Conviction rates for organised crime down in Western Balkans
December 28, 2020
Organised crime gangs in the Western Balkans are increasingly acting with impunity owing to a fall in the number of successful convictions.
While prosecution rates for organised crime in the Western Balkans are on the up, the number of cases ending in convictions is down, according to a recently published report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
In the region, convictions related to organised crime steadily dropped 744 in 2013 to 491 in 2017. The number of prosecutions meanwhile increased from 217 to 1,328.
According to the authors of the report, Measuring Organised Crime in the Western Balkans, these conflicting trends indicate deficiencies in the criminal justice response to organised crime, whether it is a lack of capacity to gather evidence, construct successful prosecutions, or adjudicate organised crime cases properly.