1. Montenegro Statistical Training
Prosecution / Courts
Session 2, February 2, – 16.30
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
Phase three – Training 1

2. 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

3. Role and organization of Prosecution and Courts
Has a large influence on the statistics.
Becomes very clear when looking at different jurisdictions
Two examples:

4. Germany and the Netherlands
Recorded
Suspected offenders
Prosecution decisions
‘Convicted’
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’)

5. Germany and the Netherlands
Recorded
Suspected offenders
Prosecution decisions
‘Convicted’
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’)

8. 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)

9. Types of offences, the Netherlands
Legally: Offences are divided into crimes (misdrijven) and infractions / misdemeanors (overtredingen)
Procedural law and registration practices suggest another categorization:

10. Category A
Misdemeanors
Category B
Crimes
Category C

11. Almost all traffic offences: speeding, traffic light etc.
These are handled administratively
Misdemeanors (admin) Wet Mulderzaken
Category A
Misdemeanors
Category B
Crimes
Category C

12. Economical and environmental misdemeanors
(admin)
Misdemeanors
Economical and environmental misdemeanors
Category B
‘Crimes’ Rechtbankzaken
Crimes
Category C
All crimes: all theft, all violent crime etc. also some traffic offences (DUI)

13. All other misdemeanors
(driving without insurance, being drunk and disorderly etc.)
Misdemeanors
(admin)
Misdemeanors
Category B
Misdemeanor (other)
Kantonzaken
Crimes
‘Crimes’

14. Misdemeanors
(admin)
Misdemeanors
Misdemeanors
(other)
Crimes
‘Crimes’

16. 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)

17. 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)

18. 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)

19. 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)

20. 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?

21. Role and organization of Prosecution and Courts
Is there a centralized register of criminal records?
The Neth: Yes.
Montenegro? (discussion)

22. 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 22

23. 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.

24. 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

25. 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 25

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 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
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

29. 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

30. 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.

31. Avoiding political interference
Justice Statistics should be free from political interference, this means:
Statistics should be released to everybody at the same time to avoid political misuse of the figures or their suppression
There is a need for a list of contact point where people can ask further questions about the statistics
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.

32. 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.

33. 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 33

34. 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 34

35. 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 35

36. Use and users of statistics
Some examples:
Monitoring reoffending rates per offender group
Forecasting of prison capacity
Evaluation of policy measures 36

37. Montenegro Statistical Training
Prosecution / Courts
Session 2, February 2, – 16.30
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
Phase three – Training 37