The World of Crime

In today′s interdependent world, governments must become more transparant about their crime and justice problems. This book seeks to break the conspiracy of silence regarding statistical information on these sensitive issues. The book subsequently analyizes the macro causes of crime such as rapid urbanization, economic inequality, gender discrimination, abuse of alcohol and drugs and availability of guns. Furthermore, the book analyizes the impact of crime on individuals and societies. Using a wealth of statistical information, the author underlines the need of greater international efforts to tackle transnational problems of crime.

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