Bosnia
CARDS Statistical Training
Prosecution / Courts
Session 2, November 22nd
Overview of the Criminal Justice System
and Statistics - Introduction
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
Context
The first step in organizing statistics is to
identify the organizational structure (of
both the Criminal Justice System and the
Statistics) and to identify the use and users
of the statistics: this is more complex in BiH
because of the different entities as well as
the different justice agencies.
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• This has a large influence on the statistics.
• It becomes very clear when looking at
different jurisdictions
• Three examples:
– Germany
– The Netherlands (both with string prosecution
agencies like BiH) and
– England (with very recent prosecution system
with fewer powers and low public recognition)
Germany and the Netherlands
Recorded Suspected Prosecution
offenders decisions
‘Convicted’
Germany
7976 (100)
1067 (13)
The Neth
7663 (100)
960 (13)
England
11078(100)
612 (6)
• Year 2003, per 100,000 inhabitants
• ‘Convicted’ includes all case ending decisions where offender
received a ‘penalty’ (e.g. Strafbefehl, Dutch ‘transactie’)
Germany and the Netherlands
Recorded Suspected Prosecution
offenders decisions
‘Convicted’
Germany
7976 (100)
2858 (36)
5784 (73)
1067 (13)
The Neth
7663 (100)
1797 (23)
1280 (17)
960 (13)
England
11078(100) 2525 (23)
1018(9)
874(8)
• Year 2003, per 100,000 inhabitants
• ‘Convicted’ includes case ending decisions where offender
received a ‘penalty’ (Strafbefehl, Dutch ‘transactie’, English caution)
6000
USA
5000
4000
Greece
3000
North/West
Turkey
South
Monaco
Central
Finland
England & Wales
East
2000
K
az
ak
hs
ta
Be
n
la
ru
U s
kr
ai
ne
Li
th
ua
ni
a
Prosecutions per 100,000
Belgium
1000
Russia
Latvia
Moldova
Georgia
0
0
5
10
15
20
Prosecutors per 100,000
25
30
35
1800
Canada
Sweden
1500
the Netherlands
Prosecutions per 100,000
Scotland
Poland
1200
Croatia
Northern Ireland
Hungary
Macedonia, FYR
Portugal
Luxembourg
Slovenia
Czech Republic
North/West
South
Italy
900
Estonia
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
600
Central
Slovakia
East
Denmark
Kyrgyzstan
Bulgaria
Romania
300
Albania
Cyprus
Malta
Azerbaijan
0
0
3
6
9
Prosecutors per 100,000
12
15
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Function/role can be different for different
types of offences
• As a consequence organization of
statistics can be different.
• The Neth: three types: Administrative
offences / misdemeanors / crimes
• England: Indictable/ summary offences
• BiH (discussion of offence structure)
Types of offences, England
• Legally: Offences are divided into
indictable and summary:
– Indictable must be sent directly to higher court
– Summary can be dealt with by lower courts or
by the police ( fixed penalty or caution)
• However, in practice, both procedural law
and statistics registration practices are
thoroughly confused and the different
crimes are difficult to distinguish
Category A
Misdemeanors
Category B
Crimes
Category C
Almost all traffic
offences: speeding,
traffic light etc.
These are handled
administratively
Misdemeanors
(admin)
Wet Mulderzaken
Category A
Misdemeanors
Category B
Crimes
Category C
Misdemeanors
(admin)
Misdemeanors
Economical and
environmental
misdemeanors
Crimes
All crimes: all theft,
all violent crime etc.
also some traffic
offences (DUI)
Category B
‘Crimes’
Rechtbankzaken
Category C
All other
misdemeanors
(driving without
insurance, being
drunk and
disorderly etc.)
Misdemeanors
(admin)
Misdemeanors
Category B
Crimes
Misdemeanor
(other)
Kantonzaken
‘Crimes’
Misdemeanors
(admin)
Misdemeanors
Misdemeanors
(other)
Crimes
‘Crimes’
12000000
10000000
8000000
C: Crimes
6000000
B: Misdemeanors (other)
A: Misdemeanors (admin)
4000000
2000000
0
Police input
Offenders
Prosecution
input
Courts
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Function/role can be different for adults and
juveniles and for serious/other crimes
• As a consequence organization of statistics can be
different.
• The Neth: Hardly any differences
• England: 1998-2012 special statistics for juveniles
but the YJB is to be abolished and statistics may
become like the Netherlands ( eg same as adults)
• England: different statistics for types of court.
• BiH (Discussion of role and organisation of the
courts)
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Does the Prosecution get their cases always
and only from the police?
• Has the Prosecution Service monopoly in
prosecuting cases?
• The Neth: also other investigative agencies.
Prosecution Service has monopoly (Neth):
High % (Eng)
• Bosnia (Discussion of prosecutor/court
relationship)
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Can police/prosecution impose sanctions as well as
the courts?
• In theory or in practice?
• The Neth: Police only in theory but in practice
Prosecution can and does in a large number of
cases.
• England: Police can caution and give fixed penalties,
usually with no advice from prosecutor: prosecutor
tries to give advice about cautioning but only in a
small number of cases.
• Bosnia (Discussion of who can impose sanctions)
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Are cases with no offenders part of the
workload of the prosecutor?
• The Neth: No
• England: No
• Bosnia (Discussion of ‘ no suspect cases))
• Is there only one jurisdiction?
• The Neth: Yes; Germany: No; UK: No
• Bosnia: several entities
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Is there a centralized register of criminal
records?
• The Neth: Yes.
• England has a Police National Computer
which is used for investiogation but little
used for Statistics
• Bosnia & Herzegovina (Discussion of
centralised registers)
Organization of Statistics
• ‘Data Monitoring’ has three aspects:
• Operational information
The actual data for handling a specific crime/case
• Management Information
Data to monitor the performance of the organizations
• Statistics
Data for research and Policy
• Although, ideally, these will be feed from the same
source of data the use and the users are completely
different
• I will talk about statistics, unless specifically
mentioned otherwise
Organization of Statistics
• To improve the value of crime and justice statistics, there is a
need for their collection, analysis and publication to be coordinated across agencies.
• If this is done common classifications, collection procedures
and IT systems can be used
• Good statistical practice can be shared
• Messages produced by the statistics can be shared between
agencies
• There can be a common approach to analysis
• There can be a common approach to publication, which will
enhance the usefulness of statistics and their existence can
become more widely known to the public.
Possible role of the Central Statistics
Office (CSO)
• The Central Statistical Office (CSO) is the place where
statistical experience is concentrated in many countries.
• It therefore could have a central role in the development and
the collection of crime and justice statistics
• The CSO can assist
– To facilitate discussions on common issues
– To share good practice between justice agencies
– To develop statistical capacity in the different justice agencies
• If the CSO cannot undertake this role for any reason, then one
of the agencies should take the lead, e.g. a statistical unit in the
Ministry of Justice
Pros and cons of a Central Statistics
Office (CSO)
• Advantages:
–
–
–
–
–
Uniformity
Efficiency
Seen as more independent
Statistics is their core bussiness
Linking with other statistics
• Disadvantages:
– Timeliness
– Level of detail
– Knowledge of the Criminal Justice field
Need for a Crime and Justice
Statistics Committee
• Discussions about common statistics issues should
take place in a committee or similar forum
• All relevant crime and justice agencies should be
represented on this forum
• The committee should be properly resourced and
chaired at a high enough level for its conclusions to
be taken seriously by senior management within the
crime and justice agencies
• Its role should be closely defined and its progress
managed by senior management
Suggestions for routine work of the
statistics committee
• Committee should meet at least three times a year
• Standing items should include reports from each agency of:
o
o
o
o
o
Progress on developments in collecting statistics
Progress towards consistency of classifications
Progress on new analyses and publications
Policy Uses made of statistics
Developments in infrastructure, including new members of staff,
improved training, new analysis, new IT.
• Minutes and papers of meetings should be placed on statistical
web sites to encourage openness
Suggestions for less frequent
activities of the statistics committee
• Conduct a survey of senior managers, to see what statistics
would be useful for policy development but not yet available.
• Publicise the codes being used by various agencies to
demonstrate differences and encourage harmonization.
• Invite a senior official, at Judge or Commissioner level to
address the statistics committee on his views on statistics.
• Examine statistics on crime and justice from other countries
should be examined to encourage the development of good
practice.
• Co-operate with other countries with similar problems in the
same region
Statistical Integrity
Statistics need to be fit for purpose: to have the following
characteristics to satisfy good Statistical Integrity: they need:
•
•
•
•
•
to be collected at the appropriate frequency: eg every month
to be ready quickly, otherwise their value declines rapidly
to be internally consistent and to be consistent with previous
data. ( eg prosecution output should be consistent with
courts input)
Data collection procedures and revisions to these or to
previous figures need to be open
To be accessible to the public and the media.
Use and users of statistics
Crime data
• This can be used for different purposes: solving crimes (we know that it is
always the husband), preventing crimes (locally as well as more general),
policy making, budgetting, informing the general public etc.
Management information:
• Workload and resources in order to optimize processes
• examples
– number of cases per staff member
– (Expected) input, by expected processing time
Users: managers of agencies, prosecution, courts
Use and users of statistics
Statistics (1), accountability:
• General information mainly on number of cases / offenders
• E.g.:
– Sanctions by crime type
– Number of prosecutions / convictions by crime type
Users: parliament, media, international bodies, general public
Statistics (2), research:
• Specific information for criminal research and policy development
• E.g.:
– Reoffending
– Development of crimes, by crime type
Users: policy advisers, researchers
Use and users of statistics
Some examples:
• Monitoring reoffending rates per offender
group (needs data from all agencies to get An
accurate system)
• Forecasting of prison capacity ( needs data
from all agencies)
• Evaluation of policy measures ( Data needs
will depend on policy being considered)
Architecture of statistics
Where do the data come from?
• Several possibilities:
– Aggregate data / detailed data
– (Partly) manual / completely automated
– Direct access to administrative system / Periodic
or indirect access
– Extracts / Change messages
Flow of data, the Netherlands
COMPAS:
Administrative system used in 19 PS offices
Information from appeal
courts
Special interface for CBS
Mgmt Info System
for 19 PS offices
Interface for
Criminal Record Register
CBS Statistics
Mgmt Info System for
Central Prosecutor Office
Central
Criminal Record Register
OMDATA
(WODC)
Crimes only
Crimes and misdemeanors
OBJD
(WODC)
Architecture of statistics
• Detailed data is to be preferred. Flexible, good for research. But there are
privacy issues.
• Completely automated seems more cost effective. But my experience is
that the quality is often less!
• Direct access is too heavy a burden on the primary administrative system.
Also, the IT architecture is more complicated
With periodic or indirect access there are two possibilities:
• Once every month / week / … an extract is made from the primary system
• Every time something important happens with a case (input, prosecution
decision, court verdict, …) a record is written to a intermediate buffer.