mass-media, TV programs, etc. Finally, the Government plans to adopt a specific curriculum on Juvenile Justice for the universities which will ensure adequate knowledge about the system and prepare young professionals. 55 Chapter 10. Legal Education Reform Strategy 56 Legal Education and Professional Training While reforming legal education following conditions should be taken into consideration: Education is not a stage, but continuance process; On one side State interest to regulate legal profession, and on the other side, principles of academic freedom and autonomy of educational institutions should be balanced; Profession and education are interlinked; Legal education is a basis for lawyer’s professional development (activities). Main goals and directions of the reform are: Ensuring of accessibility of legal education; Organization of legal education; Establishment of the complete system of accreditation; Establishment of close link between profession and education; Possibility of periodically raising professional development during performance of lawyer’s duties. 1. Accessibility of legal education Law on Higher Education defines rules and conditions for admitting students to higher educational institutions. Indicated standards are similar for legal education as well. Admittance to the law faculties and institutions shall be carried through passing unified national exams in accordance with the law. Through holding transparent and objective examinations, current system shall provide and ensure equal opportunity for getting State financial support for students. 2. Organization of legal education In accordance with the Law on Higher Education legal education consists of bachelor, magistrate and doctoral stages. Law defined number of mandatory credits necessary for successful completion of each of the stages. 3. Theoretical and practical education Legal education shall include theoretical as well as practical studies. As a result of it a student will get professional skills along with theoretical knowledge. Standards of studies shall be defined by State accreditation body and shall be examined through accreditation procedure. Theoretical studies should include teachings of the basic fields of law, rules of trial proceedings and of relationship with administrative bodies. 57 Possibility of undergoing practical trainings is closely linked with State as well as private legal institutions. One of the main purposes of the reform of legal education is facilitation of the cooperation among universities and professional organizations. That would strengthen links between education and profession. Facilitation of the cooperation for the purpose of ensuring component of practical studies implies the succour the possibility of using State financial support for practical studies in State as well as in accredited private institutions. Practical trainings could take place in the legal clinics of universities as well. 4. Legal education and other social sciences Legal education should provide possibility for students to acquire knowledge in other fields of social sciences. Strategy envisages similar possibility through providing interdisciplinary learning courses. 5. Methodology of teaching Selection of methodology of teaching is within the sphere of academic freedom of legal education institutions. Therefore strategy does not provide for concrete guidelines in this regard, though envisages the necessity of introducing interactive methods of teaching. 6. Complete system of accreditation Body of accreditation Accreditation body established at the Ministry of Education and Sciences carries out accreditation of legal educational institutions. Principles and goal of the competence of the accreditation body shall be defined by Georgia’s legislation. Formal and effective means should exist for: Quality assurance of law programs Further monitoring of their effectiveness and evaluation of the results of the goals of study courses by students; Permanent examination of this goals and results; Accreditation Group of experts shall review the contents, quality and accordance with standards of the studying programs (curriculum) of legal education institutions, as well as existence of the necessary basis for receiving education. Review shall take place every 5 years. Group of experts also shall define the following: 1. Contents of the legal education; 58 2. 3. 4. 5. Teaching results of each subject; Guideline principles of the practice; Minimal resources for ensuring necessary standards of qualifying law degrees; Results in case of incompatibility with the standards. 7. Legal Education and Legal Profession Legal practice may be conducted in State as well as in private institutions and by court representation. In order to acquire the right of legal practice it shall be mandatory to pass certification exam. Certification exam takes place in line with unified standards. A person with high legal education, though without certification exam, shall be empowered to work as a lawyer in State and private institutions, to participate in mediation, and in preparation of contracts and legal documents. In order to acquire the right of court representation it shall be mandatory: High legal education (bachelor/or master’s degree) 1 year internship; Passing of certification exam; In order to be appointed as a judge, it shall be mandatory: High legal education (bachelor/or master’s degree) Passing of certification exam; 5 year professional experience; Undergo mandatory course in the High School of Justice In order to be appointed as a notary it shall be mandatory: High legal education (bachelor degree) 1 year internship in notary system; Passing of certification exam. 8. Continues Education All lawyers with certificate during their entire career should periodically undertake professional, continues education in order to maintain their right to practice law. Continues professional education requires collecting of definite amount of credits. Professional courses may be organized by the High School of Justice, accredited High educational organization, and also by professional bodies. The State is obliged to provide professional courses for practicing lawyers in State sector. In this case the course expenses shall be taken by State. All practicing lawyers are obliged to keep the list of trainings they have undertaken that may be checked by the relevant professional body. Completion of these requirements is mandatory. 59 Chapter 11. Strategy of Public Defender’s Office 60 Introduction The main function of the Public Defender of Georgia is the supervision over the protection of human rights and freedoms within the territory and jurisdiction of Georgia. The Public Defender’s Office is as an independent, impartial and accessible body, which is authorized to carry out its functions through mechanisms assigned to it by the legislation. 1. Legislative Guarantees In 2010 series of amendments were made to the organic law of Georgia “on Public Defender”, which was aimed at enhancing the quality and independence of the Public Defender’s Office from the legislative point of view. Today, the main challenge for the Public Defender’s Office is the evaluation of implementation of legislative amendments in practice. In addition, it is significant to ensure appropriate measured of public awareness in respect to these changes. - Public Defender’s right to Appeal to the Court Under the existing law, the Public Defender of Georgia has the right to appear before the court on its own initiative as an Amicus Curie and report to the court his position in connection with the case. For effective implementation of abovementioned authority by the Public Defender’s Office, it is necessary to institutionalize internal practice and train the staff. 2. Relations with the Legislative Body The Public Defender’s Office of Georgia must have timely information on developments in the legislative body of the country. Accordingly, it is necessary to determine and train appropriate staff members, in order (and if required) to prepare legislative news analysis in context of human rights law. 3. Ensuring Effective Functioning of the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia 3.1. Improving Case Management System It is necessary to improve case (incoming application) management system on central and regional levels in order to increase effectiveness of the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia. This means moving to electronic cases management system. Employees of the Public Defender’s Office participated in the development of electronic case management system. Current objective is an effective implementation of the system in daily activities. 61 3.2. Professional Development of the Public Defender’s Staff In order to improve the quality of human rights protection, it is important to training the Public Defender’s staff. This implies to deepening knowledge in human rights principles and standards of international law, case law of international tribunals and the European Court of Human Rights. In addition, it is important to ensure participation of staff in various international conferences and seminars, which will enable them to get acquainted with the problems and achievements of other countries and be informed about the challenges in the field of human rights. 4. Effective Functioning of National Prevention Mechanism One of the main priorities for the Public Defender's Office is ensuring effective functioning of national preventive mechanism on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, defined by the optional protocol of the UN Convention. The main function of a national preventive mechanism is monitoring closed-type institutions and producing relevant reports. 5. Educational Activities In accordance with the organic “Law on Public Defender", the Public Defender provides educational activities in the field of human rights. Accordingly, one of the priorities of the Public Defender’s Office is increasing public awareness on the activities of public defender and human rights issues. Derived from abovementioned priorities, the Public Defender's Office organizes various educational events. Public Defender’s official web-page has been renewed in order to provide better information to Georgian public on the human rights protection issues. Future goal of the office is to ensure the promotion of this web-page. 62