International Classification of crimes for statistical ...



FIFTH MEETING OF MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR OEA/Ser.K/XLIX.5

PUBLIC SECURITY IN THE AMERICAS (MISPA V) MISPA-V/INF. 13/15

November 19 and 20, 2015 20 November 2015

Lima, Peru Original: English

INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMES FOR STATISTICAL PURPOSES (ICCS)

(Information document prepared by the Department of Public Security of the OAS Secretariat for Multidimensional Security)

JUSTIFICATION

Over the past decade remarkable progress has been made in the collection, processing and analysis of statistics on crime, specifically after the introduction of United Nations’ Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS). However, important challenges are still pending regarding the standardization, quality, consistency and comparability of data. Hence, the development and implementation of an International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes within the institutional framework of United Nations is a historical achievement. Its implementation will represent a breakthrough in data gathering, processing and analysis.

ADVANTAGES

The International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes is a methodology based on the description of crime behavior that will improve the coherence and international comparability of crime statistics. The International Classification will provide a common classification framework for data from administrative sources and victimization surveys and will therefore facilitate the measurement of the gap between crimes reported to the police and those experienced by the victims. The ICCS also provides a common analytical framework to reach a better understanding of criminal trends and patterns.

The International Classification provides a valuable taxonomy at country level and can also serve as an essential tool for harmonizing the collection and dissemination of data across the different criminal justice institutions (police, prosecution, courts and prisons), across subnational entities and across different data sources (administrative records and statistical surveys). By offering a common classification scheme of crime data, ICCS will improve the consistency of national data. This, in turn, should have positive externalities on data quality at the regional and international levels.

MANDATES AND PROCESS

In 1951, the United Nations’ Commission of Social Affairs highlighted the importance of developing a standard classification of crimes. From that year onwards, a variety of initiatives were undertaken. However, in the end they were unsuccessful because their definitions were based on each country’s national legislation and individual records.

The Conference of European Statisticians paved the way to overcome such discrepancies by establishing a working group in 2009 led by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). This working group was given the responsibility of studying the possibility of elaborating a classification of crimes based on behavioral description and not criminal codes. The Conference of European Statisticians approved the first framework at the 60th plenary session celebrated in June 2012.

The advantages of such framework were debated during the 43rd session of UN’s Statistics Commission and the 21st session of the UN’ Commission of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in 2012. In parallel, the UNODC and the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI, by its Spanish acronym) were asked to assess the possibility of implementing the International Crime Classification for Statistical Purpose. In that sense, between 2012 and 2014 three consultation meetings took place together with two large-scale testing exercises of successive versions of the International Crime Classification.

Following the third consultation meeting, UNODC and the Division of Statistics of UN’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs sent a final version of the ICCS for Member States to review. The final version took into consideration the comments made by 44 Member States and six international organizations. Moreover, UNODC consulted each member of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) and requested the approval from the Group of Experts on International Classifications. Hence, the final version of the ICCS is the result of a process of broad and extensive consultations as well as of trial exercises that have confirmed the validity of such approach. UN’s Statistics Commission and the Commission of Crime Prevention and Penal Justice finally approved this version in their respective sessions in 2015.

UNODC was designated as guardian of the implementation, continuity and maintenance of the International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes. Once the ICCS was approved, the following step was to develop an implementation plan, which would guide countries in the process of adopting and executing such Classification. At this stage, the General Secretary of the Organization of American States, through its Department of Public Security, can provide UNODC and Member States the necessary political and technical support throughout the implementation process, adapting accordingly to the capacities, conditions, resources and timing of each country.

GENERAL STRUCTURE

Crimes have been grouped into 11 large categories (or sections) that, in turn, have been sub-divided into 3 levels. The Classification goes beyond the purpose of organizing and counting different types of crimes in a standardized manner, it also provides a framework to describe the nature of the crime in order to produce policy-relevant information and facilitate evidenced-based decision-making. This is done through the use of tags (or disaggregating variables) that enable coding of additional information for relevant offenses. For analytical and comparative purposes, such tags have also been standardized around a set of minimum variables for descriptions of crime events, victims and perpetrators.

|Additional References |

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|International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) Version 1.0, UNODC, March 2015, available at |

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|Report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes |

|[E/CN.3/2015/7], Economic and Social Council, Statistical Commission, 46th session held between March 3 and 6, 2015 available at: |

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|Report of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on a road |

|map to improve the quality and availability of crime statistics at the national and international levels [E/CN.3/2013/11], Economic|

|and Social Council, Statistical Commission, 44th session held between February 26 and March 1, 2013 available at: |

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