Examen Idioma Jurista 2016 1

EXAMEN IDIOMA JURISTAS 2016

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN

PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC

AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE

Developing a comprehensive and coherent EU strategy to

measure crime and criminal justice: An EU Action Plan 2006 –

2010

INTRODUCTION

1. PURPOSE

The purpose of this Communication is to outline a coherent framework

within which statistical information on crime (including victimisation) and

criminal justice[ii] at European Union level will be developed, mainly by

actions of the European Commission, with the support of Member State

representatives and in coordination with relevant EU and international

organisations.

The Communication includes an action plan that sets out the

framework and the main actions for the next five year period. An expert

group, with representatives of all Member States, is set up by Commission

Decision to support the Commission in the implementation of the action plan

where it concerns the identification of policy needs for data in the area of

crime and criminal justice at EU level, the decision is annexed to this

Communication. In addition, the possibility will be examined in the European

Statistical System (ESS) of setting up in 2006 a group of representatives of

all Member States to work on the development of crime and criminal justice

statistics.

2. POLITICAL COMMITMENTS

The need to develop statistics on crime and criminal justice has long

been recognised by the Member States and by the European Commission.

Already the Millennium Strategy on organised crime recommended the

elaboration of crime statistics. The interim evaluation of the Millennium

Strategy called upon the Commission to launch a study on statistics in the

area of organised crime and submit a proposal for the setting up of a

research, documentation and statistical network.

The Dublin Declaration[viii], recommends that "a comprehensive

system of European crime statistics should be elaborated and a co-ordinated

EU Crime Statistics Strategy be developed." and states that “The objective

of the strategy should be to provide information necessary for analysing

trends, assessing risks, evaluating measures and benchmarking

performance", to be supported by input from a Crime Experts Group and the

EU Crime Prevention Network.

Página 2 de 6

Cuerpo Superior de Técnicos de Instituciones Penitenciarias

Examen Idioma Jurista 2016 2

The Hague Programme, outlining developments for the next five years

in the area of freedom, security and justice welcomed "the initiative of the

Commission to establish European instruments for collecting, analysing and

comparing information on crime and victimisation and their respective

trends in Member States, using national statistics and other sources of

information as agreed indicators." The Council and Commission Action Plan

implementing the Hague Programme mentions this Communication.

3. STATE OF PLAY AND THE NEED FOR FUTURE ACTION

Since early 2004, the European Commission has allocated human and

financial resources to making preparations, developing internal coordination

and setting up informal structures with relevant actors and consulting

informally Member States representatives in the relevant areas. The

Commission has also funded a number of research projects and more limited

studies to increase the knowledge in the area, and has built a network of

academics with knowledge in the field. In the area of freedom, security and

justice, a number of meetings under the Forum for the prevention of

organised crime have been organised to consult Member States in a wider

group. Many other EU and international organisations have increased work

to develop relevant statistics.

As far as the statistical context is concerned, the production of

Community statistics is governed by rules set out in Council Regulation on

Community Statistics[xv], and actions on the establishment of Community

statistics are carried out according to the Community Statistical Programme

and its Annual Programmes, respecting the principles set out in the

European Statistics Code of Practice. Important issues concerning data

protection and confidentiality are included. Within this framework, crime and

criminal justice statistics have been included in the annual work programme

since 2005 and Eurostat has held regular consultations within the structure

of the European Statistical System (ESS).

The action plan is thus designed to incorporate and consolidate these

experiences and achievements.

4. OBJECTIVES

One of the main deficiencies in the area of Justice, Freedom and

Security is still the lack of reliable and comparable statistical information.

Quantitative information on the trends and levels as well as on the structure

of crime and terrorism and of the measures taken to prevent and fight these

problems in Member States and at EU level, and where possible

international comparisons, is essential for the development of a knowledge

based system of effective and efficient policies for the prevention of and

fight against crime and terrorism. In view of increased financial resources

from 2007, it has become apparent that the lack of knowledge in this area

needs to be addressed in a coherent and comprehensive manner.

Different expert groups and organisations compile available national

statistics and make efforts to compare levels and trends. However, national

Página 3 de 6

Cuerpo Superior de Técnicos de Instituciones Penitenciarias

Examen Idioma Jurista 2016 3

statistics differ on so many factors that comparisons between countries,

even with extensive efforts to make them comparable, are almost

impossible. The actions outlined in the action plan therefore rest on the

principle of subsidiarity. As in many other policy areas, there is agreement

amongst key actors on the necessity to develop a framework to produce

comparable statistics at EU level, based on harmonised definitions and

collection procedures.

The objective is thus to develop statistics that will, in the longer term,

make comparisons possible regarding the structure, levels and trends of

crime as well as on criminal justice measures between Member States and

regions within Member States. The task of making national and sub-national

statistics comparable across the EU may be attempted by making use of the

Commission's role to define harmonised methodologies and data collection

methods for Community statistics. A twin-track approach will be adopted. In

the short term, available national data will be collected and quality-assessed

to form the first Community statistics on crime and criminal justice.

Significant efforts will however be devoted to developing truly EU-level

comparable statistics through different methods outlined in the action plan.

5. AN EXPERT GROUP ON THE POLICY NEEDS FOR DATA ON CRIME

AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The establishment of an expert group to support the Commission in

identifying the policy needs for data on crime and criminal justice will aid the

pooling of scarce resources on the user side, increasing synergy benefits by

avoiding the duplication of work on organised and volume crime and across

the EU Commission, EU bodies and agencies and other international

organisations active in the field.