Dominican institutions strengthen their capacities to implement the ICCS ARD in the recording of crimes

In order to strengthen institutional capacities in the recording and statistical analysis of high-impact crimes, a technical training was held focused on the implementation of the International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes adapted to the national context (ICCS ARD) at the National Statistics Office (ONE) of the Dominican Republic.

The activity was jointly organized by the ONE and the UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence for Statistical Information on Government, Public Security, Victimization and Justice (CoE-UNODC-INEGI), and was attended by representatives of the 911 System, the Attorney General's Office (PGR), the Center for Data Analysis and Citizen Security (CADSECI), the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF), the Ministry of Women, the National Police, the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD) and the Ministry of the Presidency.

To begin the training sessions, Ms. Crismairy Jimenez Mena, Director of Standards and Methodologies of the ONE, welcomed the attendees and presented the work done in coordination with various institutions for the development of the national adaptation of the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes adapted to the Dominican Republic (ICCS ARD). This presentation contextualized the progress achieved so far, highlighted the importance of inter-institutional commitment in this process and stressed the importance of having a harmonized classification that reflects the particularities of the country and facilitates the generation of comparable statistics at the national and international level. Subsequently, Ms. Adriana Oropeza Literas, coordinator of the Center of Excellence, presented the steps to follow to achieve a successful implementation of the classification.

During two days of work, the technical principles of the ICCS and its adaptation to the Dominican Republic were discussed, as well as its usefulness for the generation of national and international statistics. Mr. Armando Islas and Ms. Rubí García of the Deputy Head Office of Policies and Censuses of Mexico's INEGI described the work they had to carry out to standardize the existing ICCS categories with the codifications used in each institution. Mr. Jersson Palacios, an expert in statistical regulation from DANE of Colombia, shared the challenges they faced in adapting the information systems for recording crime statistics used, for example, by the Colombian National Police or the Attorney General's Office.

They also mentioned the training and preparation of personnel and the homologation of existing ICCS categories with the codifications used in each institution.

On behalf of the Center for Data Analysis and Citizen Security (CADSECI) of the Dominican Republic, Mr. Leonidas Taveras Reyes and Ms. Leidy Rodríguez presented the international commitments undertaken by the institution in terms of statistical information, in particular its participation in the United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS). During their intervention, they explained the process followed by the institution to complete this instrument, the benefits of its use, and how it contributes to the reporting and monitoring of indicator 16.1.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), related to the number of victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 inhabitants.

Additionally, Ms. Carolina Lemus Way coordinated a series of practical exercises developed by participating institutions. Through these exercises, the technical teams were able to explore how to apply the ICCS ARD to existing institutional registry systems. For example, working groups were held to review how crimes such as intentional homicide, aggravated assault and sexual violence are currently recorded, and how these categories can be aligned with the international standards proposed by ICCS.

Exercises were also carried out to record existing databases, which made it possible to concretely observe the advantages of adopting a common classification: it improves data quality, allows comparison between institutions and countries, and facilitates reporting to international mechanisms such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Crime Trends Survey (UN-CTS).

Another highlight was the collective reflection on crime counting rules, in which real examples were analyzed and the current capacities of each institution to adapt to the ICCS guidelines were assessed. Two recommended approaches to advance implementation were discussed: one focused on the direct coding or recoding of microdata and the other based on the reclassification of aggregated statistics.

The training concluded with the identification of institutional strengths, areas of opportunity and concrete steps to follow to continue with the progressive implementation of the ICCS ARD in the country. This activity represents an important step towards the production of more coherent, comparable and useful statistics on homicides of men and women for the design of evidence-based public security and justice policies.