The majority of Montenegrin citizens negatively evaluate the work of the police in the fight against hate speech, according to a survey conducted by the Damar Institute for the needs of the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) in the period from November 7 to 18 on a sample of 1.000 respondents.
CDT announced that almost half of the respondents (48,3 percent) have a negative opinion about the work of the police in the fight against hate speech, 31,4 percent evaluate the work of the police as effective, while one in five does not have an opinion or does not know how to evaluate the work of the police in this field.
"This segment of the research is focused on citizens' perceptions of the effectiveness of institutions such as the police, prosecutor's office and courts in suppressing hate speech. It also examines the views of citizens on the quality of existing laws and punitive measures for inciting hatred, and the need for their change and improvement," he points out. in the announcement.
The CDT added that when asked about the effectiveness of the prosecution in responding to reports of hate speech, the majority of respondents have a critical attitude.
"About a third, 35,6 percent, believe that the prosecution does not react quickly and efficiently enough, while 24,8 percent express partial agreement. Only 20,4 percent believe that the prosecution adequately responds to reports, while 19,2 percent of respondents are undecided or without attitude," said CDT.
The non-governmental organization (NGO) said that the majority of respondents (42,6 percent) expressed a neutral attitude towards the work of the courts in cases related to the spread of hate speech, stating that they were "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied" with the work of the courts.
"Dissatisfaction amounts to 29,5 percent, while satisfaction is present in 27,9 percent of the respondents," the CDT statement reads.
They also state that the results of this research show that the majority of respondents are not sufficiently familiar with the laws that regulate sanctions for inciting religious and national hatred.
"Namely, 41,7 percent of the respondents stated that they were not at all familiar with these laws, while 34,9 percent claimed that they were somewhat familiar. Only 8,7 percent of the respondents stated that they were familiar to a large extent, while 14,7 percent answered that he doesn't know or didn't give an answer," the announcement reads.
More than half of respondents (55,1 percent) believe that a stricter criminal policy can reduce the presence of religious and national hatred.
"On the other hand, 18,9 percent of them believe that stricter penalties would not produce such an effect, while 26 percent of respondents are undecided," the CDT statement concluded.
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