About ISPAC

Achievements To Date

The establishment of ISPAC affords the international professional and scholarly community in crime prevention and criminal justice an opportunity to contribute to the work of the United Nations and to help in all aspects of programme execution, in accordance with the directives of the United Nations policy-making bodies. An invitation to join the International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council is extended to all organizations with expertise in crime prevention and criminal justice and with an interest in participating in the Council's work.

Projects

The Environment and Development. Over the years, the international community has become increasingly alarmed by environmental damage and technological disasters, which have tended to become more destructive as they affect ever larger concentrations of population. International responses are primarily directed to relief action, but it is now becoming so serious, and increasingly global in scale, that much greater emphasis had to be given to the prevention of environmental damage. The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) undertook the scientific and organizational%20responsibility for the workshop "Environmental Protection at National and International Levels: Potentials and Limits of Criminal Justice" in cooperation with HEUNI, UNAFEI, AIC, and ISPAC, and in collaboration with the Institute for the Environment (IPA, Milan, Italy), the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (Vancouver, Canada) and the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law (Freiburg, Germany).

The status of women (the elimination of violence against women). Due to cultural and other differences, in the past, violence against women was frequently not addressed as a serious problem. Violence against women, in or outside the family setting, is a criminal act and, as such, has to be dealt with by criminal law and the criminal justice system. There is a necessity to establish an international legal mechanism to protect women who are exposed to injury resulting from violence. A research paper, "Female offenders in contemporary criminal justice systems" was written by ISPAC?Resource Committee 9, in collaboration with the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences (ISISC, Siracusa, Italy) and with the Centre for Judicial Psychology, Institute of Psychology (Milan University).

Organized transnational crime. The rapid expansion and internationalization of organized crime demands urgent attention and concerted action by the international community. ISPAC convened an international conference entitled "Mafia che fare?" ("The Mafia?what to do next?") at Palermo, Italy, in December 1993. The volume Mafia Issues: Analyses and proposals for combatting the Mafia today, assembles some of the papers presented at the conference.

Organized transnational crime and economic development. Organized transnational crime poses a serious threat to economic development, the establishment of democracy and security, and jeopardizes even the sovereignty of states. It has destructive effects and prevents the establishment of a new economic order. Organized transnational crime has a tendency to establish itself and to gradually expand its operations, taking advantage of gaps and loopholes in legislation and other regulatory measures. ISPAC organized, in cooperation with the Government of Italy and under the auspices of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, an international conference on "Preventing and Controlling Money Laundering and the Use of the Proceeds of Crime: a Global Approach" which was held at Courmayeur, Italy, from 17 to 21 June 1994. The relevant Report and Recommendations have been issued as an official United Nations document (E/CONF.88/7).

Crime in urban areas and juvenile criminality. Urban problems, especially in developing countries, have been compounded by severe economic crises which have curtailed legitimate opportunities and taxed fragile urban infrastructures. Dysfunctional development and unplanned urbanization, accompanied by rapid social change, with large-scale migration to towns lacking amenities, facilities and services to support new arrivals, is not a propitious context for stability and harmonious growth. Affirmative action to help the disadvantaged is an imperative of the tenets of both social justice and of sound crime prevention. ISPAC organized, in cooperation with several Italian instrumentalities, a conference on "Juvenile Maladjustment in Urban Areas" in Courmayeur, Italy, from 19 to 20 June 1993. The research paper, "Prevention of the risks related to adolescent marginality and the social use of urban areas", has been presented by Resource Committee 4 ("Rights of the Child, including Juvenile Justice").

Victims. Marginalized segments of the population may have little stake in law-abiding conduct in a society exhibiting vast differential treatment of its members. Poor as well as affluent societies are troubled by alarming rates of urban crime, particularly violence, which is impairing the quality of city life and jeopardizing the security of individuals and whole communities. Viable preventive strategies are urgently needed. The measures needed can span a wide continuum from security devices to increase personal or business safety; from community-based measures to broad socioeconomic strategies intended to influence the matrix in which urban crime occurs. ISPAC, in cooperation with the International Institute for the Sociology of Law (IISL) convened an international workshop "Victim protection and conflict resolution" in Onati, Spain, from 13 to 16 May 1993. The volume, Victim Issues: Onati Report, is a synthesis of the deliberations in plenary and in the working groups and of the valuable and challenging ideas presented.

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