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18 Eur. J. on Crim. Pol'y & Rsch. 1 (2012)

handle is hein.journals/eurjcpr18 and id is 1 raw text is: Eur J Crim Policy Res (2012) 18:1-3 DOI 10.1007/s10610-011-9169-4 Editor Introduction Jirg-Martin Jehle Published online: 8 January 2012 O The Author(s) 2012. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Since the beginnings of criminal statistics in the early nineteenth century their use as instruments for measuring the amount of crime has been controversial. Nevertheless, they are still important to the present day. These data are used to justify policies, to decide on measures of crime prevention and control and to make statements about the performance of the criminal justice system. Despite all methodological doubts, these figures are still referred to in criminology, as there are no real alternatives to them. Even crime or victim surveys originally intended to replace recorded crime statistics can only complement them. Therefore it is important to tackle and attempt to solve all those methodological problems that have emerged since the days of Quetelet and other pioneers in the field of criminal statistics. If these observations are already true for every national situation to which criminal statistics are normally related they are all the more valid when one tries to compare statistical figures produced in different countries. Criticisms that comparisons across jurisdictions are virtually impossible or at least misleading given the many differences in legal definitions, reporting and recording practices are as old as the earliest writings of Quetelet in compar- ative criminology. The difficulties to overcome these problems may have led to the fact that international comparative data in criminal justice are relatively scarce compared to other fields of public interest. However, there are now signs that an upturn of international research in criminology is taking place. In view of an increasingly interlinked world and an ever converging Europe, not only are economic and social comparisons needed, but it is also necessary to compare the development of crime figures as well as criminal policies and criminal justice systems. The European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics is a prominent example of such efforts to collect and evaluate national data on all levels of the criminal justice chain and to bring them together in a European comparative perspective. In contrast to other data collections, it has established a common understanding of concepts, furthered comparability by using standard definitions for crime types and penal measures or at least improved the evaluation by demonstrating the deviations across jurisdictions. The various J.-M. Jehle (E) Institute of Criminal Law and Justice, University of Gdttingen, Platz der Gdttinger Sieben 6, 37073 Goettingen, Germany e-mail: jjehle@jura.uni-goettingen.de 4Z Springer