European Recidivism Statistics

• In Event: Routledge Handbook on European Penology - I. Scientific developments

Abstract

The starting point for this chapter comes from one of the leading European criminologists, Catrien Bijleveld, whose question – ‘do we actually have European data?’ - is taken on with a particular focus on criminal recidivism: ‘do we actually have European recidivism statistics?’ After a discussion about the concept of recidivism, the chapter mentions several European initiatives that have set out to produce statistics on crime and justice, so far without recidivism. Also, comparisons of criminal recidivism have proven to be very challenging, with international comparisons quickly running the risk to compare apples to oranges. As shown by the results of a 2005 survey across European countries (Wartna & Nijssen, 2006), not all countries produce national recidivism statistics. In the last part of this chapter, the first results are published of a survey sent out in 2023 to member states of the Council of Europe. The situation has changed for the better over the last two decades; most of the countries now have national recidivism statistics. Furthermore, at the time of writing, one European initiative – the European Sourcebook on Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics - has begun to gather recidivism statistics among all the member states of the Council of Europe.

Authors

• Eric Maes, INCC - Institut National de Criminalistique et de Criminologie

• Luc Robert, INCC - Institut National de Criminalistique et de Criminologie