NCJ Number
145234
Date Published
1990
Length
39 pages
Annotation
An analysis of data culled from the Second United Nations Survey of Crime Trends, Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, and Crime Prevention Strategies (1975-1980) and the Third Survey (1980-1986) suggests that there is a general increase in total crime and in most categories of recorded crime during both time periods (11 percent and 23 percent, respectively).
Abstract
The highest increases in both periods are in drug-related crimes and robberies. Although countries use different methods to filter case out of the criminal justice system, in many cases, the method is based on differentiation by gender. Juveniles are not filtered out of the system to the same degree. The use of custodial sanctions has increased globally in proportion to the rise in crime, but varies widely between different countries when incarceration rates are compared with population figures and in relation to recorded crime. The average length of time in pretrial custody has remained fairly consistent. While police agencies take the greater share of resources available to the criminal justice system as a whole, there is a trend toward the implementation of community-based crime prevention programs. 9 tables, 11 figures, and 14 notes