1. An analysis of the criminal case flow in European courts
Beata Gruszczyńska
University of Warsaw
Institute of Justice, Poland
GT-EVAL Group Member

2. One of the important element of the European justice system performance is fair and prompt adjudication in criminal cases. Timely imposed punishment is more efficient than a severe one. Inevitability and promptness of penalties that satisfy the sense of rightness and have a deterrent effect.
Cross-countries comparison of crime, as well as number of incoming criminal cases at courts, are very risky and limited. Countries differ in penal systems, criminal policy, perception of crime, tradition, rule of registration, definition, etc.
Presentation shows only some quantitative results of CEPEJ data collection, which shall be developed taking into account number of judges, support staff, court facilities, technical equipment, computerization, organization and court management.
Comments are provisional, highlighting the most visible differences between countries.
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

3. Points for discussion Trends of crime in Europe
Limitation in cross-national comparison
Crime and incoming criminal cases to the courts
Clearance rate (CR) and gross clearance rate (GCR)
Flow of criminal cases
Disposition time of criminal cases
Cases of intentional homicide and robbery
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

4. Sources of data Data on criminal cases in European courts
European judicial systems. Edition 2010 (data 2008). Efficiency and quality of justice, European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ)
Edition 2010(data 2008):
Crime data
European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics
Fourth edition:
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

5. Cross-countries and cross-clusters comparison Regional clusters used by WHO (geographical sub-regions)
CIS
South-Eastern Europe
Baltic Countries
Central Europe
Southern Europe
Western Europe
in which Anglo-Saxon
Nordic countries
ARM
ALB
LVA
SVK
CYP
SWI
IRE
ICE
MDA
MDK
LTU
POL
MAT
FRA
UKE1
England and Wales
NOR
UKR
BIH
EST
CZH
POR
AUT
UKE2
Northern Ireland
DEN
GEO
TUR
HUN
GRE
NET
UKE3
Scotland
FIN
ROM
SVN
ITA
DEU
SWE
AZE
BUL
SPAIN
BEL
CRO
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

6. Cross-countries and cross-clusters comparison European Union versus non EU members
EU 15 + EFTA
EU 12 (accession in 2004+)
Non EU members
Austria the Netherlands
Belgium Norway
Denmark Portugal
Finland Spain
France Sweden
Germany Switzerland
Iceland Ireland Italy Ireland UK Scotland
Luxemburg
UK England and Wales
UK Northern Ireland
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Albania
Armenia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
Georgia
Moldova
Russian Federation
FROMacedonia
Turkey
Ukraine
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

7. Total crime rate in 2000-2007 (per 100 000) European Sourcebook data
The biggest rates are in Western European countries, what is caused, besides others, the higher reporting rates to the police
The lowest rates are in non-EU member states
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

8. Total crime rate in 2007 by geographical regions
CIS
(Commonwealth of Independent
States)
South-Eastern Europe
Baltic Countries
Central Europe
Southern Europe
Western Europe
in which: Anglo-Saxon
Nordic Countries
ARM
ALB
LVA
SVK
CYP
SWI
UKE2
ICE
MDA
MDK
LTU
POL
MAT
FRA
UKE1
NOR
UKR
BIH
EST
CZH
POR
AUT
UKE3
DEN
GEO
TUR
HUN
GRE
NET
IRE
FIN
ROM
SVN
ITA
DEU
SWE
BUL
SPAIN
BEL
CRO
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

9. Average annual growth rate in 2000-2007 (%) by type of crime
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

10. Trend of crime and limitation of cross-national comparison
In Europe, total criminal offences cover different situation and comparison is limited; trend of total offences is slowly decreasing
The violent crime (except rape) was growing near 2002 and slowly decreasing in In many countries increase of assault is related to new legal provisions
Robbery, theft of motor vehicles are decreasing except the group of non EU
Domestic burglary is decreasing except Albania and Armenia
Drug offences are increasing in almost all European countries
Main reasons of incomparability of crime in Europe
Penal systems
Scope of criminalization
System of registration
(petty offences, traffic offences, illegal parking, etc.)
“victimless” offences (illegal possession of arms, drunk driving, drug offences)
Counting rule of offences and offenders
time point when offence is recorded (“input”, “output”)
multiply (several) offences committed (the most serious or ..)
serial or continuous offending
“Dark number” of crime (unreported or unregistered offences)
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

11. Incoming criminal cases in 2008 (per 100 000) CEPEJ data
mean
median 1718
min
max over 8000
The highest rate is in Cyprus (over 11000), Croatia, FYROMacedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
In about 40% of countries rate does not exceed 1000
From 1000 to 3000 in about 40% countries.
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

12. Crime and incoming criminal cases: link?
Incoming cases per 100 th
low
medium
high
High crime rate
Austria
Sweden
Denmark France
Finland Germany (2006)
UK Scotland
UK England and Wales
Belgium
Italy
Netherlands
Spain
Medium crime rate
Czech Republic
Lithuania
Russian Federation
Latvia
Portugal
Switzerland
Croatia Malta
Estonia Poland
Hungary Slovenia
Low crime rate
Albania Moldova
Armenia Romania
Bulgaria Slovakia
Georgia
Turkey
Ukraine
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Cyprus
FYROMacedonia
Relatively high crime rates are observed mostly in Western European countries, while the low and medium rates are in Eastern Europe.
The variety in incoming case rates is related to the different criminal policy, divergence in the reaction on crime, e.g. simplified proceeding, sanctions imposed by prosecutors without coming to the courts, etc.
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

13. Proportion of incoming criminal cases related to severe offences and misdemeanors:
In Italy, Portugal, Estonia, France, Hungary and Poland: % of incoming cases of serious offences is higher that 50%.
In some countries (Albania, Serbia, FYROMacedonia, Croatia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Denmark) % of “serious cases” is below 20%.
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

14. % of pending cases at 1st January 2008 in the number of incoming cases
The biggest backlog (from previous years) were in Slovenia and Portugal (over 100% of incoming cases in 2008).
Large backlogs were in Montenegro, Croatia, FYROMacedonia, Italy and Turkey (from 80% to 100% of the number of new cases in 2008).
The best situation was in Estonia, where backlogs was about 4% of new cases, followed by Russian Federation (14%) and the Netherlands (18%).
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

15. Clearance Rate and Gross Clearance Rate
Clearance Rate (CR) is the relationship between the number of resolved cases and the number of incoming cases in a given year
CR = resolved cases / incoming cases
The second measure GCR takes into account the total number of cases to be solved
Gross Clearance Rate (GCR) is the relationship between the number of resolved cases and the total number of cases handled in the courts in a given year (pending cases from previous periods and incoming cases)
GCR = resolved cases / pending cases + incoming cases
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

16. Clearance rate of criminal severe cases in 2008 (%)
In about half of countries (out of 30) the clearance rate exceeded 100%, what meant that it was possible to reduce the backlog from previous years.
In 9 countries the clearance rates were lower or equal 95%, what means that backlogs from previous years increased by another 20% - in Armenia and about 10% - in Spain, Latvia, Denmark, Albania and Malta.
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

17. Gross clearance rate of criminal severe cases in 2008 (%)
The best results were achieved by countries in which the backlogs from previous years were small.
Slovenia, Italy, Turkey and Albania managed to settle only about 50% of the cases.
[GCR could be calculated for 27 countries, which provided relevant data]
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

18. Flow of criminal severe case (per 100 000)
The best result was in Estonia and the Netherlands, where the backlogs from previous period were small.
In Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and FYROMacedonia number of resolved cases exceeded number of incoming cases and backlogs could be slightly reduced.
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

19. Flow of criminal severe case (per 100 000) continuation
Latvia, Denmark and Switzerland increased backlogs
Belgium, Russian Federation, Serbia and Georgia could slightly reduced pending cases
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

20. Pending criminal serious cases at the end of 2008 (per 100 000)
The highest backlog has been observed in Italy (over 2000).
In Slovenia, Portugal and Turkey the pending cases were over 1000.
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

21. Disposition time of criminal severe cases in days
Average duration is over 190 days (over half a year).
In Slovenia and Italy disposition time is longer than 1 year.
Courts in Belgium, the Netherlands, Russian Federation and Estonia needs much shorter time to resolved criminal severe cases than in other states – not more than 3 months.
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

22. Clearance rate and gross clearance rate for cases of robbery
CR (clearance rate) was the biggest in Georgia, Switzerland and Bulgaria
The highest GCR (gross clearance rate) was in Turkey, Russian Federation and Armenia
Note: only few countries provided relevant information about cases of robbery
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

23. Robbery in Europe in 2000-2007 (per 100 000) Source: European Sourcebook 2010
Robberies declined in many countries
The fastest decreasing was in new EU member states
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

24. Clearance rate and gross clearance rate for cases of intentional homicide
CR over 100% was in 8 countries taken into account
The highest GCR – over 80% was in Russian Federation and Finland
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

25. Intentional homicide in Europe in 2000-2007 (per 100 000) Source: European Sourcebook 2010
Homicides decreasing in almost all countries in Europe
The fastest decline was in non-EU member states
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

26. Comments
Case flow monitoring shows wide differences in number of incoming cases, resolved cases, clearance rate and pending cases in European courts
In more than half countries gross clearance rate (as a relation between resolved cases and total cases to solve) is lower than 70%. Countries with GCR below 50% need improving management system very fast
Analysis on national level is only an example and should be expanded with the additional information about e.g. the size of the courts, the number of judges and support staff
The study shows that there is a need to improve data collection, refine the definition to make next survey more complete and effective.
CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska