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

PitfallsReasons 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

• 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-and-analysis/index.html

UNODC Standards and recommendations for crime statistics

UNODC has published three manuals for improving crime andjustice statistics:

1. A manual for the development of a system of criminal justice statistics

2. A manual on conducting victimization surveys (together with UNECE)

3. A manual for the measurement of juvenile justice indicators (together with UNICEF)

Each of these is the result of input by expert statisticians frommany countries who have between them many years’ experienceof collecting data on crime and justice statistics. Thus theyrepresent the best available knowledge about how to achievegood 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 goodpractice.

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/Crime-statistics/Manual_on_Victimization_surveys_2009_web.pdf

It contains sections on:1. Introduction to surveys2. Planning a victimization survey3. Methodological issues4. Counting offences and victims5. Questionnaire design6. Interviewing7. Data processing, estimation and analysis8. Ethical considerations9. Data dissemination and documentation10. 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-and-analysis/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.html

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 non-criminal 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 thesurvey, can be found at http://english.wodc.nl/onderzoeksdatabase/icvs-

2005-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 aremethodological 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