Trust in Justice
On 2-3 February, Birkbeck will host the launch of an exciting new Europe-wide project looking at new...
New European-wide project launched
On 2-3 February, Birkbeck, University of London will host the launch of an exciting new Europe-wide project looking at new ways of tackling emerging forms of crime across Europe. The three-year FIDUCIA project will help develop effective strategies for dealing with four types of crime that are emerging across Europe: trafficking of drugs and alcohol, people trafficking , cyber-crime and crimes associated with the policing of migrant and minority groups.
FIDUCIA means ‘trust’ in Latin, and the researchers will examine the scope for alternatives to straightforward coercion – arresting and punishing offenders – to tackle the problems associated with these crimes. They will examine approaches that rely on increasing consent to the rule of law to secure compliance. A central idea in the project is that public trust in systems of justice is closely related to our ability to build a peaceful and harmonious society, as it is translates into respect for public institutions and compliance with the law.
Dr Stefano Maffei, from the University of Parma, who is co-ordinating the project, explained: “Too often governments use growing anxiety about crime amongst the general public as justification for repressive crime policies. This may be useful for obtaining short-term political support but is counterproductive in the end because the threat of punishment has relatively little effect on criminal behaviour. It is far more effective in the long term to build public trust in institutions, to reduce the perceived gap between citizens and justice.”
The €2.7 million project, financed by the European Commission, will involve thirteen research teams from 11 European countries. The researchers will conduct detailed case-studies of each type of crime, to examine the scale and nature of the problems, and to see whether there are other ways of “nudging” people towards obeying the law, apart from the threat of punishment.
FIDUCIA will also analyse the data collected in the fifth European Social Survey (ESS), which included a module on public trust in justice. This ESS module was designed by members of an earlier EU project, EURO-JUSTIS, coordinated by the Institute of Criminal Policy Research (ICPR) at Birkbeck, which led to FIDUCIA. Professor Mike Hough, Director of ICPR, explained: “FIDUCIA will investigate whether, and how, governments might broaden crime control strategy from coercive or repressive approaches to strategies that rely on public trust in justice and public commitment to the rule of law. We know that public trust in justice can be built by fair and respectful treatment of the public by the police and the courts. If people trust in the fairness of the justice system, they are more likely to obey the law. What we want to explore is whether trust-based policies can be developed for new types of crime like trafficking of people and drugs which are associated with a more integrated Europe.”