NCJ Number
181446
Journal
European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Dated: 1999 Pages: 533-558
Date Published
1999
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This article traces and compares the developments in recorded juvenile delinquency in Hamburg, Prague, Cracow, and Budapest from 1991 to 1997, and then analyzes the processing and selection procedures of the various justice systems, with special attention to ethnic minorities.
Abstract
While in the West the large number of suspects is considerably reduced during later stages of selection to a much smaller number (those actually sentenced and/or imprisoned), i.e., a “funnel” model, in the East fewer suspected offenders enter the selection process but tend to remain within it and be sentenced--the “cylinder” model. Lower crime statistics as compared with the West--represented here by Hamburg--are not only the result of equally large discrepancies between the “real” crime rates, but in this regard the proactive crime prevention measures of the police have also had a great effect. This clearly demonstrates the importance of interpreting crime statistics neither as a true representation nor as a distorted reflection of the activities of a criminal justice system. Instead, the statistics should be seen as reflecting specific processing procedures and methods of crime control. Notes, figures, tables, references