THE UNITED NATIONS CRIME AND JUSTICE INFORMATION NETWORK (UNCJIN THE UNITED NATIONS ON-LINE CRIME AND JUSTICE CLEARING HOUSE (UNOJUST) Gerald Quirchmayr and g. Martin Lively Introduction The most important question to be addressed when designing a criminal justice information system is at whom is the information system aiming and who can and should be reached. When employing the Internet for such a criminal justice information is envisaged, it also has to be discussed which forms of crime should be combated by employing Internet technology. The analysis of who needs support, who can offer information, and technologically speaking, which platform is suitable for spreading the information are essential. Realistically it must be said that especially for developing countries only a mix of different means will work. Traditional communication. electronic mail. listservs as well as modern World wide Web servers all have their function When aiming at an international cooperation, the creation of awareness and exchange of information are the most common starting Discussion forums and joint projects are a logical follow up. Open networks, especially the Internet, offer the potential to initiate local activities with a potentially global impact, a very common attitude among Internet enthusiasts being to have the world on your desktop Objectively seen the greatest benefits of getting involved in the Internet are a great variety of information and the cost efficient publishing, made possible by the common technological basis, available as world-wide standard Being present on the Internet becomes increasingly important for remaining part of a quickly developing new world-wide economic infrastructure, often called the information society. Giving a country or an internationally acting institution a presence on the Internet therefore is unavoidable. The higher the variety of information available, the better it is for breaking the monopoly of opinion leaders and for preventing the danger of the so called electronic colonialism. From a marketing point of view the Internet is an ideal medium for creating a positive image on a world-wide scale and for making information about problems available world-wide. The overall impacts of the Internet on business, on the financial sector, on politics, on public administration, on international organisations, on national and international legal systems and on the social environment cannot yet be fully identified, but it is obvious that it is the first major step towards changing the way international information and communication works 2. United Nations Sites on the internet The Internet is becoming more and more a standard medium for providing information, ranging from educational efforts and guidelines to crime prevention and criminal justice information. The pioneers in the field of criminal justice and crime prevention are the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division of the United Nations Office in Vienna and the United Nations Drugs Control Programme. United Nations Sites on the Internet can roughly be classified as sites presenting United Nations agencies, United Nations locations and United Nations special programmes and activities. Special educational and research activities have for a long time been a major United Nations goal, especially when aiming at information systems in public administration 3. UNCiN and unojust in the international Combat of crime The United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network(UNCJIN) and the United Nations On-line Crime and Justice Clearing-House(UNOJUST) have become the United Nations backbone in using the Internet to combat crime, the major aim being to establish a world-wide network of cooperating institutions jointly operating on the Internet
THE UNITED NATIONS CRIME AND JUSTICE INFORMATION NETWORK (UNCJIN) THE UNITED NATIONS ON-LINE CRIME AND JUSTICE CLEARING HOUSE (UNOJUST) Gerald Quirchmayr and G. Martin Lively 1. Introduction The most important question to be addressed when designing a criminal justice information system is at whom is the information system aiming and who can and should be reached. When employing the Internet for such a criminal justice information is envisaged, it also has to be discussed which forms of crime should be combated by employing Internet technology. The analysis of who needs support, who can offer information, and technologically speaking, which platform is suitable for spreading the information are essential. Realistically it must be said that especially for developing countries only a mix of different means will work. Traditional communication, electronic mail, listservs, as well as modern World Wide Web servers all have their function. When aiming at an international cooperation, the creation of awareness and exchange of information are the most common starting points. Discussion forums and joint projects are a logical follow up. Open networks, especially the Internet, offer the potential to initiate local activities with a potentially global impact, a very common attitude among Internet enthusiasts being to have the world on your desktop. Objectively seen the greatest benefits of getting involved in the Internet are a great variety of information and the cost efficient publishing, made possible by the common technological basis, available as world-wide standard. Being present on the Internet becomes increasingly important for remaining part of a quickly developing new world-wide economic infrastructure, often called the information society. Giving a country or an internationally acting institution a presence on the Internet therefore is unavoidable. The higher the variety of information available, the better it is for breaking the monopoly of opinion leaders and for preventing the danger of the so called electronic colonialism. From a marketing point of view the Internet is an ideal medium for creating a positive image on a world-wide scale and for making information about problems available world-wide. The overall impacts of the Internet on business, on the financial sector, on politics, on public administration, on international organisations, on national and international legal systems and on the social environment cannot yet be fully identified, but it is obvious that it is the first major step towards changing the way international information and communication works. 2. United Nations Sites on the Internet The Internet is becoming more and more a standard medium for providing information, ranging from educational efforts and guidelines to crime prevention and criminal justice information. The pioneers in the field of criminal justice and crime prevention are the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division of the United Nations Office in Vienna and the United Nations Drugs Control Programme. United Nations Sites on the Internet can roughly be classified as sites presenting United Nations agencies, United Nations locations and United Nations special programmes and activities. Special educational and research activities have for a long time been a major United Nations goal, especially when aiming at information systems in public administration. 3. UNCJIN and UNOJUST in the International Combat of Crime The United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network (UNCJIN) and the United Nations On-line Crime and Justice Clearing-House (UNOJUST) have become the United Nations’ backbone in using the Internet to combat crime, the major aim being to establish a world-wide network of cooperating institutions jointly operating on the Internet
For modern international organisations operating in quickly evolving environments, such as the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division, it is vital that they be able to disseminate information quickly and efficiently. To this end, the Division and the Institute of Applied Computer Science and Information Systems of the University of Vienna jointly developed a framework to make various United Nations material on crime prevention and criminal justice as well as other organisations' materials electronically available 3.1 The United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network (UNCJIN The United Nations Economic and Social Council, in resolution 1986/11, requested the United Nations Secretariat to create an electronic system for the exchange of crime prevention and criminal justice information In 1989. the result of those efforts came to fruition as the united Nations Crime and Justice Information Network (UNCJIN) was launched by the School of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Albany, New York, United States, funded by the United States Department of Justice, the State University of New York at Albany and the Crime prevention and Criminal Justice Division. In 1992, UNCJIN was moved from a commercial carrier to the Internet where its two major components could be further developed. Those components included UNCJIN-L, a discussion list, and UNCJIN Gopher, a text-only database system In 1994, as required by United Nations mandate, UNCJIN had to migrate from the State University of New York at Albany to the United Nations Office at Vienna where it would be converted to a hypertext form and included in a world wide Web site First Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division Home Page (See next page) As a first step in this migration, a prototype of a Home Page and a World wide Web Server, developed by the Institute of Applied Computer Science and Information Systems of the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division, was presented at the Ninth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held in Cairo, Egypt from 29 April to 8 May, 1995 It was decided that the prototype was feasible, and with assistance of the School of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Albany, and funding from the National Institute of Justice(NI), United States Department of Justice, UNCJIN Gopher was converted to HTML form and incorporated into the Vienna University system in the Summer of 1995 The information infrastructure developed since can be accessed via the following address http://www.ifs.univie.ac.at/-uncjin/uncjin.html UNCJIN on the World wide Web (See next page)
For modern international organisations operating in quickly evolving environments, such as the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division, it is vital that they be able to disseminate information quickly and efficiently. To this end, the Division and the Institute of Applied Computer Science and Information Systems of the University of Vienna jointly developed a framework to make various United Nations material on crime prevention and criminal justice as well as other organisations' materials electronically available. 3.1 The United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network (UNCJIN) The United Nations Economic and Social Council, in resolution 1986/11, requested the United Nations Secretariat to create an electronic system for the exchange of crime prevention and criminal justice information. In 1989, the result of those efforts came to fruition as the United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network (UNCJIN) was launched by the School of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Albany, New York, United States, funded by the United States Department of Justice, the State University of New York at Albany and the Crime prevention and Criminal Justice Division. In 1992, UNCJIN was moved from a commercial carrier to the Internet where its two major components could be further developed. Those components included UNCJIN-L, a discussion list, and UNCJIN Gopher, a text-only database system. In 1994, as required by United Nations mandate, UNCJIN had to migrate from the State University of New York at Albany to the United Nations Office at Vienna where it would be converted to a hypertext form and included in a World Wide Web site. First Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division Home Page (See next page) As a first step in this migration, a prototype of a Home Page and a World Wide Web Server, developed by the Institute of Applied Computer Science and Information Systems of the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division, was presented at the Ninth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held in Cairo, Egypt from 29 April to 8 May, 1995. It was decided that the prototype was feasible, and with assistance of the School of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Albany, and funding from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ),United States Department of Justice, UNCJIN Gopher was converted to HTML form and incorporated into the Vienna University system in the Summer of 1995. The information infrastructure developed since can be accessed via the following address: http://www.ifs.univie.ac.at/~uncjin/uncjin.html UNCJIN on the World Wide Web (See next page)
In addition to these World wide Web-based materials, the UNCJIN-L list, maintained by the United Nations Office at Vienna, has proved to be an extremely valuable tool for providing a forum for the discussion of research The future development envisaged will focus on adding information to the existing web sites, especially widely used UN manuals such as the"Blue Book", and on the development of topic-specific databases which will serve as basis for creating html documents The second important focus of future development is to provide United Nations affiliated institutes involved in crime prevention and criminal justice activities with a similar basis, an activity which has already been started for the Australian Institute of Criminology: 3.2 The United Nations On-line Crime and Justice Clearing-House(UNOJUST) While UNcJin is primarily aimed at providing content information via the world wide Web and a communications platform via the associated listserv and additional links to interesting content material UNOJUST's main objective is to serve as navigation platform and as a starting point for institutional development In addition, specialised tools, such as automatic translation, are provided AsshownonthemapbelowtheUnojuStprogram(http://www.unojust.org)aimsatexpandingthe platform provided by UNCJIN by supporting United Nations institutes and national organisations to join the effort of building a common legal information systems infrastructure based on the Internet The NI-UNOJUST Homepage (See next page)
In addition to these World Wide Web-based materials, the UNCJIN-L list, maintained by the United Nations Office at Vienna, has proved to be an extremely valuable tool for providing a forum for the discussion of research and policy issues. The future development envisaged will focus on adding information to the existing web sites, especially widely used UN manuals such as the "Blue Book", and on the development of topic-specific databases which will serve as basis for creating HTML documents. The second important focus of future development is to provide United Nations affiliated institutes involved in crime prevention and criminal justice activities with a similar basis, an activity which has already been started for the Australian Institute of Criminology: 3.2 The United Nations On-line Crime and Justice Clearing-House (UNOJUST) While UNCJIN is primarily aimed at providing content information via the World Wide Web and a communications platform via the associated listserv and additional links to interesting content material, UNOJUST's main objective is to serve as navigation platform and as a starting point for institutional development. In addition, specialised tools, such as automatic translation, are provided. As shown on the map below, the UNOJUST program (http://www.unojust.org) aims at expanding the platform provided by UNCJIN by supporting United Nations institutes and national organisations to join the effort of building a common legal information systems infrastructure based on the Internet. The NIJ-UNOJUST Homepage (See next page)
The idea of the United Nations On-line Crime and Justice Clearing-House(UNOJUST) is a response of the National Institute of Justice(NI) to a long-standing recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Crime Commission and Criminal Justice to strengthen the clearinghouse functions of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme. In April 1995, the National Institute of Justice joined the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network and became the eleventh criminal justice research institute associated with the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme. Pursuing its mission as a national and international broker of criminal justice knowledge, the National Institute of Justice has taken a lead in conceptualising and prototyping an Internet-based vehicle for information dissemination and sharing within the United Nations Programme Network Institutes. The prototype system was demonstrated at the 9th United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Cairo, April 29-May 8, 1995, as well as discussed and approved as a model at the 10th United Nations Programme Network Coordinating Meeting in Courmayeur, Italy, 14-18 October 1995 UNOJUST is understood as both an Internet-based information system, and a capacity-building technical assistance program. The technical part is an Internet-based electronic network consisting of the linked together World wide Web Servers, including hardware, software and connectivity. The capacity-building part includes the initial technical support and training of the designated representatives of the United Nations(affiliated)institutes, in order to develop skills they need to serve as Internet information managers(webmasters) for their respective organisations, beyond the start-up period 4. Going International through Information Technology ce. Increasingly, to be effective requires thinking beyond the local, state, and single national level Liminal The adage of the environmental movement, "Think globally, act locally", also has meaning for 4.1 The Need for a Truly International Approach For a long time, drug trafficking embodied the impact of international crime. Now other forms signal the growing cross-nationalisation of criminal activity. The transnational character of organised crime is one particularly pemicious development. Facilitated by recent trends toward economic and political liberalisation and by advanced methods of communication, crime committed halfway around the globe yesterday can mean crime committed at home today The rise in transnational crime is one force spurring the need for better international exchange of information in criminal justice and for faster, easier, world-wide access. The necessity for collaboration among nations to control this type of crime is clear because of the obvious bilateral or multilateral interests. There are other trends in which the need for international exchange may not be so evident. Crime and crime-related problems are becoming strikingly familiar, irrespective of geography. One such problem is juvenile offending, which is reportedly escalating steadily world-wide. At the gu United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, 29 April-10 May 1995, Cairo, many issues familiar to criminal justice agencies in world, as urban crime, juvenile crime, and violence against women, were on the agenda. They are becom familiar in more and more countries every day United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Newsletter, 22/23(July 1993): 11
United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Newsletter, 22/23 (July 1993):11. 1 The idea of the United Nations On-line Crime and Justice Clearing-House (UNOJUST) is a response of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to a long-standing recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Crime Commission and Criminal Justice to strengthen the clearinghouse functions of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme. In April 1995, the National Institute of Justice joined the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network and became the eleventh criminal justice research institute associated with the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme. Pursuing its mission as a national and international broker of criminal justice knowledge, the National Institute of Justice has taken a lead in conceptualising and prototyping an Internet-based vehicle for information dissemination and sharing within the United Nations Programme Network Institutes. The prototype system was demonstrated at the 9th United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Cairo, April 29 - May 8, 1995, as well as discussed and approved as a model at the 10 United Nations Programme Network th Coordinating Meeting in Courmayeur, Italy, 14 - 18 October 1995. UNOJUST is understood as both an Internet-based information system, and a capacity-building technical assistance program. The technical part is an Internet-based electronic network consisting of the linked together World Wide Web Servers, including hardware, software and connectivity. The capacity-building part includes the initial technical support and training of the designated representatives of the United Nations (affiliated) institutes, in order to develop skills they need to serve as Internet information managers (webmasters) for their respective organisations, beyond the start-up period. 4. Going International through Information Technology The adage of the environmental movement, "Think globally, act locally", also has meaning for criminal justice. Increasingly, to be effective requires thinking beyond the local, state, and single national level. 4.1 The Need for a Truly International Approach For a long time, drug trafficking embodied the impact of international crime. Now other forms signal the growing cross-nationalisation of criminal activity. The transnational character of organised crime is one particularly pernicious development. Facilitated by recent trends toward economic and political liberalisation and by advanced methods of communication, crime committed halfway around the globe yesterday can mean crime committed at home today. The rise in transnational crime is one force spurring the need for better international exchange of information in criminal justice and for faster, easier, world-wide access. The necessity for collaboration among nations to control this type of crime is clear because of the obvious bilateral or multilateral interests. There are other trends in which the need for international exchange may not be so evident. Crime and crime-related problems are becoming strikingly familiar, irrespective of geography. One such problem is juvenile offending, which is reportedly escalating steadily world-wide . At the 9 United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the 1 th Treatment of Offenders, 29 April - 10 May 1995, Cairo, many issues familiar to criminal justice agencies in the world, as urban crime, juvenile crime, and violence against women, were on the agenda. They are becoming familiar in more and more countries every day
Forms of crime unknown until recently can have effects at the national and even the local level although they are committed in the international arena. Trafficking in weapons-grade nuclear materials, the sale of human organs for transplant purposes, the many manifestations of computer crime, crimes involving electronic funds transfer, and environmental crime are among the many relatively new 4.2 The response 8. mhen fortunately, parallel with new needs are new means to meet them. United Nations(affiliated)institutes, e.g. the National Institute of Justice are responding by expanding their use of advanced information technologies, with a major focus on the Internet, to transmit information, including research-based knowledge, and to serve as broker of information and promoter of information exchange world-wide. With criminals becoming more sophisticated and using advanced communication technologies to commit crime, law enforcement, prosecution, and other components of criminal justice need to be proficient in their use as well. The global reach of the Internet means that the criminal justice agencies and organisations can tap resources world-wide and communicate rapidly, The political changes that have created new freedoms and opened borders in a number of countries have also made it easier to commit and export crime. Establishing institutions that are the foundation of an orderly society is a major part of the rebuilding process in these societies. To assist the emerging democracies, the National Institute of Justice is developing the Rule of Law Online website, an Internet service providing on-line access to information integral to the reform or creation of institutions based on the rule of law With foreign-based criminal activity increasingly affecting United States of America's crime, the National Institute of Justice research on transnational crime takes on an added dimension. And the growing similarity of crime trends world-wide means that criminal justice agencies in the United States can benefit from the knowledge and experience of their counterparts in other parts of the world 5. Some Practical advice on Technical issues Some helpful URL's to start from include UncjiN:http://www.ifs.univ UnojUst:http://www.unojust.org andforasurveyofbestpracticesystemshttp://www.webnet/-cicp In order to offer a technological basis available for most institutions, the infrastructure requirements for the desktop equipment have been kept as low and flexible as possible nning window L. UNIX: workstation or linuX an a p I. Apple macintosh The bottleneck will in most cases be the modem which remains dependent on the national telephone ystem. If affordable, an upgrade to IsdN, FDDI or even an ATM connection if possible. As far as the Internet providers are concerned, there is a wide range of commercial providers and government agencies and universities and research centres acting as providers The software requirements are mainly the communications software and an Internet browser, in most cases Netscape 2.0 or higher, MOSAIC, or the Internet Explorer. Given that the available connection offers a sufficient bandwidth for transferring high volume data, viewers for video and sound will add the necessary multimedia capabilities For providing and further processing information HTML editors and HTML converters from text processors to HTML and back should be acquired, many of which are available as public domain software. There
Forms of crime unknown until recently can have effects at the national and even the local level although they are committed in the international arena. Trafficking in weapons-grade nuclear materials, the sale of human organs for transplant purposes, the many manifestations of computer crime, crimes involving electronic funds transfer, and environmental crime are among the many relatively new transnational crimes. 4.2 The response Fortunately, parallel with new needs are new means to meet them. United Nations (affiliated) institutes, e.g. the National Institute of Justice are responding by expanding their use of advanced information technologies, with a major focus on the Internet, to transmit information, including research-based knowledge, and to serve as broker of information and promoter of information exchange world-wide. With criminals becoming more sophisticated and using advanced communication technologies to commit crime, law enforcement, prosecution, and other components of criminal justice need to be proficient in their use as well. The global reach of the Internet means that the criminal justice agencies and organisations can tap resources world-wide and communicate rapidly, easily, and inexpensively. The political changes that have created new freedoms and opened borders in a number of countries have also made it easier to commit and export crime. Establishing institutions that are the foundation of an orderly society is a major part of the rebuilding process in these societies. To assist the emerging democracies, the National Institute of Justice is developing the Rule of Law Online website, an Internet service providing on-line access to information integral to the reform or creation of institutions based on the rule of law. With foreign-based criminal activity increasingly affecting United States of America's crime, the National Institute of Justice research on transnational crime takes on an added dimension. And the growing similarity of crime trends world-wide means that criminal justice agencies in the United States can benefit from the knowledge and experience of their counterparts in other parts of the world. 5. Some Practical Advice on Technical Issues Some helpful URL's to start from include: UNCJIN: http://www.ifs.univie.ac.at/~uncjin/ UNOJUST: http://www.unojust.org/ and for a survey of best practice systems: http://www.web.net/~cicp In order to offer a technological basis available for most institutions, the infrastructure requirements for the desktop equipment have been kept as low and flexible as possible: I. PC running Windows I. UNIX: workstation or LINUX an a PC I. Apple Macintosh. The bottleneck will in most cases be the modem which remains dependent on the national telephone system. If affordable, an upgrade to ISDN, FDDI or even an ATM connection if possible. As far as the Internet providers are concerned, there is a wide range of commercial providers and government agencies and universities and research centres acting as providers. The software requirements are mainly the communications software and an Internet browser, in most cases Netscape 2.0 or higher, MOSAIC, or the Internet Explorer. Given that the available connection offers a sufficient bandwidth for transferring high volume data, viewers for video and sound will add the necessary multimedia capabilities. For providing and further processing information HTML editors and HTML converters from text processors to HTML and back should be acquired, many of which are available as public domain software. There