International Journal on Criminology Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2013 | Page 51

International Journal on Criminology––Volume 1––Number 1––Fall 2013
Competition Between Those Involved in Public Debate on Crime
Statistics: Formalization and Case Studies Based on Direct
Experience
Cyril Rizk & Christophe Soullez
Abstract:
Competitive relationships in the public debate on crime statistics: Theoretical approach
and case studies from self-experience
The creation in France in 2003 of the OND 1 was the opportunity for the public
statistics system to extend its presence in the field of crime statistics, as previously, it was
limited to judicial statistics only. At the end of 2004, it distributed figures relating to
incidents recorded by police and gendarmes. According to new methodology and with the
launch, alongside INSEE in 2007 of an annual initiative of national victimization studies,
the ONDRP has become one of the “producers” of official statistics on crime.
We put ourselves forward to interpret the actions, interactions, and reactions that
this process led to in a formal framework that we call “competition between those
involved in public debate”. Two case studies are presented, one on competition within
official statistics between the OND and institutional communication of the ministry of the
interior, and on the other hand, competition between researchers among the first to
introduce victimization studies in France in the 1980s.
KEY WORDS: public debate, competition, official statistics, police recorded crime,
victimization surveys
Geographical index: France
Chronological index: 21st century
Since 2004, the date of the creation of the ONDRP, that is to say the national
structure responsible for analysis and distribution of data on crime and criminality,
debates were started in the scientific community regarding the relevance of the use
of administrative statistics on crime in public debate. Some universities, but also some
parliamentarians, were interested in how the ONDRP ensures the mission of analysis,
production, and distribution of crime statistics.
Many articles have been written on the development of the ONDRP (Ocqueteau
2012), and its presence which is increasingly visible in the sphere of the media and
politics, and in certain methodology studies (Mouhanna 2007; 2008).
The ONDRP has also sometimes been criticized for its status and in particular its
position within the administration (initially associated as a public administrative
establishment under the supervision of the prime minister) with the question of its
independence regarding services producing data.
Up until 2004, the analysis of criminal statistics lay in the hands of a small
community of scientists and the commentary and distribution was the sole responsibility
of the ministry of the interior.
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1 The National supervisory body on crime.
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