Criminal Justice Statistics in the Netherlands

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Criminal Justice Statistics in the Netherlands

• Paul Smit
• WODC
• Ministry of Justice
• the Netherlands

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Criminal Justice Statistics

• The Dutch Criminal Justice System
• Organisation of the Dutch Statistics
• Characteristics of the Dutch Statistics
• Future Developments

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Types of Crime
Crimes committed (Victim Surveys) Police registration Prosecution / Courts
Crimes
Misdemeanors (criminal)
Misdemeanors (administrative)
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Types of Crime
( 1,000) Crimes committed (Victim Surveys) Police registration Prosecution / Courts
Crimes 4,000 1,400 240
Misdemeanors (criminal) - (500) 180
Misdemeanors (administrative) - 9,200 -
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Types of Crime
( 1,000) Crimes committed (Victim Surveys) Police registration Prosecution / Courts
Crimes 4,000 1,400 240
Misdemeanors (criminal) - (500) 180
Misdemeanors (administrative) - 9,200 -
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The Dutch Criminal Justice System

• Separate Ministry of Justice and Ministry of
  Internal Affairs
• 25 highly autonomous police regions
• Prosecution plays central role
• Only professional judges, no jury or lay judges

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Organisation of the Dutch Statistics

• An independent and powerful Statistics
  Netherlands (CBS Central Bureau of Statistics)
  was originally the only provider of statistics.
• Computerized registration systems more timely,
  detailed (and reliable?) data provided by
  ministries (and other organisations) themselves
• Changing role CBS
• Surveys
• Combining data from different areas

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• Annual
• Face to Face
• 20 k sample

CBS Ministry of Justice Ministry of Justice Min Int. A.
Victim Surveys POLS Police Monitor Police Monitor
Victim Surveys POLS Safety Mon
Police registr.
Police suspects
Pros. input
Pros. decisions
Court decisions
Reconviction
Prison pop.

• Bi-annual
• Telephone
• 90 k sample

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CBS Ministry of Justice Ministry of Justice Min Int. A.
Victim Surveys POLS Police Monitor Police Monitor
Victim Surveys POLS Safety Mon
Police registr. CBS Police statistics HKS System
Police suspects CBS Police statistics HKS System
Pros. input
Pros. decisions
Court decisions
Reconviction
Prison pop.
Surveys
Aggregate data
Individual (case) data

• Each police region their own systems for
  registration !

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CBS Ministry of Justice Ministry of Justice Min Int. A.
Victim Surveys POLS Police Monitor Police Monitor
Victim Surveys POLS Safety Mon
Police registr. CBS Police statistics HKS System
Police suspects CBS Police statistics HKS System
Pros. input CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Pros. decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Court decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Reconviction OBJD
Prison pop.
Detailed information on cases, offenders,
criminal acts, convictions, sentences etc.
Slightly less information as OMData, but
now Unique offenders!
Detailed registration of prosecutor decisions and
court cases by the prosecutors office
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CBS Ministry of Justice Ministry of Justice Min Int. A.
Victim Surveys POLS Police Monitor Police Monitor
Victim Surveys POLS Safety Mon
Police registr. CBS Police statistics HKS System
Police suspects CBS Police statistics HKS System
Pros. input CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Pros. decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Court decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Reconviction OBJD
Prison pop. CBS Prison Statistics TULP
Surveys
Aggregate data
Individual (case) data
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CBS Ministry of Justice Ministry of Justice Min Int. A.
Victim Surveys POLS Police Monitor Police Monitor
Victim Surveys POLS Safety Mon
Police registr. CBS Police statistics HKS System
Police suspects CBS Police statistics HKS System

Pros. input CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Pros. decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Court decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Reconviction OBJD
Prison pop. CBS Prison Statistics TULP
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Characteristics of the Dutch Statistics

• No link between police statistics and prosecution
  / court statistics
• Counting units are complicated, in this regard
  voegingen (combining cases) is particularly
  problematic
• Statistics are Criminal Code oriented
• Offence type can change
• No link with crimes as seen by public (or policy
  makers)
• Hardly any victim data

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Future Developments

• One comprehensive Victim Survey
• Extending OBJD with execution data
• Linking Police and Court Statistics
• Linking with the CBS Social Statistical Dataset

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CBS Ministry of Justice Ministry of Justice Min Int. A.
Victim Surveys POLS Police Monitor Police Monitor
Victim Surveys POLS Safety Mon
Police registr. CBS Police statistics HKS System
Police suspects CBS Police statistics HKS System
Pros. input CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Pros. decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Court decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Reconviction OBJD
Prison pop. CBS Prison Statistics TULP
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CBS Ministry of Justice Ministry of Justice Min Int. A.
Victim Surveys Integrated Comprehensive Victim Survey Integrated Comprehensive Victim Survey Integrated Comprehensive Victim Survey Integrated Comprehensive Victim Survey
Police registr. CBS Police statistics HKS System
Police suspects CBS Police statistics HKS System
Pros. input CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Pros. decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Court decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Reconviction OBJD
Prison pop. CBS Prison Statistics TULP OBJD
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CBS Ministry of Justice Ministry of Justice Min Int. A.
Victim Surveys Integrated Comprehensive Victim Survey Integrated Comprehensive Victim Survey Integrated Comprehensive Victim Survey Integrated Comprehensive Victim Survey
Police registr. CBS Police statistics HKS System
Police suspects CBS Police statistics HKS System
Pros. input CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Pros. decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Court decisions CBS Court Statistics OMData OBJD
Reconviction OBJD
Prison pop. CBS Prison Statistics TULP OBJD
Link with other social statistics