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

Preface     xi
Acknowledgments     xvii
The Challenge of Measuring Crime Internationally     1
The Need for Better Crime Diagnostics     3
The Uses of International Crime Statistics     3
International Crime Statistics: The Sorry State of the Art     4
Crime as a Social Construct     6
International Crime Statistics as Controversial Knowledge     7
Twenty Years of Thwarted Efforts     8
ICVS: Bringing the Bad News     10
Breaking the Silence     12
Summary Points/In Conclusion     13
Mismeasuring Crime: A Technical Note With Far-Reaching Implications     15
International Crime Figures Available     15
A Crime Is a Crime?     16
Recording Practices of the Police     17
Reporting Patterns     18
The Breakthrough of Crime Victimization Surveys     19
Victim Satisfaction and Trust Levels     23
The More Recorded Crime, the Less Crime?     24
Police-Recorded Crime and Victimization Rates Compared     26
Other Uses of Police-Recorded Crime Statistics     33
Police Figures as Trend Indicators     34
A Moratorium on International Police Figures?     37
The Political Context of Crime Surveying     40
Summary Points/In Conclusion     41
Common Crimes Across the World     45
The Burden of Property Crime     47
Introducing the ICVS     47
Overall Levels of Crime     49
Other Measures of the Crime Burden     53
Burglary     54
Theft and Frauds     57
Consumer Fraud     59
Car Crimes     60
Car Theft and Joyriding     61
Car Hijacking     63
Robbery     64
Kidnapping     66
The Heavy Crime Burden of the Business Sector     68
Costs for Businesses     70
Summary Points/In Conclusion     71
Patterns of Violent Crime     75
Homicide     75
National Homicide Rates     77
Assault     78
Hate Crimes in Western Europe     80
Sexual Assault/Rape     82
Violence Against Women Revisited     85
Toward Further Standardization     87
Child Abuse and the Cycle of Violence     87
Summary Points/In Conclusion     88
Determinants of Common Crimes      91
Comparative Perspectives     91
Urbanization and Crime     92
Regional Patterns and Future Trends of Urbanization     94
Demographics and Crime     95
Future Demographic Trends     97
Affluence and Crime     98
Mass Transportation and Crime     99
Patterns of Vehicle Theft at Second Sight     101
More Affluence, Less Crime?     102
Development and Crime Revisited     104
Correlates of Violence     104
Poverty and Inequality     105
Criminal Victimization and Gender Inequality     105
Drugs and Alcohol Abuse     107
Alcohol Abuse and Violence     109
Trends in Alcohol Consumption     111
Availability of Guns     112
Firearms and Violent Crime     113
Guns and Violence in Developing Countries     117
Summary Points/In Conclusion     119
Global Trends and Regional Profiles     123
Global Trends in Common Crimes     123
European Trends in Focus     126
Trends in Police-Recorded Crimes     127
Explaining the Drop in Crime     128
Responsive Securitization and the Drop in Crime      129
Security Measures and Trends in Burglary Victimization Rates     133
Security Measures and Trends in Car Theft and Joyriding     134
The Growing North-South Security Divide     135
The Asian Exception     136
Crime and Conflict     136
Latin America: The Price of Democracy     138
Summary Points/In Conclusion     139
Emerging Global Crime Threats     143
Assessing Organized Crime     145
The New Crime Threats     145
Defining Organized Crime     146
The Changing Nature of Organized Crime     147
Illicit Markets     148
The Pressure to Measure     150
Victimization Surveys Among the Business Community About Organized Crime     151
Toward an Organized-Crime Perception Index     154
Other "Markers" of Organized-Crime Presence     157
Instrumental Violence     157
The Organized-Crime-Corruption Complex     159
Money Laundering and the Black Economy     161
Composite Organized-Crime Index     162
Country Scores     164
Fifteen Countries With the Highest Scores     164
Trends in Organized Crime     167
Participation of National Organized-Crime Groups in Specific Criminal Markets     168
Trafficking in Persons     170
Organized Car Theft     172
The Intercorrelates of Crime     173
Tentative Transnational Responses     173
The U.S. Report on Trafficking in Persons     176
Summary Points/In Conclusion     178
Other Global Security Threats: Corruption, Terrorism, and Cybercrime     181
Defining Corruption     181
Corruption Indicators: Perceptions and Experiences     182
Assessing the Merits of Objective and Subjective Indicators     185
Corruption Victimizations in the Corporate World     187
Business Crime Surveys     189
Patterns and Trends in Terrorist Crimes     190
The Incidence of Terrorism     192
Trends in Terrorism     192
Correlates of Terrorism     193
Terrorism and Organized Crime     194
Cybercrime: Trends in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Crimes     196
Computer-Facilitated Crime     197
Internet-Based Fraud and Credit-Card Fraud     198
No Asian Exception     199
Computers, Organized Crime, and Terrorism     200
Summary Points/In Conclusion      201
International Trends in Criminal Justice     205
Law Enforcement, Crime Prevention, and Victim Assistance     207
Trends in Criminal Justice Resources     207
Allocation of Resources to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice     208
Human Resources for Police and Private Security     211
Police Workloads     214
The Private Security Industry     215
Trends in Private Policing     217
More Police, Less Crime?     219
Homicide Conviction Rates as a Performance Measure     219
Toward a Composite Index for Police Performance     221
Resources, Performance, and Integrity     223
Victim Empowerment and Support     225
Victim Reception by the Police     226
Trends in Victim Satisfaction     228
Victim Support Services     230
Implementing the UN Victims Declaration     232
International Best Practices in Crime Prevention     234
Guidelines for the Prevention of Crime     235
Evidence-Based Approaches     238
Planning and Implementation     240
Summary Points/In Conclusion     243
Courts and Sentencing     245
Judges and Magistrates      245
Gender Balance in the Courts     247
Perceived Independence and Integrity of the Judiciary     248
Toward an International Code of Conduct for Judges     252
Public Attitudes Toward Sentencing     253
Summary Points/In Conclusion     256
Corrections: A Global Perspective     257
Trends in Imprisonment Rates     257
National Prison Populations     258
Expanding Use of Imprisonment     259
Interpreting Imprisonment Rates     260
Costs and Limits of Imprisonment     261
The Search for Alternatives     264
Benchmarking Imprisonment Rates     265
An Index of Punitiveness     270
Summary Points/In Conclusion     271
International Perspectives on Crime and Justice     275
Security, Rule of Law, and Sustainable Development     277
Introductory Remarks     277
Legal Institutions and the Level of Complex Crime     278
Organized Crime and the Rule of Law     280
Rule of Law and Terrorism     282
Trafficking in Persons and Police Performance     284
Good Governance and Development     286
Good Governance, Development, and the Role of Crime      288
Organized Crime as a Trojan Horse     290
Vicious Crimino-Economic Circles     293
Summary Points/In Conclusion     294
Crime and Justice: The Need for Global Reform     299
Diagnosing Crime     299
A Culture of Lawfulness     299
Cross-Validating the Index     301
Country Profiles at a Glance     303
Crime Alert     303
Costs of Crime: The Global Crime Bill     305
Lawfulness and Human Development     306
The North-South "Security Divide"     307
The "Justice Deficit"     310
Security and Justice Reform First     311
The UN Millennium Development Goals     317
A More Secure World     318
Data Sources     321
International Crime Victim Surveys (ICVS)     321
Methodology     322
Definitions     324
Technical Note on ICVS Data Presentation     324
The International Crime Business Survey (ICBS)     326
The International Violence Against Women Survey (IVAWS)     331
The United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems     331
Some Other Technical Matters      332
Method for Constructing Composite Indices     332
Method for Constructing Scatterplots     332
Method for Constructing Bar Charts     332
Data Tables     341
References     413
Index     429
About the Author     435