This European comparison will be useful for public policies decision makers at various governmental levels (European, national, regional, local), for crime prevention NGOs, for journalists, and for academics, researchers, students as well. --

This book brings together a collection of leading international experts to explore the lessons learnt through implementation and the future directions of crime prevention policies. Through a comparative analysis of developments in crime prevention policies across a number of European countries, contributors address questions such as: How has 'the preventive turn' in crime control policies been implemented in various different countries and what have its implications been? What lessons have been learnt over the ensuing years and what are the major trends influencing the direction of development? What does the future hold for crime prevention and community safety? Contributors explore and assess the different models adopted and the shifting emphasis accorded to differing strategies over time. The book also seeks to compare and contrast different approaches as well as the nature and extent of policy transfer between jurisdictions and the internationalisation of key ideas, strategies and theories of crime prevention and community safety.

Virtually all societies currently have to address problems of crime and insecurity. In tackling these problems most countries have emphasized repressive penal policies. In most of these countries the size of prison populations did increase, although a corresponding positive impact on public security cannot be observed. Faced with this vicious circle, the mayors of large cities in Western Europe and in North America have proclaimed in Montreal in October 1989 the necessity to adopt a policy of prevention. In November 1991 a second International Conference put the focus on the question of developing and evaluating preventive policies. The conference was preceeded by the work of a scientific committee which summarized the experiences made in various countries with crime prevention. The national reports as well as the conclusions produced during the work of the scientific committee are part of this volume which may serve as a valuable source of knowledge for all those who are interested in the prevention of crime.

Until recently crime prevention has been considered of little importance in the training of practitioners in related disciplines. In Europe there is a lack of opportunities for basic training and professional development. It can be assumed that the demand for qualified specialists and managers in crime prevention will increase. It was the objective of the Beccaria-Center Professional Training in Crime Prevention to work on closing this gap. With the financial support of the AGIS-programme of the European Commission, the project was implemented by the Council of Crime Prevention of Lower Saxony, Germany with eight European partners. This compilation from the involved countries reflects the current situation of qualification in crime prevention. The contributions show that it is necessary to expand basic training and further professional development opportunities in crime prevention. They clearly demonstrate that the demand for high quality and sustainable crime prevention is higher than ever and there is a clear lack of such training offers in Germany and in Europe more widely.

Recent years have been characterised by growing awareness among European member states about serious shortcomings to the way organised crime is measured and assessed. Currently, organised crime reports primarily generate descriptive analyses of a past situation based on law enforcement data and do not always provide the necessary information for proactive and preventive policy strategies. Therefore an EU Action Plan has been issued to develop a more future oriented and risk based methodology for the measurement of organised crime and to convert the traditional organised crime situation reports into strategic reports for planning purposes. This book is the outcome of two studies undertaken by a team composed of Belgian, Italian and Swedish researchers for the European Commission. It presents an overview of current practices in the measurement of organised crime in Europe and includes a discussion about the concept and the assessment of the impact of the phenomenon. Further the feasibility of the implementation of the existing EU Action Plan was studied and evaluated. As a result of applied research Measuring Organised Crime in Europe provides an in depth and comparative analysis of current practice in drafting organised crime reports across and by the EU and offers new ideas to improve their quality.