copyright 2010, the world bank group. all rights reserved. background and governance part 1 crime,...

Copyright 2010, The World Bank Group. All Rights Reserved.

Background and governance

Part 1

Crime, Justice & Security Statistics

Produced in Collaboration between World Bank Institute and the Development Data Group (DECDG)


The background to crime

• Crime exists in all societies• Mechanisms for dealing with crime also exist in all countries.• There are ways of preventing crime and procedures to deal with

offenders who commit crime• A good knowledge of the extent of crime and the way that offenders

are dealt with is vital to manage and develop justice agencies

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There are many different types of crime

• Personal crime involves bodily violence: homicide, serious and minor wounding

• Theft involves stealing from persons or organisations: by stealing cash or possessions or committing fraud

• Crime against governments such as terrorism and fraud, corruption and environmental crime

• Fraud against financial institutions such as banks and international organisations

• Other crime involves offending against regulations: eg traffic, licensing, trade.

• Actions that offend against a country’s moral codes are also deemed crimes: eg drug-taking: deviant sexual acts: anti-religious behaviour

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Who commits crime

Organized crime is committed by groups working to a common purpose, eg piracy, extortion, robbery, terrorismMuch crime is not organised but committed by individuals working alone.Moreover, people with different functions in society have different opportunities to commit crime. – Those working in cities, with governments and international

organisations have opportunities for more complex forms of crime– Those without employment or in basic occupations may commit a more

limited range of offences– Those with a wide range of contacts may work with others in organised

criminal acts.

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Measuring Crime

• Not all crimes can easily be measured. • This depends on the willingness and possibility of the victims to

report.• Many crimes are not reported to the authorities• It also depends on the resources available to the police to be able to

detect crime • Other crimes have victims who would not wish to report them: eg.

illegal drug-taking, illegal prostitution

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Victims of crime

• There are many different types of victims– Households & Individuals: Tourists– Firms, including shops and factories: – Government departments: tax authorities

• One way to count the number of crimes is to carry out a survey of victims. This is called a victimization survey.

• Such a victimization survey is conducted, on a sample basis, • It is usually carried out through the Central Statistics Office or a

special agency set up for the purpose

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Surveys and Police Statistics

• Numbers of crimes will change as we move from one agency to the next.

• A CSO victimisation survey may estimate that 1 million crimes were committed against victims in a year.

• Many of these will not be reported to the police for various reasons.

• Police collect figures on crimes that are reported to them.

• This will be less than the victimisation numbers and could be around 200,000 each year.

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Prosecution and Court Statistics

• Not all crimes reported to the police result in the case going to the prosecutor

• Of the 200,000 crimes the police will decide to pass on perhaps 50,000 to the prosecutor.

• The prosecutor will decide there is not enough evidence to prosecute some cases and will only will deal perhaps 25,000.

• The powers of the prosecutor to end a case will vary from country to country. He may issue some sanction himself in perhaps 5,000 cases.

• The rest, perhaps 20,000, will be sent the court for trial.• The court will pass judgement on perhaps half of these: 10,000

cases.

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Corrections Statistics

• The options open to the court usually involve prison, probation or a fine

• The proportions given these different disposals could be 4,000 prison, 2,000 probation and 4,000 fine. The lengths of sentence in prison and on probation will also vary.

• Prison and probation services will have an ongoing number of people from sentences give over several previous years.

• Using the figures above, perhaps 40,000 could be in prison and 10,000 on probation at any one time.

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Statistics and Resources

• Authorities respond to crime by spending resources: – on prevention – on investigation – and on dealing with offenders

• Money is spent on staff: – on training: – on buildings (police stations, courts, prisons) – on equipment ( cars, computers, forensics) – and on administration

• Decisions have to be taken on how much can be spent on each area

• Statistics are needed on resource inputs so they can be related to their end result of reducing crime and making people safer

• Statistics can also show how well resources are spread between the various agencies (police, courts, prisons)

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Statistics and Offenders

• Statistics also describe how offenders are dealt with in each agency, show how they interrelate and how resources relate to the flow of work.

• Police, Prosecution, Courts, Probation and Prisons maintain extensive registers, both of the flow through their system and the stock, in the case of Probation and Prisons.

• Each agency also has registers of staff employed and resources used to carry out their work.

• The registers of each agency will include dates of actions and allow delays to be calculated for each case.

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Governance of Statistics

• To improve the value of crime and justice statistics for operations and policy, there is a need for their collection, analysis and publication to be co-ordinated 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.

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Role of the Central Statistics Office (CSO)

• The Central Statistical Office (CSO) is the place where statistical experience is concentrated in each country.

• It therefore should have a central role in the development 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

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Need for a Statistics Law

• A Statistics Law gives the CSO and agencies the right to collect crime and justice data:• Through surveys of individuals and organisations• Through registers kept by agencies• From agency information systems

• Many countries already have such a law

• If not such a law needs parliamentary authority andto be negotiated through the CSO.

• The Law would ensure necessary and useful statistics on crime and justice can be collected, analysed and published.

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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 can create a common work program and monitor the process.

• 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.

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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:• Progress on developments in collecting statistics• Progress towards consistency of classifications• Progress on new analyses and publications• Operational/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

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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.

• Publicize 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

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copyright 2010, the world bank group. all rights reserved. background and governance part 1 crime,...

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