Description
It is a nationwide project covering two parts. The first part is to initiate public scrutiny of the activities of expert witnesses in the context of recent amendments in the code of criminal proceedings, giving equal evidence opportunities to both parties of court proceedings. The second part includes activities to inform general public on the new rules of criminal proceedings and the significance of scientific evidence, as well as activities for implementing the act on expert witnesses. As a result of the project, a report will be prepared describing the practice of using scientific evidence in adversarial court processes. In addition, an Internet service will be created concerning issues related to expert witnesses. The project is implemented in partnership with the Foundation Court Watch Polska and the Centre of Court Sciences of the University of Warsaw. Their support will guarantee the highest quality of analyses and reliability of informational tools developed under the project.
Summary of project results
"On July 1, 2015, penal procedure was changed to grant equal rights in presenting evidence, including expert opinions, to all parties of court proceedings. But the new model failed to guarantee higher quality of court expert opinions, because the new act of law on court experts was not passed simultaneously. In addition, media reported that no campaign to thoroughly inform the society on the new rules for penal court procedure was conducted. The aim of the project was to implement civil control over the activities of court experts, to inform the society on the rules of penal procedure and the importance of scientific evidence, and to support implementation of regulations concerning court experts. Under the project, a social debate was started on court experts, and the Commissioner for Human Rights in his letter to the minister of justice on the need to pass the act of law on court experts extensively cited the results of the activities led under the project. The first Polish program for civil control of court experts was also launched - almost 150 observations from court proceedings with participation of experts were analysed, a tool for evaluating court appearances of experts was developed, the report titled ""Monitoring of court proceedings with participation of experts under the Civil Monitoring of Courts of Law"" was prepared. Information activities were also led - the information Internet service Forensic Watch was visited on the regular basis by approx. 300 users. The project ended with the conference ""Expectations and perspectives in Polish forensic sciences"". The project benefited judges, prosecutors, solicitors, counsels, the police, court experts and the general public. The role of the Foundation Court Watch was to monitor appearances of experts during court proceedings. The role of the Warsaw University Centre for Forensic Sciences was to help in preparing survey questionnaires, data analysis and preparing and reviewing promotional materials."
Summary of bilateral results