United Nations Programme on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

Matti Joutsen is the former Director of the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations.

• 1. Introduction to the United Nations Programme on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Part I: The development 2. The creation and first years of the UN Crime Programme 3. Restructuring, the shift to hard law, and the impact of the Social Development Goals Part II: The parts and the players 4. The main structures in the UN Crime Programme 5. Member States, specialized agencies, intergovernmental organizations, and experts 6. Non-governmental organizations 7. The UN Crime Programme Network Institutes Part III: The product 8. The evolution of topics in the UN Crime Programme 9. Soft law: UN standards and norms 10. The UN Crime Congresses 11. The impact of the UN Crime Conventions 12. UN Crime Programme technical assistance, research, and peacebuilding Part IV: Conclusions 13. Concluding comments

'A contemporary history of the evolution of United Nations’ efforts over 75 years in the areas of crime, law, and criminal justice in transnational perspective. An active participant in UN work for several decades, Matti Joutsen witnessed the changes first-hand. I cannot think of anyone better qualified to write such a book.'Jay S. Albanese, Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University'Matti Joutsen has produced a seminal and highly readable work on the UN Crime Programme. Joutsen is a quintessential participant-observer who has spent half a century working in the programme in various capacities. He is particularly successful in capturing the effects on the programme of the creation of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, and the development of the framework suppression Conventions on Transnational Organized Crime and Corruption. This book should be of great interest not only to Crime Programme devotees and novices alike, but also to anyone interested in watching an international organization striving creatively with only sketchy references in its constitutional document – in this case the UN Charter.'Roger Clark, School of Law, Rutgers University'Matti Joutsen´s book benefits from his years of expertise, aisle-crossing skills, and keen analytical eye. It is an indispensable read for all comparative criminal justice scholars and for educators of the UN in general. The relatively little-known work of the UN Programme on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice has met its best chronicler.'Rosemary Barberet, Ph.D. Professor Sociology Department, John Jay College of Criminal Justice'The first systematic history of the making and development as well as critical insight into the achievements and limitations of the UN Crime Programme, itself an interplay among international bureaucracy, diplomacy and expert civil society within the geopolitics of the international anti-crime regime and governance. Matti Joutsen, himself an engaged participant and yet impartial and critical observer in this endeavour, furnishes an absolute must for newcomers - diplomats and UN staff alike - as well as for us, the witness old timers.'Ambassador Uglješa (Ugi) Zvekić, Senior Advisor, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, UN Crime Programme Retiree'"Learn the new by warming up the old", Confucius said. That’s what Dr. Matti Joutsen does in this book. He skillfully guides us on an intellectual journey into the history, development and the status quo of the UN Crime Programme and inspires us in what we have to do now. A magnificent work we all should have on our desktop!'Taro Morinaga, former Director of the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI)