United Nations Criminal justice Information Network The United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network (UNCJIN) was created in 1989 pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 1986/11 of 21 May 1986, in which the Secretary-General was invited to establish in cooperation with the United Nations institutes and other entities concerned, a global crime and criminal justice information network including a mechanism for the centralization of inputs from non-governmental organizations and scientific institutions. In a sense, it was an idea that was ahead of its time. After all, not many people had heard of E-Mail, let alone used it on a daily basis(see box) Many thought it could not be done. And it was argued that an electronic information system neglected the needs of developing countries that had no access to such technology. There were some good reasons for such a concern, but many of them turned out to be unfounded. For example, it is apparent that in some developing countries, technology has made it possible to bypass the intermediate stage of industrialization. In fact a number of developing countries are members of UNCJIN. With the addition of UNcJIn to the INTERNET computer network in late 1992, that number can be expected to grow. There is an UNCJIN Gopher-Server located at the School of Criminal Justice State University of New York at Albany, USA: Gopher/Albany Objectives of UNCJIN NCJIN is designed to establish and enhance the exchange of information concerning criminal justice and crime prevention issues through a global computer network. There are four specific objectives of UNCJIN. First it seeks to facilitate information exchange and interlinkages among policy makers, planners, practitioners, scholars and other experts, as well as United Nations national correspondents and research institutions Secondly, it seeks to provide avenues permitting the transfer of knowledge including research results. Thirdly, it seeks to link criminal justice documentation centres and libraries around the world. Fourthly, it seeks to support the establishment and expansion of computerized national and local criminal justice systems
United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network The United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network (UNCJIN) was created in 1989 pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 1986/11 of 21 May 1986, in which the Secretary-General was invited to establish, in cooperation with the United Nations institutes and other entities concerned, a global crime and criminal justice information network, including a mechanism for the centralization of inputs from non-governmental organizations and scientific institutions. In a sense, it was an idea that was ahead of its time. After all, not many people had heard of E-Mail, let alone used it on a daily basis (see box). Many thought it could not be done. And it was argued that an electronic information system neglected the needs of developing countries that had no access to such technology. There were some good reasons for such a concern, but many of them turned out to be unfounded. For example, it is apparent that in some developing countries, technology has made it possible to bypass the intermediate stage of industrialization. In fact, a number of developing countries are members of UNCJIN. With the addition of UNCJIN to the INTERNET computer network in late 1992, that number can be expected to grow. There is an UNCJIN Gopher-Server located at the School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany, USA: Gopher/Albany Objectives of UNCJIN UNCJIN is designed to establish and enhance the exchange of information concerning criminal justice and crime prevention issues through a global computer network. There are four specific objectives of UNCJIN. First, it seeks to facilitate information exchange and interlinkages among policy makers, planners, practitioners, scholars and other experts, as well as United Nations national correspondents and research institutions. Secondly, it seeks to provide avenues permitting the transfer of knowledge, including research results. Thirdly, it seeks to link criminal justice documentation centres and libraries around the world. Fourthly, it seeks to support the establishment and expansion of computerized national and local criminal justice systems
How uNcJin began UNCJIN started with a core group of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, United Nations Office at Vienna, and the following institutes related to the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme: United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute(UNICRI), at Rome: Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI), at Tokyo Latin american institute for the prevention of crime and treatment of Offenders(ILANUD), at San Jose; Helsinki Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations(HEUNI), at Helsinki: Arab Security studies and Training Centre, at Riyadh; Australian Institute of Criminology at Canberra: and Centro nazionale di prevenzione e difesa Sociale. at mil an The electronic communications system used to establish UNCJIN was the Telecommunications Cooperative Network (TCN), a non-profit international computer network with considerable previous United Nations experience. TCN offered training and assistance in setting up the information service. TeN provides its service by contracting through the DIALCOM system. There are many non-profit networks as well as United Nations organizations connected to this particular system. One advantage of being connected to a network including so many other organizations is that UNCJIN members can benefit from the information services offered by other organizations on the network. News of developing countries, for example, is constantl available, as is a recently added Aids daily update and a resources database
How UNCJIN began UNCJIN started with a core group of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, United Nations Office at Vienna, and the following institutes related to the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme: United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), at Rome; Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI), at Tokyo; Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD), at San Jose; Helsinki Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI), at Helsinki; Arab Security Studies and Training Centre, at Riyadh; Australian Institute of Criminology, at Canberra; and Centro Nazionale di Prevenzione e Difesa Sociale, at Milan. The electronic communications system used to establish UNCJIN was the Telecommunications Cooperative Network (TCN), a non-profit international computer network with considerable previous United Nations experience. TCN offered training and assistance in setting up the information service. TCN provides its service by contracting through the DIALCOM system. There are many non-profit networks as well as United Nations organizations connected to this particular system. One advantage of being connected to a network including so many other organizations is that UNCJIN members can benefit from the information services offered by other organizations on the network. News of developing countries, for example, is constantly available, as is a recently added AIDS daily update and a resources database
Communicating through UNCJIN: operations room at the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch Communicating through UNCJIN: system operators at the School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany Difficult beginnings Since the initial fee required a $100 deposit and some effort to become connected, bringing in additional members in the first year was difficult However, after it became apparent how useful such a form of communication
Communicating through UNCJIN: operations room at the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch Communicating through UNCJIN: system operators at the School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany Difficult beginnings Since the initial fee required a $100 deposit and some effort to become connected, bringing in additional members in the first year was difficult. However, after it became apparent how useful such a form of communication
was, and how easy it was to make information available, new organizations gradually joined through special efforts of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch. Membership grew, levelling off at 60 by the end of the second year. UNCJIN was further aided by funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the United States of America, which has provided the bulk of the funding for the last two years, and continues to fund it in the current year. Among the many services provided by uncJin during the initial period were assistance in the preparation of a number of meetings, and the preparation of newsletters that could not have been done previously without expensive travel to and from the site of publication Such, for example, was the case with the first special issue of the UNCJIN Crime and Justice Letter dealing with the cost of criminal justice. Other services included making available United Nations crime trends data a calendar of events and legislative updates, and producing news or o on-line, providing directories of criminal justice institutes, listi general interest to members World Criminal Justice Library Network In collaboration with, and with funding from, the NCCD/Criminal Justice Library at rutgers, State University of New Jersey, United States, UNCJIN cooperated in the convening of the first meeting of the World Criminal Justice Library Network in April 1990. The meeting was a resounding success,with all leading global criminal justice libraries represented. UNCJIN now provides important additional services related to library needs in criminal justice, such as circulation of the tables of contents of leading criminal justice journals ahead of publication dates, reports from various research institutes around the world. and information from the World Criminal Justice Library Network, such as accession lists of leading criminal justice libraries. Also available are the many report and updates of the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics. A special attempt will be made in the near future to concentrate on the identification of"grey literature and other projects that o undertaken by the cooperative venture of the World Criminal Justice Library Network. UNCJIN on INTERNET In November 1992 UNCJIN was first made available on INTERNET, possibly the most crucial event in the development of UNCJIN. Before that time, UNCJIN was available to some 60 users worldwide only through the
was, and how easy it was to make information available, new organizations gradually joined through special efforts of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch. Membership grew, levelling off at 60 by the end of the second year. UNCJIN was further aided by funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the United States of America, which has provided the bulk of the funding for the last two years, and continues to fund it in the current year. Among the many services provided by UNCJIN during the initial period were assistance in the preparation of a number of meetings, and the preparation of newsletters that could not have been done previously without expensive travel to and from the site of publication. Such, for example, was the case with the first special issue of the UNCJIN Crime and Justice Letter dealing with the cost of criminal justice. Other services included making available United Nations crime trends data on-line, providing directories of criminal justice institutes, listing a calendar of events and legislative updates, and producing news of general interest to members. World Criminal Justice Library Network In collaboration with, and with funding from, the NCCD/Criminal Justice Library at Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, United States, UNCJIN cooperated in the convening of the first meeting of the World Criminal Justice Library Network in April 1990. The meeting was a resounding success, with all leading global criminal justice libraries represented. UNCJIN now provides important additional services related to library needs in criminal justice, such as circulation of the tables of contents of leading criminal justice journals ahead of publication dates, reports from various research institutes around the world, and information from the World Criminal Justice Library Network, such as accession lists of leading criminal justice libraries. Also available are the many reports and updates of the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics. A special attempt will be made in the near future to concentrate on the identification of "grey literature" and other projects that may be undertaken by the cooperative venture of the World Criminal Justice Library Network. UNCJIN on INTERNET In November 1992 UNCJIN was first made available on INTERNET, possibly the most crucial event in the development of UNCJIN. Before that time, UNCJIN was available to some 60 users worldwide only through the
TCN/DIALCOM system, which limited its membership to those who could pay the fees. by introducing uncjin to INTERNET, its services were made available to potent ially thousands of people. In the months since it has been established on INTERNET, over 150 individuals have joined UNCJIN and two or three new subscribers are added each day. Interactive communication is also now possible on the system, and lively discussions occur daily among members. At present, the combined membership of UNCJIN is about 260, representing some 50 different countries and all major geographic regions of the world. Telecommunications Cooperative Network (TCN) is also committed to providing a direct gateway between the TCN/DIALCOM system to INTERNET, so that it will not be long before all members on both systems are fully connected atabases UNCJIN makes available a wide variety of information to its members, most of which is accessible on-line. There are selections from the United Nations surveys of crime trends and operations of criminal justice systems legislative updates, directories of criminal justice research organizations around the world, directories of criminal justice journals reports from research institutes, and an extensive collection of Bureau of Justice Statistics reports, many available well before they are actually published. Most of the databases are also available on UNCJIN through INTERNET, al though they cannot be searched on-line, and must be downloaded as files. However, early in 1993, UNCJIN will provide a File Transfer Protocol(FTP) service which, it is hoped, will enable those members connected to INternet to search the extensive databases of UNCJIN. UNCJIN and uNBIS UNCJIN has also cooperated with the Dag Hammarsk j "ld Library at United Nations Headquarters in New York to place in the system the criminal justice profiles deve loped from the United Nations surveys of crime trends and operations of criminal justice systems, largel result of efforts by the Helsinki Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the united Nations and the asia and far east institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. The profiles will provide a richer description of the criminal justice systems of each member country in an effort to establish a context within which to interpret criminal justice statistics. When the project is completed, the profiles will be on-line in the United Nations Bibliographical
TCN/DIALCOM system, which limited its membership to those who could pay the fees. By introducing UNCJIN to INTERNET, its services were made available to potentially thousands of people. In the months since it has been established on INTERNET, over 150 individuals have joined UNCJIN, and two or three new subscribers are added each day. Interactive communication is also now possible on the system, and lively discussions occur daily among members. At present, the combined membership of UNCJIN is about 260, representing some 50 different countries and all major geographic regions of the world. Telecommunications Cooperative Network (TCN) is also committed to providing a direct gateway between the TCN/DIALCOM system to INTERNET, so that it will not be long before all members on both systems are fully connected. Databases UNCJIN makes available a wide variety of information to its members, most of which is accessible on-line. There are selections from the United Nations surveys of crime trends and operations of criminal justice systems, legislative updates, directories of criminal justice research organizations around the world, directories of criminal justice journals, reports from research institutes, and an extensive collection of Bureau of Justice Statistics reports, many available well before they are actually published. Most of the databases are also available on UNCJIN through INTERNET, although they cannot be searched on-line, and must be downloaded as files. However, early in 1993, UNCJIN will provide a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service which, it is hoped, will enable those members connected to INTERNET to search the extensive databases of UNCJIN. UNCJIN and UNBIS UNCJIN has also cooperated with the Dag Hammarskj”ld Library at United Nations Headquarters in New York to place in the system the criminal justice profiles developed from the United Nations surveys of crime trends and operations of criminal justice systems, largely as a result of efforts by the Helsinki Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations, and the Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. The profiles will provide a richer description of the criminal justice systems of each member country in an effort to establish a context within which to interpret criminal justice statistics. When the project is completed, the profiles will be on-line in the United Nations Bibliographical