Message from Director-General, UNOV

Dear Reader,

I am pleased to introduce the first regular issue of the UNCJIN Crime and Justice Letter, a publication of the United Nations Office at Vienna. The United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network (UNCJIN), is a global electronic communications and database service established pursuant to a resolution of the Economic and Social Council. In this issue you will find basic information about UNCJIN, which you are cordially invited to join. UNCJIN has been in operation since 1988. It is coordinated by the School of Criminal Justice of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. Special thanks are due to Professor Graeme Newman for his role in the establishment of UNCJIN. The Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its second session, held at Vienna in April 1993, expressed its appreciation for the assistance rendered to develop UNCJIN operations by the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the United States Department of Justice and the School of Criminal Justice at SUNY.

I should like to underline the efforts of the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme to reach out to the international criminal justice community through new, as well as traditional, communication channels, and assure you of our commitment to provide you with the most comprehensive and useful information. In a world where the volume of information is so great and the pace of communication so rapid, UNCJIN may be of help in performing a clearing-house function and providing up-to-date information as part of the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme.

Giorgio Giacomelli, Director-General United Nations Office at Vienna