Scientific Activities
The mainstream scientific activity of the ICSP which focuses on creating and updating a pool of information on the state and development of crime, social pathology and penal policies in the CR, on the mediation of recent relevant empirical and theoretical knowledge, and on the development of criminology.
Knowledge resulting from the ICSP research has been used for the design of several significant conceptual documents of national importance which were approved during the period in question. Particularly:
- researches on punitive policies and the effectiveness of new criminal law measures were used for the re-codification work on the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Act, especially with regard to the introduction and application of alternative sentences and measures, and the preparation and establishment of the Probation and Mediation Service;
- researches on organised crime and other serious forms of crime were incorporated into the Conception of the Fight against Organised Crime, accepted by the Government of the CR (last update 2000);
- researches on crime prevention and social pathology were incorporated into the Strategy of Crime Prevention 2001-2003 and 2004-2007, accepted by the Government of the CR;
- knowledge concerning prognostication of the development of crime was incorporated into the Vision of the Development of the Czech Republic until 2015 and into the publication "A Guide to the Landscape of Priorities for the Czech Republic", produced by the Centre for Social and Economic Strategies.
Knowledge gained in a research on the analysis of processes of elimination of racial discrimination and social integration of the Romany and other minorities were made available to the Governmental Council for the Affairs of the Romany Community. Knowledge gained in a research on the professions of the judge and the public prosecutor contributed to a modification of the selection system of legal and judicial candidates and of their preparation.
A significant theoretical contribution to the development of criminology was the publication of the textbook Criminology in 2001, whose authors are, for the most part, employees of the ICSP.
In the years 1999-2003, the Institute has implemented the Research Objective CEZ: 101/98: 000000001 "Research on the Possibilities of a More Effective Enforcement of Law, on the Forms and Trends of Crime and Social Pathology in the CR and the Possibilities of Controlling Them", focusing, above all, on these tasks:
- Research on organised crime
- Treatment of prisoners addicted to drugs
- Criminological aspects of drug abuse among women and girls
- Problems of ICT crime
- Criminological aspects of juvenile pre-delinquency and possibilities for its prevention
- Domestic violence - selected criminological aspects
- The impact of the transformation of penal legislation on the state of crime and improvement of the effectiveness of the judiciary with regard to the safety of Czech citizens
- Research on the problems of probation and its application in the Czech legislation
- Research on penal, political and criminological aspects of short-term prison sentences
- Research on conditional discharge
- Research on long-term prison sentences
- The impact of preventive programmes
- Research on economic crime
- Criminological aspects of crimes committed by first-time offenders
- Research on juvenile delinquents
- The professional profile of the judge and the professional profile of the public prosecutor
- Interethnic conflicts
In 2004-2007 the activity of ICSP was based on the middle term plan that focused:
- Needs of society in the area of penal policies, and resulting suggestions for changes in the penal legislation, for a more effective enforcement of law, for improving the punitive system;
- Serious form of crime, which present considerable social and safety risks for the state (organised crime, economic crime, crime and social pathology associated with drugs and potential new forms of crime in connection with multi-cultural society and globalisation).
- Trends in the development of crime and social pathology, common crime, juvenile crime, problems of offenders and crime victims, problems of women.
- Possibilities and methods of prevention, efficiency of the preventive programmes.
In 2008-2010 the activity of ICSP is based on the middle term plan: (.pdf, .doc)