European Crime Trends According to Conviction Statistics: 1990-2011

• In Event: Cross-National Analyses of Crime and Punishment

Abstract

Convictions statistics can provide a more reliable measure of crime and formal social control than police statistics, although their validity as a crime measure is still a matter of discussion. Analysing the data included in the five editions of the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics, this presentation uses the evolution of persons convicted in European countries from 1990 to 2011 to establish crime trends in that region. The analyses cover convictions for six offences –intentional homicide, assault, rape, robbery, theft, and drug offences– in up to 26 countries. Trends are established for the whole contintent as well as for a cluster of Western European countries and a cluster of Central and Eastern European countries.

Authors

• Marcelo F. Aebi, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

• Antonia Linde, Open University of Catalonia

• Claudia Campistol, University of Lausanne, Switzerland