United Nations Criminal justice Information Network The United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network (UNCJIN) was created in 1989 pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 1986/11 of 21 May 1986, in which the Secretary-General was invited to establish in cooperation with the United Nations institutes and other entities concerned, a global crime and criminal justice information network including a mechanism for the centralization of inputs from non-governmental organizations and scientific institutions. In a sense, it was an idea that was ahead of its time. After all, not many people had heard of E-Mail, let alone used it on a daily basis(see box) Many thought it could not be done. And it was argued that an electronic information system neglected the needs of developing countries that had no access to such technology. There were some good reasons for such a concern, but many of them turned out to be unfounded. For example, it is apparent that in some developing countries, technology has made it possible to bypass the intermediate stage of industrialization. In fact a number of developing countries are members of UNCJIN. With the addition of UNcJIn to the INTERNET computer network in late 1992, that number can be expected to grow. There is an UNCJIN Gopher-Server located at the School of Criminal Justice State University of New York at Albany, USA: Gopher/Albany Objectives of UNCJIN NCJIN is designed to establish and enhance the exchange of information concerning criminal justice and crime prevention issues through a global computer network. There are four specific objectives of UNCJIN. First it seeks to facilitate information exchange and interlinkages among policy makers, planners, practitioners, scholars and other experts, as well as United Nations national correspondents and research institutions Secondly, it seeks to provide avenues permitting the transfer of knowledge including research results. Thirdly, it seeks to link criminal justice documentation centres and libraries around the world. Fourthly, it seeks to support the establishment and expansion of computerized national and local criminal justice systems
United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network The United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network (UNCJIN) was created in 1989 pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 1986/11 of 21 May 1986, in which the Secretary-General was invited to establish, in cooperation with the United Nations institutes and other entities concerned, a global crime and criminal justice information network, including a mechanism for the centralization of inputs from non-governmental organizations and scientific institutions. In a sense, it was an idea that was ahead of its time. After all, not many people had heard of E-Mail, let alone used it on a daily basis (see box). Many thought it could not be done. And it was argued that an electronic information system neglected the needs of developing countries that had no access to such technology. There were some good reasons for such a concern, but many of them turned out to be unfounded. For example, it is apparent that in some developing countries, technology has made it possible to bypass the intermediate stage of industrialization. In fact, a number of developing countries are members of UNCJIN. With the addition of UNCJIN to the INTERNET computer network in late 1992, that number can be expected to grow. There is an UNCJIN Gopher-Server located at the School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany, USA: Gopher/Albany Objectives of UNCJIN UNCJIN is designed to establish and enhance the exchange of information concerning criminal justice and crime prevention issues through a global computer network. There are four specific objectives of UNCJIN. First, it seeks to facilitate information exchange and interlinkages among policy makers, planners, practitioners, scholars and other experts, as well as United Nations national correspondents and research institutions. Secondly, it seeks to provide avenues permitting the transfer of knowledge, including research results. Thirdly, it seeks to link criminal justice documentation centres and libraries around the world. Fourthly, it seeks to support the establishment and expansion of computerized national and local criminal justice systems
How uNcJin began UNCJIN started with a core group of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, United Nations Office at Vienna, and the following institutes related to the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme: United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute(UNICRI), at Rome: Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI), at Tokyo Latin american institute for the prevention of crime and treatment of Offenders(ILANUD), at San Jose; Helsinki Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations(HEUNI), at Helsinki: Arab Security studies and Training Centre, at Riyadh; Australian Institute of Criminology at Canberra: and Centro nazionale di prevenzione e difesa Sociale. at mil an The electronic communications system used to establish UNCJIN was the Telecommunications Cooperative Network (TCN), a non-profit international computer network with considerable previous United Nations experience. TCN offered training and assistance in setting up the information service. TeN provides its service by contracting through the DIALCOM system. There are many non-profit networks as well as United Nations organizations connected to this particular system. One advantage of being connected to a network including so many other organizations is that UNCJIN members can benefit from the information services offered by other organizations on the network. News of developing countries, for example, is constantl available, as is a recently added Aids daily update and a resources database
How UNCJIN began UNCJIN started with a core group of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, United Nations Office at Vienna, and the following institutes related to the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme: United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), at Rome; Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI), at Tokyo; Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD), at San Jose; Helsinki Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI), at Helsinki; Arab Security Studies and Training Centre, at Riyadh; Australian Institute of Criminology, at Canberra; and Centro Nazionale di Prevenzione e Difesa Sociale, at Milan. The electronic communications system used to establish UNCJIN was the Telecommunications Cooperative Network (TCN), a non-profit international computer network with considerable previous United Nations experience. TCN offered training and assistance in setting up the information service. TCN provides its service by contracting through the DIALCOM system. There are many non-profit networks as well as United Nations organizations connected to this particular system. One advantage of being connected to a network including so many other organizations is that UNCJIN members can benefit from the information services offered by other organizations on the network. News of developing countries, for example, is constantly available, as is a recently added AIDS daily update and a resources database
Communicating through UNCJIN: operations room at the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch Communicating through UNCJIN: system operators at the School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany Difficult beginnings Since the initial fee required a $100 deposit and some effort to become connected, bringing in additional members in the first year was difficult However, after it became apparent how useful such a form of communication
Communicating through UNCJIN: operations room at the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch Communicating through UNCJIN: system operators at the School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany Difficult beginnings Since the initial fee required a $100 deposit and some effort to become connected, bringing in additional members in the first year was difficult. However, after it became apparent how useful such a form of communication
was, and how easy it was to make information available, new organizations gradually joined through special efforts of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch. Membership grew, levelling off at 60 by the end of the second year. UNCJIN was further aided by funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the United States of America, which has provided the bulk of the funding for the last two years, and continues to fund it in the current year. Among the many services provided by uncJin during the initial period were assistance in the preparation of a number of meetings, and the preparation of newsletters that could not have been done previously without expensive travel to and from the site of publication Such, for example, was the case with the first special issue of the UNCJIN Crime and Justice Letter dealing with the cost of criminal justice. Other services included making available United Nations crime trends data a calendar of events and legislative updates, and producing news or o on-line, providing directories of criminal justice institutes, listi general interest to members World Criminal Justice Library Network In collaboration with, and with funding from, the NCCD/Criminal Justice Library at rutgers, State University of New Jersey, United States, UNCJIN cooperated in the convening of the first meeting of the World Criminal Justice Library Network in April 1990. The meeting was a resounding success,with all leading global criminal justice libraries represented. UNCJIN now provides important additional services related to library needs in criminal justice, such as circulation of the tables of contents of leading criminal justice journals ahead of publication dates, reports from various research institutes around the world. and information from the World Criminal Justice Library Network, such as accession lists of leading criminal justice libraries. Also available are the many report and updates of the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics. A special attempt will be made in the near future to concentrate on the identification of"grey literature and other projects that o undertaken by the cooperative venture of the World Criminal Justice Library Network. UNCJIN on INTERNET In November 1992 UNCJIN was first made available on INTERNET, possibly the most crucial event in the development of UNCJIN. Before that time, UNCJIN was available to some 60 users worldwide only through the
was, and how easy it was to make information available, new organizations gradually joined through special efforts of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch. Membership grew, levelling off at 60 by the end of the second year. UNCJIN was further aided by funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the United States of America, which has provided the bulk of the funding for the last two years, and continues to fund it in the current year. Among the many services provided by UNCJIN during the initial period were assistance in the preparation of a number of meetings, and the preparation of newsletters that could not have been done previously without expensive travel to and from the site of publication. Such, for example, was the case with the first special issue of the UNCJIN Crime and Justice Letter dealing with the cost of criminal justice. Other services included making available United Nations crime trends data on-line, providing directories of criminal justice institutes, listing a calendar of events and legislative updates, and producing news of general interest to members. World Criminal Justice Library Network In collaboration with, and with funding from, the NCCD/Criminal Justice Library at Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, United States, UNCJIN cooperated in the convening of the first meeting of the World Criminal Justice Library Network in April 1990. The meeting was a resounding success, with all leading global criminal justice libraries represented. UNCJIN now provides important additional services related to library needs in criminal justice, such as circulation of the tables of contents of leading criminal justice journals ahead of publication dates, reports from various research institutes around the world, and information from the World Criminal Justice Library Network, such as accession lists of leading criminal justice libraries. Also available are the many reports and updates of the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics. A special attempt will be made in the near future to concentrate on the identification of "grey literature" and other projects that may be undertaken by the cooperative venture of the World Criminal Justice Library Network. UNCJIN on INTERNET In November 1992 UNCJIN was first made available on INTERNET, possibly the most crucial event in the development of UNCJIN. Before that time, UNCJIN was available to some 60 users worldwide only through the
TCN/DIALCOM system, which limited its membership to those who could pay the fees. by introducing uncjin to INTERNET, its services were made available to potent ially thousands of people. In the months since it has been established on INTERNET, over 150 individuals have joined UNCJIN and two or three new subscribers are added each day. Interactive communication is also now possible on the system, and lively discussions occur daily among members. At present, the combined membership of UNCJIN is about 260, representing some 50 different countries and all major geographic regions of the world. Telecommunications Cooperative Network (TCN) is also committed to providing a direct gateway between the TCN/DIALCOM system to INTERNET, so that it will not be long before all members on both systems are fully connected atabases UNCJIN makes available a wide variety of information to its members, most of which is accessible on-line. There are selections from the United Nations surveys of crime trends and operations of criminal justice systems legislative updates, directories of criminal justice research organizations around the world, directories of criminal justice journals reports from research institutes, and an extensive collection of Bureau of Justice Statistics reports, many available well before they are actually published. Most of the databases are also available on UNCJIN through INTERNET, al though they cannot be searched on-line, and must be downloaded as files. However, early in 1993, UNCJIN will provide a File Transfer Protocol(FTP) service which, it is hoped, will enable those members connected to INternet to search the extensive databases of UNCJIN. UNCJIN and uNBIS UNCJIN has also cooperated with the Dag Hammarsk j "ld Library at United Nations Headquarters in New York to place in the system the criminal justice profiles deve loped from the United Nations surveys of crime trends and operations of criminal justice systems, largel result of efforts by the Helsinki Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the united Nations and the asia and far east institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. The profiles will provide a richer description of the criminal justice systems of each member country in an effort to establish a context within which to interpret criminal justice statistics. When the project is completed, the profiles will be on-line in the United Nations Bibliographical
TCN/DIALCOM system, which limited its membership to those who could pay the fees. By introducing UNCJIN to INTERNET, its services were made available to potentially thousands of people. In the months since it has been established on INTERNET, over 150 individuals have joined UNCJIN, and two or three new subscribers are added each day. Interactive communication is also now possible on the system, and lively discussions occur daily among members. At present, the combined membership of UNCJIN is about 260, representing some 50 different countries and all major geographic regions of the world. Telecommunications Cooperative Network (TCN) is also committed to providing a direct gateway between the TCN/DIALCOM system to INTERNET, so that it will not be long before all members on both systems are fully connected. Databases UNCJIN makes available a wide variety of information to its members, most of which is accessible on-line. There are selections from the United Nations surveys of crime trends and operations of criminal justice systems, legislative updates, directories of criminal justice research organizations around the world, directories of criminal justice journals, reports from research institutes, and an extensive collection of Bureau of Justice Statistics reports, many available well before they are actually published. Most of the databases are also available on UNCJIN through INTERNET, although they cannot be searched on-line, and must be downloaded as files. However, early in 1993, UNCJIN will provide a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service which, it is hoped, will enable those members connected to INTERNET to search the extensive databases of UNCJIN. UNCJIN and UNBIS UNCJIN has also cooperated with the Dag Hammarskj”ld Library at United Nations Headquarters in New York to place in the system the criminal justice profiles developed from the United Nations surveys of crime trends and operations of criminal justice systems, largely as a result of efforts by the Helsinki Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations, and the Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. The profiles will provide a richer description of the criminal justice systems of each member country in an effort to establish a context within which to interpret criminal justice statistics. When the project is completed, the profiles will be on-line in the United Nations Bibliographical
Information System(UNBIS), and will be searchable using text searche The profiles are too large a database to provide on-line through either DIALCOM or INTERNET, though with the introduction of the FtP service, this will not be a problem. There will be virtually no limit to the size of the databases UNC J IN will be able to offer Most important of all, UNCJIN provides a forum for criminal justice professionals, scholars, students and interested persons to communicate and exchange ideas and information. Please check UNcJin on INTERneT at any time - there is a constant and healthy discussion about international criminal justice. Until September 1993, if you have access to INTERNET, you can join UNCJIN simply by sending an Email message to LISTSERVOALBNYVMl as follows SUBSCRIBE UNCJIN-L Your FirstName YourLastName After September 1993, please contact the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, United Nations Office at Vienna, directly. Welcome aboard! You ll be glad you joined Next are the text boxes of the rinted text What is Email? Email is an alternative means of communication. Through a system of individual mailboxes, established in a central location email allows messages, documents and data, created by any type of microcomputer, to be sent and retrieved from nearly all locations in the world. In addition Email allows staff on mission to send and receive correspondence at any time, and it completely removes the problem of telephone tag. What can email do? The basic service offered by Email is the transmission of messages, documents and data in an efficient and cost-effective manner. They can be in plain text format or in the appropriate application format. This means that files created in Wordperfect, Lotus and dBase can be
Information System (UNBIS), and will be searchable using text searches. The profiles are too large a database to provide on-line through either DIALCOM or INTERNET, though with the introduction of the FTP service, this will not be a problem. There will be virtually no limit to the size of the databases UNCJIN will be able to offer. Most important of all, UNCJIN provides a forum for criminal justice professionals, scholars, students and interested persons to communicate and exchange ideas and information. Please check UNCJIN on INTERNET at any time - there is a constant and healthy discussion about international criminal justice. Until September 1993, if you have access to INTERNET, you can join UNCJIN simply by sending an Email message to LISTSERV@ALBNYVM1 as follows: SUBSCRIBE UNCJIN-L YourFirstName YourLastName After September 1993, please contact the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, United Nations Office at Vienna, directly. Welcome aboard! You'll be glad you joined! Next are the text boxes of the printed text: What is Email? Email is an alternative means of communication. Through a system of individual mailboxes, established in a central location, Email allows messages, documents and data, created by any type of microcomputer, to be sent and retrieved from nearly all locations in the world. In addition, Email allows staff on mission to send and receive correspondence at any time, and it completely removes the problem of telephone tag. What can Email do? The basic service offered by Email is the transmission of messages, documents and data in an efficient and cost-effective manner. They can be in plain text format or in the appropriate application format. This means that files created in Wordperfect, Lotus and dBase can be
transferred between users without loss of formatting characters, macros or structures When should email be used? There appears to be a misconception among many users that Email was introduced to replace the telex While it is true in many cases that Email can be used instead of telex, it will not in the foreseeable future supplant it. Likewise, Email may be used instead of faxing, but since it cannot transmit graphics or a signature, it is not useful in those cases. Moreover, since the number of agencies, Governments and vendors on Email is limited, the most appropriate means of communication should always be chosen. Email is useful for messaging and for sending computer- generated documents and data from microcomputer to microcomputer It is also useful electronic data f document has to be sent, and it is not required to be read by a microcomputer, then DHL (Worldwide Express Courier Service) or the pouch might be a slower but more cost-effective means of transmission What does email cost? The following rates in United States dollars ($) are currently being charged Prime time* Non-prime time DIALCOM system $9/hour** $5/hour Data transfer SO. 05 for 1, 024 characters (approximately one page) Storage $0. 35 per month for 2, 048 characters Public data network Rate varies* Rate varies The following are examples of the charges for value-added information services Prime time Non-prime time United Nations Information Service $15/hour $15/hour
transferred between users without loss of formatting characters, macros or structures. When should Email be used? There appears to be a misconception among many users that Email was introduced to þreplace the telexþ. While it is true in many cases that Email can be used instead of telex, it will not in the foreseeable future supplant it. Likewise, Email may be used instead of faxing, but since it cannot transmit graphics or a signature, it is not useful in those cases. Moreover, since the number of agencies, Governments and vendors on Email is limited, the most appropriate means of communication should always be chosen. Email is useful for messaging and for sending computer- generated documents and data from microcomputer to microcomputer. It is also useful for retrieving electronic data from information databases. When a large document has to be sent, and it is not required to be read by a microcomputer, then DHL (Worldwide Express Courier Service) or the pouch might be a slower but more cost-effective means of transmission. What does Email cost? The following rates in United States dollars ($) are currently being charged: Prime time* Non-prime time DIALCOM system $9/hour** $5/hour Data transfer $0.05 for 1,024 characters (approximately one page) Storage $0.35 per month for 2,048 characters Public data network Rate varies***Rate varies The following are examples of the charges for value-added information services: Prime time Non-prime time United Nations Information Service $15/hour $15/hour
Associated pres $45/hour $45/hour aids information database $18/h our S15/hour Bibliographical Research Service*冰冰冰 Rate varies Rate varies k Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. -6 p m. Eastern Standard time. k*k Plus $20 monthly fee. ikx* Communication charge of local post, telegraph and telephone service k*k* With approximately 200 databases provided by the Service at varying rates. how do i connect to email? Email is accessed through one of the international public data, or packet switching, networks, such as TELENET, Tymnet or INFONET. Some countries have their own local public data networks; for example, Honduras has HONDUPAK and Kenya has KENPAc. If the field office has access to a local network then only a local phone call is required to make the connection through the local network to an international network. If the country does not have a local network, then an international phone call has to be made to the closest country that has a connection point or node What equipment do Basically, if you can make a direct dial phone call, without going through an operator, and you have the right communications equipment, then you can use email The equipment required for accessing Email is a modem and communications software. The modem should be Hayes, or Hayes-compatible, and be able to operate between 300 and 2, 400 baud. In the United States, Europe and Japan, 9. 600 baud is available. All offices should first check with their local post, telegraph and telephone service before purchasing a modem, as some countries will only allow modems to be installed if they are purchased or leased from the local service Who is on email?
Associated Press $45/hour $45/hour AIDS information database $18/hour $15/hour Bibliographical Research Service**** Rate varies Rate varies * Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. ** Plus $20 monthly fee. *** Communication charge of local post, telegraph and telephone service. **** With approximately 200 databases provided by the Service at varying rates. How do I connect to Email? Email is accessed through one of the international public data, or packet switching, networks, such as TELENET, TYMNET or INFONET. Some countries have their own local public data networks; for example, Honduras has HONDUPAK and Kenya has KENPAC. If the field office has access to a local network then only a local phone call is required to make the connection through the local network to an international network. If the country does not have a local network, then an international phone call has to be made to the closest country that has a connection point or node. What equipment do I need? Basically, if you can make a direct dial phone call, without going through an operator, and you have the right communications equipment, then you can use Email. The equipment required for accessing Email is a modem and communications software. The modem should be Hayes, or Hayes-compatible, and be able to operate between 300 and 2,400 baud. In the United States, Europe and Japan, 9,600 baud is available. All offices should first check with their local post, telegraph and telephone service before purchasing a modem, as some countries will only allow modems to be installed if they are purchased or leased from the local service. Who is on Email?
There are eight agencies or United-Nations-related ne tworks available on the system. all the United Nations networks have their own user base and messages and documents may be freely passed between them. They are UNISER United Nations Information Services UNIENET United Nations International Emergency Network-UNDRO UNET UNICEF Electronic Information Network UNDP UNDP Electronic Mail Service UNCJIN United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network HIVNET HIV/AIDS Global Network PAHONET Pan-American Health Networl UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development What is internet? INTERNET is the largest computer network in the world. It works because many regional and national networks have agreed on common procedures for connecting to each other through INTERNET. Chances are that, if you work for a large governmental organization anywhere in the world or you work at an academic institution, you have access to INTERNET. Many commercial information services (such as Compuserve) now also offer a gateway to INTERNET. It is fast becoming the main tool for accessing information of Note: All text boxes, except those entitled"What does Email cost? andWhat is internet? draw on the article Email the first four years-an update, by richard Smith, published in the LoGON Newsletter April 199l, of the United Nations Development Programme, No. 19, pp. 7-9, and on the article " Learning tools for INTERNET neophytes and veterans by Viney Jain and Malcolm Chapman, in the LOGON Newsletter, No. 23, April 1993,pp.13-14
There are eight agencies or United-Nations-related networks available on the system. All the United Nations networks have their own user base and messages and documents may be freely passed between them. They are: • UNISER United Nations Information Services • UNIENET United Nations International Emergency Network-UNDRO • UNET UNICEF Electronic Information Network • UNDP UNDP Electronic Mail Service • UNCJIN United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network • HIVNET HIV/AIDS Global Network • PAHONET Pan-American Health Network • UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development What is INTERNET? INTERNET is the largest computer network in the world. It "works" because many regional and national networks have agreed on common procedures for connecting to each other through INTERNET. Chances are that, if you work for a large governmental organization anywhere in the world or you work at an academic institution, you have access to INTERNET. Many commercial information services (such as "Compuserve") now also offer a gateway to INTERNET. It is fast becoming the main tool for accessing information of any kind. Note: All text boxes, except those entitled "What does Email cost?" and "What is INTERNET?" draw on the article "Email: the first four years-an update", by Richard Smith, published in the LOGON Newsletter, April 1991, of the United Nations Development Programme, No. 19, pp. 7-9, and on the article "Learning tools for INTERNET neophytes ... and veterans", by Viney Jain and Malcolm Chapman, in the LOGON Newsletter, No. 23, April 1993, pp. 13-14
