1 The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs also introduced a system of permanently increasing the expertise of probation officers, who work with offenders in particular. The desirable level of continuous social work with offenders is problematic - according to the Ministry, staff numbers remain insufficient (c.135 probation officers and c.70 Prison Service social workers for c.20 000 people in prison and in custody).
2 Police statistics show the number of offenders prosecuted who have been accused in accordance with § 160 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, while court statistics cover the number of offenders convicted by the courts.
3A priority for preventative activities in penology is to establish a full set of measures to make imprisonment more effective - rehabilitation programmes, education for convicted offenders (in the 1997/98 school year, 115 juvenile and 911 adult convicts were studying), drug prevention, etc.
4 The Supreme State Prosecutor's Office has produced a "Special report on crimes committed by juveniles and crimes committed on children and young people".
5 A priority of the Republican Crime Prevention Committee is to produce a Proposal for a systematic approach to juvenile delinquents, which the Ministry of the Interior, as director and coordinator, will submit to the government in May 1999. Among other priorities for 1999 is the "National Plan to combat the commercial sexual abuse of children".
6The number of juveniles for 1998 had not been published by the Statistical Office at the time of writing this Report.
7 The Ministry of Education has approved and begun implementing a Conception of the prevention of the abuse of addictive substances and other pathological phenomena among children and young people for 1998 - 2000. Children and young people under threat are a priority for crime prevention, particularly at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education. The Report on the implementation of the Crime Prevention Strategy up to the year 2000, submitted to the government in March this year by the Minister of the Interior, as Chairman of the Republican Crime Prevention Committee, covers the issue of groups at risk in greater detail.
8Discussions are underway at present on whether crime by policemen should continue to be screened and investigated by policemen themselves. The Supreme Prosecutor's Office has produced a "Special Report containing an evaluation of information on crime by members of the Czech Police", according to which "In the event of screening, in view of the experience they have with this kind of crime, taking account of the generally more limited options for state prosecutors to carry out primary or urgent tasks, it is evident that after improvements to the Czech Police's internal control mechanisms, the operative authority would continue to be the Inspectorate at the Ministry of the Interior, which would provide the service required to the State Prosecutor's Office, charged with investigating offences committed by policemen under their powers of duty."
9The Committee for the prevention of pathological phenomena at the Ministry of Defence is coordinating activities, especially for drug and crime prevention. This mainly concerns primary prevention - education activities, expanding options for free time, etc.
10In total, 26 complaints were lodged against employees of district financial authorities, especially for abuse of the power of a public official. Of these 26 complaints, 13 were unfounded, adjourned or dismissed and 9 are in proceedings.
11At the beginning of 1999, the Ministry of Justice evaluated the effectiveness of Act No. 209/1997 Coll., concerning the provision of financial assistance to victims of crime. For the victim, crime may entail psychological harm (fear, stress, feelings of guilt and shame, etc.), including changes to the victim's behaviour, and financial harm (loss of or damage to property, loss of earnings, etc.). Other persons may also be affected by the crime (e.g. the victim's family). The essence of the Act in question is to establish the circumstances under which the state provides financial assistance for the partial compensation of victims of crime, who in consequence of crime have suffered relatively serious harm to their health and who do not have the option of winning damages from the offender within an acceptable time limit. The concept of "victim of crime" was then introduced into our legal system. In 1998 only 198 persons made use of this option, which can be attributed to the newness of the legislation, which the public had not yet sufficiently adopted, although ČTK had in advance provided a report on options under by this Act, subsequently featured in the majority of national and regional newspapers. Total financial assistance provided was CZK 632 770, representing CZK 26 365 per applicant. Act No. 209/1997 Coll. also stipulated the terms for generating budget revenues to cover funds for financial assistance, when this resulted in changes and supplements to the Criminal Code such that one of the conditions for approving settlement is now that the accused will assign at least 50% of the sum stipulated in settlement proceedings to the state as financial assistance for crime victims. Budget revenues generated in this way came to CZK 608 000 in 1998. Financial assistance is not a donation, as the recipient is obliged to return the sum they received in damages to the Ministry of Justice within five years following the day on which assistance was provided. If however the offender does not defray damages, financial assistance is not returned. It will therefore be possible to assess the degree to which assistance is returned after the year 2003. The attention to compensation for victims of crime culminated on the international level in the adoption of conventions and recommendations aimed at establishing at the very least basic measures for compensating victims of crime and stipulating regulations for compensating victims from state funds: the European Convention on compensation for victims of violent crime (1983) and the member states' Recommendations on assistance to victims and the prevention of victimisation (1987), the Convention on the rights of children, the Convention against torture and other cruel, inhumane treatment or punishment. Of the other documents, we can mention the recommendations of the Council of Ministers, No. R (85) 11, concerning the victim's status in criminal law and criminal proceedings, No. R (87) 21 on assistance to victims of crime and the prevention of victimisation, the United Nations Declaration on the fundamental principles of justice for victims of crime and the abuse of power.
12In the first half of 1999, the Ministry of the Interior will produce an Update of the conception of the fight against organised vehicle theft. The basis is to develop a central information system. Records to protect vehicles should also improve options to combat this kind of crime.
13In Resolution No. 849 of 16 December 1999, the government took into account Report No. 285 on the implementation of government resolutions, on the protection of the Czech Republic's movable cultural heritage, and charged the ministries and institutions concerned with continuing to implement this system.
14There was damage of over CZK 3 billion concerning the offence of infringement of copyright in the Louny district, and of CZK 1.2 billion in the "Skloexport" case.
15The inter-ministerial consulting group for serious economic crime, the organisational and technical aspects of whose work is covered by the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office, was positively received by Council of Europe experts as part of an evaluation of anti-money laundering measures which the Czech Republic underwent in May 1998.
16The revision of Act No. 337/1992 Coll. on the administration of taxes and fees, which came into force on 16 July 1998, allows the Financial Analysis Department to obtain information on whether an entity for which data is requested is recorded as a tax subject and for which taxes it is registered, together with data from registration and tax returns.
17Bribery is defined thus in the OECD recommendations: "Bribery shall be understood as a promise for or the provision of any unauthorised payment or other advantages, either directly or through intermediaries, to a public official, either to them or a third party, in order to influence official administration, or in order to forbear from the performance of official duties, for the purpose of winning business".
18The aim of the Government Programme to combat corruption in the Czech Republic is to set out basic methods and procedural means in the fight against corruption and to propose specific implementation measures, not only in legislation, but also in international cooperation and the organisational field (e.g. conducting regular internal controls, establishing a contact advice centre for victims of corruption, improving cooperation between the institutions concerned, education and media work, a national training project for civil servants, aimed at avoiding corrupt situations, producing a handbook on defence against corruption).
19At present the "Conception of the fight against intellectual property crime" has been submitted to the government. Its aim is to adopt measures in which the government declares compliance with and greater protection for intellectual property rights, i.e. especially copyright and related rights and industrial rights. The main aspect is procedures in enforcing intellectual property rights in relation to international undertakings under TRIPS. In addition to a new Copyright Act, revisions of the Czech Commercial Inspection Act and the Consumer Protection Act are also under preparation - see the aforementioned Conception for more details.
20For comparison, according to the information available Germany recorded a reduction in the number of murders from 1993 to 1997 (other than in 1995, when there was a slight increase). 4 230 murders were recorded in 1993 and 3 288 in 1997.
21The Supreme Prosecutor's Office has produced a "Special report evaluating the effectiveness of the current legal regulations relating to instances of violence against women".
22The CP crime statistics recording system only records those fires which they have ascertained to be crimes (this concerns fires reported to police, or where "well-founded suspicions" that a crime has been committed are ascertained), which is the reason for the discrepancy with the data from the Fire Brigade, which records all fires.
23The Ministry of the Interior submitted a "Draft solution to problems related to prostitution" in March 1999; to some extent the issue is also covered by the report mentioned in footnote 24.
24At the second sitting of the European Conference in Luxembourg, ministers covered the issue of combating child pornography and paedophilia as part of the overall coordination of the fight against organised crime by EU countries and the associated countries. The issue will be delegated to an EU expert group for drugs and organised crime, focusing particularly on practical cooperation in ascertaining those committing this crime and trafficking in people.
25As street crime offenders are often young people, schools advisory centres are devising preventative programmes for graffiti, vandalism, etc. in cooperation with the CP, the Municipal Police and the Social Prevention Departments at District Authorities.
26The note in chapter 2.3.4. also refers the issue of the position of the Ministry of the Interior Inspectorate.
27More detailed information on crime with an extremist subtext will be contained in the " Report on procedures by state authorities in punishing crimes motivated by racism and xenophobia or committed by members of extremist groups, and on the activities of extremist groups in the Czech Republic in 1998", which will be submitted to the government for discussion by the Minister of the Interior, in cooperation with the Minister of Justice, by 30 June 1999, on the basis of Government Resolution No. 192/1998 and the government's work plan for the 1st half of 1999 (non-legislative tasks). In May 1999 the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office was working on a report concerning persons prosecuted and charged for crimes committed owing to nationality, race or other motives of hatred.
28At the 7th sitting of the Council of Ministers of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a decision was adopted on the basis of a Czech initiative to strengthen contact centres for Romanies / Sinti under the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. The basic idea is comprehending the Romany issue as a Europe-wide problem, in which the OSCE should play a more active role. This should not involve merely monitoring the situation, but in addition cooperation between all bodies should be improved in order to allow the full integration of the Romany community into society under the condition that their identity is preserved. Emphasis is placed on developing working programmes, etc.
29For a more accurate assessment of crimes with an extremist subtext, at the start of 1998 a more comprehensive categorisation of offences was introduced for racial or nationalistic intolerance. As in 1997, in 1998 the main problem remained the inaccurate or erroneous completion of statistics forms. In consequence, official crime statistics are less useful - they continue to feature extremist motivated factual bases for offences which in fact cannot meet the motive specified. In consequence, the data on official crime statistics for 1998 differed from data at the Directorate of the Criminal Police, which after evaluating the input data for official crime statistics from 1 January 1998, made the following correction: in 1998 113 offences were recorded, i.e. 21.5 % (-31) less than in 1997.
30The tasks under the appendix to Government Resolution No. 192/1998 have been fulfilled and the effectiveness of the measures adopted, affecting all parties concerned, will be evaluated in the "Report on procedures by state authorities in punishing crimes motivated by racism and xenophobia or committed by members of extremist groups, and on the activities of extremist groups in the Czech Republic in 1998". Attention was also devoted to police training. In 1998 the Minister of the Interior decided to hold an international symposium entitled "The role of police organs in combating racism and xenophobia", aimed at police specialists, which took place on 18 - 22 October 1999. Preparations were made to issue a new internal management act to implement tasks under the aforementioned Government Resolution and a range of further steps was taken, aimed at improving the work of the repressive organs in this field.
31NSO Decrees No. 258/1998 on Site Security, No. 263/1998 stipulating the method and procedure for verifying the security reliability of an organisation, No. 244/1998 on the details of determining and designating the degree of secrecy and on procedures for creating, recording, transferring, lending, storing and other handling and destruction of secret documents, and No. 245/1998 on personality qualifications and specimen forms used in personnel security.
32In the Ministry of the Interior, the protection of official secrets focused in particular on the thorough application of general protection principles, with the aim of limiting leaks of official secrets, on control and preventative work and on establishing the conditions for a gradual transition to the protection system stipulated by the new legislation. The application of the Act will involve high financial requirements for material security, although greatest risk in protecting official secrets is human error. One of the priority tasks will therefore to be to create an effective prevention system and improve control work.
From an analysis of information by the Ministry of Defence, it emerges that in the majority of cases leaks resulted from undervaluing the degree of secrecy and failure to comply with regulations. A specific example is the leak of sensitive information on the supply of headquarters information material.
33This issue is covered in detail in "Information on migration in the Czech Republic in 1998".
34In cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior has prepared a range of conceptual documents and information on the modernisation of the visa process and related issues (see chapter 3.1.1.), with additional documents produced in 1999 (see chapter 3.2.1.). The practical realisation of a pilot project of the Modernisation of the Visa Process (MVP) means a qualitatively new method of issuing visas, including screening applicants and issuing visas through the MVP information system, which is the basis for establishing the Czech National Schengen Information System. Measures to eliminate negative phenomena associated with the institution of invitations for foreigners to visit the Czech Republic and measures to produce and use a new form should contribute to regulating unwanted migration. At the Ministry of the Interior a range of sub-groups has been established to work on the application of Schengen regulations on visas, migration and foreigners in the Czech Republic.
35The present legislation specifies a wide range of foreigners who can be granted permanent residence for the purpose of joining a family. At the same time it does not allow permanent residence to be annulled other than after a preceding ban on residence.
36In December 1998 the 1st Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs informed members of the government of these problems and proposals for a solution, the basis of which lies mainly in amending Act No. 1/1991 Coll. on Employment, CNC Act No. 9/1991 on Employment and the Scope of the Czech Employment Authorities, in the new Residence Act, in the Trades Licensing Act and in the new Trade Act. The revision of the Trades Licensing Act should e.g. impose stricter requirements for knowledge of the Czech language, not only by responsible representatives, but also by persons responsible for operations. A foreign natural person who is not an entrepreneur abroad may then only conduct business in the Czech Republic if they have a residence permit for this purpose, etc.
37It is assumed that citizens of countries not subject to visa requirements travel to the Czech Republic legally and subsequently try to travel to Western European countries illegally.
38At there informal meeting in Birmingham, England (29 - 30 January 1998), the Ministers of the Interior of the EU member states declared the crucial need to improve mutual agreements between EU member states on law enforcement, improving cooperation in the legal field, including assistance to the countries of Eastern Europe, particularly in the organisation of their legal systems.
39With Resolution No. 523 of 12 August 1998 the government took account of the "Proposal for measures to eliminate negative phenomena associated with the institution of invitations for foreigners to visit the Czech Republic".
40Since the beginning of 1999, the Ministry of the Interior has coordinated consultation between experts on individual aspects of the fight against organised crime: organised crime, money laundering, terrorism, offensive police methods and intelligence work, criminal groups, the ethnic element in organised crime, illegal migration, drugs and environmental crime.
41The Czech Police cooperates with the customs authorities on controlling the export of arms and military materials.
42In the majority of prisons and penitentiaries, the staffing of drug prevention advice units has improved, with increased capacity in a specialised department where convicted male drug addicts serve their sentences (there were 59 convicted offenders there at the end of 1998). In connection with resolving the Czech Prison Service's information system, it was not possible to introduce precise central records of persons abusing addictive substances.
43Under Government Resolution No. 754 of 18 November 1998, the Minister of Transport was appointed Chairman of the Government Council for road safety and the competence for road safety was transferred from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. An action programme to improve road safety was approved in Government Resolution No. 681 of 19 October 1998.
44Railway accidents are a specific area. 41 railway accidents (-13) were treated as crimes, with damage of CZK 16 824 000 (- CZK 15.9 million). 55 (- 2) combined accidents (railway and road vehicles) were recorded with damage of CZK 8 104 000 (+ CZK 1.482 million). Attempts to derail trains have been noted abroad and we cannot rule out such attempts in international lines in our country.
45Given the budgetary funds allocated for 1999, it will be difficult to ensure the material needs of the prison service, especially where extending the accommodation capacity for custody and imprisonment and the use of technical equipment for guarding prison buildings is involved. With Resolution No. 296 of 29 April 1998, the government charged all public contracting authorities to discuss the possibility of employing convicted offenders with the Czech Prison Service prior to tendering and it charged the Prison Service with regularly informing the contracting authorities on its production capacities.
46The Minister of the Interior, as Chairman of the Republican Crime Prevention Committee, submitted a Detailed Report on the implementation of tasks from the Crime Prevention Strategy up to the year 2000 to the Czech government in March this year.
47Czech Police Prevention Information Groups have now been established in Prague, Brno, Plzeň, Ostrava, Zlín and Kladno, with further districts scheduled.
48Committee members include representatives from the Ministry of the Interior, the Czech Police, professional associations for insurance companies, security technology companies, banks and detective and security services, the municipal police, civic associations, the Military Technical Institute for Electronics - technical resources, etc.
49The Ministry of the Interior is responsible for the work of the inter-ministerial Coordination Committee for crowd violence and inappropriate behaviour at sports events, especially football matches.
50On the basis of Government Resolution No. 754 of 18 December 1998, the secretariat of the Government Council for Road Safety was transferred from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
51The main changes involve: simplifying and hastening criminal proceedings at all stages, making proceedings before court more important that preparatory proceedings, improving the position of the State Prosecutor in supervising preparatory proceedings, allowing evidence to be expressed in trial form to a wider extent, even in cases where there are not yet grounds to prosecute a specific person, reducing the financial costs which the state expends on criminal proceedings, respecting more the opinions of parties to proceedings for ordinary and especially extraordinary means of rectification and allowing, under strictly stipulated conditions, access to the Supreme Court through appeal. The Act also facilitates the provision of legal aid to international tribunals, in order to cover the Czech Republic's commitments under UN Security Council resolutions.
52The new Act will eliminate deficiencies in accordance with the Constitution and international treaties, the organisational structure of the police and its management will be comprehensively tackled and there will be a new approach to eliminate deficiencies in defining the police's province. The new norm will reflect the demands made on the Czech Republic in connection with its inclusion into European structures. The description of police powers will be more precise, which will improve the efficiency of police work and will enhance protection against abuses of power or unauthorised infringements of fundamental rights. Other institutions will also be modified, above all the comprehensive treatment of personal data and information.
53It should however be pointed out that changes in crime trends may also have been affected by changes in the behaviour of the population concerning the reporting of offences and the intensity of police work in detecting crime; problems may also be linked to e.g. increases (or not) in the amount of money required for an act to be qualified as a crime (since 1 January 1994, when this amount was increased from CZK 1 000 to CZK 2 000, there has been no change, despite higher inflation). In Germany, crime statistics register all offences, regardless of the level of damage (although if we compare trends for the number of crimes ascertained in Germany from 1993 to 1994, there has been no change, or a moderate fall, in crime since 1993). Statistics in e.g. Holland and Sweden also include misdemeanours, which complicates international comparisons of the number of crimes ascertained.
54The results of a sociological research project, "The public's attitude to crime and relative social deprivation" (J. Buriánek, Charles University Humanities Faculty, grant GAČR 403/98/0395), reveals a positive trend towards reduced fears concerning the feeling of safety at home in the evening (37 % of those questioned in 1995, 50 % in 1998). The public's attitude to the police corresponds to the public's increasing cooperation with the police (see e.g. the chapter on victims of crime), with 52 % of those questioned declaring complete or some confidence in the police. Those conclusions (the reduction in fear, increased confidence in the police and greater willingness to cooperate) would need to be supported by a long-term specialised research project.
55There are more approaches and schools of thought regarding the causes of crime - the account presented here is a cross-section of the spectrum and is a generalisation rather than a particular direction. It must be emphasised that the factors mentioned do not work in isolation, but cumulatively. It would therefore be misleading to specify which one is decisive.