The World of Crime: Breaking the Silence on Problems of Security, Justice, and Development Across the World

Abstract

PART I. THE CHALLENGE OF MEASURING CRIME INTERNATIONALLY Chapter 1. The need of better crime diagnostics The uses of international crime statistics International crime statistics: the sorry state of the art Crime as a social construct International crime statistics as controversial knowledge Twenty years of thwarted efforts ICVS: bringing the bad news Breaking the silence Summary points/in conclusion Chapter 2. Mismeasuring Crime International crime figures available A crime is a crime ? Recording practices of the police Reporting patterns The breakthrough of crime victimization surveys Victim satisfaction and trust levels The more recorded crime, the less crime ? Police recorded crime and victimization rates compared Other uses of police recorded crime statistics Police figures as trend indicators A moratorium on police figures? The political context of crime surveying Summary points/in conclusion PART II. COMMON CRIMES ACROSS THE WORLD Chapter 3. The burden of property crime Over all levels of crime Five year victimization rates Alternative measures of the crime burden Victimization by property crime Burglary Theft and frauds Consumer fraud Car crimes Car theft and joyriding Car hijacking Robbery Kidnapping The heavy crime burden of the business sector Costs for businesses Summary points/ in conclusion Chapter 4. Patterns of violent crime Homicide National homicide rates Assault Hate crimes in Western Europe Sexual assault/ rape Violence against women revisited Towards further standardization Child abuse and the cycle of violence Summary points/ in conclusion Chapter 5. Determinants of common crimes Comparative perspectives Urbanization and crime Regional patterns and future trends of urbanization Demographics and crime Future demographic trends Affluence and crime Mass transportation and crime Patterns of vehicle theft at second sight More affluence-less crime? Development and crime revisited Poverty and inequality Criminal victimization and gender inequality Drugs and alcohol abuse Alcohol abuse and violence Trends in alcohol consumption Availability of guns Firearms and violent crime Guns and violence in developing countries Summary points/in conclusion Chapter 6. Global crime trends Global trends in common crimes European trends in focus Trends in police recorded crimes Explaining the drop in crime Responsive securitization and the drop in crime The growing North-South security divide Crime and conflict Latin America: the price of democracy Summary points/in conclusion (part II) PART III. EMERGING GLOBAL CRIME THREATS Chapter 7. Assessing organized crime The new crime threats The changing nature of organized crime Illicit markets Defining organized crime Measurement issues The alternative of victimization surveys among the business community Towards an organized crime perception index Other markers of organized crime presence Instrumental violence The organized crime-corruption complex Other markers of organized crime: money-laundering and the black economy Composite organized crime index Country scores Trends in organized crime Participation of national organized crime groups in criminal markets Trafficking in persons Organized car theft The intercorrelates of crime Tentative transnational responses The US report on trafficking in persons Summary points/in conclusion Chapter 8. Other global security threats: corruption, terrorism and cyber crime Defining corruption Corruption indicators : perceptions and experiences Assessing the merits of objective and subjective indicator Corruption victimizations in the corporate world Business crime surveys Patterns and trends in terrorist crimes The incidence of terrorism Correlates of terrorism Terrorism and organized crime Cyber crime : trends in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) crimes Computer-facilitated crime No Asian exception Computers, organized crime and terrorism Summary point/in conclusion: redrawing the global crime map PART IV. INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE Chapter 9. Law enforcement, crime prevention and victim assistance Trends in criminal justice resources Allocation of resources to law enforcement and criminal justice Human resources for police and private security Police workloads The private security industry Trends in private policing More police-less crime? Homicide conviction rates as performance measure Towards a composite index for police performance Resources, performance and integrity Victim empowerment and support Victim reception by the police Trends in victim satisfaction Victim support services Implementing the UN Victims Declaration International best practices in crime prevention Guidelines for the prevention of crime Evidence-based approaches Planning and implementation Summary points/in conclusion Chapter 10. Courts and sentencing Judges and magistrates Gender balance in the courts Perceived independence and integrity of the judiciary Towards an international code of conduct for judges Public attitudes towards sentencing In conclusion Chapter 11. Corrections: a global perspective Trends in prisoners rates National prison populations Expanding use of imprisonement Interpreting prisoners rates Costs and limits of imprisonment The search for alternatives Benchmarking prisoners rates An index of punitiveness Summary points/in conclusion PART V. INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON CRIME AND JUSTICE Chapter 12. Security, rule of law and sustainable development Introductory remarks Legal institutions and the level of non-conventional crime Rule of law and terrorism Trafficking in persons and police performance. Good governance and development Good governance, development and the rule of crime Organized crime as Troian horse Vicious crimino-economic circles Summary points/in conclusion Chapter 13. Crime and justice: the need of global reform Diagnosing crime A culture of lawfullness Country profiles at a glance Costs of crime: the global crime bill Lawfulness and human development The North- South 'security divide' The 'justice deficit' Security and justice reform first The UN Millenium Development Goals A more secure world Appendix A: Datasources and data International Crime Victim Surveys (ICVS) Methodology Definitions Technical note on ICVS data presentation The International Crime Business Survey (ICBS) The International Violence Against Women Survey (IVAWS) The United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems Definition of terms Some Other Techincal Matters Method for construction of composite indexes Method for constructing scatter plots Method for constructing bar charts Appendix B Data tables Index References Appendix B: Data tables Index References