| Abstract: |
This paper contains a documentation of the EU regional crime database (EURCD).
The EURCD is the basis of the analyses presented in our recently published
book 'Crime in Europe' which, in turn, is the result of a research project
conducted on behalf of the EU Commission. The EURCD is a panel dataset
containing information on 12 Interpol crime categories (murder, sex offences,
rape, serious assault, theft, aggravated theft, robbery and violent theft,
breaking and entering, theft of motor cars, fraud, drug offences and total
offences) across eight EU member states (Denmark, Germany, Spain, Italy, the
Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and England & Wales) for the maximal period
1980-1998 (length of period depends on country and region). The spatial
structure of the EURCD is organised according to Eurostat's NUTS-system,
meaning that it contains data broken down into, for instance, German 'Kreise',
Spanish ' Provincias' and Italian 'Provincias'. Crime data obtained for
countries which, for reasons explained in the paper, could not (Belgium,
Greece, Portugal) or only partly (England & Wales) be integrated into the
analyses is (or will soon be) provided in country-specific files. There is a
lack of data for Ireland and Luxemburg because regional crime data does not
exist for these countries, and for France and Austria which refused to
participate in the project. In order to allow multivariate analyses of the
causes and consequences of crime the EURCD also contains a sizeable number of
non-crime variables. By providing this data to the public we hope to enhance
empirical crime research in Europe which until today has been denied adequate
attention by both criminologists and economists. |