Meeting of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Expert Group on Improving the Collection

Meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group on improving the collection, reporting and analysis of crime data

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 8-10 February 2010

Draft final report

I. INTRODUCTION...... 1 II. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...... 2 III. ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING...... 4 IV. SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION...... 5

I.Introduction

1. The Meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group on improving the collection, reporting and analysis of crime data was convened pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 2009/25 entitled “Improving the collection, reporting and analysis of data to enhance knowledge on trends in specific areas of crime”, adopted on 30 July 2009. In that resolution, the Council requested the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to establish an open-ended intergovernmental expert group to be convened at least once between sessions of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice; to prepare recommendations on the improvement of tools for the collection of relevant crime data, in particular, the United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Sys- tems, as well as the collection, collation, analysis and reporting processes, in support of the ongoing work of the Office in that area.

2. In particular, the Resolution suggested a number of ‘general considerations’ for the expert group to consider with a view to improvement of the UN-CTS questionnaire and process. These included: the need to simplify and improve the UN-CTS; the possibility of using a shorter, annual questionnaire containing a core set of questions and thematic modules; and the importance of learning from other UNODC data collection mechanisms, including in relation to the use of modern technologies where feasible.

3. Member States and other donors were invited to provide extrabudgetary resources for that purpose in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations. The government of Argentina offered to host the first meeting of

1 the group in Buenos Aires.

4. The Resolution requested that a report of the activities of the expert group should be submitted to the Commis- sion on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its nineteenth session (Vienna, 17-21 May 2010).

Background

5. The United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) regularly collects statistics on crime and criminal justice, virtually from all UN Member States, since the early ‘70s. The 11th UN-CTS was sent to Member States on 1 September 2009 and incorporated a number of changes on a ‘pilot’ basis.

6. In particular, the questionnaire was revised in its structure, to include a core section (broken down into four parts as in the past: police, prosecution, courts and prisons) and two thematic modules, one on the topic of the thematic discussion of the 19th Session of the CCPCJ (illicit trafficking in cultural property) and one on trafficking in persons. Changes also included the electronic dissemination of the questionnaire in Excel format as well as increased possibility for respondents to provide metadata and to report data from previous years. The process of revision for the 11th UN-CTS pilot was carried out with a view to moving to annual data collection. II.Conclusions and recommendations 7. In order to simplify and improve the reporting system of the UN-CTS, it is recommended that UNODC, in con- sultation with Member States and relevant regional bodies develop a protocol for the identification of agencies responsible for responding to the questionnaire. The protocol, recognizing that in different countries, different organizations may be responsible for completing the survey, may require Member States to identify a focal point for crime and criminal justice statistics to be indicated to UNODC as responsible for responding to the questionnaire in each coun- try.

8. The expert group recognizes that the value of statistics lies in their analysis and dissemination. It also recognizes that enhanced analysis and dissemination of UN-CTS data may contribute to an increased response rate where Member States are able to further recognize the use to which reported data is put. It recommends that results from the UN-CTS should be disseminated regularly in electronic form in a format conducive to data analysis, to be facilitated by the preparation of basic data tabulation. If sufficient resources are made available, the group recommends that UN- ODC prepare global trends analysis of selected crime types on an annual basis to be disseminated through the UN- ODC website and if possible in printed format.

9. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime should continue to strengthen links with relevant international and regional organizations, institutes of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network and individu- al Member States in UN-CTS follow-up and checking of data. Furthermore, efforts towards joint data collection with relevant regional bodies should be continued. The group acknowledged that much work on the analysis of data is currently carried out by experts and institutions on a voluntary basis. Recognizing the capacity requirements for this en-

2 deavour, the group calls upon Member States to provide extra-budgetary resources in this respect.

10. It is recommended that law enforcement and criminal justice data on drug-related crime be collected through the UN-CTS and the UNODC Annual Reports Questionnaire (ARQ) using question wording as per the ARQ. The CTS questions should maintain the breakdown by age (and gender) but should be limited to top level drug categories only.

11. The expert group recommends that, where practicable, data on selected crime types should be supplemented by data, statistics and estimations from other research that countries may be using to measure such crimes and relevant information from victimization surveys.

12. In order to provide data that covers all relevant aspects of crime, the UN-CTS should ensure that relevant ques - tions (including those on victimization and persons suspected, arrested, accused, prosecuted, convicted and detained) include sex disaggregation.

13. It is recommended that future waves of the United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) are conducted annually in order to provide as timely information as possible to the international community, adopting a core and modular structure similar to that utilized in the pilot Eleventh UN-CTS, including sections on police, prosecution, court and prison statistics as well as two thematic modules.

14. The core UN-CTS should retain its focus on covering the entire criminal justice system, including through collection of data on police-recorded offences; persons suspected, arrested, accused; persons prosecuted; persons convicted, and persons detained. The core UN-CTS should retain a focus on ‘traditional’ offences, including homicide, violent crime (assault, sexual violence, rape and robbery), property crimes (theft, motor vehicle theft, and burglary), drug-related crimes (possession/use and trafficking) and kidnapping for ransom.

15. The group recommends that the core questionnaire should allow respondents to include extended metadata, especially as regards coverage of information provided. In order to increase the policy-relevance of information, the UN-CTS should aim to collect enhanced contextual information. In particular, the group recommends that the questionnaire includes additional contextual information on homicide and armed violence*.

16. One of the modules should collect data on the annual thematic debate of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the other should cover, by rotation, one among the following areas: corruption and counter- feiting, environmental crime, crime involving armed violence, organized crime, trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants, cybercrime, identity theft, money laundering. Selected issues covered by the modules might progressively be introduced in the core questionnaire based on availability of data and definitional work at the international level.

17. In order to facilitate the process of ease of reporting by Member States, it is recommended that future

* For example, information on offenders and victims, possible cause (organized crime, gangs, theft/robbery, other homicides), weapons used (knives, sharp instruments, firearms), urban/rural location.

3 waves of the UN-CTS continue to use an electronic format for distribution and data collection, similar to that utilized in the 11th UN-CTS. In this respect a web-based platform may represent the most efficient process for questionnaire distribution and data entry.

18. The expert group recognizes the resources required to sustain an efficient system for the collection and analysis of crime and criminal justice statistics and calls upon Member States to provide the necessary ex - tra-budgetary resources to create a long-term sustainable approach to data collection. III.Organization of the meeting

A. Opening of the meeting

19. The meeting of the expert group on crime statistics was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 8 to 10 February 2010. It was opened by the Under-Secretary for Criminal Policy, Dr. Juan Martin Mena.

A. Attendance

20. The meeting was attended by 37 participants from 17 countries and one regional organization. A list of participants is contained in the annex to the present report.

B. Election of officers

21. The following officers were elected by consensus:

Chairman: Mr. Eugenio Curia - Argentina Vice-Chairman: Ms. Elizabeth Gikuni -Kenya Rapporteur: Mr. Frits Huls -Netherlands

C. Adoption of the agenda

22. The meeting adopted the following agenda:

1. Election of officers. 2. Adoption of the agenda and organization of work. 3. Consideration of the content and structure of a revised simple and efficient reporting system. 4. Revision of the mechanism to collect and report information. 5. Measures to build capacity of Member States to collect and report information. 6. Conclusions and recommendations 7. Adoption of the report. D. Adoption of the report

4 23. At its meeting on 10 February, the expert group considered and adopted its report.

IV.Summary of discussion

24. Participants discussed the general principles that should guide the content and structure of a simplified and improved United Nations data collection system on crime and criminal justice. Speakers noted that the current United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) was a well-developed instrument incorporating many modern principles of questionnaire design. The UN-CTS was viewed as relatively straightforward to complete and all crime types included were generally considered to be policy-relevant to the international community.

25. Whilst the primary aim of the UN-CTS was to collect administrative count-based data, there was con - sensus that in some cases it would also be useful to offer respondent States the opportunity to provide data, statistics or estimates using other available sources. In particular, data from crime victimization surveys might be important to collect. The group recognized that it was important for the UN-CTS to provide an overview of available data on underlying criminological phenomena rather than exclusively cover the relative activity of law enforcement and criminal justice systems.

26. A number of participants highlighted that in light of difficulties in collecting and coordination informa - tion within States, a key concern was to clarify the government institution or institutions that should be re - sponsible for completion of the questionnaire and communicating with UNODC. Participants also agreed that there was no incentive for Member States to respond to questionnaires where data was not disseminated and analysed in a timely manner.

27. The group continued by discussing the structure and content of the core component introduced in the El - eventh UN-CTS on a pilot basis. Meeting participants were in agreement that the core and modular approach to the UN-CTS represented an effective and efficient way to collect data. Participants noted that there were no crime types included in the Eleventh UN-CTS that were not required. On the contrary, a number of speakers proposed that it would be important to progressively expand the core questionnaire to cover new (and not so new) crime types including money laundering, cybercrime and identity theft. Other speakers cautioned against the low level of comparability of data on these crime types, particularly where countries had not promulgated specific criminal laws. The group agreed that it would nonetheless be important to collect information on such crimes, if necessary using data other than that recorded by law enforcement agencies, such as from national rapporteurs, research institutions and victimization surveys.

28. The group noted further that a number of crime types in the questionnaire represented sub-types of wider crime categories. It was deemed important to make this clear in the questionnaire, enabling Member

5 States to respond to the level of detail for which statistics were available. The group also noted that metadata on counting rules should be made clearer and expanded, especially as regards coverage of the data, and that certain definitions could be further clarified. Finally, one participant suggested that the questionnaire should allow for further possibility to indicate whether relevant legislation exists with respect to crimes covered by the questionnaire.

29. With respect to questions on drug-related crime (or rather drug crime, as was suggested), the group agreed that it makes sense for both drug and crime data collection systems to include such questions. The group suggested that the UN-CTS question should be identical to that contained in the drugs Annual Reports Questionnaire but with questions on top-level drug types only. Finally, it was noted that it would be important to collect more extensive data on gender disaggregation of identified victims and persons suspected, prosec - uted and convicted.

30. The group turned its attention to the thematic modules included in the Eleventh UN-CTS pilot question - naire and approved of the proposal to include similar modules in future waves of the UN-CTS. It was noted that it would be important to understand the challenges faced by Member States in providing information on the more complex crime types envisaged for inclusion in the modules. The group agreed that it was appropri - ate for one module to reflect the theme of the thematic debate of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and for the other to be used for collection on other complex crime types (such as cybercrime, organized crime or corruption) on a rotating basis. The Chairperson of the meeting informed that cybercrime and money laundering were currently under consideration at the informal consultations dealing with the next Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. The group agreed that it would be possible to develop UN-CTS modules for data collection on these themes.

31. Finally, the expert group discussed revision of the mechanism to collect and report information on crime and criminal justice. The group noted that the current mechanism (distribution of the questionnaire by note verbale with a copy to national statistical offices) created a number of challenges in data coordination. These included difficulties in identification of the lead institution for completion of the questionnaire. A number of speakers stated that it would be useful if the UN-CTS questionnaire could be sent to a coordinating institution with a clearly defined procedure for its completion. One speaker proposed integration of the UN-CTS data collection tool within national data systems. In this way, data could be uploaded to the tool on a continuous basis, with reporting to the United Nations at defined, scheduled intervals. In this respect, the meeting agreed that annual data collection would enable the generation of effective trends analysis. Such a mechanism would be consistent with that established for the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

32. With aim of increasing response rate, the group agreed that strengthened collaboration with regional or -

6 ganizations (such as the Organization of American States and Eurostat), would be important with a view to provide a forum for discussion of common challenges and good practices.

33. The group welcomed the Excel format of the pilot Eleventh UN-CTS questionnaire and agreed that UN - ODC should continue to explore further technological development of the UN-CTS including, subject to fund - ing, through a web-based platform. Concerning data dissemination and analysis, one speaker noted the chan - ging nature of expectations with the growth of the internet. Users required both raw data and short, concise analysis and conclusions. In this respect, the group agreed that it would be important to establish contacts with experts to advise on the data tabulations that should be disseminated, together with the metadata, warn - ings and analysis that should accompany them. Other speakers highlighted the need to release data in a timely manner according to their nature as public-access information. Annex

List of participants

ARGENTINA

Amb. Eugenio CURIA Dr. Juan Martin MENA Dr. Ignacio LOMBARDI Dr. Norberto FRONTINI Dr. Esteban MARINO Dr. Mariano CIAFARDINI Dr. Hernan OLAETA Lic. Daniel FERNANDEZ Lic. Luis D’ANGELO Lic. Graciela GANDARAS COSTA Lic. Maria del Pilar GANDARAS COSTA Lic. Carlos Gervasio LANDIVAR Lic. Fiorella CANONI

ALGERIA

Mr. Fayed HASSANI

BELARUS

Mr. Sergei LUKASHEVICH

BRAZIL

Ms. Luciane PATRÍCIO BRAGA DE MORAES

7 CHILE

Ms. Carolina ZAMORANO VILLA

COLOMBIA

Mr. Alvaro RESTREPO HURTADO

KENYA

Ms. Elizabeth GIKUNI

LIBYA

Mr. Abdullatif ELKHAZMI

MEXICO

Mr. Edgar GUERRERO CENTENO Ms. Leticia SANCHEZ MIRANDA

MOZAMBIQUE

Mr. José CUMBANE

NETHERLANDS

Mr. Frits HULS

PERU

Ms. Liliam BALLÓN DE AMÉZAGA

PHILIPPINES

Mr. Arvin DE LEON

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Mr. Gennadiy J. PRONIN Mr. Valentin V. KOSTRUB Ms. Maria A. KUZNETSOVA

SPAIN

Mr. Pedro RUIZ SALVADOR

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Inspector McDonald JACOB

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

8 Mr. Allen BECK

OBSERVERS

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES (OAS)

Mr. Alexandre ADDOR-NETO Mr. Julio ROSENBLATT Mr. Luiz COIMBRA Ms. Ariana SZEPESI

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Ms. Anna ALVAZZI DEL FRATE Mr. Steven MALBY Ms. Carola LEW