NCJ Number
247486
Date Published
February 2014
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Pursuant to the United Nations Economic and Social Council resolutions 2012/18 and 2013/37, this report by the Council's Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice outlines activities undertaken to improve crime statistics, which is part of a broader plan to improve the quality and availability of crime statistics at the national and international levels.
Abstract
Major challenges for improving the quality and availability of crime statistics are identified, and a number of activities are proposed for addressing these challenges. There are three major components of the proposed plan. One component is the development of new standards and methodology for collecting and reporting crime statistics. The building of an international classification of crime for statistical purposes, as requested by the Statistical Commission and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, addresses this limitation. Once finalized, this will constitute a comprehensive definitional framework of criminal offenses that will improve the standardization and comparability of data on crime within and across nations. This classification is scheduled to be presented to the Statistical Commission and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice for endorsement in 2015. The second component of the plan is improvement in the capacity to produce and disseminate crime data. This is being done through a number of international or regional initiative in 2012-2013 that support countries in the production of crime statistics. Training tools are being provided, along with direct technical assistance, the development of regional partnerships, and the use of training seminars and conferences. The third major component of the plan is improvement in international data collections and analyses. In this effort, a common toolkit is being implemented for conducting crime and victimization surveys. Seven recommendations for advancing these three components of the broad plan are proposed for consideration by the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.