Crime statistics
Crime statistics are official criminological statistics that quantitatively record criminal behavior and regionally, e.g. B. to federal states or to a state structure.
Crime statistics provide information about perpetrators, victims, cases, procedures, damage and criminal consequences.
In the strict sense, these are
- a police crime statistics (PKS)
- the public prosecutor's execution statistics
- the law enforcement statistics
- the prison statistics
Crime statistics in the broader sense are the statistical materials of the probation and youth welfare , but also the Federal Central Register (BZR) at the Federal Prosecutor General . From the BZR it is possible to develop relapse statistics with considerable effort . So far, relapse statistics have been published in 1989 and 1990. Relapse statistics were published at the beginning of 2004 for the data from 1994.
Except for the PKS, these are exclusively judicial statistics. Theoretically, due to the police investigation register, it is even possible to compile prejudicial statistics ("reporting statistics"), which, however, cannot be made public due to data protection and the efficiency of police investigations.
A criminologically interesting linking of all statistics to so-called progress statistics is currently technically and legally impossible due to the considerable amount of data, the different data formats and not least due to data protection.
Crime statistics appear anonymously to provide an overview of the crime situation. The crime statistics cannot be used for diagnosis or prognosis, because the depicted crime scene only shows the acts known to the police and the judiciary (so-called bright field ).
history
The first judicial statistical evaluations were undertaken under Louis XIV of France. A systematic evaluation has been proven from the beginning of the 19th century. These so-called moral statistics were first subjected to a scientific analysis in 1836 by Adolphe Quetelet . Crime statistics were also published in Great Britain, Austria and Denmark in the early 19th century. In Germany, statistical surveys for judicial administration purposes were carried out for the first time in Bavaria and Baden in 1803 and 1809, respectively. From 1830, personal characteristics of criminals were recorded in both Prussia and Bavaria. Since 1882 there have been uniform crime statistics in Germany, which recorded persons convicted and criminal offenses convicted. From 1917, however, only people were counted. During the Nazi regime, it was planned to introduce standardized crime statistics. However, the project could not be implemented because of the outbreak of war. The first criminal prosecution statistics were available for what was then federal territory in 1950. In 1953 the nationwide police crime statistics were established. In 1961 the prison statistics were added and in 1963 the statistics on probation assistance and conduct supervision . From 1976 onwards, public prosecutor's office completion statistics were kept.
interpretation
In order to interpret crime statistics in so-called longitudinal studies (studies over a certain period of time) it is necessary to take demographic change into account. Therefore, the respective absolute values are multiplied by 100,000 and divided by the population of the location or age group-related size. This procedure is standardized worldwide and results in the so-called frequency number . As a rule, frequency figures are not shown in the crime statistics.
Based on the statistical material available, it is possible at aggregate level to show a reduction in police charges. If one compares the police-registered criminal suspects with the judged and convicted (and finally also with the prisoners), there is a considerable decrease. This comparability among crime statistics is, however, controversial. Precisely because the police crime statistics are structured differently, comparability is denied. Finally, the collection period is different from that of the other statistics. The recording bodies are also different.
The greatest weakness of the statistics is their purely quantitative orientation, which hardly gives any clues about the severity of the offense (in this respect only the sentencing given by the persecution statistics ). Contribution to the crime ( perpetrator or complicity , aiding and abetting , inciting ) is also hardly recorded.
In an interview published in June 2014, the head of the German Police Union (DPolG), Rainer Wendt , relativized the informative value of crime statistics with the words: “We know of course that crime statistics should not be called that. I would call it "Police Work Report" because it does not show the actual crime, but only the number of reports in the various areas of crime that the police processed, no longer. What people experience as crime or as sometimes massive disorder on site is something completely different. "
literature
- Reinhard Scholzen : Possibilities and limits of the informative value of police crime statistics. In: Die Polizei, 1, 2003, pp. 16-19.
Web links
- Police crime statistics for the Federal Republic of Germany from 1953 (official offer from the German Federal Criminal Police Office )
- Prosecution on the website of the Federal Statistical Office
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Policemen at the Limit: Interview with the Head of the German Police Union (DPolG) Rainer Wendt" ( Memento of the original from June 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Knopp-Online, June 10, 2014
