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Newsletter of theEUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGYNewsletter of theEUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGYCRIMINOLOGY IN EUROPE

NEWSLETTER OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGYVOL. 2 • NO. 1 MARCH 2003

The European Society ofCriminology will hold its third annualmeeting in Helsinki, Finland onAugust 27-30, 2003. The theme is“Crime and Crime Control in anIntegrating Europe.” Kauko Aromaaof the European Institute for CrimePrevention and Control, Affiliatedwith the United Nations (HEUNI),and the Scandinavian ResearchCouncil for Criminology, is theconference organiser. Jerzy Sarneckiof the University of Stockholm is thechair of the programme committee.

Inside is more detailed information

Helsinki HostsThird ESC ConferenceBy Kauko Aromaa

about the conference, includingregistration fees and contactinformation for the programmecommittee.

Helsinki is a modern city with apopulation of over half a million. It isthe capital of Finland and stands on apeninsula and several islands in theBaltic Sea. Helsinki was founded in1550 under the Swedish regime, andbecame the capital in 1812, afterbecoming a Russian grand-duchy in1809. When Finland gainedindependence in 1917, Helsinkiretained its status as capital. The

Increases in prison populations are an important concernin many democratic countries. The undesirable effects ofprison crowding are legion, including increases incorrections costs and deterioration in living and workingconditions for inmates and corrections officers.

Rising crime rates are often invoked to explainincreasing prison populations, but this is not the primaryexplanation. There is no general relationship betweencrime rate trends and prison populations. Independent ofcrime rates, an increase in the number of prisoners canresult from increasing numbers of persons receivingconfinement sentences or from longer sentences beingimposed.

The main indicator of comparative numbers of inmatesis the prisoner rate, which is obtained by relating thenumber of prisoners on a specific date - or as an annualaverage - to the number of inhabitants. Generally, this isexpressed as the number of inmates per 100,000inhabitants. It varies today from about 20 in the FaeroeIslands to about 700 in the United States of America. InWestern Europe it varies between 30 (Iceland) and 130(Portugal) and in Eastern Europe between 55 (Slovenia)and 665 (Russia) inmates per 100,000 population(Walmsley 2002).

But comparison of different countries’ prisoner rates is

Prison Population Trendsin Western Europe

By André Kuhn

Continued on page 12 Continued on page 10

Continued on page 5

Criminology inFinland

By Tapio Lappi-SeppäläCriminology has a relatively weak position as an

academic discipline in Finland, especially compared withcountries such as Sweden, Germany, and the UK. Themajor part of Finnish criminological research has beenconducted outside the universities in other agencies andinstitutes, first and foremost in the Institute of Criminology,established in 1963 by the ministry of justice, and itssuccessor, the National Research Institute of Legal Policy.In this article I describe the work of the National ResearchInstitute, discuss criminology’s place in the universities,and conclude by discussing pan-Scandinavian programmesin which Finland participates.

National Research Institute of Legal PolicyIn 1974 the National Research Institute was founded to

carry on the work of the initial criminology institute. Itsmission was expanded to encompass other fields of legalpolicy (http://www.om.fi/optula/2664.htm.). It works inclose co-operation with the Finnish Statistical CentralOffice, and other research institutes.

The institute is divided into two parts: theCriminological Unit and the General Unit. The permanentstaff, including administration, totals 15. About half workon criminological research. The main areas of researchhave been analysis and evaluation of crime and crime

University of Helsinki was founded in1640.

The sea and islands are importantcomponents of the city centre’sexpression. All in all, there are 315islands off the 98-kilometre coastlineand the proximity of the sea providesa wonderful range of recreationalamenities. A visit to the historical seafortress Suomenlinna/Sveaborg, “theGibraltar of the North”, a site ofUNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage,is recommended.

The Helsinki region has a strong

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGYPAGE 2 MARCH 2003

VOL. 2, NO. 1MARCH 2003

Criminology in Europe is publishedby the European Society ofCriminology. Comments,criticisms, and suggestions forimprovements are welcomed.The editorial office is located at:Institute of Criminology,Cambridge University,7 West Road,Cambridge CB3 9DT, UK .Tel: 44 1223 335369Fax: 44 1223 335356Email: [email protected]

President—Paul WilesPresident-Elect—Ernesto SavonaTreasurer—Martin KilliasBoard Member—Sebastian RochéJournal Editor—David J. SmithNewsletter Editor—Michael Tonry

Communications should beaddressed as follows:

To the president:Paul WilesThe Home Office50 Queen Anne’s GateLondon SW1H 9AT, UKTel: 44 20 7273 2616Email:[email protected]

To the business office:Martin KilliasUniversity of LausanneSchool of CriminologyISPC/BCH, UNILCH-1015 LausanneSWITZERLANDTel: 41 2169 24640Fax: 41 2169 24605Email: [email protected]

Concerning the 2003 meeting:Kauko AromaaHEUNIPL 157, Uudenmaankatu 3700121 Helsinki, FINLANDTel: 358 9 1606 7881Fax: 358 9 1606 7890Email: [email protected]

Continued on page 8

The last newsletter reported thegreat success of the Toledoconference. For such a new organis-ation this is an amazing achievementand demonstrates just how much thenew European Society of Criminologywas needed. What it also shows isthat the ESC is going to be a

permanent feature of worldcriminology.

The Toledo meeting benefited frombeing held in one of Europe’s mostbeautiful old cities and during aperiod of constant sunshine. It alsobenefited from the kind of efficientorganisation that produces a relaxedsetting for discussion. CristinaRechea Alberola and RosemaryBarberet led on organising theconference and they were supportedby a group of younger colleaguesfrom the University of Castilla-LaMancha. This is one of thoseoccasions where a simple ‘thank you’hardly seems adequate. Toledocertainly set high standards for futureconferences. The next ESCconference will be in Helsinkibetween 27 and 30 August and mymain task during the coming year willbe to support Kauko Aromaa, BrittaKyvsgaard, Jerzy Sarnecki, PaulLarsson, and their colleagues inplanning that conference.

Another ‘thank you’ that is evenmore difficult is to Josine Junger-Taswho stepped down as President of theESC at the end of the Toledo

Message from the Presidentconference. Josine was one of thosewho developed the original vision forthe ESC. She chaired the group thatdid the planning for the new ESC andwas President during the second year.Without Josine the ESC may not haveexisted. More than that she hassteered us through the difficultteething problems that any newsociety goes through whilst, at thesame time, ensuring that the ESC hasremained firmly focused on being ahome for discussing high qualitycriminological research. Josineremains on the board and, as your newpresident, I will be relying on Josine’sexperience in the coming year.

Having run two successfulconferences, we now need to ensurethat the ESC’s structure is robustenough to act as a focal body forEuropean criminologists.

We need to improve our ability tocommunicate with each other. Wealready have this newsletter, thanks tothe hard work of Mike Tonry andcolleagues, and it will remain animportant means for providinginformation to ESC members. Wehave had websites to help organise ourconferences. However, we are nowdeveloping a single ESC website thatwill be the permanent virtual home forthe society in the future. This will bethe place to find details about the nextconference, but also details about pastand future conferences and details ofthe papers that have been presented.We also want the website to developso that it becomes an easy means forall members to communicate andexchange views about the Society andits work.

We need to ensure that the ESC isproperly linked to European researchinitiatives. In January Josine and Ihad a meeting with Tung-Lai Margue,the head of research at the EuropeanCommission’s Directorate of Justiceand Home Affairs. He kindly providedus with a version of the SixthFramework call for research bids thatisolated those areas of interest tomembers of the ESC. I e-mailed thisto you and I hope that some of youhave been able to submit bids. I also

Paul Wiles

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY MARCH 2003 PAGE 3

The International Self-Report Delinquency Study was acommon undertaking of eleven European countries, oneAmerican state, and one area in New Zealand. Self-reported delinquency studies using many commonquestions and measures were administered in eachjurisdiction. A first volume contained the national reports(Junger-Tas, Terlouw, and Klein 1994). A second volumeincluding the comparative analyses of data from elevencountries is now completed and will soon be published.Two samples were excluded because their data were notsufficiently comparable. New Zealand’s was a cohort studyof young people aged 18 and the Greek one was a snowballsample. This article summarises major conclusions.

An overall delinquency scale was constructed from atotal of 30 offences. Specific scales, such as a propertyscale and a serious offences scale, were also developed.Serious offences included theft of motorbikes, theft fromcars, car theft, robbery, burglary, threats of extortion,beating up (family or non-family members), injuringsomeone with a weapon, and selling soft or hard drugs.

Participants agreed to draw random samples of youthsaged 14-21 and to include both sexes. However, sampling,administration, and coding of the instrument varied in somerespects, forcing us to use statistical techniques toovercome these shortcomings. To improve ourunderstanding of country differences in social, cultural, andeconomic respects when conducting more complex

The International Self-Report Delinquency

StudyBy Josine Junger-Tas and Denis Ribeaud

Continued on page 20

Continued on page 18

The European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal JusticeStatistics was conceived in 1993, and appeared in its first andsecond versions in 1995 and 1999. A next edition covering1996-2000 is underway. This article briefly explains theSourcebook, its origins, and developments to date.

In 1893, a report for England and Wales recommendedthe annual publication of comparative internationalcriminal justice statistics in “Criminal Statistics, Englandand Wales” in order to provide policy makers with relevantadditional information to help them re-think currentpolicies. Concern by academics and governmentstatisticians about the validity of such comparisons delayedimplementation of this recommendation by about 100years! The question ‘is it safe to make internationalcomparisons? ’ is clearly one for the European Society ofCriminology to consider and debate. With the increasinginternationalisation of criminal justice, it is important forresearchers to be aware both of sources of internationaldata and how ‘safe’ they are.

To DateIn 1993, six criminal justice experts met in Strasbourg

to discuss a proposal from the Scientific Council of theCouncil of Europe to collect crime and criminal justicestatistics from all the Council Member States. Theparticipants were from Switzerland (Martin Killias,Lausanne), France (Pierre Tournier, CESDIP), Sweden(Hanns von Hofer, Stockholm), the Netherlands (MaxKommer, Ministry of Justice), Finland (Kauko Aromaa,HEUNI), and the UK (Gordon Barclay, Home Office) (andsubsequently expanded to include Hungary [Imre Kertesz]and Germany [Jorg-Martin Jehle, Georg-AugustUniversity]). Primary discussions focussed on whetherexisting sources already provided this data and whether anyinternational comparisons based on such data were valid.

The conclusion was that that it would be worthwhile todevelop such data systems but only if done rigorously,commencing with a survey covering a small number ofcountries.

The project has continued under the chairmanship ofProfessor Martin Killias (Lausanne University,Switzerland) with secretarial support initially fromWolfgang Rau (Council of Europe) and more recently fromCynthia Tavares (Home Office, UK). The size of thesteering committee has varied, because of the need toinclude experts from Eastern Europe to reflect the breadthof membership of the Council of Europe.

Funding has been a problem. The Council of Europe nolonger funds the project, although the work is still carriedout under its auspices. Current funding is provided by theSwiss, Dutch, and UK governments, and HEUNI. The

European Sourcebookof Crime and Criminal

Justice StatisticsBy Gordon Barclay & Cynthia Tavares

Nominations for ESC President for 2004-2005 shouldbe submitted by May 1, 2003. The successful candidatewill be a member of the ESC board as president-elect in2003-4, before assuming office, and afterwards willremain on the board as president-emeritus in 2005-6.

To be valid, nominations should include a writtenstatement of the nominee’s willingness to serve and besupported in writing by at least ten paid-up members ofthe ESC. The election will be held at the BusinessMeeting during the coming year’s annual conferencefrom August 27-30 in Helsinki. All nominees for whomvalid nominations are received will be on the ballot.

All communications relating to nominations may beby hard copy or e-mail, and should be delivered to PaulWiles, the current ESC president, at The Home Office,50 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SW1H 9AT,[email protected]

Nominations for ESCPresident


EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY

Conference 2003 Helsinki, Finland August 27-30, 2003

Call for Papers

Crime and Crime Control in an Integrating Europe

Procedures:

1. Submission of abstractsAbstracts may be submitted for a panel presentation, an

entire panel (no more than four papers), or a posterpresentation. Poster presentations will take place on theafternoon of August 28, 2003. Panel sessions will bescheduled throughout the three days of the conference;therefore, participants should plan on attending the entireconference. Only two presentations per person arepermitted. Presentations should concern results of recentlycompleted or ongoing research, including policy analysis.

For panel sessions, please send a 100-300 word abstractfor each presentation. Abstracts should be submitteddirectly to the conference website under the “Abstract”function by May 2, 2003, accompanied by your personaldetails: name, affiliation, full address, telephone, fax, andemail. You will receive confirmation of receipt from theorganiser, who acts upon consultation with the programcommittee.

For poster sessions, please send your abstract anddetails directly to the organiser.

2. Conference registrationAll presenters will receive confirmation and a

conference registration mailing before June 1, 2003, andmust register for the conference by July 1, 2003. Aregistration form is provided on the back page. Electronicregistration directly on the conference website is howeverpreferred.

The European Society of Criminology was founded in 2000 with the following aims:

· To bring together persons actively engaged in Europein research, teaching, or practice in the field ofcriminology;

· To foster criminological scholarship, research,education, and training;

· To encourage scientific and practicalexchange and cooperation among criminologists inEurope and elsewhere; and

· To serve as a forum for the dissemination ofcriminological knowledge at the European level.

Conference OrganiserKauko AromaaHEUNIPL 157, Uudenmmaankatu 3700121 Helsinki, FINLANDTel: 358 9 1606 7881Fax: 358 9 1606 7890Email: [email protected]

Programme ChairJerzy SarneckiKriminologiska institutionenStockholms universitetS-106 91 Stockholm, SWEDENTel: 46 8 16 21 02Fax: 46 8 15 78 81Email: [email protected]

Conference website: <http://www.eurocrim2003.com>

Registration fees: Before AfterJuly 1, 2003 July 1, 2003

Non ESC members 150 Euros 200 EurosNon ESC members (students) 100 Euros 150 EurosESC members 100 Euros 150 EurosESC members (students) 60 Euros 100 Euros

If paying by cheque, please add 10 Euros. Theconference fee includes the services of the conferencebureau, welcoming and finishing receptions, all coffeebreaks, and conference documentation.

3. ESC membershipConference participants may wish to consider joining

the ESC since a discount is available to ESC members asspecified above in “registration fees.”

4. Hotel reservationsArrangements have been made for sufficient hotel

rooms in central Helsinki, but conference participants willneed to reserve their rooms before the end of May 2003, ifthey want to have some choice. Information regarding hotelreservations will be available on the conference web site.

5. Participants from Eastern European countriesA modest sum has been made available to assist with

travel, accommodation, and meal costs for young EasternEuropean scholars. Please contact Kauko Aromaa<[email protected]> for further information.

Conference SecretariatOlli RikalaScandinavian Research Council forCriminology, POB 15700121 Helsinki, FINLANDTel: 358 9 1606 9804Fax: 358 9 1606 [email protected]


Programme Themes for Panel Sessions

A. Current Trends in Theory and Research- Crime Trends and Cross-National Comparisons- Theory Development and Causes of Crime- Developmental Approaches in Criminology- Communities and Crime- Policing- Historical Criminology- Political Transitions and Crime- Research Methods in Criminology- Corruption- Organised Crime- Trafficking- Violent Crime- Treatment Methods of Criminal Behaviour- Juvenile Crime

The themes are provisional and subject to change as abstracts and panel proposals come in.

B. Research on Policy Issues- Crime Control- Crime Prevention- Cross-border and Transnational Crime Control- Drugs, Alcohol and Crime- Victimisation- Fear of Crime- Self-reported Crime- Policing- Prosecution and Courts- Sentencing, Corrections- Alternatives to Incarceration, Regulating the Prison Population- Education and Training

Programme committeeJerzy Sarnecki (chair)Kauko Aromaa (organiser)Full contact details given opposite

Britta [email protected]: +45 33 95 41 84Fax: +45 33 93 35 10Ministry of Justice

Slotsholmsgade 10DK-1216 Copenhagen K, Denmark

Paul [email protected]: +47 23 36 41 34Fax: +47 23 36 40 41Ministry of JusticePostboks 8051 Dep, NO-0031Oslo, Norway

Co-organisers

Scandinavian Research Council forCriminology;

Department of Criminal Law,Procedural Law andGeneral Jurisprudential Studies,University of Helsinki;

Finnish National Research Institute ofLegal Policy

Helsinki ConferenceContinued from page 1reputation as a centre of culture, advanced technology, anduniversity education. It is also the country’s leading businessand industrial centre.

There are excellent connections from Helsinki toStockholm, Tallinn, and St.Petersburg. The medieval cityof Tallinn, also a site of UNESCO’s World CulturalHeritage, is a particularly suitable destination for a day-tripon a slow boat or a fast one (less than 90 minutes). Forthose with a little more time, St.Petersburg is within reach.

The home page of the city of Helsinki, www.helsinki.fi(in Finnish, Swedish, English, French, German andRussian), gives a good overview of tourist highlights andother interesting features.

Late August/early September in the south of Finland isreasonably warm, with mean maximum temperatures of 19(August)/14 (September) degrees Celsius, and meanminimum temperatures of 12/8 degrees Celsius. Theweather may be unreliable. This is still the tourist season.Consequently, though the conference organisers canprovide information on hotels and have arranged sufficienthotel space, participants are strongly advised to reserverooms by the end of May.

ESC and the local organisers look forward to seeing youall there.

The ESC is pleased to announce that, due to agenerous gift, it is able to provide travel costs for afew PhD candidates or junior researchers from EasternEurope to attend the Helsinki meeting in August 2003.

Candidates wishing to obtain such support shouldwrite to the Programme Chair, Professor KaukoAromaa (HEUNI, PL 157, Uudenmmaankatu 3700121 Helsinki, FINLAND, Fax: 358 9 1606 7890,Email: [email protected]) and send their CV plus abrief description of the research paper they intend topresent.

The deadline is 1 June 2003.

Student TravelAwards


European Journal ofCriminology

Publication Starts inJanuary 2004

By David J Smith

One of the ESC’s major initiatives is the launch of anew, refereed academic journal, the European Journal ofCriminology, in partnership with Sage. There will be fourissues a year starting in January 2004. An InternationalAdvisory Board of nearly 40 members has been added tothe small Editorial Board. Full details are given on thejournal website (follow the links fromwww.sagepub.co.uk). Most work of reviewing submittedarticles will be done by members of the InternationalAdvisory Board.

The journal will publish high quality articles usingvaried approaches, including discussion of theory, analysisof quantitative data, comparative studies, systematicevaluation of interventions, and study of institutions andpolitical process. The journal also covers analysis ofpolicy, but not description of policy developments.Priority is given to articles relevant to the wider Europe(within and beyond the EU) although findings may bedrawn from other parts of the world. There is a particularemphasis on the use of evidence generated by sound socialscience methods to evaluate criminological ideas andpolicy.

The early issues will take shape over the next sixmonths. Each issue will include a country survey—asubstantial article describing criminal justice institutionsand trends in a selected European country, and reviewingimportant publications in recent years. Countries coveredin the first four issues will be the Republic of Ireland,France, Switzerland, and Poland.

Other contents of the journal in the first year will bevaried. One article raises fundamental questions about thepenal economy in eastern Europe, on the system of barterwith local communities that sustains contemporary Russianprisons. There will be two substantial pieces on juvenileoffending, and how it is shaped by ecological influencesand community dynamics. A third article will investigateexplanations for gender differences in juvenile offending.Ecological influences are further investigated in an articleon victimization and neighbourhood characteristics. Amajor article on the treatment of suspects in custody inFrance is probably the first detailed, empirical study of thetopic, and raises deep questions about the capacity of thenational institutional and legal structure to controlpractices, and about the relevance of the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights. There will be early articleson a range of other topics including deaths of offenders incustody, preventing burglary, analysis of repeatvictimization as a tool of crime prevention, identifyingpatterns of offending behaviour through the life course, andpolice intelligence systems.

The University of LausanneSchool of Criminal Sciences

will be accepting a new intakeof students for its

Starting on 20 October 2003. This is a full-timeprogram extending over 1 to 2 years, depending on thenumber of credits awarded for previously obtaineddegrees and practical experience.

The programme includes classes and seminars inCriminology, Criminal Law, Research Methods andStatistics, Economic Crime, Anglo-Saxon Law,Organised Crime, Juvenile Delinquency, ForensicScience, Forensic Medicine, Forensic Psychology andForensic Psychiatry. Students are expected to spend“stages” (short periods gaining practical experience) ina police department and in a prison service. At the endof the programme, a master’s dissertation is to bedefended.

The School provides access to numerousinternational databases for dissertations and otherresearch activities of students, initiation to researchmethods through individualised “on the job training”,and teaching by experienced international staff.Teaching is mainly in French, with opportunities forstudents from other backgrounds to become familiarwith the language.

Eligible are students with a BA in criminology,criminal justice, psychology, social sciences, law, orany related field.

For general inquiries about the programme pleasecontact: [email protected], [email protected].

Registration:Forms can be obtained on-line at [email protected], or

from the following address: Rectorat de l’Université deLausanne, Service des Immatriculations, CH-1015Lausanne, Switzerland.

Forms must be returned by 31 August 2003 [email protected] or to the Rectorat de l’Université deLausanne, Service des Immatriculations, CH-1015Lausanne, Switzerland.

MASTER’SPROGRAMME INCRIMINOLOGY


1. Booking and financial arrangements. It was agreedthat the Society needed a simpler way of handlingbookings and managing its finances. This was notcriticism of arrangements so far but simply that theSociety needed to develop structures that would enableits future development.

2. Refunds for those who withdraw from the conference?Refunds would be too costly for the Society’s presentadministrative structures to cope with. However,named substitutes should be allowed for those whowithdrew.

3. Is the policy on use of different languages at theconference correct? The Board re-affirmed its earlierdecision that simultaneous translation was too costlyfor the Society and that English would continue to bethe conference language, but the Society wouldcontinue to allow papers to be presented in otherEuropean languages (such presentations should benoted on the programme where possible).

4. Toledo’s programme content. We should try tointroduce some workshops which have a trainingelement in key criminological skills.

5. Permanent secretarial support for the Society. Whilstthis was highly desirable, it would have to wait until theSociety’s finances were on a firmer basis.

6. Whether future minutes of the Board’s meetings couldbe made more informative for members. A proposal isto be offered at the next Board meeting.

7. Charge publishers for using the conferences? It wasdecided to charge commercial publishers for stands atfuture conferences or for inserting adverts into theprogramme packs.

8. Plans for Helsinki. Details of the conference will beposted on the website. The Scandinavian ResearchCouncil had sponsored the early web work andplanning, will use the conference as a joint event, andwill send 60 delegates. There will be a City Hallreception. There may be a need to limit the totaldelegates, depending on the size of the conferencedinner venue and other facilities in Helsinki. The themewill be: “Crime and Crime Control in an IntegratingEurope.”

The Board also agreed after discussion that: Theconference will not be held jointly with the EuropeanSociety of Deviance. There should be four plenarysessions. Suggestions were trans-national trafficking;

Summary of Board Meeting Discussions and Decisions

7th September 2003 Meeting following the Toledo Conferencecomparative programme evaluations; comparativeimprisonment rates; police and privatisation of socialcontrol; crime prevention; and violent youth. Thereshould be a poster session for those who apply to givepapers after the cut-off date. Martin Killias will send aframework agreement to Kauko Aromaa for the runningof the Helsinki conference on behalf of the ESC. Kaukowill report back to the next meeting on the developmentof the conference programme.

9. Journal editorial board members. Names will beposted on the ESC website. The website should be usedto solicit suggestions for additional members.

10. Adverts in the Society’s newsletter. The Board agreedthat it should charge for these.

11. Co-sponsorship of 2004 conference with the AmericanSociety of Criminology. The Board agreed that, if theASC Board decided to go ahead, and proposed anacceptable programme plan, the ESC would consideracting as joint sponsor.

12. Engaging the European Commission. Josine Junger-Tas and Paul Wiles to explore the issue further inBrussels.

13. Date of the next Board meeting. The date of the nextmeeting will be trawled by Paul Wiles. The suggestedvenue is The Netherlands.

1. Conference website. The conference website iswww.eurocrim2003.com. The ESC website is www.esc-eurocrim.org. Kauko and Martin to confer on technicaldetails concerning shutting down the ESC site inLausanne.

2 Helsinki delegate numbers. No limit needed.

3. Conference events. There will be no dinner organisedby ESC but receptions will be hosted by the Ministry ofJustice and the City of Helsinki. Sight-seeing trips to bearranged as an extra.

4. Registration procedure. People to send membership andregistration forms and fees to Helsinki conferencebureau; Lausanne will notify the conference bureauwhether membership fees are paid.

24th January 2003 Meeting inLeiden

Continued on next page


Leiden Board Meeting Continued from previous page

5. ESC guarantee. The ESC willreimburse the conferenceorganizers for deficits up to€30,000.

6. Plenary sessions. Number to bereduced from six to four, withrepresentation of speakers fromthroughout Europe as a priority.

7. Training workshops. Possibleworkshops that might bescheduled include leading edgemethodology and presentations byEuropean Union officials on theiraims and funding opportunities.

8. Conference programme.Abstracts should be acceptedexcept when clarifications areneeded to make them under-standable. People can submitabstracts either for a paper or for aposter session. Maximum lengthof abstract is 300 words.

9. Publishers’ stands. Publishers

should be charged for boothssubject to local conditions.Charges might be up to €500 at thejudgement of the local organizer.

10.Student travel awards. Funds froma private donor will support up totwo €600 travel awards for youngEastern European scholars (PhDstudents or recent PhDs). Addit-ional awards may be made iffunding of €1,000 each can beraised.

11. Journal. First issue out January2004.

12. European Commission. Wiles andJunger-Tas had a promisingmeeting with the EU. There maybe a need to create a scientificcommittee to serve as liaison.

13. ESC/ASC meeting. For practicalreasons (too much work toorganize 2 meetings a year), aninvitation to co-sponsor a meeting

with the ASC was declined.

14. Newsletter. The next issue willappear in March.

15. Financial position. The ESC’sfinancial position is reasonablystrong. An external review offinances for the past year will bearranged.

16. British Society of Criminology.Proposals for joint BSC/ESCmembership and a joint 2005meeting were declined.

17. Presidential nominees. Any ESCmember can be nominated. Thenominee must be willing to run.Ten paid-up ESC members mustsupport nominations in writing.Nominations due by May 1.

18. Constitution. Draft proposals forconstitutional changes will beproposed for the May Boardmeeting.

suggested that some membersconsider offering their services to beinvolved in the expert assessment ofthe bids received – details can befound on the Commission website.

More generally we had a veryuseful discussion about how theDirectorate research programme andthe ESC could work together in thefuture. As the European Unionbecomes more involved in socialissues, such as crime, and alsoexpands, there will be an increasingneed for comparative data andresearch on which to base policy. Thepresent Sixth Framework researchopportunities are just the beginning ofthat process – but we need todemonstrate that we have expertise toensure that such funding is seen asworthwhile continuing. In addition tothis work, the Commission is alsogoing to start crime proofing itslegislation – that is trying to identifyin advance whether new proposalsmay, inadvertently, provide new crimeopportunities. They also intend to bemore systematic about assessing the

likely impact of future proposals in themember states and evaluating thoseproposals that get implemented.Members of the ESC need to beinvolved in much of this work and weinvited representatives of the Justiceand Home Affairs group to join us atHelsinki to talk about their futureneeds and plans. As you will know theCommission is often looking for pan-European research teams and the ESC

Message from the President Continued from page 2

will be a useful vehicle for buildingnew research partnerships.

The ESC was set up to provide avehicle for those interested inempirically-based Europeancriminological research to meettogether and work together. TheCommission ought to be one of thefunders of such work in the future andI hope that we will continue to workwith them.

The European Research Group on Crime, Ethics, and Social Philosophy(ERCES) is focusing on the following question: can common morals, commonconsciousness, and supra-individual values still be thought of as thefundaments of social cohesion and social control? In other words, are thosecommon and supra-individual values that go back to the philosophy ofenlightenment and belong to the tradition of social and political modernity,still efficacious in a multi-cultural and multi-ethical (post-modern) society?Further information may be obtained from http://ercesinternational.tripod.comor http:// erces.ifrance.com

Historical Criminology

ESC Working Group


University of Oxford

Centre for Criminological Research

MSc in Criminology

and Criminal Justice

For further information: www.crim.ox.ac.uk

Application forms for this one-year full-time course are

available from: Graduate Admissions Office,

University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JD, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1865 270060 Fax: 270708

[email protected]

University of Oxford

Centre for Criminological Research

MSc in Criminology

and Criminal Justice

For further information: www.crim.ox.ac.uk

Application forms for this one-year full-time course are

available from: Graduate Admissions Office,

University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JD, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1865 270060 Fax: 270708

[email protected]


control developments in Finland, andthe evaluation of criminal law reformsand their implementation. An annualreport, “Crime and Criminality inFinland,” has been published since1974. The report is a standard sourceof up-to-date information for Finnishcriminal justice organizations.

The institute has paid particularattention to developing victimizationand self-reported crime surveys toserve as standardized indicators ofcriminality - independent from theofficial (recorded) crime statistics.The first victimization surveys wereconducted in 1970. From the 1980sonwards, national surveys have beencarried out in conjunction with theFinnish Statistical Central Office at 4-5 year intervals (the next will takeplace in 2003). The institute took partin the first International Victim Surveyin 1989, and in the subsequent roundsin 1992, 1996, and 2000.

Studies in self-reported crime havea long tradition in Finland. Theoriginal Institute of Criminologyconducted one of the first Europeanstudies on self-reported crime in 1963(following models developed in theU.S). In 1992 the institute took part inthe first international self-reporteddelinquency study. That study wasextended into a national surveycovering a sample of some 50 schools.Self-report studies were conducted in1995, 1996, 1998, and 2001.

In the 1990s, media coverage ofcrime was strongly coloured byhorrifying images of Russian mafiainvading Finland. During that decadethe institute conducted several studiesas part of the “eastern border crimeproject.” Results showed that the risksof a threatening crime invasion wereheavily over-dramatised. After theresults were published, the police, atleast, changed their rhetoric.

Violent crime is a focus of currentresearch. Understanding, explaining,and reducing Finland’s internationallyhigh homicide rates has been a centraltheme in Finnish criminology sincethe days of the Finnish criminologistVeli Verkko (1930s onwards). TheNational Research Institute of LegalPolicy, the Police College, and theStatistical Central Office are co-

operating to develop a systematicdatabase of homicide.

A substantial part of the institute’sresearch is focused on evaluation ofthe implementation and enforcementof law reforms (their effects, how theyhave been applied, whether thelegislative aims have been realized).There has been a tendency over thelast two or three decades to stress theneed for this type of research.

Studies have concentrated mainlyon sentencing issues and criminal lawreforms (e.g., drunken driving,community service, juvenile sanctions,prosecutorial practices). Sentencingpractices have been a recurringsubject.

Since the early 1990s, a series ofstudies have assessed the functioningand effects of mediation schemes.

Criminology in the universitiesThere are no separate criminology

departments, or degree programmes,in Finnish universities. Criminology istaught and research is carried out inother disciplines, including law,sociology, psychology, medicine, andhistory.

Criminology is a compulsory partof the Finnish law degree and,consequently, is taught in all of theFinnish law faculties (Helsinki, Turku,Rovaniemi). Only Turku has adesignated professorship incriminology (founded 5 years agowith support from the police; itemphasises economic and organizedcrime and education of policeofficers).

Connecting criminological researchto law faculties has had beneficialeffects on the study of law – and theways future prosecutors and judgeslearn to think about criminal justicematters. The volume and quality of thecriminological research conducted inthe law faculties, however, has beenquite modest. Nonetheless thetextbooks on criminology and criminalpolicy in the early 1970s, written bythe former professor of criminal law inHelsinki, Inkeri Anttila, and PatrikTörnudd (both were directors of theNational Research Institute of LegalPolicy), are highly respected. In the1980s and 1990s, historical

criminology received considerableattention in the University of Helsinki,thanks to former professor of historyof law Heikki Ylikangas.

Outside the law faculties, there is achair in the “sociology of deviance”(emphasis on subcultures and non-criminal deviance, such as sexualminorities) in Kuopio University. InJyväskylä University, the departmentof psychology conducts a long-termand ongoing cohort study started inthe mid 1960s (early childhoodexperiences and conditions andsubsequent criminal behaviour).Criminal careers and control culturesin “borstals” have been studied (in thedepartments of social sciences andsocial policy) at Tampere University.Psychiatric and medical criminologyresearch has been conducted inHelsinki, Turku, and KuopioUniversities.

Academic criminology in Finlandmay be characterized as rich incontent but thin in volume.

Other related institutesHEUNI, the European Institute for

Crime Prevention and Control,affiliated with the United Nations, isamong other institutes andorganizations involved incriminological research. HEUNI wasestablished in 1981 to serve “as theEuropean link in the network ofinstitutes operating within theframework of the United NationsCrime Prevention and Criminal JusticeProgramme.” Its primary objective isto promote the international exchangeof information on crime preventionand control among European countries(see website). Activities consistmainly of organization of seminars,training courses, and expert groupmeetings. HEUNI also appointsscientific experts to prepare up-to-datereports on specific issues (such asprison populations and reporting inthe UN crime surveys).

In recent years, the police haveinvested more money on research. Inthe mid 1990s, a research institute wasestablished in connection with thePolice College. Its focus is on policestudies and economic and organizedcrime.

Criminology in Finland Continued from page 1


In addition, a large researchorganization under the ministry ofsocial and welfare affairs alsoconducts research on areas related tocriminology (including drugs andalcohol consumption). There areongoing projects on prostitution andviolence against women.

The major research funding agencyis the Academy of Finland. However,only two criminological projects, onthe history of criminality in Finlandand violence against women, havereceived money from the Academy.

Pragmatic orientation Since the fall of the rehabilitative

ideal, interest in rehabilitation andresearch on rehabilitative and othereffects of sanctions has been meagerin Scandinavia. Another area notcovered well enough is systematicevaluation of the effectiveness ofcrime prevention strategies. Only afew studies conducted since the 1970swould meet international qualitystandards. Finnish efforts are evenmore modest in this respect.

There are, however, some signs ofincreased interest in these fields,especially if we extend our view toother Scandinavian countries. Forexample, two units in the SwedishNational Council for CrimePrevention (BRÅ) deal with theseissues. The Division for ReformEvaluation surveys and analyses theimplementation, results, and costs ofcrime policy reforms. The IndividualChange Programmes Division studiesthe effects of individual measures forcriminal persons (see the website).However, in Finland, the scarcity ofresources and the much smaller size ofcriminological research units preventestablishment of large-scale projects.

Finnish criminology is pragmaticand practical, perhaps partly aconsequence of its weak academicposition. Another reason may be theclose relationship between researchand policy making. The awarenessthat research may be taken seriously inpolitical decision making mayinfluence this orientation. Crimin-ologists have had substantial influenceon official crime policy, not only inFinland, but in other Scandinaviancountries.

Scandinavian crime policy has

been characterized by Nils Christie asunusually “expert-oriented.” InFinland the role of experts has been –perhaps – even more prominent thanelsewhere in Scandinavia. This hascontributed to Finland’s maintenanceover the last 30 years of anexceptionally rational and humanecrime policy. During the 1960s andthe early 1970s, Finland had moreprisoners than any other WesternEuropean country, but in the mid1990s the imprisonment rates were thelowest among the EU countries.

From a wider Scandinavianperspective, two other institutionalarrangements should be mentioned.

The Scandinavian ResearchCouncil for Criminology

The Scandinavian ResearchCouncil for Criminology wasestablished in 1962 by the ministriesof justice in Denmark, Finland,Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Theaim is to “further criminologicalresearch within the member countriesand advise the Scandinaviangovernments and the Council onissues related to criminology.” Thecouncil awards research and travelgrants, arranges seminars, andpublishes a journal in English. Thecouncil also publishes reports from itsseminars and a newsletter three timesper year in Scandinavian languages(paper and on-line availability). Anelectronic bibliography, Scandinaviancriminology, is accessible on thecouncil website.

The council consists of 15members, three from each country,nominated by the national ministriesof justice. Two from each country arecriminologists, while the thirdrepresents the ministry of justice. Thechairmanship rotates every three yearsamong the Nordic countries. The dailyadministration is carried out by asecretariat located in the country ofthe chairperson.

The secretariat is situated inFinland for the period 2001-2003 andKauko Aromaa has been chairman. In2004, he will make way for a Swedishchairperson when the secretariatmoves to Sweden. The council hasproven to be a very valuable source offunds, especially for youngcriminologists.

Scandinavian CrimePrevention Councils

The Nordic crime preventionorganisations have a distinctive positionamong national crime preventionagencies. The Crime PreventionCouncil in Denmark, founded in 1971,was the first crime prevention agencyconcentrated on community-orientatednetworks and situational prevention.Since then, agencies have beenestablished in Sweden (BRÅ 1974),Norway (1980), and Finland (1989).

These councils differ from eachother. BRÅ carries out its ownsizeable research programme and is amajor funder of criminologicalresearch in Sweden. The other threecouncils are much less involved withresearch.

However, concerning crimeprevention, the crime preventioncouncils share the same startingpoints: To further the work withincrime prevention, first and foremostlocally, to stress social and situationalprevention over criminal justiceapproaches, and to stress theimportance of communityparticipation. As the joint booklet,published by the Swedish CrimePrevention Council, explains: “ANordic characteristic is that we fallback on informal social control. As isthe case with the social preventionintended for children and youth, it is aspecifically Nordic trait to involve thecitizens themselves in participatingactively and directly in crimepreventive work” (http://www.bra.se/dynamaster/publication/pdf_archive/0102276726.pdf).

The importance of criminologicalknowledge as a policy base isemphasized: “The Nordic Model forcrime prevention is also marked bythe effort to base crime preventivemeasures on concrete knowledge. Asfar as possible, crime prevention isbased on national and internationalresearch and other knowledge.”

So says the booklet. The ESCmeeting in Helsinki in 27-30 August2003 should provide an opportunity tosee to what extent these starting pointsare realized in practice.

Tapio Lappi-Seppälä is Director ofthe National Research Institute ofLegal Policy, Helsinki, Finland.


not an easy task. The prisonpopulation and changes in it resultfrom complex processes that areaffected by the frequency andseriousness of offences, policeefficiency, strictness of the law, andthe way judges carry it out. As aresult, this article tries to show someWestern European national trends inprison population rather than toanalyse differences between countries.The choice of countries examineddepended on the availability of dataand on their interest and ability topoint to general factors explaining thetrends in prison populations.

Does Europe resemble the USA?Some American and European

criminologists think that sooner orlater European prison populations willexplode as they did in the UnitedStates of America. At first glance,some developments seem to confirmtheir prediction.

Figure 1 shows that the Spanish,Dutch, and Swedish prisonpopulations (including both sentencedand non-sentenced prisoners) stronglyincreased between 1983 and 2001.But the increases are from a muchlower base, and they increased muchless rapidly. Europe has its ownparticularities, due to its history,culture, and criminal justice ideology,and all three differ from those of theUnited States. The US prisoner rategot out of control, but the followingsections suggest that Europeancountries try – most of themsuccessfully – to keep prisonpopulations under control.

SwitzerlandPrison population data in

Switzerland are available from 1890to 1941, and since 1982 when thefederal statistics agency initiated acentral data bank on the correctionalsystem, first with sentenced detaineesonly and, since 1988, with bothsentenced and non-sentenceddetainees.

As figure 2 shows, the Swissprisoner rate fell by half between the1930s and the 1990s, mostly due to adrop in sentenced prisoners,suggesting that the contemporary

Figure 1: Prisoner rate per 100,000 inhabitants in the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden,September 1, 1983-2001. Sources: Council of Europe, database “S.PACE”.

2001

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criminal justice system is less severethan formerly.

The recent Swiss prisoner rate isrelatively stable (and decreasing since1999). The recent decrease probablyresults from increasing use ofcommunity service and electronicmonitoring in place of short prisonsentences.

ItalyBetween September 1, 1986 and

February 1, 1987, the overall Italianprisoner rate dropped from 76 to 57prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants (seefigure 3), mainly because of aDecember 1986 amnesty.

Italy’s example shows that anamnesty can significantly reduce theprisoner rate in the short term. Thequestion is whether this can work inthe middle and long terms. The Italiandata suggest that an amnesty isincapable of reducing prisonpopulation for very long, as the

Figure 2: Prisoner rate per 100,000 inhabitants in Switzerland, 1890-1941 and 1988-2002.Sources:Statistical Yearbook of Switzerland and unpublished data from the federal statisticsagency.

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sentenced prisoner rate quicklyreturned to the pre-amnesty level. Theoverall rate did not rise for a timeafter the amnesty because of adecreasing pre-trial detention rate.This was partly due to a change inpre-trial detention law, whichabolished compulsory arrest andintroduced stricter conditions for pre-trial detention.

Between 1991 and 2001, theoverall prisoner rate increasedsignificantly, from 56 to 95. Thisseems to be an effect of illegalAlbanian immigration, enlargement ofthe anti-Mafia fight after theassassinations of judges, and anti-corruption operations led by somemagistrates.

FranceFrom January 1, 1968, to January

1, 1975, France (see figure 4)experienced a decrease ofapproximately 25 percent in its

Prison Populations Continued from page 1


Figure 3:Prisoner rate per 100,000 inhabitants in Italy, 1983-2001.Sources:Council of Europe, database “S.PACE”, (non-sentenced detainees include all inmatesawaiting a first or an appeal trial).

2.83

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prisoner rate, which was due to acombination of several statutes andamnesty laws. Later, the number ofprisoners increased continuously from1975 to 1981. A July 1981presidential pardon and an August1981 amnesty law temporarilycurtailed that “correctional inflation”,but the numbers increased even morefrom 1982 to 1988. Following thepresidential election of 1988, generalpardons and one more amnesty werepronounced. A general pardon was alsogranted on the occasion of the Frenchrevolution bicentennial in 1989. Butdespite all those measures, the prisonerrate increased from 78 to 90 per100,000 between 1990 and 1996. Since1997, efforts to avoid pre-trial detentionand to promote non-custodial sanctionsseem to have suceeded in decreasingthe prisoner rate.

The French experience suggeststhat amnesties and other pardons cantemporarily mask upward structuraltrends in prison populations, but onceagain do not provide long-term

solutions.The late 1990s trend also suggests

that even with longer sentences, theprisoner rate can decrease because ofa reduction in entries into prison(Kensey & Tournier 2001). Finally,the 2002 and 2003 increasesunfortunately show that the newFrench “get tough on crime” policynot only wins elections, but alsoincreases the prison population.

GreeceSince 1911, the Greek penal code

has allowed judges to replace someprison sentences with fines. If anoffender is found guilty, the judge hasfirst to determine an appropriateprison term. If not higher than acertain limit, the sentence isautomatically converted into a fine,and if not higher than another limit,the judge may convert it into a fine. In1911, the automatic conversion limitwas set at six months (every prisonsentence of less than six months hadto be converted into a fine unless

special deterrent considerations didnot permit this conversion), and thediscretionary conversion limit was setat 12 months (every 6 to 12 monthssentence could be converted undersome conditions). In 1984, thediscretionary conversion limit became18 months. In 1991, the automaticconversion limit was extended to 12months and the discretionary one to24 months. And finally, a 1996 lawfacilitated the conversion even more.It became the rule for all sentences upto two years (the discretionary limitbecame three years in 1999), andmade it possible to postpone thepayment of fines if the convictedperson faces financial difficulties(Spinellis 1998).

Figure 5 shows an increase inprisoner rates between 1984 and 1994despite the 1984 and 1991 changes.The replacement of short terms ofimprisonment with fines did notdecrease the prison population butcoincided with an upward shift. Thestriking drop between 1994 and 1996seems partly to be related to theconversion of longer prison terms intofines and the new possibility topostpone their payment. Another partof the explanation lay in the extension(in 1996) of mandatory conditionalrelease and the special conditionalrelease granted to inmates servingsentences for misdemeanours up tofive years at the time that the 1996 lawwas published (Spinellis 1998). Theincrease in the prisoner rate since1998 suggests that, like an amnesty, amassive release only masks thestructural upward trend for a while,and that a part of the postponed finesremained unpaid and were finallyconverted into prison terms.

GermanyFigure 6 shows the West German

prisoner rate from 1961 to 1998.Following the 1969 criminal lawchanges, the use of short terms ofimprisonment was limited bydiscouraging prison terms of sixmonths or less. This temporarilyreduced the prisoner rate. However, theprison population grew quickly againbecause of an increase in the length ofsome sentences. By 1973, there weretwice as many sentences between 6 and

Figure 4: Prisoner rate per 100,000 inhabitants in France, 1968-2003.Sources:Database “SEPT”, belonging to the French Ministry of Justice, which records prisonerrates on January 1 (non-sentenced detainees include all inmates awaiting a first or an appeal trial).

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Figure 5: Prisoner rate per 100,000 inhabitants in Greece, 1983-2001.Sources:Council of Europe, database “S.PACE”.

2.83

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12 months as in 1968, and by 1983 theywere three times as many. Judges seemto have substituted longer sentences forsome of the short sentences they couldno longer impose.

Between 1983 and 1991, theGerman prisoner rate fell significantlyfrom 93 to 69 per 100,000. This hasnot been fully explained, although itmay be attributable to a change injudges’ and prosecutors’ attitudes(Kuhn 2000, 23-41). Nevertheless, theGerman prisoner rate has beenincreasing again since 1992.

AustriaIn Austria, the use of sentences of

less than six months was limited in1975. As in Germany, this does notseem to have been a long-termsolution to lowering the prisoner rate.The decrease in 1975 was quicklyoffset.

But the main interest of figure 7lies in the second decrease (in 1988),which is mainly due to the reduction

of the eligibility date for parolerelease from two-thirds of thesentence to half, and to theestablishment of partly suspendedsentences. The total prisoner rate wasrelatively stable until it fell from 96per 100,000 inhabitants in February1988 to 77 in September of the sameyear. This is mainly because the lawreducing the parole eligibility datecame into force on March 1, 1988.Nearly 1,500 prisoners were released(those who had served more than halfof their sentences but less than two-thirds). But the extension of parolerelease seems also to have had aperverse effect: according to theAustrian authorities, release on parolehas become more restrictive. Thus, thereduction of the parole eligibility datewas offset by decreased use of parole.Therefore, the relative stability (inspite of some fluctuations) in theprisoner rate following its drop in1988 seems mainly to be attributableto introduction of the partly suspended

Figure 6: Prisoner rate per 100,000 inhabitants in Germany, 1961-1998.Source: Statistisches Bundesamt Wiesbaden (prisoner rates per 100,000 inhabitants onJanuary 1 in former West Germany).

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sentence.

PortugalFigure 8 shows data from 1983 to

1999 in Portugal. Largely inspired bythe German law, a new Portuguesepenal code came into force on January1, 1983, which limited the use ofshort-term imprisonment and aimed toreplace most short-term sentenceswith other sanctions. Instead, therewas an 81 percent increase in prisonerrates between 1983 and 1986.

Here again, limiting use of shortterms of imprisonment did not reducethe prison population because thelength of sentences increased (LopesRocha 1987). The 1986 reductionoccurred mainly because of an amnesty.The stability of the overall prisoner ratebetween 1986 and 1990 resulted froman offset between increasing rates forsentenced offenders and decreasingrates of pre-trial detainees. The latterresulted from the new procedure act,which limited use of pre-trialdetention. In 1991, another amnestyreduced the prisoner rate, but itresumed growing after 1992 tobecome one of the highest in WesternEurope. In 1994, yet again, anamnesty was enacted and the prisonerrate decreased. However, Portugalachieved Western Europe’s highestprisoner rate after a new Penal Codeentered into force on October 1, 1995.

FinlandAs figure 9 shows and unlike any

other country discussed here, Finlandhas had a long-term decreasingprisoner rate, showing that prisonpopulations are not inevitably fated toincrease.

Twenty-five years ago, the Finnishprisoner rate was one of the highest inWestern Europe. Today, with about 60inmates per 100,000 population,Finland has one of the lowest. Such aresult has been possible because thecountry gradually moved toward acriminal justice system which holdsthat it is important that criminals arecaught and punished, but that theseverity of the sanction is, incomparison, a minor issue. TheFinnish criminal justice systememphasises the certainty of thesanction rather than its severity. That

Prison Populations Continued from previous page


Figure 7: Prisoner rate per 100,000 inhabitants in Austria 1970-2001.Sources:Austrian Ministry of Justice (annual average prisoner rates per 100,000 inhabitants).

Figure 8: Prisoner rate per 100,000 inhabitants in Portugal, 1983-1999.Sources:Council of Europe, database “S.PACE”.

philosophy has had a significant effecton Finland’s prisoner rate.

Another important explanation isthat the authorities and experts incharge of reform planning shared analmost unanimous conviction thatFinland’s internationally high prisonerrate was a disgrace, and thereforedecided to “normalise” it by takingmeasures both to diminish the numberof entries into prison and to shorten

Figure 9: Prisoner rate per 100,000 inhabitants in Finland, 1950-2001.Sources:Finnish Department of Prison Administration and Council of Europe, database“S.PACE”.

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the served prison terms. As a result,the average length of prison terms forsome offences diminished, release onparole was facilitated, an increase wasachieved in the proportion of fines andsuspended sentences imposed, and theaverage length of prison sentencesactually served steadily declined. Allthese changes in the criminal justicesystem were introduced without majoror abnormal developments in crime

rates or recidivism (Törnudd 1993,1997).

Prisoner rate in perspectiveThe data reported in this article

show distinct differences in nationaltrends and some predominant patterns.The Finnish case shows that agovernment that wants to decrease itsprison population can do so. Theproblem is to know which measures totake to achieve that end. MostEuropean countries have limited theuse of short terms of imprisonment orreplaced them with alternativesanctions. But the German, Austrian,Portuguese, and Greek figures showthat such kinds of measures are notnecessarily effective means to reduceprison populations in the long-term.To reduce the prisoner rate by usingalternatives to imprisonment, onewould have to be sure that they reallyreplace prison terms (as they did inSwitzerland and in France for awhile), and without increasing thelength of some sanctions (as inGermany and Portugal).

If neither alternatives to short termsof imprisonment, nor amnesties – bothmeasures to avoid entries into prison –reduce or stabilise the prisoner rate inthe long run, shortening the time to beserved in prison is another way. But,as seen for Greece and Austria, anextension of release on parole alone isnot enough to achieve a long-termdecrease. The surest way to succeed isto shorten sentence lengths or, at least,the part that has to be served in prison,as Austria did by introducing thepartly suspended sentence.

Whatever the means used are, onething is absolutely necessary toachieve the goal of reducing orstabilising prison populations: the willto do so. As seen for Germany inthe1980s and for Finland, a change inprison population trends occursbecause of a change in attitudes.

ReferencesCouncil of Europe. 2000. Prison

Overcrowding and Prison Inflation:Recommendation No R (99) 22 andReport, Strasbourg: Council ofEurope.

Kensey A., and P. Tournier. 2001.“French Prison Numbers Stable Since1988, But Populations Changing.” In



Prison PopulationsContinued from previous page

Penal Reform in Overcrowded Times, edited by MichaelTonry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Kuhn, A. 2000. Détenus: Combien? Pourquoi? Quefaire? Bern: Haupt.

Lopes Rocha M.A. 1987. “Évaluation critique du CodePénal portugais.” Annales Internationales de Criminologie25 (1-2), 29-54.

Spinellis C.D. 1998. “Attacking Prison Overcrowding inGreece: A Task of Sisyphus?” In InternationalePerspectiven in Kriminologie und Strafrecht, Festschriftfür Günther Kaiser zum 70. Geburtstag, Berlin: Dunker &Humblot.

Törnudd P. 1993. Fifteen Years of Decreasing PrisonerRates in Finland, Research Communication 8/1993.Helsinki: National Research Institute of Legal Policy.

Törnudd P. 1997. “Sentencing and Punishment inFinland.” In Penal Reform in Overcrowded Times, editedby Michael Tonry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Walmsley R. 2002. “World Prison Population List (thirdedition)” Research Findings, no. 160 London: HomeOffice Research, Development and Statistics Directorate.

André Kuhn is Professor of Criminology and CriminalLaw at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

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Reform and Punishment: the future of sentencing Edited by Sue Rex and Michael Tonry (Instituteof Criminology, University of Cambridge) Leading authorities address the issues and implications ofsentencing reform in Britain and beyond, in the light of the Halliday report which sets out plans forreform of sentencing and has implications for the future of the criminal justice system.ISBN 1-903240-94-8. 272pp. Hardback £30.00/ US$55.00

Prison Violence: the dynamics of conflict, fear and power Kimmett Edgar (University of Oxford),Ian O’Donnell (University College Dublin) and Carol Martin (University of Oxford)Violenceperpetrated by prisoners is a pervasive feature of prison life, but has been little examined or understood. Thisbook seeks to remedy this by seeking an understanding of the underlying causes of prison violence, theinstitutional and individual characteristics which give rise to it, and to identify strategies to reduce and containit.ISBN 1-903240-98-0. 224pp. Hardback £30.00/ US$55.00

Restorative Justice and the Law Edited by Lode Walgrave (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)Exploresthe developing relationship between the concepts and practice of restorative justice on the one hand and thelegal systems on the other. As restorative justice has moved into the mainstream, so new tensions and issueshave emerged as it has become integrated into normal practice, and become part of broader legal and judicialsystems.ISBN 1-903240-96-4. 256pp. Paperback £26.00/ US$35.00ISBN 1-903240-97-2. 256pp. Hardback£45.00/ US$59.95

Restorative justice: theoretical foundations Edited by Elmar G.M. Weitekamp (KU Leuven) andHans-Jürgen Kerner (University of Tübingen) Brings together a number of leading authorities onrestorative justice to explore the theoretical foundations underlying this rapidly expanding movement, based onpapers first presented at the fourth international restorative justice conference. ISBN 1-903240-83-2. 272pp.Paperback £27.50/ US$39.95ISBN 1-903240-72-7.272pp. Hardback £50.00/ US$64.95

New Criminology Books from Willan Publishing

For further information about these and other forthcoming books, or to place an order, pleasecontact Willan Publishing on:(tel) +44 (0)1884 840337, (fax) +44 (0)1884 840251, e-mail [email protected] write to: Willan Publishing, Culmcott House, Mill Street, Uffculme, Devon EX15 3AT, UK


analyses, we grouped countriessharing similarities in particularmacro-level characteristics. This wasdone to minimise within-groupvariability and maximise between-group variability. We did this on thebasis of elaborate social and economicsurveys and statistics (Esping-Anderson 1990; SCP 2001, p.78), andyielded three country clusters: anAnglo-Saxon one (US [Omaha],England and Wales, Northern Ireland[Belfast]), a Northwest Europeancluster (Belgium, The Netherlands,Germany [Mannheim], Finland[Helsinki] and Switzerland), and aSouth European one (Spain, Portugal,Italy [three cities]). Five countries hadnational random samples. Three hadcity samples. Three others had schoolsamples with a restricted age range(14-18).

ResultsLifetime prevalence rates are

similar across countries and varybetween 80 percent and 90 percent,even in the 14-18 year-old samples,suggesting that delinquencyinvolvement declines substantiallyafter age 18. Last-year prevalenceshows more between-countryvariation, such as, for example, higherproperty offence rates in (prosperous)Northwest Europe and higher drug userates in Anglo-Saxon countries. Thehighest rates for serious offences werein Omaha, England and Wales, andBelfast.

Age and GenderThe peak age of overall

delinquency was age 16 in allcountries, confirming earlier studies(Gottfredson and Hirschi 1990;Wikström 1990). However, logisticregressions showed the peak age to be16 for Northwestern and SouthernEurope, but 15 in Anglo-Saxoncountries. This may suggest thatyoung people in the latter countriesare freed from close adult supervisionat a younger age than in the othercountries. No significant age-relateddifferences appear between the threecountry clusters with respect toserious delinquency, involvementbeing about 10 percent in

Northwestern and Southern Europe,but higher in the Anglo-Saxon cluster.(Soft) drug use seems to start laterthan delinquency but it continues torise with age in all country clusters.

Concerning age of onset, we knowthat juveniles who start to offend at anearly age tend to continue offendinglonger than those who start at a laterage (Wolfgang et al. 1972; Farringtonand West 1990; Loeber 1991). WhileNorthwestern Europe had the lowestage of onset of property offences, theAnglo-Saxon cluster had the lowestage of onset of vandalism, violence,drug use, and serious offences, alldifferences being statisticallysignificant.

Female delinquency involvement ismuch lower than for males, althoughthere is considerable variation in thetype of delinquency. Genderdifferences in property offenses andvandalism are small, but are muchlarger for violence and seriousoffenses. Female violence is rare in allparticipating countries. Females andmales start using drugs at about thesame ages. Initiation into drug usetakes place at parties and in discos.Since both genders participate equally,females are introduced to cannabis atabout the same age as males.Importantly, most young people do notconsider soft drug use as delinquentbehavior. Despite the ‘normal’character of soft drug use, and after aninitial rise, female drug use tends tostabilise by age 17. Both lowerdelinquency levels and lower levels ofdrug use may point to a greaterreluctance in females than in males totake (health) risks.

Family composition anddelinquency

This relationship has been studiedmany times (Glueck and Glueck 1950;Junger-Tas 1977; Wells and Rankin1991). Most scholars present familybreak-up as having deep and lastingnegative effects on the social behaviorof children and as a major determinantof delinquency, although since the1980s more details and nuances havebeen added. For example, Wells andRankin (1991) conducted a meta-analysis covering 50 studies

completed between 1925 and 1985.Using correlation coefficients tomeasure effect sizes, they found aconsistent and reliable association ofthe broken home with delinquency,ranging from 0.05 to 0.15.

Logistic regression indicates that asingle-mother family increases the riskof overall delinquent behavior inSouthern Europe and in the Anglo-Saxon cluster but not in NorthwesternEurope, while it increases the risk forserious delinquency only in the Anglo-Saxon countries. A number ofexplanations are possible. First, theproportion of teenage mothers ishigher in Anglo-Saxon than incontinental European countries.Teenage motherhood increases therisk of delinquency involvement of thechildren, since young mothers areusually badly prepared for bringing upchildren on their own. Moreover, theymust earn the family income andusually live in poverty and in deprivedneighbourhoods (Morash and Rucker,1989), adding social-economic riskfactors for delinquent behavior to lackof supervision. Social welfarearrangements are more generous inNorthwest Europe than in Anglo-Saxon and South European countries(SCP 2001). We speculate that a lowernumber of teenage mothers, and thatgrowing up in a single-parent familydoes not necessarily mean severeeconomic hardship, may explain theabsence of a relationship betweensingle-mother families and overalldelinquency involvement in NorthwestEurope.

Family bondingIndirect family control is exercised

through the quality of the relationshipof a juvenile with his parents (Loeberand Stouthamer-Loeber 1986). Thestronger that bond, the better normsand values will be internalised. Wefound a significant deterioration withage of the relationship with the fatherand a similar but weaker deteriorationwith the mother. Most of the youngpeople said they got along reasonablywell with their parents, though not aswell as when they were younger.

Another variable considered is‘going out with the family’, measuring

ISRD Continued from page 3


to some extent an active and positivefamily life. Family outings arenegatively correlated with all offencetypes in Northwestern Europe andwith property and serious offences inthe Anglo-Saxon cluster. In SouthernEurope, this variable apparently hasno relevance.

A second dimension is directcontrol by close monitoring andsupervision. This was measured bytwo questions inquiring whether, whengoing out, youngsters’ parents areaware where they are going and withwhom.

The proportion of youngstersdeclaring that their parents don’t knowwhere they go out varies according toage and doubles from ages 14-15 toages 20-21. However, only 10 percentto 15 percent of all parents arereported as knowing nothing abouttheir children’s friends. Though thestudy includes young people aged 14-21, overall differences are small: evenat ages 20-21 more than 80 percent ofparents know where their children goand with whom. This suggests there isa thin line between parental controland parental interest in their children’slives and concern for their well-being.

Our hypothesis is that variations insocial control according to gender goa long way to explaining differentialdelinquency involvement. Socialcontrol is significantly stronger withgirls than with boys. However,interesting differences appear withrespect to the relationship betweenfamily bonding and delinquentbehavior. For male offending, directparental control has the strongesteffects on the behaviour, while therelational variables clearly are lessimportant. However, femaledelinquency tends to be affected bythe relationship with parents ratherthan by direct parental control. Forfemales, bonding appears to operateessentially through emotional controls,while for males, formal controls aremore important than emotional ones.

Problem behavior, including druguse, truancy, and running away fromhome, are related to the relationshipwith parents for both genders.

The school and peersTruancy and disliking school are

related to all types of delinquency in

all three clusters. Interestingly,repeating classes, and expressing alack of school achievement, are notrelated to petty delinquency, but arerelated to violence, seriousdelinquency, and drug use. Pettyoffending is widespread among malesand females. Because of its transientand non-serious character, there is nonecessary association with schoolfailure, while that relationship existswith the more serious forms ofdelinquent behavior and with druguse. In addition, school failure doesnot predict female delinquency,suggesting that females do notconsider school achievement to be asimportant for their future lives as domales.

Much has been written about thepeer group as a kind of subculture(e.g., Cloward and Ohlin 1960). Emlerand Reicher (1995) state that groupmembership is a normal phenomenonand not a substitute for the family. Wefound that peer group membershipwas not affected by the relationshipwith parents but was related to ageand school enrolment (decliningrapidly when young people grewolder), to disliking school, the absenceof parents’ informal control, and notparticipating in family outings.Females tended to have only two orthree close friends and were usuallynot part of a peer group. Delinquentstypically spent most of their leisuretime with the peer group, while non-delinquents spent much more timewith the family.

Confirming earlier research(Zimring 1998), we found that 60percent of all delinquents whocommitted one offence, did so ingroups, while among those whocommitted two or three offences, 80percent did. However, young peoplein Southern Europe tended to spendconsiderable time with the peer groupwithout this being related todelinquent behaviour.

Spending leisure time in the peergroup seems strongly related toMediterranean culture and possibly tothe geography and southern climate,showing that peer groups differ intheir inclinations towards delinquencyand are not necessarily criminallyoriented. Drug users also spent a lot oftime with the peer group rather than

with the family. However, comparedto delinquents, they had a higheraverage age and included morefemales. Moderate drug use, likemoderate alcohol use and smoking, isapparently fairly normal behaviour formost young people and is notperceived by them as deviant, letalone as delinquent behaviour.

In conclusionThis was an exploratory study.

Some of the more robust findings aresuggestive with respect to theprevention of delinquent behavior.

One striking finding is the absenceof a relationship between single-mother families and overalldelinquency in Northwestern Europe.One main task of parents is tosocialise their children into pro-socialadults. To do that parents need to havethe ability and the tools. Economichardship, and difficulty in securingchild care and exercising adequatesupervision, create a number of riskfactors for children.

Family break-up being endemic incontemporary society, authoritiesshould take measures to supportsingle-parent families, so as to createbetter conditions for raising children.Family support measures are amongthe most important delinquencyprevention measures that authoritiescan take.

A second policy implication relatesto some countries’ apprenticeshipsystems. A number of students haveconsiderable difficulties in completingfurther education, made necessary bythe requirements of the labor market.This may lead to school failure,truancy, and school drop-out, allstrong predictors of delinquentbehavior. Education systems shouldbe well articulated and flexible,allowing for easy transfer from onetrajectory to another, includingvarious combinations of educationand employment, training, andwork. Such arrangements will notonly make numerous young peoplemuch happier, but given thecorrelation between school failureand delinquency and a high degreeof substance abuse, it will alsocontribute to the prevention of suchbehaviour.



ReferencesCloward, R.A., and L.E.Ohlin. 1960. Delinquency and

Opportunity. New York: The Free Press.Emler, N., and S.Reicher. 1995. Adolescence and

Delinquency: the Collective Management of Reputation.Oxford: Blackwell.

Esping-Andersen. 1990. The Three Worlds of WelfareCapitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Farrington, D.P., and D.J.West. 1990. ‘The Cambridgestudy in Delinquent Development: a long-term follow-upof 411 males.’ In Criminality: Personality, Behaviour, LifeHistory, edited by G. Kaiser and H.J.Kerner. Berlin:Springer Verlag.

Glueck, S., and E. Glueck. 1950. UnravelingJuvenile Delinquency, Cambridge (Mass.): HarvardUniversity Press.

Gottfredson, M.R., and T. Hirschi. 1990. A GeneralTheory of Crime. California: Stanford University Press.

Junger-Tas, J. 1977. ‘Hidden Delinquency and JudicialSelection in Belgium.’ In Youth Crime and JuvenileJustice, edited by P.C.Friday and V. Lorne Stewart. NewYork: Praeger Publications.

Junger-Tas, J., G..J. Terlouw, and M.W. Klein. 1994.Delinquent Behavior among Young People in the Westernworld. Amsterdam: Kugler Publications.

Loeber, R., and Stouthamer-Loeber. 1986. ‘ThePrediction of Delinquency.’ In Handbook of JuvenileDelinquency edited by H.C.Quay. New York: Wiley.

Loeber, R. 1991. ‘Antisocial Behavior: more Enduringthan Changeable?’ American Academy of Child andAdolescent Psychiatry 30: (3)393-397.

Morash, M., and L. Rucker. 1989. ‘An Exploratorystudy of the Connection of Mother’s age at Childbearing tothe Children’s Delinquency in four Datasets.’ Crime andDelinquency 34:(1)45-93.

Social & Cultural Planning Office. 2001. TheNetherlands in a European perspective. Social & CulturalReport 2000. The Hague: SCP

Wikström, P-O. 1990. ‘Age and Crime in a StockholmCohort.’ Journal of Quanitative Criminology 6:(1)61-85.

Wells, L.E., and J.H.Rankin. 1991.‘Families andDelinquency: a Meta-analysis of the Impact of BrokenHomes.’ Social Problems 38:(1), 71-93.

Wolfgang, M.E., R.M. Figlio, and T. Sellin. 1972.Delinquency in a Birth Cohort. Chicago: University ofChicago Press.

Zimring, F.E. 1998. American Youth Violence. NewYork/Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Josine Junger-Tas and Denis Ribeaud are attached tothe Criminological Institute of the University of Lausanne.Josine Junger-Tas is visiting professor and Denis Ribeaudis first assistant at the Institute.

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European SourcebookContinued from page 3

group has become nomadic with meetings in London,Warsaw, The Hague, Edinburgh, and Toledo. The locationof the meetings provides group members with opportunitiesto meet local experts and criminal justice officials.

In 1995, a draft model of the European Sourcebook waspublished covering data for 1990 for 12 countries. Anexpanded version in 1999 covered 1990-96 and 36countries. A further publication covering 1996-2000 and 41countries is in preparation.

In many ways this data collection exercise overlaps withthat of the United Nations, but differs in two majorrespects. First, data are collected from criminal justiceexperts in each country who are aware of sources and whoare able to quality check the data. Second, data areaccompanied by information on definitions and statisticalrules.

National correspondentsThe Sourcebook’s success depends upon the degree of

confidence users have in the data. With this in mind, eachmember of the steering group acts as a “regional co-ordinator” for 4 or 5 countries and is responsible forappointing a local “national correspondent” for eachcountry.

The regional co-ordinator’s role includes helping thenational correspondent understand the questionnaire andquality check the responses. Some 40 nationalcorrespondents met as a body for the first time at the ESCConference in Toledo in September 2002. The meeting wasorganised by the steering group and provided theopportunity for a formal but lively discussion of theSourcebook and also an opportunity to make direct contactwith people who had, hitherto, been merely emailaddresses.

ScopeThe topics covered are (a) police statistics on crimes

recorded, suspected offenders, and police officers; (b)prosecutions and their outcomes; (c) convictions,sentences, and prison sentence lengths; (d) non-custodialsanctions; (e) prison population; (f) victimisation datafrom the International Crime Victimisation Survey.

Initial attempts to look at other areas (includingrecidivism, and time spent in custody) were stymied by alack of comparable data.

Offences and definitionsLike the UN Crime Survey, the offences covered are

restricted to homicide (with attempts shown separately),rape, assault, robbery, car theft, burglary, other thefts, anddrugs offences. In the most recent survey, data have alsobeen collected on total criminal and traffic offences.

For each of the six broad topic areas described above,and for each offence, information is collected from eachcountry on definitions of each offence, points at which thedata recording takes place in the criminal justice process,


UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

INSTITUTE OF CRIMINOLOGYThe Institute of Criminology, founded by the University of

Cambridge in 1959, has a strong international reputation foracademic excellence. The Institute has a distinguished seniorfaculty which includes Sir Anthony Bottoms, Manuel Eisner,David Farrington, Loraine Gelsthorpe, Alison Liebling, ShaddMaruna, Michael Tonry, Per-Olof Wikström, and Andrew vonHirsch. Its multi-disciplinary staff have backgrounds incriminology, sociology, psychiatry, psychology, philosophy,geography, history, and law.

Radzinowicz LibraryThe Institute’s library has one of the world’s pre-eminent

criminology research collections, including a wide selection of books,papers, periodicals, and historical materials. The library holds over50,000 books and 18,000 pamphlets, receives nearly 300 periodicals,and has an aggressive acquisitions policy.

The Institute offers a wide range of graduate programmes:· M.Phil. Degrees in Criminology or Criminological

Research (the largest full-time graduate criminology courses inthe UK)

· Ph.D. in Criminology· Diploma/M.St. in Applied Criminology and either Police

Studies or Prison StudiesStudents come from around the world, with strong

undergraduate records in law, or social or behavioural sciencesubjects, or extensive professional experience in the criminaljustice system. The Institute admits approximately 40 M.Phil.students and 4-8 Ph.D. students each year. A number of awardsand studentships are available from the University ofCambridge, including the recently established Gates CambridgeScholarships for non-UK citizens, and other funding bodies:

For UK StudentsArts and Humanities Research Board, University of CambridgeDomestic Research Studentships, Millennium Scholarships,ESRC Studentships, Newton Trust Fellowships

For International StudentsCambridge Commonwealth Trust, Cambridge Overseas Trust,Cambridge European Trust, Gates Cambridge Trust, Institute ofCriminology Wakefield Scholarships, Lopez-Rey Scholarships

Further information is available from the GraduateSecretary, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, 7West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DT, UK. Tel: 44 1223 335363,Fax: 44 1223 335356, email:[email protected], web-site:www.crim.cam.ac.uk, www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/

statistical counting rules, and recent changes in legislationor statistical collection systems affecting the statistics.

LessonsThe surveys reveal that absolute comparisons may be

misleading even though most countries collectcomprehensive data on crime and prosecutions. This isbecause of differences in definitions of offences andcounting rules.

However, it is possible to identify small groups ofcountries with similar definitions or to make use of trendcomparisons for wider groups. It has also become evidentthat data covering the whole criminal justice system shouldbe studied in order to obtain a clearer picture.

Key findings from the survey covering 1990 – 96 (Aebi,Barclay, Jehle, and Killias 1999) include the following:· The probability of a suspect being convicted fell for

most offences during this period. The exceptions werehomicide, rape, and assault.

· In countries where the prosecuting authority had a lowworkload, cases were more likely to be brought before acourt. This suggested that the criminal justice systemtended to balance itself out.

· The size of the prison population in a country did notdepend upon the crime rate but on the length of sanctionsimposed. When each offence is considered separately,for the most serious offences, the number of receptionsinto prison offered the best explanation of the size of theprison population.

AvailabilityThe data from the first full sourcebook survey (both

statistical and definitional information) are available fromthe Council of Europe (on paper only) or on the Dutchsponsored website (www.europeansourcebook.org).Papers based upon the Sourcebook data are also availableon this website and have been presented at conferencessuch as the ESC in Lausanne and Toledo and the AmericanSociety of Criminology and the Academy of CriminalJustice Sciences.

ReferenceAebi, M., G. Barclay, J-M. Jehle, and M. Killias. 1999.

European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal JusticeStatistics, Key Findings. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Gordon Barclay is head and Cynthia Tavares deputyhead of the International group within the Research,Development and Statistics Directorate of the UK HomeOffice.


March7 International Conference on ‘European citizens in prison abroad - why should we care?’

Brussels, Belgium

8 l’Association française de criminologie Collectif “Octobre 2001”Les périodes de sûreté à la française en questions. Palais du Luxembourg, Paris, France

11-14 65th International Society for Criminology SeminarNew Tendencies in Crime and Criminal Policy in Central and Eastern EuropeUniversity of Miskolc, Miskolc, Hungary

April13-16 Ainringer Ostertage 5th Colloquium on Cross-Boarder Crime

Organized Crime and Crime Economy. Ainringer, Bavaria, Germany

17-19 Conferencing and Restorative Justice Decision Making: Research, Policy and PracticeCommunity Justice Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Lauderdale, Fl., USA

May4-8 American Jail Association Training Conference. Alberquerque, New Mexico, USA

7-9 2e Congrès international francophone sur “l’agression sexuelle.” Brussels, Belgium

29-30 The International Institute for the Sociology of LawChild Abuse and Exploitation: Social, Legal, and Political Dilemmas. Onati, Spain

June1-4 Best Practices in Restorative Justice: An International Perspective

Coast Plaza Hotel, Vancouver, BC, Canada

5-6 The International Institute for the Sociology of LawYouthful Law Violators, Human Rights, and the Development of New Juvenile JusticeSystems. Onati, Spain

24-27 British Society of Criminology Conference 2003The Challenge of Comparative Crime and Justice. University of Wales, Bangor, UK

August10-15 XIII World Congress of Criminology. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

27-30 3rd Annual Conference of the European Society of CriminologyCrime and Crime Control in an Integrating Europe. Helsinki, Finland

September10-14 15th Conference of the International Association for Research into Juvenile

Criminology. Migrations and Ethnic Minorities: Impact on Youth Crime and Challenge forthe Juvenile Justice Systems. University of Fribourg, Switzerland

October1-3 Anzsoc Conference 2003. Controlling Crime: Risks and Responsibilities

NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney, Australia

9-11 German Association of Criminology (Neue Kriminologische Gesellschaft)Applied Criminology between Freedom and Security. Ludwig-Maximilians University,Munich, Germany

November19-22 American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting

The Challenge of Practice, The Benefits of Theory, Adams Mark Hotel, Denver, Co, USA

EVENTS IN 2003


The Department of Criminology at Keele University

The Department has established a national and international reputation as one of Europe’s premier

research training sites in criminology. Our position as a leading provider of postgraduate research

training is recognised by Britain's Economic and Social Research Council. And, in 2002, the

Department gained recognition as a Marie Curie Training Site (MCTS) in criminology from the

European Union.

Research and teaching in the Department is inspired by a broad concern with the study of crime

and the connected issues of social cohesion and social justice. The Department is home to a

number of internationally renowned scholars working on all aspects of crime, criminal justice and

crime prevention from a broad social science perspective. Members of staff come from several

countries across the EU and speak a number of European languages. Together with the Graduate

School of Social Sciences we offer a wide range of courses and training programmes for young

researchers. The beautiful rural campus of Keele University is situated between the cities of

Manchester and Birmingham in the heart of the English Midlands, and offers all the advantages of

a flourishing academic community of students and teachers.

Marie Curie Fellowships

The Governance of Urban Safety: Crime Prevention and Public Policy

MCTS fellowships are funded by the European Union with the aim of giving doctoral students the

opportunity to spend some time away from their home institutions at selected sites with proven

excellence in research and research training. Between 2003 and 2005 the Department of

Criminology at Keele offers a number of Marie Curie Fellowships to doctoral students from all

over the EU, and Associated States, who want to pursue their studies in a broad range of topics

related to community crime prevention. Fellows must not be UK nationals and must be registered

on a doctoral programme at a non-UK university. They may study in the department for periods

of between six months and a year. All fellows are welcome to take advantage of courses on the

Department's taught MA programmes and to undertake research training in the Graduate School of

Social Sciences.

Your application is welcome at any time. Applicants should contact the MCTS Co-ordinator,

Professor Susanne Karstedt by email ([email protected]) or by post at the address

given below.

MA Criminology and Research Methods/ MA Criminology

Our MA degrees provide students with a thorough grounding in criminological theory and

contemporary debates in crime control and criminal justice, as well as rigorous training in all

theoretical and practical aspects of criminological research. Well established links with teachers

and researchers across Europe, North America, Australasia and Southern Africa are amply

reflected in the scope of the taught postgraduate programmes. For further information contact the

MA Co-ordinator, Dr. Bill Dixon by e-mail ([email protected]) or visit us on the web at

www.keele.ac.uk/depts/cr/postgrad.htm.

Department of Criminology, Keele University, Keele Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK

www.keele.ac.uk/depts/cr

DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINOLOGY

POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

MARIE CURIE FELLOWSHIPS

MA CRIMINOLOGY

MA CRIMINOLOGY AND RESEARCH METHODS


European Society of Criminology• Membership 2003 •

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