Bosnia CARDS Statistical Training Prosecution / Courts Session 2, November 22nd 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

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: this is more complex in BiH because of the different entities as well as the different justice agencies.

Role and organization of Prosecution and Courts This has a large influence on the statistics. It becomes very clear when looking at different jurisdictions Three examples: –Germany –The Netherlands (both with string prosecution agencies like BiH) and –England (with very recent prosecution system with fewer powers and low public recognition)

Germany and the Netherlands RecordedSuspected offenders Prosecution decisions ‘Convicted’ Germany 7976 (100)1067 (13) The Neth 7663 (100)960 (13) England 11078(100)612 (6) Year 2003, per 100,000 inhabitants ‘Convicted’ includes all case ending decisions where offender received a ‘penalty’ (e.g. Strafbefehl, Dutch ‘transactie’)

Germany and the Netherlands RecordedSuspected offenders Prosecution decisions ‘Convicted’ Germany 7976 (100)2858 (36)5784 (73)1067 (13) The Neth 7663 (100)1797 (23)1280 (17)960 (13) England 11078(100)2525 (23) 1018(9)874(8) Year 2003, per 100,000 inhabitants ‘Convicted’ includes case ending decisions where offender received a ‘penalty’ (Strafbefehl, Dutch ‘transactie’, English caution)

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 England: Indictable/ summary offences BiH (discussion of offence structure)

Types of offences, England Legally: Offences are divided into indictable and summary: –Indictable must be sent directly to higher court –Summary can be dealt with by lower courts or by the police ( fixed penalty or caution) However, in practice, both procedural law and statistics registration practices are thoroughly confused and the different crimes are difficult to distinguish

Misdemeanors Crimes Category A Category B Category C

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

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

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

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

Role and organization of Prosecution and Courts Function/role can be different for adults and juveniles and for serious/other crimes As a consequence organization of statistics can be different. The Neth: Hardly any differences England: special statistics for juveniles but the YJB is to be abolished and statistics may become like the Netherlands ( eg same as adults) England: different statistics for types of court. BiH (Discussion of role and organisation of the courts)

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 (Neth): High % (Eng) Bosnia (Discussion of prosecutor/court relationship)

Role and organization of Prosecution and Courts Can police/prosecution impose sanctions as well as the courts? In theory or in practice? The Neth: Police only in theory but in practice Prosecution can and does in a large number of cases. England: Police can caution and give fixed penalties, usually with no advice from prosecutor: prosecutor tries to give advice about cautioning but only in a small number of cases. Bosnia (Discussion of who can impose sanctions)

Role and organization of Prosecution and Courts Are cases with no offenders part of the workload of the prosecutor? The Neth: No England: No Bosnia (Discussion of ‘ no suspect cases)) Is there only one jurisdiction? The Neth: Yes; Germany: No; UK: No Bosnia: several entities

Role and organization of Prosecution and Courts Is there a centralized register of criminal records? The Neth: Yes. England has a Police National Computer which is used for investiogation but little used for Statistics Bosnia & Herzegovina (Discussion of centralised registers)

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

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.

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

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

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

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: oProgress on developments in collecting statistics oProgress towards consistency of classifications oProgress on new analyses and publications oPolicy Uses made of statistics oDevelopments 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

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

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.

Use and users of statistics Crime data This 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. Management information: Workload and resources in order to optimize processes examples –number of cases per staff member –(Expected) input, by expected processing time Users: managers of agencies, prosecution, courts

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 Statistics (2), research: Specific information for criminal research and policy development E.g.: –Reoffending –Development of crimes, by crime type Users: policy advisers, researchers

Use and users of statistics Some examples: Monitoring reoffending rates per offender group (needs data from all agencies to get An accurate system) Forecasting of prison capacity ( needs data from all agencies) Evaluation of policy measures ( Data needs will depend on policy being considered)

Architecture of statistics Where do the data come from? Several possibilities: –Aggregate data / detailed data –(Partly) manual / completely automated –Direct access to administrative system / Periodic or indirect access –Extracts / Change messages

Flow of data, the Netherlands COMPAS: Administrative system used in 19 PS offices Information from appeal courts Special interface for CBSMgmt Info System for 19 PS offices Interface for Criminal Record Register CBS StatisticsMgmt Info System for Central Prosecutor Office Central Criminal Record Register OMDATA (WODC) OBJD (WODC) Crimes only Crimes and misdemeanors

Architecture of statistics Detailed data is to be preferred. Flexible, good for research. But there are privacy issues. Completely automated seems more cost effective. But my experience is that the quality is often less! Direct access is too heavy a burden on the primary administrative system. Also, the IT architecture is more complicated With periodic or indirect access there are two possibilities: Once every month / week / … an extract is made from the primary system Every time something important happens with a case (input, prosecution decision, court verdict, …) a record is written to a intermediate buffer.