Three Decades of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics in Europe: Methods, Trends and the Impact on Policy Making

This volume presents the proceedings of a landmark conference held at the Council of Europe examining three decades of crime and criminal justice statistics in Europe. Drawing together leading experts, it commemorates the publication of the sixth edition of the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics while exploring critical developments in measuring and understanding crime across Europe since the 1990s. The book addresses key methodological challenges in comparative criminology, analyzes major crime trends, and examines emerging issues like cybercrime and the impact of COVID-19 on criminal behavior. Through case studies from European countries, it demonstrates how statistical evidence can effectively inform policymaking. The volume also features insights from Eurostat, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency on harmonizing crime statistics internationally. As an essential read for criminologists, statisticians, policy makers, and criminal justice practitioners, this book provides crucial insights into the evolution of crime measurement in Europe while highlighting future challenges and opportunities in producing comparable criminal justice statistics across jurisdictions.