Information map 2000–2001 on law-enforcement sources
Project manager: Chloé Carpentier
Some data based on law-enforcement sources have been routinely collected by the EMCDDA (e.g. arrests, convictions, prison data, drug seizures, drugs price/purity) through the National focal points and published in its Annual report since 1995. The reliability and comparability of many of these statistics is unknown, and their value as indirect indicators of drug trends is unclear. There is a need to gain an insight into the context, recording practices and methodological characteristics of available law-enforcement data. In addition, it would appear important to get more information on the specific populations that come into contact with law-enforcement institutions such as arrestees or prisoners.
An instrument called 'Information Map on law-enforcement sources' was developed to gain more insight into definitions, recording procedures and the context of these data. It has been filled in by each Member State through its Reitox national focal point and provided to the EMCDDA for comparative analysis.
Structure and contents
The Information Map 2000-2001 on law-enforcement sources of information is divided into two parts.
Part I provides background information on sources of data based on law-enforcement institutions. The objectives are:
- to identify original sources of data such as law-enforcement services and describe how they are organised;
- to identify points to which, in the judicial processes, routine data refer to in order to assess all selection effects and biases that should be taken into account when analysing such data;
- to obtain an overview of the overall information system on law-enforcement, drug-related data routinely available, as well as data potentially available or from ad-hoc studies.
Part II provides specific information on each of the information sources providing routine data. Standardised forms have been developed on seven indicators:
- drug seizures (drug seizures made by law-enforcement agencies);
- police/customs interventions (drug offenders caught by law-enforcement agencies);
- prosecution statistics (drug offenders prosecuted);
- conviction statistics (drug offenders convicted/sentenced);
- penal statistics (drug offenders incarcerated, drug offenders in prison);
- drug use among 'arrestees' (drug use among offenders caught by law-enforcement services - released/in police cell);
- drug use among prisoners (drug use among people entering prison or people in prison - on remand/sentenced).
Information concerning topics such as coverage, collection methods, data analysis, biases and limits are detailed for each data source per indicator.
Analysis
The analysis of the Information Maps 2000-2001 has been mainly descriptive and comparative. It was entirely based on the material submitted by the different Member States in 2000 and 2001. Therefore, the results of the analysis reflect the situation in each country at that time.
This analysis has resulted in the production of a final report in 3 volumes:
- Volume I: Analysis and synthesis (PDF, 903 KB)Volume I includes: analytical tables on drug law enforcement organisation and the judicial process in each of the Member States; an overview of the routine and non-routine data available in each of the countries analysed, and as regards routine data, an overview of the stage to which in the judicial process they refer; and, last but not least, a comparative analysis of the routine information systems related to each of the seven indicators above-mentioned.
- Volume II: Summary comparative tables by indicator (PDF, 2.98 MB)Volume II includes a series of summary comparative tables of the information submitted through the various forms related to each of the seven indicators. These tables constitute the basis for the comparative analysis of the routine information systems produced in Volume I.
- Volume III: Annex - Information Map 2000-2001 Guidelines (PDF, 527 KB)Volume III includes the original guidelines that were sent to the Reitox focal points and instructions for filling in the various forms and submitting their Information Map 2000-2001 to the EMCDDA.
