NCJ Number
179658
Date Published
1999
Length
107 pages
Annotation
The Council of Europe reflects on policies to adopt in addressing the evolution of crime in the context of political and social changes currently occurring in eastern, central, and western Europe.
Abstract
Specifically, this book presents Recommendation No. R (96) 8, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on September 5, 1996. Along with the text of this Recommendation, the book contains the explanatory memorandum and the report on responses to developments in the volume and structure of crime in Europe in a time of change. The Recommendation provides guidelines for both domestic and international responses to crime. General guidelines for domestic responses to crime caution that every response to crime must conform to the basic principles of democratic states governed by the rule of law and subject to the paramount aim of guaranteeing respect for human rights. Subject to such principles, the Recommendation advises that each member state should have a coherent and rational crime policy directed toward the prevention of crime, including social prevention and situational prevention, the individualization of criminal reactions, the promotion of alternatives to custodial sentences, the social reintegration of offenders, and the provision of assistance to crime victims. Specific recommendations are offered for domestic responses to economic crime and organized crime. Other recommendations address how member states can cooperate to facilitate each state's crime-fighting efforts and to counter transnational criminal enterprises. An addendum discusses recent crime trends in central and eastern Europe. A 39-item bibliography