NCJ Number
206799
Date Published
2003
Length
59 pages
Annotation
This report presents a description of the German Police Crime Statistics and offers 2002 and 2003 Police Crime Statistics data.
Abstract
Chapter 1 traces the development of Germany’s Police Crime Statistics from before World War I through the 1970’s changeover to electronic data processing and the fundamental reforms that occurred in 1984. The influence of the unification process in the 1990’s and its future implications are considered. Chapter 2 focuses on the content and informational value of the Police Crime Statistics, which are influenced by five main factors: the extent to which crime is reported to police, police crime detection, collection of data for statistical purposes, changes to criminal law, and actual changes in crime. Chapter 3 offers definitions of various terms and criminal acts found within the Police Crime Statistics, including definitions for clearance rate, drug offenses, firearm, and suspects. Chapter 4 describes the rules for recording cases, including rules for recording prerequisites, subsequent acts of the same kind, and the handling of special cases. Chapter 5 offers a summary of crime trends in table format. Information is presented on total offenses, violent crime, theft offenses, fraud offenses, as well as on criminal suspects for 2002 and 2003. Total offenses numbered 6,572,135 in 2003, up 1 percent from 2002. Chapter 6 states that the total offenses recorded for 2003 includes all violation of Federal criminal laws except for traffic offenses and offenses against state security. Statistics are presented regarding the numbers of recorded offenses from 1955 through 2003. Chapters 7 through 11 present statistical information in table format about case trends and cases cleared, crime records for cities with populations larger than 100,000, victims, losses due to offenses, and suspects. In some instances, 2002 data are compared with 2003 data. Tables, charts, annex