United Nations World Surveys on Crime Trends and Criminal Justice Systems, 1970-1994: Restructured Five-Wave Data

The United Nations International Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice Branch began the Surveys of Crime Trends and
Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (formerly known as the World
Crime Surveys) in 1978. The goal of the data collection effort was to
conduct a more focused inquiry into the incidence of crime worldwide.
To date, there have been five quinquennial surveys, covering the years
1970-1975, 1975-1980, 1980-1986, 1986-1990, and 1990-1994,
respectively. Starting with the 1980 data, the waves overlap by one
year to allow for reliability and validity checks of the data. For
this data collection, the original United Nations data were
restructured into a standard contemporary file structure, with each
file consisting of all data for one year. Naming conventions were
standardized, and each country and each variable was given a unique
identifying number. Crime variables include counts of recorded crime
for homicide, assault, rape, robbery, theft, burglary, fraud,
embezzlement, drug trafficking, drug possession, bribery, and
corruption. There are also counts of suspects, persons prosecuted,
persons convicted, and prison admissions by crime, gender, and adult
or juvenile status. Other variables include the population of the
country and largest city, budgets and salaries for police, courts, and
prisons, and types of sanctions, including imprisonment, corporal
punishment, deprivation of liberty, control of freedom, warning, fine,
and community sentence. The countries participating in the survey and
the variables available vary by year.