European sourcebook of crime and criminal justice: Characteristics and its importance for the development of evidence of crime in Serbia

Abstract

Crime statistics, despite numerous criticisms and shortcomings, are an important source of data on crime as a mass phenomenon. In addition, police statistics as evidence of the reported crime, in terms of the type and characteristics of recorded criminal behavior and characteristics of perpetrators, provide an insight into the nearest real picture of crime, both at national and international level. The aim of the paper is to present the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice as a unified collection of data on crime and criminal justice at the European level. After presenting the background and methodological characteristics of this way of collecting and presenting the data, the statistical data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia for the period from 2007th till 2011th as an example of the kind of data that were collected for the fifth edition of the European sourcebook of crime and criminal justice will be presented. In conclusion it was emphasized the importance of European sourcebook for improvement of the recording and public presentation of data on crime and criminal justice in our country, as well as for comparison with the situation in other countries and for planning strategies to prevent and suppress crime in Serbia.