Justice and crime - International comparisons

National Statistical Institute

„Health Care and Justice Statistics“ Department

Diana Savcheva

Chief expert

2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 561

International comparisons ensures data at country level for European Union Member States and other countries on:

• crimes recorded by the police - homicide, rape, theft;
• the number of police officers;
• the number of persons held in prison.

The data and metadata are collected from National Statistical Institutes or other relevant authorities (police and justice departments) in each EU Member State, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, candidate and EU potential members.

The information is based on the joint Eurostat-UNODC data collection (UN-CTS).

Data for the United Kingdom (England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) appears separately because of the existence of three separate jurisdictions.

• Crimes are classified by the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS);
• Regions are classified by Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS).

Not applicable.

• Crimes recorded by the police - data include offences within the scope of the national penal codes.

Homicide - includes intentional killing of a person, infanticide etc. Attempted homicide is excluded. Bulgarian data cover intentional homicide only. Homicide recorded by the police can be registered at the time the offence is first reported to the police, in the process of investigation or after the offence has been investigated.

Rape is sexual penetration without valid consent or with consent as a result of intimidation, force, fraud, coercion, threat, deception, use of drugs or alcohol, abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of benefits.

Theft includes unlawfully taking or obtaining of property with the intent to permanently withhold it from a person or organization without consent and without the use of force, threat of force or violence, coercion or deception. Robbery, theft of intellectual property, possession of stolen goods or money, identity theft etc. are excluded.

• The number of police officers includes all ranks of police officers whose principal functions are the prevention, detection and investigation of crime and the apprehension of alleged offenders. Data concerning support staff are excluded.
• The number of persons held in prison includes total number of adult and juvenile prisoners, incl. persons in juvenile offenders' institutions, psychiatric facilities, or other institutions where persons are deprived of their liberty. Persons held pending investigation into their immigration status, or foreign citizens without a legal right to stay are excluded.

Crime recorded by the police

Police officers

Persons held in prison

For administrative data, the statistical population for each statistic is the complete register (all the relevant records). The definition of the statistical unit depends on the definitions described above, as a result of which the respective population is defined. Regarding persons, all persons are included, without limitation of age or nationality.

European Union Member States, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, candidate and EU potential members.

2013 - 2022

Not applicable.

Number.

Rate per 100 000 persons of the population.

Crimes - the standard reference period is the calendar year.

Police officers - the standard reference date is 31 December.

Persons held in prison - the reference date in a given year differs across jurisdictions.

Data for Bulgaria are as of 31 December.

• The 2004 Hague Programme November;
• The 2009 Stockholm Programme: An open and secure Europe serving and protecting citizens;
• Eurostat Task Force groups meetings decisions from regularly conducted meetings;
• Eurostat Working Group on crime statistics decisions from their annually meetings.

Not applicable.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Regulation (EU) 2015/759 of the European parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 amending Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics.

Not applicable.

Data are released in the Eurostat database approximately 16 months after the reference year.

Release calendar - Eurostat (europa.eu)

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Annual.

Not applicable.

• Crime statistics - Statistics Explained (europa.eu)
• Police, court and prison personnel statistics - Statistics Explained (europa.eu)
• Prison statistics - Statistics Explained (europa.eu)

Database - Crime and criminal justice - Eurostat (europa.eu)

Not applicable.

On the Eurostat website - the analysis files.

Eurostat web portal on crime and criminal justice contains information on data, quality, methodology and publications, as well as thematic working papers on specific crimes.

The data are provided from the official sources in the countries such as the National Statistics Office, prison administrations, the Ministries of the Interior or Justice and the Police. All countries have procedures for the collection of these statistics but there are many differences between the systems used by different countries.

Additional information concerning applied methodologies is available on Eurostat database Crime and Criminal Justice (crim).

Crime and criminal justice statistics – Methodological guide for users – 2024 edition

Guidelines for the production of statistical data by the police

EU guidelines for the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes - edition 2017.

Monitoring EU crime policies using the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS).

Overview of the availability, comparability and consistency of administrative statistical data on recorded crime and on the stages of the criminal justice process in the EU - Publications Office of the EU (europa.eu)

Data are provided to Eurostat through a network of national contact points designated by the national statistical offices. The contact points are responsible for collecting the data from various sources, summarizing, and validating the data at national level and providing them to Eurostat. Eurostat validates the data and monitors the data quality for each data category and time series.

Each country determines its own procedures for gathering data and is responsible for the provided information. No assessment has been made by Eurostat.

The need to provide information on the development of crime in the European Union was recognised in the Hague Programme adopted by the European Council in 2004.

Not applicable.

There is missing data for some countries, for some or all years, or for some indicators.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The data for the reference year Y are requested to be provided by the 15th of September of year Y+1. If necessary, after the validation process have been applied to the data, the countries are consulted again to revise any inconsistencies or to provide additional reference metadata.

Following data validation, the data are published on the Eurostat website, within 16 months of the reference year.

Comparability is affected by many factors, such as differences in:

• Legal system and criminal justice system;
• Legislation, criminal law and legal definitions;
• Organisation and efficiency of police, prosecution, courts and prisons;
• Recording stage - at the time the offence is first reported to the police, in the process of investigation or after the offence has been investigated;
• Recording system, reporting system, and production system;
• Relation between national crime definition and international statistical definition;
• Statistical unit and statistical population;
• Statistical definition, reference time, counting methods and calculation methods.

Comparisons should be made based on trend analysis.

The comparability of the data over time is checked before dissemination as part of the data validation process. Each country indicates any change in the methodology used, definition applied or report rules used.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The main burden is on the European Union Member States and the national contact points who collect and summarize the data from various sources.

Annually, if necessary.

Revisions are incorporated into the database after being confirmed by national contact.

Eurostat statistics data base.

The source data type is records from administrative registers. There are several different data producing sources, such as police, prosecution, courts, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice and prison administration.

For Bulgaria - data sources are the Ministry of Interior and the General Directorate “Execution of penalties” at the Ministry of Justice.

Annually.

The data are provided to Eurostat by completing a questionnaire, using harmonized definitions. They are transmitted to Eurostat in accordance with the information security procedures through a single-entry point eDAMIS.

The data are checked for completeness, internal consistency, and consistency over time and coherence with other relevant data sources. The following checks are performed for:

• Consistency in each table and between tables;
• Revisions of data for earlier years;
• Large variation in data between years;
• Large change from previous to current reference year - incl. inconsistencies between data and metadata.

Within the data validation procedure and, if necessary, the data are validated by the contact persons. Eurostat does not perform editing, evaluation, imputation, weighing, seasonal adjustment or other calculation procedures.

Detailed information on definitions used, inconsistencies, technical and legal changes provided by countries is published in Crime and Criminal Justice (crim).

There is no summary information at EU level published in the Eurostat database for crime recorded by the police, police officers and persons held in prison.

Not applicable.

None.