Crime in Slovenia is prevented by Slovenian law enforcement agencies such as the Slovenian National Police Force.
Crime in Slovenia is prevented by Slovenian law enforcement agencies such as the Slovenian National Police Force.
The Slovenian National Police Force is responsible for criminal justice in Slovenia as overseen by the Ministry of the Interior. As of 2012, the Slovenian police force consists of approximately 9,000 officers. [1] Between 2010 and 2019, police addressed an average of 75,510 criminal offenses annually, with the total number of annual crimes decreasing later in the decade. [2] The amount of reported criminal activity decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. [3] Prosecutors are responsible for initiating criminal proceedings in most cases, though victims may do so in some circumstances. Prosecution, defense, and trial are conducted separately during criminal proceedings. [1] As of 2018, there were 1,396 people in prison in Slovenia, making up 79.98 per 100,000 of the adult population. [4]
The study of criminology emerged as a scientific field in Slovenia during the early-20th century, pioneered by Aleksander Maklecov. The government provided for the publishing of the Journal of Criminal Investigation and Criminology in 1950 and the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law was established in the University of Ljubljana in 1954. Most criminology projects in Slovenia are funded by the Slovenian Research Agency. [1]
In 2017, 324 firearms and other weapons were seized by law enforcement. In 2018, there were 10 acts of intentional homicide. This amounts to 0.5 instances of homicide per 100,000 people, compared to a world average of 5.8 per 100,000. In the same year, there were 1,544 acts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury, 6 instances of kidnapping, and 264 instances of violent robbery per 100,000 people. In 2017, there were 427 instances of sexual violence per 100,000 people. 25 victims of human trafficking were detected in 2017. [4]
Crime in Slovenia caused an estimated 510 million euros of damage in 2017. [5] In 2018, there were 3,907 instances of fraud, 8,388 instances of burglary, and 19,613 instances of theft per 100,000 people. [4]
Turbulence during the fall of Communism resulted in an increase of organized crime in Slovenia. The government of Slovenia operates in accordance with the practices of Europol when addressing organized crime. [6] 1.5% of crimes investigated in 2019 were classified as organized crime. [2]
Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other crimes, and moral support for victims. The primary institutions of the criminal justice system are the police, prosecution and defense lawyers, the courts and the prisons system.
A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, assault, rape and assassination, as well as crimes in which violence is used as a method of coercion or show of force, such as robbery, extortion and terrorism. Violent crimes may, or may not, be committed with weapons. Depending on the jurisdiction, violent crimes may be regarded with varying severities from homicide to harassment. There have been many theories regarding heat being the cause of an increase in violent crime. Theorists claim that violent crime is persistent during the summer due to the heat, further causing people to become aggressive and commit more violent crime.
Carjacking is a robbery in which a motor vehicle is taken over. In contrast to car theft, carjacking is usually in the presence and knowledge of the victim. A common crime in many places in the world, carjacking has been the subject of legislative responses, criminology studies, and prevention efforts. Commercial vehicles such as trucks and armored cars containing valuable cargo are common targets of carjacking attempts. Carjacking usually involves physical violence to the victim, or using the victim as a hostage. In rare cases, carjacking may also involve sexual assault.
Crime in Canada is generally considered low overall. Under the Canadian constitution, the power to establish criminal law and rules of investigation is vested in the federal Parliament. The provinces share responsibility for law enforcement, and while the power to prosecute criminal offences is assigned to the federal government, responsibility for prosecutions is delegated to the provinces for most types of criminal offences. Laws and sentencing guidelines are uniform throughout the country, but provinces vary in their level of enforcement.
Crime in Australia is managed by various law enforcement bodies, the federal and state-based criminal justice systems and state-based correctional services.
Crime in Japan has been recorded since at least the 1800s, and has varied over time.
Law enforcement in Japan is provided mainly by prefectural police under the oversight of the National Police Agency. The National Police Agency is administered by the National Public Safety Commission, ensuring that Japan's police are an apolitical body and free of direct central government executive control. They are checked by an independent judiciary and monitored by a free and active press.
Crime is one of the most urgent concerns facing Mexico, as Mexican drug trafficking rings play a major role in the flow of cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin, and marijuana transiting between Latin America and the United States. Drug trafficking has led to corruption, which has had a deleterious effect on Mexico's Federal Representative Republic. Drug trafficking and organized crime have been a major source of violent crime. Drug cartels and gangs have also branched out to conduct alternative illegal activities for profit, including sex trafficking in Mexico. Some of the most increasingly violent states in Mexico in 2020 included Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Michoacán, Jalisco, and Querétaro. Some of the world's most violent cities are reportedly within the state of Guanajuato with extortion from criminal groups now being commonplace. The state of Zacatecas is said to be valuable to multiple organized crime groups for drug trafficking, specifically methamphetamine to the United States. As of 2021, Michoacán is experiencing increased instances of extortion and kidnapping due to a growing presence and escalation in the armed conflicts between CJNG and Cárteles Unidos on regions bordering the neighboring state of Jalisco. CJNG is also currently battling the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel in the North Mexican region of Sonora.
Crime has been recorded in the United States since its founding and has fluctuated significantly over time, with a sharp rise after 1900 and reaching a broad bulging peak between the 1970s and early 1990s. After 1992, crime rates have generally trended downwards each year, with the exceptions of a slight increase in property crimes in 2001 and increases in violent crimes in 2005-2006, 2014-2016 and 2020-2021. While official federal crime data beginning in 2021 has a wide margin of error due to the incomplete adoption of the National Incident-Based Reporting System by government agencies, federal data for 2020-2021 and limited data from select U.S. cities collected by the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice showed significantly elevated rates of homicide and motor vehicle theft in 2020-2022. Although overall crime rates have fallen far below the peak of crime seen in the United States during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the homicide rate in the U.S. has remained high, relative to other "high income"/developed nations, with eight major U.S. cities ranked among the 50 cities with the highest homicide rate in the world in 2022. The aggregate cost of crime in the United States is significant, with an estimated value of $4.9 trillion reported in 2021. Data from the first half of 2023, from government and private sector sources show that the murder rate has dropped, as much as 12% in as many as 90 cities across the United States. The drop in homicide rates is not uniform across the country however, with some cities such as Memphis, TN, showing an uptick in murder rates.
Law enforcement in Azerbaijan comes under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, which administers the National Police of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Admitted to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on 30 January 1992, with an OSCE office opening in Baku on 16 November 1999. It is a member of INTERPOL.
Italian crime rates, though low compared to other developed countries, are present in various forms throughout the nation. Violent crimes, which include instances of murder, sexual violence, and assault, are quite rare in Italy evidenced by its homicide rate of 0.51 in 2021, the lowest in Europe aside from Luxembourg and Slovenia. However, Italy is notorious for its organized crime groups, which are present worldwide and collectively referred to as the Mafia. This has made financial crimes such as corruption, theft, and trafficking more widespread in the country.
Crime in Poland refers to the incidence, deterrence, and handling of criminal activity in the Republic of Poland by Polish law enforcement agencies charged with ensuring public safety and maintaining order. Poland ranks favorably in terms of public safety, with one of the lowest homicide rates in Europe. Poland was ranked 25th in the 2022 Global Peace Index and scored 0.0 on the 2023 Global Terrorism Index.
Crime in Minnesota encompasses a wide range of unlawful activities that occur within the state, regulated by both state and federal laws. While crime rates in Minnesota are generally below the national average, certain areas and types of crime have garnered public attention.
Capital punishment in Macau was formally abolished in 1976 and reiterated in the Penal Code of Macau in the 1995.
Crime in Romania is combated by the Romanian Police, Gendarmerie and other agencies.
Crime in Montenegro is combated by the Montenegro Police and other agencies.
Crime in Ecuador is investigated by the Ecuadorian police.
The Ferguson effect is an increase in violent crime rates in a community caused by reduced proactive policing due to the community's distrust and hostility towards police. The Ferguson effect was first proposed after police saw an increase in violence following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The term was coined by Doyle Sam Dotson III, the chief of the St. Louis police, to account for an increased murder rate in some U.S. cities following the Ferguson unrest. Whether the Ferguson effect really exists is subject of discussions with many published studies reporting contradicting findings concerning whether there is a change in crime rates, number of 911 calls, homicides, and proactive policing. Furthermore, the effect and influence of the portrayal of police brutality in the media is also contested.
Crime in Latvia is relatively low, by global standards, especially compared to previous years, when it was named the "crime capital of Europe" by Forbes in 2008. The homicide rate in Latvia was 4.9 per 100,000 people in 2020, a sharp drop from 10 cases per 100,000 people in 2000, and has been steadily decreasing, but has seen recent increases. The United States Department of State has assessed Latvia's security rating as "medium", with a moderate crime rate. In recent times, crime has been increasing, particularly due to many Latvians stranded because of the COVID-19 pandemic returning to Latvia and choosing to commit crime. According to Interpol, Latvia is considered an attractive place for regional and organized criminals involved in drug trafficking, arms trafficking, human trafficking, or smuggling. According to the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, a third of all women in Latvia have suffered some form of sexual violence or rape while men are subjected to violence outside the family.
Roderic Broadhurst is a criminal justice practitioner, academic, and author. He is an Emeritus Professor at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) and Fellow of the Research School of Asian and the Pacific at the Australian National University (ANU).
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