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United Nations publication

LC/CEA.11/15

Distribution: L

Copyright © United Nations, 2022

All rights reserved

Printed at United Nations, Santiago 21-00850

This document was prepared by the working group to develop a manual on the design of security and criminal justice statistical systems in the countries of the region, established by the Statistical Conference of the Americas.

The group was coordinated by Mexico (National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI)), with technical secretariat services provided by the Centre of Excellence for Statistical Information on Governance, Victims of Crime, Public Security and Justice (a joint project of INEGI and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)) and the Statistics Division of ECLAC.

The following countries and institutions are members of the group: Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (National Institute of Statistics (INE)), Brazil (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE)), Chile (National Institute of Statistics (INE)), Colombia (National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE)), Dominican Republic (National Statistics Office (ONE)), Paraguay (National Institute of Statistics (INE)), Peru (National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI)), Uruguay (National Institute of Statistics (INE)), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This publication should be cited as: Working group of the Statistical Conference of the Americas to develop a manual on the design of security and criminal justice statistical systems in the countries of the region, Reference framework for security and criminal justice statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean (LC/CEA.11/15), Santiago, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2022.

Applications for authorization to reproduce this work in whole or in part should be sent to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Documents and Publications Division, publicaciones.cepal@un.org. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior authorization, but are requested to mention the source and to inform ECLAC of such reproduction.

Acknowledgements

The following participated in the discussions, research and writing of this document:

• Bolivia (Plurinational State of), INE: Edwin Juárez and Gerinel Ugarte

• Brazil, IBGE: Alessandra Scalioni and Rosane Teixeira

• Chile, INE: Alberto Arce, Beatriz Castillo and Diego Rodríguez

• Colombia, DANE: Horacio Coral and Camilo Méndez

• Cuba, National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI): Evelyn Martínez

• Dominican Republic, ONE: Eddy Tejeda

• Guatemala, National Institute of Statistics (INE): Evelyn Chacón

• Mexico, INEGI: Adrián Franco, Óscar Jaimes and Alejandra Ríos.

• Panama, National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC): Samuel Moreno

• Paraguay, INE: Héctor Arévalos, Oscar Barrios and Alcides Nunes

• Peru, INEI: Nancy Hidalgo and Anibal Sánchez

• Suriname, General Bureau of Statistics (GBS): Iwan Son

• Uruguay, INE: Lidia Melendres

• ECLAC: Xavier Mancero and Alejandra Valdés

• UNDP: Gloria Manzotti and Marcela Smutt

• UNODC: Salomé Flores Sierra, Álvaro Pretel, Roberto Murguía and Luisa Sánchez-Iriarte.

Foreword

The compilation, processing and analysis of data on security and criminal justice are fundamental for understanding the phenomenon of crime. They are also useful for designing policies and programmes to design indicators of citizen perception and public order; and mechanisms for reporting criminal acts and enabling the authorities to respond to them. In recent years, technological development and the spread of telecommunications have hastened the processes of producing, disseminating and analysing statistical data. This has fostered transparency, evidence-based policies and research. However, in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is one of the most violent regions in the world according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC, 2019a), this development has not been homogeneous, and there are differences that detract from its effectiveness and implementation.

This document sets out to review statistical information on security and criminal justice in Latin America and the Caribbean. It thus contributes to the fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16, to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels” (UNDP, 2015). Its use will contribute to the creation of reliable, technical, precise, independent, relevant, timely and comparable records that conform to international standards. According to the United Nations (2004), this information will improve transparency, access to information and empirical data for designing, monitoring and evaluating policies and programmes that prevent crime and strengthen the rule of law and criminal justice.

The way crime-related data is produced, analysed and disseminated faces major challenges. Social and economic changes, the appearance of new crimes, transnational organized crime, the evolution of criminal organizations and the emergence of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), require a constant flow of comparable and quality information. These changes have also transformed the monitoring of performance, strategic planning, management and operation of the different entities involved in the security and criminal justice systems.

This document sets forth an up-to-date reference framework for integrating national security and criminal justice statistics systems. It consists of six chapters that discuss this issue comprehensively, providing a detailed description of the role, components, cross-cutting and methodological issues, scopes and contents of the framework. Its postulates should be understood as recommendations and good practices, in which the national and local context will largely determine how it is applied and implemented.

The document is intended for a wide audience, ranging from users and generators of criminal justice statistics, both inside and outside government, to members of the academic community and civil society. Its contents will help improve the administration, planning, research and analysis of security policies; and it will also enable better citizen oversight, building bridges between institutions and the population and finding joint solutions to security problems in Latin America and the Caribbean.