Kosovo (Under UNSCR 1244)
Statistical Training
Prosecution / Courts
Session 7, October 7th, 9.00 – 10.15
Overview of the Criminal Justice System and
Statistics – International Reporting
With funding from the
European Union
DEVELOPMENT OF MONITORING INSTRUMENTS FOR
JUDICIAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT INSTITUTIONS IN
THE WESTERN BALKANS 2009-2011
Phase three – Training
Importance of comparative
data
• Show governments where they need to
concentrate efforts
• Can give ideas for legal reform
• Show population where their country is
deficient (or very good) in criminal justice
• Show where statistics infrastructure needs
development( including publications)
• Can compare resources put into criminal
justice
Pitfalls
Reasons for incomparability
•
•
•
•
Different counting rules
Different definitions
Countries have different legal systems
Countries have different policies
International statistics – by their nature poorly
comparable - are only the start of any
comparative investigation
Proper studies need more research and legal
comparisons
Homicide
The English term ‘Homicide’ reflects to (almost) all
crimes where the victim dies as a consequence of the
crime and the offender is guilty of the death of the
victim.
The English concept of homicide is divided in two
categories:
– Murder: this is intentional premeditated homicide
– Manslaughter: all other homicides, intent is not a big issue
Part of the confusion is that Homicide and Murder are
possibly translated into the same term in Albanian?
Four ‘regular’ institutes / data collection
initiatives on international level
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•
•
•
UNODC
Eurostat
ICVS
European Sourcebook
UNODC Statistical initiatives
• UNODC is the United Nations Office on Drugs and
crime in Vienna, Austria.
• UNODC provides trend and policy analyses and
publicizes and disseminates data and information on
the global drug and crime scene.
• Analytical information about the global drug and
crime problems enables the international community
to identify drug and crime control priorities.
• It has a series of statistical initiatives, that can be
seen in summary on their web site at
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-andanalysis/index.html
UNODC Standards and recommendations
for crime statistics
UNODC has published three manuals for improving crime and
justice statistics:
1.
2.
3.
A manual for the development of a system of
criminal justice statistics
A manual on conducting victimization surveys
(together with UNECE)
A manual for the measurement of juvenile justice
indicators (together with UNICEF)
Each of these is the result of input by expert statisticians from
many countries who have between them many years’ experience
of collecting data on crime and justice statistics. Thus they
represent the best available knowledge about how to achieve
good measure of what is going on in crime and justice area.
UNODC manual for the development of a
system of criminal justice statistics
This can be downloaded in English ( 161 Pages) or French from
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesF/SeriesF_89E.pdf
It contains sections on:
•
Purposes and requirements of criminal justice statistics
•
Organizational models
•
Scope and content
•
Data collection
•
Processing statistics
•
Analyzing, evaluating and disseminating statistics
•
The role of victimization surveys
•
International collections
It is valuable document for reference and gives many ideas for good
practice.
UNODC Manual for victimisation
surveys
The most recent version (231 pages long) can be found in English and
French at http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Crimestatistics/Manual_on_Victimization_surveys_2009_web.pdf
It contains sections on:
1.
Introduction to surveys
2.
Planning a victimization survey
3.
Methodological issues
4.
Counting offences and victims
5.
Questionnaire design
6.
Interviewing
7.
Data processing, estimation and analysis
8.
Ethical considerations
9.
Data dissemination and documentation
10. Evaluating completed surveys
It also covers business surveys and corruption issues
United Nations Survey
on Crime Trends
• Collects data on the incidence of reported crime and
the operations of criminal justice systems
• An EXCEL questionnaire is sent to each country
each time asking for information on crime, police,
prosecution, courts, probation and prisons.
• Copies of the questionnaire for the 11th sweep of the
survey are available at:
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-andanalysis/crime_survey_eleventh.html
• The core questionnaire is contained on 11 sheets (7
police, 1 prosecution, 1 courts, 2 prisons)
• 4 worksheets are rotated every 3 years on
Trafficking, Corruption and Sentencing and there is a
sheet on illicit trafficking in cultural property.
UN Crime Trends Survey
• Not all countries respond to the
questionnaire so the results are sometimes
selective. However, for those countries that
do respond data are easily available and
countries that have not responded are
identified.
• Occasional research reports in a more
readable format are produced: eg see the
Global Report on Crime and Justice at:
• http://www.uncjin.org/Special/GlobalReport.h
tml
EuroStat Data collection
• Data collected from statistical experts nominated by
the Directors of Social Statistics (mainly from
National Statistical Offices)
Coverage
• EU-27:
• Candidates: Potential Candidates:
– AL, BiH, ME, RS, XZ
• EFTA/EEA: IS, LI, NO, CH
• Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Russian
Federation, USA, South Africa
Details of collection
• Data requested from national experts
annually in November
• Data collected for previous calendar year
• Deadline for returns - 1 month
• Data available within 2 months of
collection
• Report published 2 month after deadline
EuroStat definitions
of crime types
•
•
•
•
Total crime: Offences against the penal code or criminal code. Less
serious crimes (misdemeanours) are generally excluded.
Homicide: Intentional killing of a person, including murder,
manslaughter, euthanasia and infanticide. Causing death by
dangerous driving is excluded, as are abortion and help with suicide.
Attempted (uncompleted) homicide is also excluded. Unlike other
offences, the counting unit for homicide is normally the victim.
Violent crime/Assault: Violence against the person (such as physical
assault), robbery (stealing by force or by threat of force), and sexual
offences (including rape and sexual assault).
Robbery: Stealing from a person with force or threat of force,
including muggings (bag snatching) and theft with violence.
Pickpocketing, extortion and blackmailing are generally not included.
EuroStat definitions
of crime types II
• Burglary Gaining access to a dwelling by the use of
force to steal goods.
• Motor vehicle theft: Includes all land vehicles with an
engine that run on the road which are used to carry
people (including cars, motor cycles, buses, lorries,
construction and agricultural vehicles)
• Drug Trafficking: Illegal possession, cultivation,
production, supplying, transportation, importing,
exporting, financing etc. of drug operations not
solely in connection with personal use.
Other data collected
by Eurostat
• Police numbers: All ranks of police officers including criminal
police, traffic police, border police, gendarmerie, uniformed
police, city guard, municipal police. Do not include civilian
staff, customs officers, tax, military and secret service police,
part-time officers, special duty police reserves, cadets, and
court police.
• Prison Numbers: Total number of adult and juvenile prisoners
(including pre-trial detainees) at 1 September. Including
offenders held in Prison Administration facilities, other
facilities, juvenile offenders' institutions, drug addicts'
institutions and psychiatric or other hospitals. Excluding noncriminal prisoners held for administrative purposes (for
example, people held pending investigation into their
immigration status).
Eurostat publications
• An annual bulletin on European crime statistics is at:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/
KS-SF-08-019/EN/KS-SF-08-019-EN.PDF
International Crime Victimization
Survey (ICVS)
• The ICVS is a survey of victimization in different countries. It is
less formal than many other surveys and tends to be carried
out by a loose grouping of experts in survey data collection
from mainly North European countries.
• However, countries from all over the world have taken part,
depending on whether they have resources available.
• A questionnaire is designed that can be used by all states
participating in the survey: methodologies are also prescribed,
although not all countries can keep to the recommended
methodology exactly
• Countries are asked to survey a relatively small number of
potential victims, perhaps 1,000+ to ask their experience of
crime over the last 12 months.
ICVS (Continued)
Details of the most recent survey, which was the fifth sweep of the
survey, can be found at http://english.wodc.nl/onderzoeksdatabase/icvs2005-survey.aspx?cp=45&cs=6796
The following victimisation is covered:
1. Any common crime
2. Vehicle related crimes
3. Burglary and other theft
4. Contact crimes
5. Non-conventional crimes
Trends and Comparisons with recorded crime are also covered as are
methodological issues. Information is also published on
1. Fear of crime
2. Security precautions
3. Public attitudes to law enforcement
European Sourcebook on Crime
and Justice Statistics.
• The European Sourcebook includes data on crime
and justice for 40-45 countries, including the EU and
also countries in S and E Europe such as BiH.
• It also includes a good deal of explanations about
definitions and statistical procedures which clarify
the statistics included in the report.
• A questionnaire is produced in English/French and
sent to a national correspondent in each European
countries: usually associated with the justice
ministries and not the CSO.
• Details of methodology and data collected are at:
http://www.europeansourcebook.org/
Contact point for international
datacollections
To be consistent a single contact point (person)
for all crime and criminal Justice data is
desirable.
In order to give the same answers to the same
questions in different data collections
But it is not always possible, therefore at least
coordination is needed.
Kosovo (Under UNSCR 1244)
Statistical Training
Prosecution / Courts
Session 7, October 7th, 9.00 – 10.15
Overview of the Criminal Justice System and
Statistics – International Reporting
With funding from the
European Union
DEVELOPMENT OF MONITORING INSTRUMENTS FOR
JUDICIAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT INSTITUTIONS IN
THE WESTERN BALKANS 2009-2011
Phase three – Training