NCJ Number
210527
Date Published
March 2005
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This report of the United Nations (U.N.) Secretary-General to the 11th U.N. Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal justice (held April 18-25, 2005, in Bangkok) reviews each of the 10 congresses held every 5 years from 1955 through 2000, examines the overall impact of the congresses, and suggests issues that might be addressed by future congresses.
Abstract
Primary issues addressed by the 10 congresses are as follows: the treatment of juvenile delinquents and prisoners; crime resulting from social changes accompanying rapid economic development; technical assistance in crime prevention and criminal justice for newly independent countries of the "third world;" crime and socioeconomic development; crime prevention and control in the last quarter of the 20th century; crime prevention and the quality of life; crime prevention for freedom, justice, peace, and development; countering emerging and growing crime issues; countering transnational organized crime; and meeting the challenges of crime and justice in the 21st century. Overall, the congresses have developed material that is "legislative" in the sense that they have set normative standards applicable to all U.N. member states. Increasingly the material of congresses is being incorporated into treaty language or the corpus of customary international law. The congresses have thus had an impact on building consensus for international standards and law. In the future, congresses should continue to be at the forefront of analyzing new trends and developments in globalization and how they influence crime trends and characteristics, with a view toward facilitating national and international crime prevention and criminal justice planning and implementation. 32 notes