Introduction to the Special Issue on Crime and Criminal Justice in Europe

This issue deals with international comparisons within Europe. The various articles refer to the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics as the main data source. This Sourcebook is a comparative data collection covering all stages of the criminal proceedings. Its first edition was published in 1999 and it included data from 1990 to 1996. It was continued by follow-up publications in the years 2003, 2006, 2010 and the 5th edition in 2014 (Aebi et al. 2014). The next data collection wave, covering the years 2012 to 2016, will be carried out in 2018. The approach of the European Sourcebook is not limited to contrasting figures from national criminal justice statistics: The data collection is complemented by a comprehensive set of metadata including definitions of legal terms (e.g. aggravated assault) and details on the counting rules applied by each country when introducing the data in their national crime and criminal justice statistics (Aebi 2010). In this way, data comparability can be improved and deviations from standard definitions and data collection methods become visible. Figures and metadata are collected via a European-wide network of national correspondents, who are experts in the field of crime indicators.