Methodology - Crime

Data on crime, the number of recorded offences, the number of prosecuted persons and police personnel are obtained from the crime statistics system of the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic.

Data for international comparison within the European Union are collected from national authorities through the annual United Nations Crime Trends Survey (UN-CTS) in cooperation of Eurostat and UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).

Data about number of offences and number of prosecuted persons are as at 31 December of a given year. 

Data about the number of police officers are as at 1 January of a given year. 

The amendment to the Czech Criminal Code (Act No. 333/2020 Coll. amending Act No. 40/2009 Sb., Criminal Code, as amended, and some other laws) came into effect on 1 October 2020. The threshold for material damage was increased from CZK 5,000 to CZK 10,000. This led to a decrease in property crime by up to one quarter and had a significant impact on the overall volume of crime. 

The sum of prosecuted persons by individual region may be higher than the sum for the Czech Republic. Prosecuted persons are counted according to the region where the offence was committed and recorded by police. If a person committed the offence in three different regions, than will be counted among the prosecuted persons in all three regions, but only once on the national level. 

Criminal acts are recorded according to the TSK (Tactical-statistical classification) of the Police of the Czech Republic, which partially overlaps with the Criminal Code. Definitions of individual crimes and their inclusion in the TSK and the Criminal Code can be found here.

Crime clearance rate - is calculated by dividing the number of crimes that are "cleared" (a charge being laid) by the total number of crimes. Includes only offences cleared in the same year as they were recorded by police. 

Crime, total – is a sum of violent crime, sexual crime, property crime, other crime, economic crime and military criminal offences.  

Economic crime - crime committed against economic system and property of the state. Financial crimes may involve fraud, tax evasion, bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, etc. 

Offence - action of a minor, juvenile or adult, which show the characteristics of a crime, juvenile crime or other act according to legal regulations. A criminal offense is an illegal act that is designated as criminal by criminal law and that have the characteristics specified in such law. 

Other crime - non-homogeneous group of crimes, without a uniform definition. The criminal acts contained in it are only a summary of acts with different defining characteristics. 

Police personnel - a member of the Police of the Czech Republic (state police). Members of the Municipal Police, Military Police and Security Information Service (BIS) are not included. 

Prosecuted person - a person against whom criminal proceedings have been initiated. 

Recidivist - someone who commits a crime again after having been convicted one or more times for committing another crime previously. 

Recorded criminal offence -  an offence that was detected/reported and recorded by investigative, prosecuting and adjudicating bodies in the reporting period and subsequently criminal proceedings were initiated and terminated (in a certain way) or not. 

Sexual crime - category of offenses that generally arise when violence occurs during a sexual act, when there is a lack of consent by one party to the sexual act, or when someone engages in sex with an individual who is legally incapable of consent, such as a child. Include offences as a rape, sexual abuse or child's pornography. 

Tactical-statistical classification (TSK) - the classification of criminal activity used by the Police of the Czech Republic. One category of TSK can include several sections of the Criminal Code, and conversely one section can be statistically divided into several categories of TSK. The offences listed in the tables are therefore classified according to the TSK, not according to the Criminal Code. 

Violent crime - crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This category includes offences as murder, grievous bodily harm or robbery.