Bosnia & Herzegovina
Statistical Training
Uses of Statistics on Crime, Justice
& Security
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
Summary
Collecting Statistics is expensive. This money will be
wasted unless the figures are used properly.
There are three main uses of Statistics on crime,
justice and security:
1. To enable senior officials to manage each agency
effectively
2. To enable agencies to account for their law
enforcement to Parliament, the general public and
the media.
3. To ensure that policies cutting across more than
one agency are properly considered and evaluated
A. Statistics to manage
agencies effectively
The following is needed to manage each agency
effectively:
1. Measures of workload and resources, especially
personnel
2. Indicators of work carried out by agency
3. Indicators of work not carried out: eg crime not
solved: cases delayed.
4. Statistics for each area of the country to show that
each area gets its fair share of service.
5. Mechanism for getting figures to managers in a
routine fashion
6. Statistical training for managers
Workload and Resource
Statistics
Statistics
needed each
geographic area
Workload
Resources
Police
1.
2.
Crimes recorded, by type
Traffic incidents
1.
2.
No of police
Cost of police
Prosecution
1.
2.
Cases from police
Cases sent to the court
1.
2.
No. of prosecutors
Cost of prosecutors
Courts
1.
2.
Cases received
Cases disposed of
1.
No. magistrates,
staff
Cost of courts
2.
Probation
1.
2.
Prisons
1.
2.
Probation cases from the
courts, by offence
Community service
orders
1.
2.
No. probation
officers
Cost probation
Prisoners in prison, by
type
Prisoners on remand
1.
2.
No. prison officers
Cost of prisons
Indicators needed by managers
For each
geographical area
Indicator
Police
1.
2.
3.
Crime recorded per policeman
Crime solved per policeman
Crimes not solved per policeman
Prosecution
1.
2.
3.
Cases processed per staff member
Cases returned to police per staff member
Cases successful in court per staff member
Courts
1.
2.
3.
Case load per staff member
Fines collected by the court
Average waiting time in prison
Probation
1.
2.
Case load per officer
Cases successfully completed per officer
Prisons
1.
2.
Prisoners per police officer
Overcrowding of prisons
Getting statistics to managers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
A mechanism is necessary to do this such as a
statistical bulletin, briefing note or routine meeting
This will need to be at least monthly
It should be short and include only a brief
selection of figures
It also needs a commentary and charts to make the
figures easier to read
Managers will need to be trained in the use of
figures. They also need to feedback their needs for
new figures and different ways of presentation.
Getting statistics to managers is entirely different
from publishing the figures to the Parliament and
the public which need not be done so frequently .
B.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Using Statistics for public
accountability
The main customers for statistics are the Parliament, the
media, the general public and International bodies
Members of Parliament should have summary figures
presented to them in an annual report. This should be easy to
read and include commentary and figures. It should be in the
most commonly used language
The media need to have summary figures presented to them,
probably annually, in easily read form, often at a press
conference where questions can be asked.
The general public will generally get their figures via the
media. However, some people, such as academics, interest
groups and students may need special statistics and should
be given access to these through special arrangements.
International bodies such as the EU and the UN usually ask
for data in their own questionnaires
Types of statistics required for public
accountability
Simple summary statistics, in the form of indicators of
performance, should be published to show the
effectiveness of the justice system: eg
1. Police, Prosecutors, Courts
1. Clear up/complete at least X% of cases reported to them
2. Complete cases within a particular time
3. Maintain public confidence
2. Prisons:
1. reduce overcrowding:
2. improve health:
3. retrain prisoners
Setting targets and
producing action plans
1. Public accountability often includes setting
an action plan for improvement
2. Statistics are an essential part of this
3. Targets can be set for future years based on
the indicators of performance set in the
previous slide
4. Regular publication would show whether the
targets had been met
5. It would also be an essential starting point
for discussion on the need for resources in
different parts of the justice system.
Action plan for using
Performance measures
1. Agree in advance which indicators to use
2. Publish this list, together with a base line of
current values of the indicators.
3. Measure work load of staff on a regular
basis
4. Record measures of success: eg clear-ups:
cases finished
5. Record the main time delays for courts.
6. Conduct surveys to obtain public
confidence measures in current situation
and how the situation is developing.
C. Using Statistics for policy
development
There are several reasons for wanting to change
policy:
1. To save money for the government
2. To react to social changes (population change,
tourism, drugs, terrorism, organised crime.)
3. To use technical developments more efficiently
(fingerprints, DNA, electronic monitoring)
4. Because police, courts, prisons are getting
overwhelmed by burden, with resulting
inefficiencies.
5. To get more control over the CJ process
Who starts off case for change
Policy change can be started off by many different areas of the
justice system: eg.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The finance ministry may seek for savings
Politicians and senior officials may wish to pursue legal
reform
Operational agencies (police, prosecutor, judiciary,
probation, prison) may wish to be more efficient
Public commentators may exert pressure for change
Other countries may seem to be coping better with similar
problems
However, Statisticians are central to all this as they have access
to the figures and can see where things are not as efficient as they
might be and can forecast what will happen in the future
Examples of possible
applications of statistics
Many policy areas cut across different justice agencies and use
statistics to assist in their planning: five examples of uses are
given in the following slides:
I.
Changing remand policies
II.
Reducing delays in justice
III.
Developing sentencing policies
IV.
Considering legal aid policies
Other possible uses of statistics are not covered in the slides
a.
b.
c.
Giving police more powers to end cases by giving fixed
fines for petty crime.
Reducing offending by working with offenders
Restructuring the justice system
I. Using Statistics to change remand
policies
• High remand population can lead to wastage of
resources:
– Costs in feeding prisoners many who do not get a prison
sentence
– Costs if remand period does not count against sentence
• Transport costs in taking cases to court, especially
for cases that take a long time to finalize.
• Long remand periods when prison service not able
to start rehabilitation and prisoners get no chance to
work or gain skills
• Increased difficulties for lawyers to advise their
clients on their legal rights
Remand: What is needed
• Put together police, courts and prison
statistics
• Numbers in prison:
– by age, gender, offence, region
• Length of time spent on remand
• Estimates of how many do not get prison
sentences: maybe a sample survey needed,
• Look at those not remanded to see what
problems come about:
– skipping bail, delays in cases, new crime
committed
Remand statistics:
possible reactions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Accept the current situation and seek for the
resources to manage it.
Allow time served on remand to count against
eventual sentence.
Allow period before trial to be spent in the
community, perhaps under probation supervision
or electronic monitoring.
Allow those remanded in prison to start training
and rehabilitative work
Introduce a maximum time before trial to
encourage agencies to become more efficient in
their work in preparing the evidence for trial
II. Using Statistics to reduce delays
• What impact do delays in the court
process have and how can these
impacts or delays be reduced?
• Is delay a problem with the Court
process or resources?
• Are other factors involved?
• Can other players in the criminal justice
system assist in reducing delay?
Delay: What statistics are
needed
• Measure the time from arrest to
sentence
• Break this down between different
stages in the process
• Identify the causes of delay and those
who might address them
• Establish agreed actions between the
courts and others
Delay: Actions that might result
• Elements of the court process could be
improved, such as setting court dates more
quickly and re-organising the availability of
court/judicial resources
• Other agencies called upon to help – such as
police ensuring defendants turn up at court
• Arrangements for producing the prisoner
from jail to the court could be improved
• New arrangements introduced – support or
protection for witnesses
III.
Using Statistics to develop
sentencing policies
• Are sentences effective.
– What is reconviction rate? What do victims think
– What does the public think?
• Money can be saved by reducing sentences.
(Statistics can estimate this.)
• Increased sentences would cost more money
( Again can be estimated)
• Sentences could be more similar to those in other
countries.
• Sentencing guidelines could be issued for
magistrates and judges. This would give more
control. This occurs frequently in the USA.
Sentencing: what is needed
• Measure of reconvictions: data base
needed
• Measures of confidence from surveys
• Effect of changes in sentencing: apply
new rules to last year’s statistics
• Examine guidelines from other
countries to see whether these could
be fitted into your legislation
Example looking at
sentencing policy
• The UK is concerned with sentences for knife crime. Data is on
the web site and the trends in prison numbers is:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/knife-possessionsentencing-bulletin-jan-march-10.pdf
IV. Using Statistics to consider legal aid
policies
• In many countries the government pays some
defence costs: ‘Legal Aid’
• In some countries (EW) LA expenditure is too high.
• If more offenders aided legally, perhaps through
donor money to start with, then this could pay for
itself by reducing the costs of the CJS.
• Legal aid could be on arrest as in some countries (eg
England & Wales): for court appearance: or for
appeal
• Some countries have compensation for injury as a
result of crime
Legal Aid: What is needed
• Examine other countries’ rules for legal aid
and see how they could be modified for your
country
• Look at numbers who currently use defence
lawyers
• Consult lawyers, court staff, offenders,
perhaps using a sample survey
• Work out impact of changes: length of trials,
different guilty rates: different sentences,
etc.
Conclusions
• Statistics can assist in managing criminal justice
policies
• For each proposed policy change a different set of
statistics would need to be calculated
• This would need to be supplemented by surveys of
opinion.
• A base line set of statistics on the current position
would be needed
• Estimates of potential change can then be made
• Researchers can suggest changes that would be
possible from their study of work in other countries.
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Statistical Training
Uses of Statistics on Crime, Justice
& Security
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