Defining and Registering Criminal Offences and Measures - Oapen

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Aims and Methodology of the Study
Based on the results of recent AGIS 2005 funded projects, 2 the prosecution chapter
of the ESB questionnaire was changed and expanded. Also, data collection possibilities
regarding compulsory measures in the investigatory stage were tested. A more
sophisticated approach for recording sanctions and measures has also been developed
during the course of the project. The group finally tried to receive more detailed
prison data. As overarching issues, ways to collect data on pre-trial detention and its
surrogates and to get differentiated information on aliens stemming from EU member
states compared to those from other states were sought. The study explored how
far national statistics can provide such data and tried to develop a concept for
collation on European level.
The research area is subject of considerable interest within the wider European
community. This study is therefore of importance for the EU and other international
bodies and institutions, and also for researchers, practitioners and policymakers
in criminal justice systems. It utilized questionnaires filled by an established
European network.
During the course of the project, the ESB experts group developed improved
definitions for criminal offences total, bodily injury (assault), rape and other sexual offences,
and drug offences. In addition to this, new offence definitions for fraud, offences against
the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems, money laundering
and corruption were introduced. All these improved and newly introduced offence
definitions were tested and were – sometimes after a slight modification – included
in the final 4 th edition ESB questionnaire. It was tried to collect additional
information on reported suspicious transactions. Apart from these, the group also discussed
the possibility of data collection on human trafficking, but decided against it
for the moment.
The reformed prosecution chapter turned out to be an efficient and useful data
collection instrument. Only with respect to the breakdown of prosecutorial decisions
by offence group, data availability was quite poor. With respect to compulsory
measures, different issues were addressed: restrictions of freedom of movement, measures of
supervision, freezing and confiscation of assets and operations of international legal cooperation.
Data availability was very poor in most areas. The project also focused on the
development of a new and more sophisticated instrument to collect data on sanctions
and measures imposed by the criminal courts. Furthermore it was attempted to collect
more differentiated data on non-custodial and suspended custodial sanctions
and measures.
In the prison chapter, in addition to addressing the issue of pre-trial detention
(see above), it was tried to collect more differentiated data on certain groups of
prisoners, namely: aliens, of which: EU citizens, aliens in pre-trial detention, of which: EU
2 JEHLE / WADE (eds.): Coping with Overloaded Criminal Justice Systems, Heidelberg: Springer
2006; and the articles published in the European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, issues
2-3, vol. 14, 2008: Special Issue: Prosecution and Diversion within Criminal Justice Systems
in Europe, guest edited by WADE / JEHLE.