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Montenegro
Statistical Training
Prosecution / Courts
Session 2, February 2, 15.15 – 16.30
Overview of the Criminal Justice System
and Statistics - Introduction
With funding from the DEVELOPMENT OF MONITORING INSTRUMENTS FOR
European Union 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
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Has a large influence on the statistics.
• Becomes very clear when looking at
different jurisdictions
• Two examples:
Germany and the Netherlands
Recorded Suspected Prosecution ‘Convicted’
offenders decisions
Germany 7976 (100) 1067 (13)
The Neth 7663 (100) 960 (13)
• 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 ‘Convicted’
offenders decisions
Germany 7976 (100) 2858 (36) 5784 (73) 1067 (13)
The Neth 7663 (100) 1797 (23) 1280 (17) 960 (13)
• Year 2003, per 100,000 inhabitants
• ‘Convicted’ includes all case ending decisions where offender
received a ‘penalty’ (e.g. Strafbefehl, Dutch ‘transactie’)
6000
USA
5000
Belgium
Prosecutions per 100,000
4000
Greece
North/West
South
3000 Turkey Monaco
Central
Finland England & Wales
East
2000
n
a
sta
ni
h
ua
ne
ak
1000 U s
ru
th
Russia
ai
az
la
Li
kr
K
Be
Latvia
Moldova Georgia
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Prosecutors per 100,000
1800
Canada
Sweden
1500
the Netherlands
Scotland
Poland
1200
Prosecutions per 100,000
Croatia
Northern Ireland Macedonia, FYR Hungary
Portugal
Luxembourg Slovenia
North/West
Czech Republic
Italy South
900 Estonia
Germany Central
Ireland Iceland Slovakia East
600 Denmark
Bulgaria Kyrgyzstan
Romania
300
Cyprus Albania
Malta
Azerbaijan
0
0 3 6 9 12 15
Prosecutors per 100,000
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
• Montenegro? (discussion)
Types of offences, the Netherlands
• Legally: Offences are divided into crimes
(misdrijven) and infractions /
misdemeanors (overtredingen)
• Procedural law and registration practices
suggest another categorization:
Category A
Misdemeanors
Category B
Crimes
Category C
Almost all traffic Misdemeanors
offences: speeding, (admin)
traffic light etc. Wet Mulderzaken
These are handled
administratively
Category A
Misdemeanors
Category B
Crimes
Category C
Misdemeanors
(admin)
Misdemeanors
Economical and
environmental
misdemeanors Category B
‘Crimes’
Rechtbankzaken
Crimes
All crimes: all theft, Category C
all violent crime etc.
also some traffic
offences (DUI)
All other
misdemeanors
(driving without
insurance, being
drunk and Misdemeanors
disorderly etc.) (admin)
Misdemeanors
Category B
Misdemeanor
(other)
Crimes 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 Courts
input
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Function/role can be different for adults
and juveniles
• As a consequence organization of
statistics can be different.
• The Neth: Hardly any differences
• Montenegro? (discussion)
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
• Montenegro? (discussion)
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?
• In general, what is the flow of a ‘case’ through
the system
• The Neth: also other investigative agencies.
Prosecution Service has monopoly
• Montenegro? (discussion)
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Can police/prosecution impose sanctions?
Or only courts? In theory or in practice?
• The Neth: Police only in practice,
Prosecution can and does in a large
number of cases.
• Montenegro? (discussion)
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Are cases with no offenders part of the
workload of the prosecutor?
• The Neth: No
• Montenegro? (discussion)
• Is there only one jurisdiction?
• The Neth: yes; US, Germany: No
• Montenegro?
Role and organization of
Prosecution and Courts
• Is there a centralized register of criminal
records?
• The Neth: Yes.
• Montenegro? (discussion)
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 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.
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 Statistics Law
• A Statistics Law gives the CSO and / or other 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 and
to be negotiated through the CSO.
• The Law would ensure necessary and useful statistics on crime
and justice can be collected, analysed and published.
• One of the main advantages is that the privacy issue can be
regulated by this law.
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 Progress on developments in collecting statistics
o Progress towards consistency of classifications
o Progress on new analyses and publications
o Policy Uses made of statistics
o 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.
Avoiding political interference
• Justice Statistics should be free from political interference,
this means:
o Statistics should be released to everybody at the same time to avoid
political misuse of the figures or their suppression
o There is a need for a list of contact point where people can ask further
questions about the statistics
o A policy is needed for more detailed release on request: eg to
academics for research including making data anonymous.
• If this is not the case, it is important to work towards this and
build agreements that work towards statistical independence.
Use and users of statistics
Crime data 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.
Use and users of statistics
Management information:
• Workload and resources in order to optimize
processes
• E.g.:
– number of cases per staff member
– (Expected) input, by expected processing time
Users: managers
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
Use and users of statistics
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
• Forecasting of prison capacity
• Evaluation of policy measures
Montenegro
Statistical Training
Prosecution / Courts
Session 2, February 2, 15.15 – 16.30
Overview of the Criminal Justice System
and Statistics - Introduction
With funding from the DEVELOPMENT OF MONITORING INSTRUMENTS FOR
European Union JUDICIAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT INSTITUTIONS IN
THE WESTERN BALKANS 2009-2011
Phase three – Training
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