THE IMPORTANCE OF APPEARANCES: HOW SUSPECTS AND ACCUSED PERSONS ARE PRESENTED IN THE COURTROOM, IN PUBLIC AND IN THE MEDIA.

ended

Objectives General: Correct implementation of Directive 2016/343 through reducing the presentation of suspects and accused persons in court and public in ways creating a perception of guilt. Specific: -Increase knowledge and capacities of stakeholders to respect presumption of innocence -Identify good practices and provide guidance on how to present defendants -Sensitising public authorities, the media and the public to the importance of defendants’ presentations -Disseminating information and good practices Activities -Initial international research -Sociological pilot research on the impact of defendants’ presentations -National and international researches on defendants’presentations -Producing toolkits for legal/media professionals -Advocacy and communication activities (conferences,disseminating written/audiovisual contents) Beneficiaries -Legal practitioners, law enforcement officials, media workers (2500) -Domestic and EU-level policy makers (40 at international event, 300 through dissemination) -NGOs, academics (250) -general public (outreach: 80,000) -Defendants (8 million people per year become suspects, improvement will benefit many) Results -Increased knowledge about the impact of defendants’presentations -Increased sensitivity to the presumption of innocence among professionals and public -Good practices and applicable methodologies from and beyond EU Outputs -1 international research document (comparative analysis) -1 pilot sociological survey (and methodology), 1 survey report -5 national court reports, 7 national media reports on defendants’ presentation (mapping, collection of good practices), 2 comparative reports (court/media) (comparative analysis), 1 database of good practices (collection of good practices) -2 toolkits (media/court) -1 advocacy film -1 comparative regional report,1 summary report (comparative analysis, policy recommendations) -6 national and 1 regional event (conference, roundtable) -6 press conference -40 advocacy materials