Methodology and definitions

Crime statistics are based mainly in administrative sources; data are provided by General Directorate of Police, General Prosecution, Ministry of Justice and General Directorate of Prison.

The classification used for crime statistics is based on Criminal Code of Republic of Albania: http://www.pp.gov.al/web/kodi_Criminal_2017_1200.pdf

Data provided by General Directorate of Police includes data on criminal offences, perpetrators and damaged persons. Crime statistics refers to recorded specific offences by police, the classification in crime and contraventions is done based on Criminal Code of Albania. These recorded cases are related to incidents as occurred, and not to the trials, the verdict of which is given by the law bodies. Data on perpetrators are based on suspected persons in committing an offence. Data on damaged persons includes data on specific offences and damaged persons by sex.

Data provided by General Prosecution includes data on registered criminal proceeding, defendant persons by specific criminal offences of Criminal Code of Albania.

Data provided by Ministry of Justice includes data on convicted persons by sex and age group, convicted persons by crimes, by district courts and convicted persons of crimes and contraventions by sex.

Convicted persons reflect data on number of persons to whom criminal sanctions are applying, consisting in restriction of certain rights that they enjoyed until the commission of the offence. The main sanctions are prison, fine and alternative sanctions. Alternative sanctions may consist on: Fragmentation of imprisonment, suspending the execution of a sentence, Suspension of imprisonment and compulsion to perform labor in favor of public interest.

Data provided by General Directorate of Prison includes juvenile persons (under 18 years old), adults (over 18 years old) by gender who have been convicted by a final decision and pre-detainees over the years. The number of prisoners shows the prisoners' situation in a given year, including new arrivals and exits that occur for the period in question.

Definitions

Criminal offences: Behavior, acts which damaged legal values ​​of a certain community. They are divided into crimes and contraventions.

Contraventions: acts that violate legal or damaged goods with a value of less than offenses (crimes) therefore violate the legal order but do not affect its bases and have serious social consequences.

Recorded criminal offences: Recorded criminal offences in police or the police have knowledge of them in other ways.

Crime against a person: Acts of intent or negligence that affect or threaten life, health, freedoms, sexual intolerance, honor and dignity of a person, specially protected by criminal the legislation.

Crime against property and in the economic sphere: Includes theft of property, frauds, crimes in the field of customs, taxation, destruction of property and crimes that violate the legal regime of land. 

Intentional homicide: A criminal offense by which another person is intentionally or negligently deprived of life. Are included articles of Criminal Code: article 76 murder, article 77 murder connected with another crime, 78 premeditated homicide, 78/a murder for blood feud, 79 homicides committed in other specific circumstances, 79/a public officials murder, 79/b police murder, 79/c murder for family relationship, 80 infanticide.

Crimes against health: Are included articles 86 – 90 of Criminal Code of Albania.

Sexual crimes: Legal relations established in the sphere of security of sexual freedom and the normal development of sexual formation, specially protected with criminal legislation. Are included article 100-108/a of Criminal Code of Albania

Fraud: Taking or disposition of a lie or misappropriation of property or property rights of a natural person, a legal person or a state for the purpose of obtaining material benefit for himself or for others. Is included articles 143-149/b of Criminal Code of Albania.

Counterfeit: is included article 183 of Criminal Code of Albania.

Violation of traffic rules: Is included article 290 violation of road traffic regulations, article 291 driving vehicles inappropriately, article 273 leaving the scene of an accident.

Drug crimes: Includes offences as production, cultivation, trafficking and sale of narcotics. Are included article 283 productions and sale of narcotics, article 283/a trafficking of narcotics, article 284 cultivation of narcotic plants, article 284/c production and manufacturing of narcotic and psychotropic substances.

Domestic violence: Includes acts such as battery, or other violent criminal offence, serious threat or injury against a person who is the spouse, former-spouse, partner or former partner, child or family member, resulting in infringement of the physical, psycho-social, and economic integrity of the person. Article 130/a of Criminal Code of Albania.

Perpetrators: Persons who in their action or inaction allow happening a criminal offence, causes consequences of the offence. Suspected persons over 14 years old have criminal responsibility, while perpetrators under 14 years old are exempted from criminal responsibility.

Juvenile: A person 14-17 years old.

Minors: A person under 18 years old.

Adult: A persons over 18 years old.

Victims/Damaged persons: any person to whom any personal or property right has been violated or endangered by a criminal act.

A defendant: is considered the person to whom the criminal offence has been attributed through the act of notification of accusation, which contains sufficient evidence for taking the person as a defendant.

Convicted persons: A person who his behavior has affected or damaged legal goods protected by law. For these persons are applying criminal sanctions consisting in obtaining or restriction of certain rights that they enjoyed until the commission of the offence.

Criminal cases: Any criminal cases processed under national criminal law.

Civil cases: Any cases processed under national civil/commercial law.

Number of prisoners: The number of persons held in prisons, other institutions, juvenile detention institutions, psychiatric hospitals or other hospitals. Include both inmates and pre-detainees.

Inmate: Any person, Albanian or foreign, punished by final sentence of imprisonment and in line with the international agreements, punished by a foreign judgment, in compliance with the respective procedural requirements.

Detainees are person, citizen, foreign or stateless, to who is taken a security measure “detention or arrest in prison”.

Criminality rate: The number of total recorded offences expressed per 10 thousand inhabitants;

Prisoner’s rate: Number of prisoners (inmate + detainees) over a period of 1 year expressed per 10 thousand inhabitants; 

The percentage of detainees in deprivation of liberty: Expresses the total number of persons held in detention have not been convicted yet, as a percentage of the total number of persons held in prisons;

Police personnel rate express the total number of officers per 10,000 populations in a given year;