Download - An analysis of the criminal case flow in European courts Beata Gruszczyńska University of Warsaw Institute of Justice, Poland GT-EVAL Group Member.

An analysis of the criminal case flow in European courts

Beata GruszczyńskaUniversity of Warsaw

Institute of Justice, PolandGT-EVAL Group Member

CEPEJ December 2010, Criminal Cases Flow in European Countries, Beata Z. Gruszczyńska

One of the important element of the European justice system performance is fair and prompt adjudication in criminal cases. Timely imposed punishment is more efficient than a severe one. Inevitability and promptness of penalties that satisfy the sense of rightness and have a deterrent effect.

Cross-countries comparison of crime, as well as number of incoming criminal cases at courts, are very risky and limited. Countries differ in penal systems, criminal policy, perception of crime, tradition, rule of registration, definition, etc.

Presentation shows only some quantitative results of CEPEJ data collection, which shall be developed taking into account number of judges, support staff, court facilities, technical equipment, computerization, organization and court management.

Comments are provisional, highlighting the most visible differences between countries.


Trends of crime in Europe Limitation in cross-national comparison Crime and incoming criminal cases to the

courts Clearance rate (CR) and gross clearance rate

(GCR) Flow of criminal cases Disposition time of criminal cases Cases of intentional homicide and robbery

Points for discussion


Sources of data

Data on criminal cases in European courtsEuropean judicial systems. Edition 2010 (data 2008). Efficiency and quality of justice, European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) http://www.coe.int/T/dghl/cooperation/cepej/default_en.asp

Edition 2010(data 2008): https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=1694098&SecMode=1&DocId=1653000&Usage=2

Crime dataEuropean Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics

- 2010 http://www.europeansourcebook.org/

Fourth edition: http://www.europeansourcebook.org/ob285_full.pdf


Cross-countries and cross-clusters comparison Regional clusters used by WHO (geographical sub-regions)

CIS South-Eastern Europe

Baltic Countries

Central Europe

Southern Europe

Western Europe

in which Anglo-Saxon

Nordic countries

ARM ALB LVA SVK CYP SWI IRE ICE

MDA MDK LTU POL MAT FRA UKE1England and

Wales

NOR

UKR BIH EST CZH POR AUT UKE2Northern Ireland

DEN

GEO TUR HUN GRE NET UKE3Scotland

FIN

UKR ROM SVN ITA DEU SWE

AZE BUL SPAIN BEL

CRO


Cross-countries and cross-clusters comparison European Union versus non EU members

EU 15 + EFTA EU 12 (accession in 2004+)

Non EU members

Austria the NetherlandsBelgium NorwayDenmark PortugalFinland SpainFrance SwedenGermany SwitzerlandIceland Ireland Italy Ireland UK ScotlandLuxemburgUK England and WalesUK Northern Ireland

BulgariaCyprusCzech RepublicEstoniaHungaryLatviaLithuaniaMaltaPolandRomaniaSlovakiaSlovenia

AlbaniaArmeniaBosnia and HerzegovinaCroatiaGeorgiaMoldovaRussian FederationFROMacedoniaTurkeyUkraine


•The biggest rates are in Western European countries, what is caused, besides others, the higher reporting rates to the police

•The lowest rates are in non-EU member states

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

EU15 & EFTA EU12 (2004+) Non EU Average

Total crime rate in 2000-2007 (per 100 000)

European Sourcebook data


Total crime rate in 2007 by geographical regions

CIS (Commonwealth of Independent

States)

South-Eastern Europe

Baltic Countries

Central Europe

Southern Europe

Western Europe

in which: Anglo-Saxon

Nordic Countrie

s

ARM ALB LVA SVK CYP SWI UKE2 ICE

MDA MDK LTU POL MAT FRA UKE1 NOR

UKR BIH EST CZH POR AUT UKE3 DEN

GEO TUR HUN GRE NET IRE FIN

UKR ROM SVN ITA DEU SWE

BUL SPAIN BEL

CRO

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45


Average annual growth rate in 2000-2007 (%)by type of crime

-10,1

-6,2-5,6

-5,3 -5,1

-4,2

1,7

3,1

0,5

-0,2

-12

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

Theft ofmotorvehicle

Domesticburglary

Intentionalhomicide

completed

Burglary Robbery Intentionalhomicide

Assault Rape Drugoffences

Total


Trend of crime and limitation of cross-national comparison

In Europe, total criminal offences cover different situation and comparison is limited; trend of total offences is slowly decreasing

The violent crime (except rape) was growing near 2002 and slowly decreasing in 2007. In many countries increase of assault is related to new legal provisions

Robbery, theft of motor vehicles are decreasing except the group of non EU

Domestic burglary is decreasing except Albania and Armenia

Drug offences are increasing in almost all European countries

Main reasons of incomparability of crime in Europe

Penal systems Scope of criminalization

System of registration (petty offences, traffic offences, illegal parking, etc.) “victimless” offences (illegal possession of arms, drunk driving, drug

offences) Counting rule of offences and offenders

time point when offence is recorded (“input”, “output”) multiply (several) offences committed (the most serious or ..) serial or continuous offending

“Dark number” of crime (unreported or unregistered offences)


Incoming criminal cases in 2008 (per 100 000) CEPEJ data

mean 2573median 1718min 93max over 8000

•The highest rate is in Cyprus (over 11000), Croatia, FYROMacedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina•In about 40% of countries rate does not exceed 1000•From 1000 to 3000 in about 40% countries.94

232

277

331

344

347

490

696

718

792

795

822

904

991

3047

3717

4197

4832

6300

6896

8238

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000

Armenia

Albania

Moldova

Norway

Bulgaria

Georgia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Austria

Russian Federation

Romania

Serbia

Sweden

Czech Republic

Netherlands

Malta

Montenegro

Slovenia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

FYROMacedonia

Croatia

from 1000 to 3000: Switzerland Ukraine Finland Portugal Latvia France Denmark UK-Scotland Turkey Estonia Poland Italy Hungary Spain


Crime and incoming criminal cases: link?

Crime Incoming cases per 100 th

lowIncoming cases per 100 th

mediumIncoming cases per 100 th

high

High crime rate

AustriaSweden

Denmark FranceFinland Germany (2006)UK ScotlandUK England and Wales

BelgiumItalyNetherlandsSpain

Medium crime rate

Czech RepublicLithuaniaRussian Federation

LatviaPortugalSwitzerland

Croatia MaltaEstonia PolandHungary Slovenia

Low crime rate

Albania MoldovaArmenia RomaniaBulgaria SlovakiaGeorgia

TurkeyUkraine

Bosnia and HerzegovinaCyprusFYROMacedonia

1. Relatively high crime rates are observed mostly in Western European countries, while the low and medium rates are in Eastern Europe.

2. The variety in incoming case rates is related to the different criminal policy, divergence in the reaction on crime, e.g. simplified proceeding, sanctions imposed by prosecutors without coming to the courts, etc.


Proportion of incoming criminal cases related to severe offences and misdemeanors:

• In Italy, Portugal, Estonia, France, Hungary and Poland: % of incoming cases of serious offences is higher that 50%.

• In some countries (Albania, Serbia, FYROMacedonia, Croatia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Denmark) % of “serious cases” is below 20%.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Cases of severe offences Cases of misdemeanors


% of pending cases at 1st January 2008 in the number of incoming cases

• The biggest backlog (from previous years) were in Slovenia and Portugal (over 100% of incoming cases in 2008). • Large backlogs were in Montenegro, Croatia, FYROMacedonia, Italy and Turkey (from 80% to 100% of the number of new cases in 2008).• The best situation was in Estonia, where backlogs was about 4% of new cases, followed by Russian Federation (14%) and the Netherlands (18%).

119

107

9893

88 87 86

76

65

4945

3934

3230 30 30

27 25

1814

4

0

30

60

90

120


Clearance Rate and Gross Clearance Rate

1) Clearance Rate (CR) is the relationship between the number of resolved cases and the number of incoming cases in a given year

CR = resolved cases / incoming cases

The second measure GCR takes into account the total number of cases to be solved

2) Gross Clearance Rate (GCR) is the relationship between the number of resolved cases and the total number of cases handled in the courts in a given year (pending cases from previous periods and incoming cases)

GCR = resolved cases / pending cases + incoming cases


Clearance rate of criminal severe cases in 2008(%)

• In about half of countries (out of 30) the clearance rate exceeded 100%, what meant that it was possible to reduce the backlog from previous years.

• In 9 countries the clearance rates were lower or equal 95%, what means that backlogs from previous years increased by another 20% - in Armenia and about 10% - in Spain, Latvia, Denmark, Albania and Malta.

Clearance rate of criminal severe cases in %

92

90

91

91

92

92

94

94

95

98

98

99

99

99

99

100

101

104

105

105

106

106

108

113

116

116

117

124

126

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Armenia

Spain

Latvia

Denmark

Albania

Malta

Switzerland

Italy

Turkey

UK-England and Wales

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Estonia

Hungary

Austria

Netherlands

Poland

France

Russian Federation

Belgium

Serbia

Slovenia

Croatia

Monaco

Portugal

FYROMacedonia

Georgia

Andorra

San Marino

Montenegro


Gross clearance rate of criminal severe cases in 2008 (%)

• The best results were achieved by countries in which the backlogs from previous years were small.

• Slovenia, Italy, Turkey and Albania managed to settle only about 50% of the cases.

[GCR could be calculated for 27 countries, which provided relevant data]

Gross clearance rate of criminal severe cases in %

98 9591

85 8379 78 76 75 75

71 70 6964 64 62 60 59

56 55 54 54 52 51 50 48

26

0

30

60

90

120


Flow of criminal severe case (per 100 000)

• The best result was in Estonia and the Netherlands, where the backlogs from previous period were small.

• In Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and FYROMacedonia number of resolved cases exceeded number of incoming cases and backlogs could be slightly reduced.

Flow of criminal severe cases per 100 thousand (1)

0

1500

3000

4500

Incoming cases in 2008 Pending cases at 1 January 2008 Resolved cases in 2008


Flow of criminal severe case (per 100 000)continuation

• Latvia, Denmark and Switzerland increased backlogs

• Belgium, Russian Federation, Serbia and Georgia could slightly reduced pending cases

0

200

400

600

Belgium Austria Latvia Denmark Switzerland UK-Englandand Wales

RussianFederation

Serbia Georgia

Incoming cases in 2008 Pending cases at 1 January 2008 Resolved cases in 2008


Pending criminal serious cases at the end of 2008 (per 100 000)

• The highest backlog has been observed in Italy (over 2000).

• In Slovenia, Portugal and Turkey the pending cases were over 1000.

Countries with backlogs higher then 100 per 100 thousand

2022

1081 1030 1007 983

802685

573 552 524438

245120 109 108

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500


Disposition time of criminal severe casesin days

• Average duration is over 190 days (over half a year).

• In Slovenia and Italy disposition time is longer than 1 year.

• Courts in Belgium, the Netherlands, Russian Federation and Estonia needs much shorter time to resolved criminal severe cases than in other states – not more than 3 months.

390365

346331

305 305 299288

252227

207 201

165 156 148

122 118 116105

95 9277

67

3518

0

150

300

450

8


Clearance rate and gross clearance rate for cases of robbery

• CR (clearance rate) was the biggest in Georgia, Switzerland and Bulgaria

• The highest GCR (gross clearance rate) was in Turkey, Russian Federation and Armenia

Note: only few countries provided relevant information about cases of robbery

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Clearence Rate Gross Clearence Rate


Robbery in Europe in 2000-2007(per 100 000)Source: European Sourcebook 2010

• Robberies declined in many countries

• The fastest decreasing was in new EU member states

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

EU15 & EFTA EU12 (2004+) Non EU Average


Clearance rate and gross clearance rate for cases of intentional homicide

• CR over 100% was in 8 countries taken into account

• The highest GCR – over 80% was in Russian Federation and Finland

136

111 106 105 103 103 102 101 97 95 93

6249

0

40

80

120

160

Clearence Rate Gross Clearence Rate


Intentional homicide in Europe in 2000-2007(per 100 000)Source: European Sourcebook 2010

• Homicides decreasing in almost all countries in Europe

• The fastest decline was in non-EU member states

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

EU15 & EFTA EU12 (2004+) Non EU members Average


Comments

Case flow monitoring shows wide differences in number of incoming cases, resolved cases, clearance rate and pending cases in European courts

In more than half countries gross clearance rate (as a relation between resolved cases and total cases to solve) is lower than 70%. Countries with GCR below 50% need improving management system very fast

Analysis on national level is only an example and should be expanded with the additional information about e.g. the size of the courts, the number of judges and support staff

The study shows that there is a need to improve data collection, refine the definition to make next survey more complete and effective.