CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN STATISTICIANS

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CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN STATISTICIANS

Report for justice and crime
Paris, 13-15 June 2006
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The scenary

• Attention of countries and international
  organizations has been increasingly focused on
  crime statistics
• Comparability of statistical information on
  justice, freedom and security among countries is
  difficult because of different judicial systems
• Harmonization process on crime statistics is
  still lagging behind

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Strategies of long and short period

• The harmonization of crime statistics requires
  strategies of both long and short period
• The alignment of administrative sources can only
  be a long-term objective
• The harmonization of population surveys can be
  achieved in a shorter time.
• International organizations and national
  statistical systems are currently trying to
  improve the comparability of crime statistics by
  focusing on victimization survey as first step.

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The victimization surveys the past

• Victimization surveys were carried out by
  international organizations (UNICRI, UNODC,
  HEUNI), based on very small samples with high
  non response rates
• The main surveys have been
• The International Crime Victimization Survey
  -ICVS,
• Survey about criminality against firms CCBS
• Survey about violence against women IVAWS
• Victimization surveys were carried out only by
  few countries using bigger samples, with better
  quality (USA, Australia, Canada, UK, The
  Netherlands, Italy)

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The victimization surveys the new role of
international organizations

• countries in the region are progressively
  managing victimization surveys within the
  framework of official statistics and increasing
  their own direct experience at national level
• International organizations should strengthen
  national capacity to carry out victimization
  survey stressing their coordination role and
  providing support, guidelines and common
  instruments.

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National capacity and international guidelines on
victimization surveys

• UNECE, UNODC and Eurostat are working in the
  outlined important directions
• It is crucial to strengthen the coordination
  between the work of EUROSTAT towards the
  development of a common survey module and the
  work which UNECE-UNODC task force is carrying
  out.

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The role of UNECE Statistical Division

• The role of UNECE Statistical Division is crucial
• An important work has been undertaken.
• In the following years, further efforts are
  needed in order to obtain highly improved
  crimestatistics, which are strategic in any
  democratic country