European Criminology needs European Data: The case for a pan-European crime and victimization survey
| Published date | 01 May 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14773708231174658 |
| Author | Catrien Bijleveld |
| Date | 01 May 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Presidential Address |
European Criminology needs
European Data: The case for
a pan-European crime and
victimization survey
Catrien Bijleveld
Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Abstract
While European criminology is flourishing, we are faced with insufficient pan-European data. The
European Sourcebook provides regular synchronized criminal justice system statistics, but data on
crime incidence are patchy at best. Ever fewer countries conduct victimization surveys, and the
data that such surveys provide are incomparable across countries because of methodological dif-
ferences. It is argued that European criminology needs a survey, regularly held, in all European
countries, that assesses crime incidence. While a victim sur vey would be the standard tool for
this, perpetration questions could easily be attached to improve estimates. Additional questions
would enable us to also assess whether EU victims’rights are delivered in practice.
Keywords
European crime data, victim survey, self-report survey, victims’rights, victims’rights directive
The European Society of Criminology was established in 2000, 23 years ago. Today, it
appears completely natural that this society exists, so completely ordinary that we have a
yearly European conference, a European Journal of Criminology, a newsletter. But it was
not always like this.
Before 2000, there was no European society. To go to conferences, we were faced with
the distinctly odd situation that we as European criminologists would fly across the pond,
from the UK, Switzerland, Spain, Poland, Finland, or the Netherlands, to the USA, and
Corresponding author:
Catrien Bijleveld, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, Amsterdam,
the Netherlands
Email: cbijleveld@nscr.nl
Presidential Address
European Journal of Criminology
2023, Vol. 20(3) 785–791
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/14773708231174658
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