Justice and security

The objective of justice and security statistics is to provide information on the operation of Estonian legal system (courts, penitentiary institutions, probation supervision) and the operation of rescue service, but also on registered offences, security feeling of the population and falling a victim to the offence (including violence).

The statistics of registered offences are based on aggregated data of e-fail. These statistics are influenced by amendments of acts which make it difficult to compile longer time series. The Statistical Database contains the comparable data with the present time from 2003.

Although it has been tried to harmonise the criminal statistics internationally, the data of registered offences are comparable with other countries only in case of certain offences and in general terms. Different definitions and practises of justice administration also have an impact on criminal statistics. Statistics Estonia has conducted the Safety Survey once in 2008–2009. This survey collected data on crime and intimate partner abuse. As the Safety Survey discusses the violence and safety in a broader way, the data of the survey cannot be directly compared with the statistics of registered offences. The next Safety Survey which will be harmonised all over Europe is going to be conducted in 2014. It also includes the module of violence the objective of which is to measure people’s contact with the violence at home as well as outside it.