Investigator(s): United Nations Office at Vienna, R.W. Burnham, Helen
Burnham, Bruce DiCristina, and Graeme Newman
The United Nations Surveys of Crime Trends
and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (formerly known as
the United Nations World Crime Surveys) series was begun in
1978 and is comprised of five quinquennial surveys covering the
years 1970-1975, 1975-1980, 1980-1986, 1986-1990, and 1990-1994.
The project was supported by the United States Bureau of Justice
Statistics, and conducted under the auspices of the United Nations
Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention Branch, United Nations Office
in Vienna. Data gathered on crime prevention and criminal justice
among member nations provide information for policy development
and program planning. The main objectives of the survey include:
to conduct a more focused inquiry into the incidence of crime
worldwide, to improve knowledge about the incidence of reported crime
in the global development perspective and also international
understanding of effective ways to counteract crime, to improve the
dissemination globally of the information collected, to facilitate an
overview of trends and interrelationships among various parts of the
criminal justice system so as to promote informed decision-making in
its administration, nationally and cross-nationally, and to serve as an
instrument for strengthening cooperation among member states by putting
the review and analysis of national crime-related data in a broader
context. The surveys also provide a valuable source of charting trends
in crime and criminal justice over two decades.