According to the National Statistical Programme for 2021 and Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys, final data from the survey ‘Crimes, accused and persons convicted’ should be published on 16 July 2021.
Sources of information for punished criminality are:
- The Unified Information System for Counteraction to Criminality (UISCC) that provides around 90 - 94% of the primary data for the country;
- Paper statistical questionnaire ‘Card for accused person’ filled by the pre-trial and trial proceedings and is used to expand and ensure full coverage and validation of information quality.
In the process of summarizing, aggregation and validation of the data for the 2020 reference year, a lack of primary data on punished criminality was found compared to previous years. Publicly available documents also draw attention to the scope and completeness of data submitted both on paper to the NSI and to the UISCC. Although the methodological features of the survey and the application of statistical definitions do not allow the direct use of publicly available documents, they can and are used in the process of validation of the obtained operational data.
The NSI produces and disseminates objective, timely and accurate statistical information in compliance with the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice. At the same time, the main priority in our work is to provide statistical information in full scope and with guaranteed high quality. In this regard, our work will continue to supplement the missing information on crimes and persons convicted with sentence that has come into force in 2020.
The final data will be available for all users on 27 August 2021 on the NSI website in the section ‘Demographic and social statistics’, section ‘Justice and crime’ at the following address: https://www.nsi.bg/en/content/6238/crimes-accused-and-persons-convicted, in the Informational System INFOSTAT at the following address: https://infostat.nsi.bg/infostat/pages/module.jsf?x_2=56, as well as on request under the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services of the NSI.
